| Date | Competition | Closing Date | Details |
| 2008 |
|||
| 2nd Nov. '08 | Cambridge Cangaroos Open | TBA | Sawston |
| 12th Oct. '08 | Eastern Grading (H-D) | TBA | Ipswich |
| 28th Sept. '08 | Brentwood Open | TBA | Brentwood |
| 22nd Jun. '08 | Eastern Grading (3-5) | TBA | Harlow |
| 18th May '08 | Milton Keynes Open | Results | |
| 23rd Mar. '08 | Eastern Grading (3-6) | 29th Feb. '08 | Results |
| 9th Mar. '08 | British School National Final | (Through School) | Results |
| 20th Jan. '08 | British Schools Zonal Round | (Through School) | Results |
| 13th Jan. '08 | Not Entered | ||
| 2007 |
|||
| 2nd Dec. '07 | British Schools Regional Round | (Through School) | Results |
| Not Entered | |||
| Brentwood Open | Results | ||
| Storm Club Competition | TBA | Results | |
| Not Entered | |||
| Elite TC Open | Results | ||
| Milton Keynes Open | Results | ||
| Brentwood Grading (3-5) | TBA | Results | |
| Not Entered | |||
| British Schools National Final | (Through School) | Sunderland | |
| Hitchin Grading (3-5) | Results | ||
| British School Zonal Round | (Through School) | Hampshire | |
| 2006 |
|||
| Not Entered | |||
| British Schools Regional Round | (Through School) | Results | |
| Brentwood Open (1-6) | 6th October | Results | |
| Not entered | |||
| Storm Club Competition | Results | ||
| Recoil Invitational (1-6) | Results | ||
| Pheonix Flyers Friendly (1-6) | Results | ||
| Harlow Grading 3-5 | Results | ||
| Not entered | |||
| Brentwood Grading 3-5 | Results | ||
| British Schools National Final | N/A | Results | |
| British Schools Zonal Round | N/A | Results | |
| Hitchin Grading 3-5 | |||
| 2005 |
|||
| Cancelled | |||
| British Schools Regional Round | N/A | Results | |
| Cancelled | |||
| Grading 3-5 (Ipswich) | Results | ||
| Brentwood Open | Results | ||
| Storm Club Comp. | N/A | Results to come | |
| Recoil Invitational | Results | ||
| Grading 3-5 (Harlow) | Results | ||
| Milton Keynes Open | Results | ||
| Grading 3-5 (Brentwood) | Results | ||
| Pheonix Open | Results | ||
| British Schools National Final | N/A | Results | |
| British Schools Zonal Round | N/A | Results | |
| Grading 3-4 (Laindon) | Results | ||
| 2004 |
|||
| Pheonix DMT & Synchro | Results to come | ||
| British Schools Regional Round | N/A | Results | |
| Colchester Open | Refused entry... | ||
| Grading 3-5 (Ipswich) | Results | ||
| Brentwood Open | Results | ||
| Storm Club Comp | Results | ||
| Recoil Invitational | Results | ||
| Milton Keynes Open | Results |
General Guidance and Information for Competition
The following information can be downloaded as a WORD file here
This is intended as a reference for performers and all parents accompanying their children to competitions.
Click here to jump to a particular section:
TYPES OF COMPETITION [Top]
There
are about 10 or 12 competitions a year. They break down into the following
types:
· Open or Invitational. These are friendly competitions, organised
by individual clubs, purely for fun and experience.
· Regional Grading. These are official competitions run under the guidance
of British Gymnastics. There are 4 a year, and it is only at these competitions
that performers may qualify to higher grades. (See below)
· National Grading. These are only for grades 1 & 2 and can be
anywhere in Britain.
· Schools Championship. This is a National competition in which individual
schools can enter teams based in academic year groups. There are qualifying
rounds at a regional and zonal level before the National Finals.
