WTF Is College Gymnastics Scoring – Bars (2023 Edition)

Before the NCAA season begins, it’s time for the now-annual venture into the murky world of NCAA scoring for those who might want to know a little more about what’s actually going on behind that bonkers 9.950 that just got thrown. Fair warning: you’ll be happier if you don’t.

Composing a routine

Routine requirements

At minimum, an NCAA routine must include 3 A-value elements, 3 B-value elements, and 2 C-value elements.

That is a basic standard that most college gymnasts are able to achieve comfortably. I give you permission not to worry about it. Gymnasts must also fulfill a series of special composition requirements, each worth 0.2. On bars, those four requirements are

1 – Two separate bar changes. This means that you can’t just start on the low bar, get up to the high bar, and then dismount. At some point in the routine, you have to transition from low to high and from high to low.

2 – Two flight elements, not including the dismount. Flight elements include same-bar releases as well as transition skills in which the body is not in contact with either bar at some point.

Gymnasts will typically fulfill this by using their two transitions (e.g., a bail handstand and a toe shoot; a Pak and a Shaposh), or by using one of those transitions skills along with a same-bar release. Gymnasts do not have to perform a same-bar release, and you’re supposed to have a really strong opinion about that one way or the other.

The two flight elements typically must be at least C-value skills, but one B-value skill can be used to meet the requirement as long as the other element is D- or E-value.

3 – A turning element, minimum C value. Turning elements normally make us think of pirouettes, but that does not have to be the case. Turning pirouettes do fulfill this requirement, but so does any skill including at least a 1/2 turn at any point. That means a skill like a bail handstand can be used to meet this requirement. It’s not the spirit of the rule, but it does count and is taken advantage of all the time.

4 – A dismount, minimum C value. This special requirement is a lie. NCAA gymnastics absolutely does not want you dismounting with an isolated C element, despite what the requirement says.

You can, but if the C-level dismount is preceded by two giant swings, as most dismounts are, you lose 0.1. Plus, if the C dismount is not performed in combination with another element for bonus, you lose 0.1 (see “up to level” section below). So basically, you can’t dismount with a lone C.

Missing any one of these four requirements is a 0.2 deduction from the start value. Every routine you watch will have been composed specifically to ensure that doesn’t happen. Any gymnast with a routine that includes 3 As, 3 Bs, and 2 Cs, and that fulfills the four requirements above will begin with a 9.40 start value.

Bonus

From that 9.40 start, gymnasts will attempt to get up to a 10.0 start value by earning six tenths of bonus. Bonus is earned in two categories.

1) Skill value
-Every D-value skill earns 0.1 in bonus
-Every E-value skill earns 0.2 in bonus
-E-value releases (same-bar or transition) and D-value releases (same-bar only) receive an additional 0.1 added to the skill bonus.

2) Connection value
C+C = 0.1 (but only if both elements show flight or turn, OR if both elements begin from the clear-hip, toe-on, or stalder roots)
C+D = 0.1
D+D = 0.2

To earn the full six tenths of bonus, at least one tenth must come from each category (skill value and connection value), so you can’t load up exclusively on one category or another.

But, as long as you get your six tenths of bonus, and fulfill all the requirements above, you’ve got your 10.0 start!

Up to level

Unless. There are several possible routine-composition deductions in NCAA routines, but the one you’ll hear about the most during the season is the “up to level” deduction (UTL).

This deduction is a flat .10, taken from any routine that does not fulfill the standard of being “up to the competitive level.”

What does that even mean? Good question. On bars, a routine is considered up to the competitive level, and therefore avoids this deduction, as long as it fulfills ONE of the following areas.

1 – A same-bar release of D value (e.g., Jaeger, Gienger, or Tkatchev)
2 – A release element of E value (e.g., Ricna, Van Leeuwen, or Bhardwaj)
3 – Two D releases (e.g., Bail handstand AND Maloney)
4 – Two E-level skills (e.g., Stalder 1/1 AND Double layout dismount)

Achieve any one of those, and you’re good.

“Up to level” is also where that 0.1 deduction for performing a C-value dismount without connection bonus mentioned earlier comes in.

Judges must display if they have taken an up-to-level deduction on a routine. So in a meet, if you see a judge flash a card that says “UTL” next to the start value, it doesn’t mean “Urination Took Long” and she missed the beginning of the routine. It means an up to level deduction was taken.

