IHSA

IHSA Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - 2007-08

Boys/girls Gymnastics Advisory Committee

March 19, 2008

The IHSA Boys and Girls Gymnastics Advisory Committee met at Palatine High School, Palatine, Illinois on Wednesday, March 19, 2008, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Committee members present were: Blaise Blasko, Glen Ellyn; Brad Foerch, Naperville (North); Judy Harwood, Lincolnshire (Stevenson); Kathy Krebs, Olympia Fields (Rich Central); Howard Rubin, Schaumburg (H.S.). IHSA Assistant Executive Director Kurt Gibson and Jerry Dobbs, Girls’ Gymnastics State Finals Meet Director were also in attendance. Not in attendance was James Ferguson, Hinsdale (Central).

TERMS AND CONDITIONS RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. (Boys) Item VIII. K. 2) Substitutions:
(Girls) Item V. E. 2) Coaches Meeting and Substitutions:

Recommendation: The committee recommends that when a team substitution is made during a meet and the substitute has not warmed up on the meet equipment, the athlete be given a one and a half minute touch warm up prior to his/her team competing on that event as determined by the Meet Referee. General warm up will take place in the warm up gymnasium, if available.

Rationale: Providing this warm up opportunity for substitutes will create a better and safer environment for an athlete to perform. No previous allowance for such a situation had been provided for in the Terms and Conditions.

approved

2. (Boys) Item VI. A. Sectional Host:

Recommendation: The committee recommends that the IHSA Office assign all schools entering the state series to one of five (5) Sectional complexes. The IHSA will determine the five (5) Sectional hosts based on the seeding information provided. Ten (10) Sectional team assignments will be made based on the seeds determined by the IHSA. The top ten (10) assignments are as follows:
Sectional A: seeds 1, 10
Sectional B: seeds 2, 9
Sectional C: seeds 3, 8
Sectional D: seeds 4, 7
Sectional E: seeds 5, 6
The five (5) highest seeded teams in the state will have the first option to host if its principal has signed the “Sectional Host Consent Form” agreeing to host. If the highest seeded team can not host, then the next highest seeded team in the assigned Sectional will host if its principal has signed the “Sectional Host Consent Form.” After the top 10 teams are assigned to a Sectional, the team and individual state series assignments will be determined by the IHSA according to geographic location.

Rationale: The committee believes this format combines the current seeding procedure and geographic representation being used in other IHSA state series events. Ranking 10 teams provides a balanced sectional and guarantees a host site for the IHSA. The girls currently seed 16-18 teams into four (4) regionals, which feed into one (1) sectional site. This recommendation would provide for the boys’ state series to utilize a similar approach to its first level of competition.

rejected

3. (Girls) Item VI. F. 3) State Final Meet:

Recommendation: The committee recommends that during the girls’ gymnastics state finals preliminary round all four (4) events be run concurrently, reducing the preliminary round from two (2) sessions to one (1), with the preliminary session beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Rationale: The committee and the girls’ gymnastics coaches association believe that the current format doesn’t favor athletes, coaches, judges, or spectators. Moving to this format would increase the interest and excitement of the meet and also address the concern that athletes have too much down time between warm up and competition, which, when coupled with the lack of a complete warm-up gym, increases the potential for injury. Moving to such a format would potentially increase school/student involvement since students would be more likely to attend one session than two, particularly when the one session would have a major impact on the outcome of the team competition.

rejected

ADMINISTRATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. (Girls) Structure and Format of State Series

Recommendation: The committee recommends the formation of an ad-hoc committee to review the structure and format of the girls’ gymnastics state series.

Rationale: The committee expressed some concern that the current format of four sectionals with four regionals feeding into each sectional may create some competitive shortcomings at the start of the state series. Over the past few years, regionals have typically consisted of 4-5 teams, which is a smaller number than most conference meets or invitational meets have. Looking to see if the current structure of the state series needs to be revised to make the state series the most credible competitive situation possible will enable stakeholders to ensure the state series remains viable.

2. (Girls) Sectional and State Final Order of Performance

Recommendation: The committee recommends the following adjustment be made in the Girls’ Gymnastics School and Managers Manuals for sectional and state final order of performance:

The order of performance determines what order a school will perform within the event and prevents one school from always going first. If a school is randomly drawn to go first on an event more than twice than the order for that group will be redrawn.

Rationale: While the committee believes the use of a random draw to determine order of performance is a valid method of determining order of performance, some safeguard should be implemented to ensure that the most a school will go first for their rotation group is twice, or half of the total number of events. A team or individual could find themselves disadvantaged should they be required to go first more than twice on any event.

3. (Girls) Warm Up Gym at State Finals

Recommendation: The committee recommends that a warm up gym consisting of legally matted beam, bars, vault, and a 60’ tumbling strip be provided at the girls’ gymnastics state finals for competitors.

Rationale: The committee believes that with the current state finals format, which sometimes results in athletes not performing on an event up to 3+ hours after warming up, requires a full warm up gym to be available for the meet. Having such a space will not only protect the safety of the competitors, but it will also improve the quality of the meet.

4. (Girls) State Finals Score Sheets

Recommendation: The committee recommends that, during the girls’ gymnastics state series, the names of each judge, their officials ID #, and their judge # in each event be placed on all score sheets.

Rationale: The committee believes including the above information on the score sheet will provide for more open scoring of the state series and enable coaches to have better information for rating officials, as required by the IHSA.

ITEMS OF GENERAL DISCUSSION:

1. The committee reviewed and approved minutes from the 2007 advisory committee meeting. Committee members were reminded of their responsibility in keeping those whom they represent informed of the actions of the committee.

2. The committee heard reports from Mike Obsuszt and Jerry Dobbs on the most recently-held boys’ and girls’ gymnastics state finals. On the boys’ side, it was noted that 2008 will mark Barrington High School’s last year to serve as state finals host. At this time, no site has been selected to serve as state finals host. To date, minimal interest has been expressed by member schools to serve as future hosts. On the girls’ side, the committee shared concerns about the lack of equipment in the warm up gym.

3. The committee discussed moving seed meetings to Monday. It was noted that in all IHSA athletic state series where seed meetings are held, the seed meetings are held on Wednesday. Girls’ gymnastics coaches, in particular, indicated that the Wednesday meeting conflicted with scheduled meets, and a move to Monday might be a better fit for them. No action was taken on the matter.

4. The committee discussed, but took no action on, allowing schools to use 60’ tumbling strip, in lieu of the 40’ x 40’ floor during dual meets in GYG. It was noted that while allowing use of the tumbling strip might allow more schools to host dual meets, there are no provisions in NFHS Girls’ Gymnastics rule book for use of any kind of floor other than a 40’ x 40’.

5. The committee heard a report from committee member Blasko which detailed an initiative from IHSGCA to mentor new judges and aid in their development. The initiative involves new judges shadowing and partnering with veteran judges before working meets on their own. It was noted that this year’s ‘pilot’ group includes six newly registered judges.

6. The committee reviewed the process for establishing the rotation order for girls’ gymnastics regionals. The committee was reminded that the rotation order can’t be determined at the sectional/regional seed meetings since regional hosts won’t know which schools with individuals will be assigned to their regional at the time of the meeting. Once know, regional managers should follow the procedures outlined in the Girls’ Gymnastics Manager’s Manual.

7. The committee expressed its thanks to out-going committee members Foerch, Harwood, and Rubin for their service to the committee over the past three years.