Sunday, 02 September 2018 18:05

2018-2019 NCAA Women's Rule Modifications Released Featured

The NCAA Rules Modifications for 2018-2019 The NCAA Rules Modifications for 2018-2019

The NCAA Rules Modifications for Women's Gymnastics for 2018-2019 have been released.  Fans that were waiting for substantial changes will be disappointed, as this year's code modfications contains the smallest number of changes we've seen in years. 

The document, posted late last week, includes no actual requirement changes on any event.  Thus, the only changes that will take effect are those in the underlying USA Gymnastics Level 10 Code for Women.  However, the underlying JO Code contained few modifications that impacted the NCAA.  No significant skill values were changed and the largest changes were made in various requirements and compositional deductions that do not apply in the NCAA.  In general, it's tougher to avoid automatic deductions in the JO L10 Code, with much tougher compositional requirements than in the NCAA.  The JO Code also provides a bonus mechanism for E skiills on UB, BB and FX that was not adopted by the NCAA.  Thus we'll continue to see a growing gap in the skill level being trained in the club ranks, and the easier routines that will be required in the NCAA.

However, execution changes to theThe biggest changes were in the underlying USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic code relating to concentration pauses on BB and FX.  For BB, a concentration pause of 2 seconds should take 0.1s while a longer pause should equate to 0.2.  On FX, a concentration pause of 2 seconds is a 0.1 deduction.  This means teams that are used to pausing a full two seconds before a skill need to adapt their rhythm to a pause that is clearly less than two seconds, to leave no doubt.   

Only a few changes were made by the NCAA to non-execution and non-compositional issues: On vault, vault numbers will be flashed.  The code also clarifies for inquiries to be made in certain situations (start value, up to the level, specific compsitional deductions, unusual circumstances) throughout competition season, including the Championships.

One change that was NOT made was on BB.  While the front aerial to bhs no longer earns connection bonus, the kickover front to bhs still earns 0.2 in connection bonus.  The NCAA also retains a number of value upgrades, including the straddle jump 1/4 (from B for JO L10 to C for NCAA). 

The lack of strenghthening of the code could lead to some new records being broken this season.  You may see teams that aspire to be in the National finals all hitting the 198 mark this season.

Link:  2019 Rules

Login to post comments