Example

Now lets go through an example routine from 2022, the Mara Titarsolej bars routine that received 10.000:

Special requirements

1 – Two bar changes – In this routine, Titarsolej opens with a Maloney to Pak combination, going from the low bar to the high bar, then from the high bar to the low bar, fulfilling the need for two bar changes.

2 – Two flight elements – That same Maloney to Pak combination that fulfilled the bar change requirement also fulfills the need for two flight elements, as both transitions do feature flight.

3 – A turning element, minimum C value – Titarsolej performs a couple turning elements in this routine, the first of which is the cast 1/2 turn on low bar following her Pak salto, which satisfies this requirement.

4 – A dismount, minimum C value – Titarsolej has a double tuck dismount, which is a C value. By performing it directly out of the giant full for connection bonus, she avoids all deductions for an isolated C dismount.

Up to level

She fulfills UTL through the third option, the two D releases at the beginning of her routine:

1 – A same-bar release of D value
2 – A release element of E value
3 – Two D releases – Maloney + Pak
4 – Two E-level skills

Bonus

Titarsolej follows her opening kip and cast handstand with the big point-getter in her routine, the Maloney + Pak combination. The Maloney and Pak are both D elements, so each receives 0.1 in bonus. The direct connection of two D skills receives a further 0.2 in combination, bringing her up to 0.4.

Now we move to the end of the routine, where the D-value giant full (this is different from elite, where the giant full is a C) is connected directly to the C-value double tuck dismount for 0.1 in connection bonus and 0.1 in skill value for the D element. That brings her up to 0.6 total in bonus, which is enough for a 10.0 start value.

Skill values

Here are the major skill values you’ll want to know for bars. Note: Links go to the elite skill database, and some elite skill values are different from college.

Same-bar releases

Tkatchev – D
All other Tkatchev entries (Ray, Hindorff, Ricna, etc) – E
Jaeger straddled – D
Jaeger piked – E
Gienger piked – D
Khorkina – D
Comaneci – E
Shushunova – E

Deductions

The most important thing you need to know about NCAA deductions is ‾\_(ツ)_/‾. Keep that in mind at all times.

Falls

Falls are 0.50 each time. Pretty straightforward.

Sometimes, you will see a gymnast fall on a routine and then receive a score like 8.950 and go, “Wait, the half point for the fall doesn’t account for that whole deduction-scape.” In these cases, the gymnast likely also lost connection bonus and/or skill value for falling on a compositionally critical part of the routine, so the start value was no longer 10.0.

Landings

The smallest landing deduction the judges can take is .05. This is supposed to be reserved for only the very smallest of movements, like when a gymnast allllmost sticks but her momentum forces that little scoot backward, or she has that tiny hop in place where the feet don’t even really come up but it’s also not a stick. A clear, actual step is supposed to be a .10 deduction, and if the step is larger than a yard, it’s supposed to be .20 for each step individually.

In addition to stepping/hopping/lunging, there will be landing position deductions for issues like an egregious squat (some squatting is good to absorb a landing, but deductions come into play if the hip joint is parallel with or below the knee joint) or leaning way forward to try to hold a stick. A stuck landing does not mean the landing is free from deductions. Leaning or doing the butterfly to try to stay planted are deductions, and if the gesticulations are significantly wild, they can end up being a larger deduction (say, .10) than the small scoot they’re serving to avoid would have been (.05).

Lack of control is also a separate thing on landing, so if a gymnast steps once and then does that little move where she turns around and kind of bounces and salutes and never really stops moving, that can be a .05 in addition to the step.

Handstands

Handstands are THE THING on bars.

When gymnasts cast to handstand in NCAA, we’re told the judges are expecting them to be within 10 degrees of vertical to receive no deduction. This “degree” stuff is super ambiguous (the human eye cannot tell the difference between 9 degrees and 11 degrees on a handstand), so the rule basically ends up being “y’all better be vertical.”

Here is a vertical handstand for no deduction:

Here, the handstand is vertical, and the entire body is in line with itself, not showing an excessively arched back or revealing that she (gasp) has rib bones. Even in cases where a gymnast hits a vertical handstand with the feet, she can be deducted for body position if all the parts (ribs, spine, head, spleen) aren’t making a single vertical line.

If the torso is perfectly vertical but there’s an angle in the hips so the feet aren’t vertical, that doesn’t count as vertical. The position is going to be judged by the feet.

Meanwhile, here is a handstand that comes up 10 degrees short:

This second handstand is going to look very close to a vertical handstand in real time and is pretty much as far from vertical as you can go while hoping to escape without a deduction. Any further from vertical will receive a small deduction on each instance.

