Pommel Horse
Introduction
I
o
A. 42
Unusual for the same T.A., this was a second World Championship. At the previous Worlds in Birmingham, I had used conventional Judges' notation of B, C, D and E. A super-quick disc ussion while awaiting the scores had allowed me to comple te longhand notes as to which actual elements had been performed. Rarely indeed could either the Controller, Bill Roetzheim, or myself remember which element that D in the middle (etc.) had actually been. However, the scores had a distressing tendency to arrive too soon. By the end of the competition, I was using certain symbols as a rapid aid. Especially /V\ and similar notation for cross support walks. I used this system, still largely just capital letters, for local and international competitions all year. This worked, but was manifestly NOT capable of the repaid reconstruction of all the elements; which I needed in order to write this report properly. A further problem was the vastly increased amount of complex one pommel work. A new system was needed.
Further analysis of the problem The vast majority of skills on the Pommels rated D and E are made by putting together relatively few basic building blocks, typically B or C elements, in varying combinations. As the gymnast star ts to create, it is not possible for a judge to know how many will be used, or when a new combination is to start. The only effective system must record each block as it appears, and find the difficulty level afterwards, by reading back. An excellent analogy would be that of a typist to whom words are being spelled out letter by letter, with no spaces between word s. After the sentence had been fully written, it may easily be read. In this Worlds, a total of 384 Ds and Es were recorded. Only 27 of these were sing le sk ills, namely 19 Tong Feis and 8 single pommel Russian wendeswings.
REPORT ON THE POMMEL HORSE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BRISBANE 1994 Ron Smith
Technical Assistant In addition 10 Mogiln ys were seen written in an unsplittable manner. In all other cases, the writing starts as the first building block is executed; there is no wait for the whole sequence to finish.
The solution My analysis of the routines cannot be separated from my symbols, since several skills are realistically unwriteable except in symbolic form.
Writing a Pommel Horse routine The symbols suggested here allow the routine to be written in real time, as the gymnast circles. They may be read back for a full reconstruction to check difficulty and special requirements.
Cross support steps and walks; loops and Stocklis. Symbol
Letter
/ \-
B
Any single step, up, down, or ocross, in circle or floir Full Mogyor wolk-up, down, up, down
/--v.,
o o
;lL'1 ; "from cross support circles facing inwards on the end, step up onto the pommel, two circles in cross support, Russian wendeswing on the pommel to finish in side support circles on the original end. " Even the shorthand of "step up, two loops, Russian to the end" is too long for use in real time. The key is the use of sloping and horizontal lines to represent cross support steps, with little scoops to suggest visually steps over a pommel, in addition, lower case letters are used for specific skills .. . lower case since we wri te them faster than capitols. The letters chosen conform to normal English practice. I would suggest that each gymnastics nation adapt to conform to their own usage. Handstands are a special case, using an h. with superscript to indicate type. This is easy when the handstand is a dism.ount, since there is a second or two to write. Handstands in the middle of a routine can be ponderous to record ... any ideas are gratefully received.
Meaning
Any forword wolk, missing the middle-up, step ocross to end, or Bilozerchev
(
Bilozerchev to side support
(
Any step over 0 pommel
o o o o
Mogyor wolk-stepping over eoch pommel Sivodo wolk-up, down, up, down Sivodo wolk-stepping over each pommel Sivodo-hond on pommel middle, pommel
f
Breok into floir
t S
Go bock to circles, legs together.
z
L ()
B
Direct Stockli Bfrom side support or from cross support on one pommel
B
... from cross support-stort 0 step, chonge to Stockli
B
Pommel loop (Circle in cross support) Outword loop ( Foce out on end)
Even these few symbols allow well over half the difficulty seen in Brisbane to be recorded. e.g. /SSl\/\" "'" 0 + Bwithin a 0, + C. Bonus +0.3
July 1994 TECHNIQUE