· Synchro. This is sometimes found incorporated into Open’s,
but can also be separate competitions. This is where 2 competitors complete
the same routines on adjacent trampolines at the same time.
GRADES [Top]
Competitors are separated for competitions by age group and grade. Age group is determined by year of birth, NOT academic year. Grades are from 1 to 6, 1 being for the most advanced, 6 for beginners. Depending on the child’s skill level, they can enter at either grade 6, 5 or 4. To enter at 3 or above, the child must achieve a qualifying score at one of the 4 yearly grading competitions. They then progress up the grades as necessary.
ROUTINES [Top]
For every competition, the competitor needs two 10-bounce routines memorised. The first is a SET routine; this is specific to the appropriate grade and age group. Everyone in the group will be doing the same one. The routine must be performed exactly as prescribed with no extra bounces in between. All routines for the appropriate grade and age are available for reference on the Storm website. The other routine needed is the voluntary or VOL. This routine is designed in negotiation with the coach; every one can be different. It is normally more difficult than the SET as extra marks are given for difficulty. (See Scoring). Performers only get one chance to complete their routines and if they make a mistake they cannot try again. In higher grades, there is sometimes a third ‘Final’ round. In this round, the VOL is preformed again.
STRUCTURE [Top]
When you arrive at the competition, a Storm coach should give a ‘Warm-Up Card’ to the performer. This allows the competitor to a minimum of 4 practices during the general warm-up, 2 for each routine. The competition programme should state whether they should be warming up just their ‘sets’ to start with, or ‘sets’ and ‘vols’. When their round is ready, competitors will have a choice of 2 adjacent trampolines. They should pick one and give their warm-up card to the bed marshal. The bed marshal will call out their name when it’s their turn. During warm-up, if the competitor doesn’t like the feel of the bed they have chosen, they can choose to try their next practice on the other one. To do this, they must collect their warm-up card and give it to the marshal on the other bed. Once they have had their allocated practice goes, they may be asked to stop and return to the competitor’s area for that panel. Sometimes they can keep practising for longer if time allows. After general warm-up, the competition marshal for that panel will round up the competitors and get them in order. At this point a ‘rolling’ or ‘five-up’ warm-up begins. This is one last chance to practise the relevant routine. The first 5 will do a routine each, then No.1 will COMPETE. Once No.1 has competed, No.6 will warm-up, No.2 competes and the pattern continues. If the groups are small, it is common for the ‘vol’ round to immediately follow the ‘set’. In bigger groups, a second round of general warm-up will begin for the ‘vol’.
ETIQUETTE [Top]
During competition, no-one must walk in between the judging panel and competing bed in case they are judging a routine. Whenever someone is bouncing, they must have spotters. When actually COMPETING, they must bring TWO spotters only, stood at the two open corners of the bed. Spotters cannot communicate with the competitor during their routine. When called to compete by the competition marshal, the competitor should mount the trampoline and sit neatly in the seat drop position on the cross. The chair of judges will then inform them that they may begin. At this point the competitor should neatly turn to face the judges and ‘present’ (Right arm for the boys, both arms for the girls). Then ¼ twist to face the direction they want to start when they bounce. At the end of the routine they should stop dead and stay still for 3 seconds to show they are under control. They are then free to leave the bed. Sportsmanship and composure should be shown at all times.
SCORING [Top]
At
all competitions, judging panels consist of: 5 form judges who judge the neatness
of the routine, a chair of judges, who advises of deductions and makes important
decisions with regards to disputes, and a tariff judge who checks that the
routine is correct and calculates the difficulty score of a routine during
the ‘vols’. As the routine is performed, the form judges are looking
at every single move and deciding how close it was to perfect. This eventually
equates to a score out of 10 for the routine. When the judges show their scores,
to avoid any bias, the top and bottom scores are disregarded and the middle
three are added together. In the ‘vol’ round, the tariff score
is also added to make the total score for the routine. Following, are reasons
why extra marks may be deducted from a routine:
· Instability at the end of a routine.