Much shorter than vertical will get more severely deducted and start going into full-tenth land (as well as risk losing the value of the skill), but most of your “oh, she was just a little short on that handstand” issues will end up getting .05.

We tend to focus on the vertical position when gymnasts cast to handstand, but it is equally important on pirouetting skills like a giant full. On those skills, watch the point at which the gymnast ceases turning. At that moment, the vertical position is supposed to be maintained. Finishing a pirouette short of vertical is the same problem as casting to handstand short of vertical, though the evaluation is very forgiving on pirouettes, with gymnasts allowed to finish 20 degrees past vertical for no deduction. In particular, we see a lot of late cast 1/2 turns on low bar that are escaping without deduction because you could theoretically maybe say it was within 20 degrees.

The vertical finishing position is also important on skills like a bail to handstand, where the gymnast is expected to catch straight up and down, without a shoulder angle or hip angle that brings the feet short of vertical. If the handstand position is very short of vertical, it should get downgraded to a non-handstand overshoot, a lower-value skill that could end up destroying the intended start value.

Other deductions

There are many, many other little deductions that will (or more accurately can) be taken on bars, but one of the remaining significant ones is a lack of amplitude on release elements. If a same-bar release, transition, or dismount is “flat,” it’s going to be deducted. Flatness is typically evaluated by the height of the hips. Did they rise up during the skill (good)? Or did they stay about at the same level they were when the bar was initially released (bad)? On an element like a Jaeger or Gienger, the hips are expected to rise above the level of the high bar when the flip is being performed. On a double salto dismount, the hips are expected to still be rising into the second salto and stay above the high bar for both flips.

On the topic of amplitude, another deduction you’ll see on releases relates to catching close. A gymnast intends to catch a same-bar release with extended elbows, maintaining the same rhythm through to the next element. Catching too close to the bar, typically with bent elbows, impedes that rhythm and often shows up in a stall/pause or a muscled cast handstand out of the skill. All these little deductions add up.

Being too close to the bar can be a problem on dismounts as well. As on vault, the gymnast intends to go both up (hips over the height of the bar) and out (so that your foot—or face—doesn’t almost clip the bar). Coming terrifyingly close to hitting the bar on the dismount is a deduction because of terrifying.

Now to leg separations. This often gets ignored in NCAA because the judges can’t necessarily see leg separations from the side view, but the legs are supposed to be pasted together on pirouettes, transitions, and dismounts, basically for the entire routine unless you’re performing a release element with straddle, or straddling up to handstand. If the legs lose contact with each other unintentionally, that’s a deduction—typically a .05 unless we’re verging into crazy-legs territory, where one of the legs looks like it’s about to fly off, then it can be more.

So, if the legs flash apart for a second on top of the bar in the middle of a full turn, or you see daylight between them on a bail handstand or double layout dismount, or the two legs are in uneven positions in the air on a full-twisting double tuck dismount, those are all going to end up being .05 deductions.

The knees are also expected to be perfectly straight on bars at all times. Basically, the legs should be forming a straight line throughout the entire routine unless it’s during a tucked dismount. A major source of potential leg form deductions are giant swings before the dismount, where softening the legs as they pass by the low bar can be a .05. Sometimes a gymnast will ditch the traditional two giants before her dismount if she can, even though it doesn’t do anything for her start value, and you think, “well then…for why?” It’s probably because her leg position on giant swings is a deduction trap they’re trying to avoid.

Flexed feet is another point of contention when it comes to NCAA judging. Ideally, the feet should be pointed at all times during a routine. See the first handstand image above. That’s what we’re looking for.

In reality, my impression is that flexed feet aren’t really getting deducted if the feet become flexed on, say, a single challenging same-bar release skill. But, if the foot flexion is pronounced and present throughout the routine, a small overall deduction will be taken.

Keep in mind a tendency in NCAA to judge holistically, taking into account the overall sense of a routine. If a judge sees a borderline-but-it’s-mostly-fine lack of amplitude on a Shaposh element, then slightly soft knees in giant swings before the dismount, but nothing else to deduct, they may take all of that into account and simply say, “OK there were 2 or 3 things that are borderline deductions, none of which I HAVE to take as a pure .05, but that also combine to mean this wasn’t a 10. So, I’m going to give it 9.950.”

That’s the level of subjectivity we still have in NCAA gymnastics, which can be frustrating to those familiar with the elite code or who want specific receipts of all deductions to maintain transparency and continuity across all judges. It’s not going to happen any time soon. YOU’RE WELCOME.

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