· More than 10 elements in the routine.
· Less than 10 elements in the routine.
· Communicating or being communicated with during the routine.
· Taking too long to start the routine (more than 60 seconds)
These are reasons why the judging of a routine could be stopped before the
end:
· Landing on one leg.
· Performing the incorrect move during a ‘set’.
· ‘Killing the bed’ during a routine.
· Landing-on any pads, mats or springs, or touching them with any part
of your body or clothing. (This includes hair and hair ties!)
· Putting hands down, or landing on knees etc. during a routine.
Obviously, the competitor with the highest sub-total for both ‘set’
and ‘vol’ added together will be the winner.
CLOTHING [Top]
As
a general rule, the clothing regulations are the same for all competitions.
They are as follows:
· Boys should IDEALLY wear a sleeveless leotard and light-coloured
or white gym stirrups with plain socks in white or in the same colour as the
stirrups; or trampoline shoes. They CAN wear a plain white t-shirt and plain
white short-shorts, but it is discouraged.
· Girls should wear a leotard (long-sleeved, or sleeveless) with plain
white socks or trampoline shoes. They MAY be able to wear hot-pants/shorties,
depending on the competition, but they must match the colour and material
of the leotard exactly.
· If the competitors are in a TEAM, all team members MUST be wearing
identical kit.
· NO jewellery is allowed.
Although not an official rule, at Storm we hope that all competitors come
to competitions in the club tracksuit and t-shirt and ideally compete in the
club leotard. These can be bought, or hired as appropriate. We take no profit
from hiring them, as all costs are offset as a discount for them to be bought
second hand.
OFFICIALLING
[Top]
At EVERY competition there is an obligation for competing clubs to provide
competition officials. The number required is proportional to the number of
club competitors entering.
As
coaches, we feel that our time at competitions is best spent supporting and
encouraging competitors. We too often end up needing to be officials instead
though. We hope that in the future, parents will be willing to help us out
in this regard so that we can be left to help the kids. There will be an opportunity
on the termly costing sheets, to indicate if any help can be provided. Please
think about volunteering, it would be a great help to the kids and the club.
Officials (with the exception of warm-up marshals) generally get a free lunch
on the day, and Storm will also through in a bottle of wine! Below are descriptions
of all the official positions:
FORM JUDGE
A form judge is someone who watches the competing routines and allocates scores
for the neatness of the execution (form). To be a form judge, you must attend
a 1½ training course, which Storm will happily fund if people are willing
to volunteer for this role.
TARIFF JUDGE
A tariff judge is someone who watches the competing routines and checks that
the set routine is correct, and for the vol, adds up the difficulty scores
for the moves in the routine as they are performed. To be a tariff judge,
you must also attend the BG judges course.
RECORDER
The recorder is an administrator who takes down judges scores and calculates
totals as necessary. There are two types of recorder, and both are normally
found working in parallel. One is a manual recorder who does everything on
paper and uses a calculator. There is also a computer recorder who types in
the scores into special scoring software and works everything out on computer.
Neither position requires any qualifications as such, but experience would
be essential. As such, if any parents are interested in gaining experience,
I’m sure that you could sit in at a recorders station during future
competitions to learn the job first hand.
COMPETITION MARSHALL
The competition marshal organises the traffic flow of competitors and warm-ups
during competition. They check attendance and organise everyone into order
after the general warm-up. They make sure that all competitors know when they
are about to compete or warm-up. A good competition marshal ensures the quick
and smooth running of a panel.
WARM-UP MARSHAL
This easy role is only required during the ‘general’ warm-up before
the competing round starts. There are two per panel, one for each bed. The
job involves collecting warm-up cards from competitors and ticking off the
card as routines are practised. This ensures that everyone gets their fair
share of practice and the warm-up process remains smooth and calm.