Competition Format and Information

How does a competition work?

It can be a bit daunting arriving at a venue for your competion, so here is a brief explaination of how the day is likely to go, and some of the terminology that you will hear being used.

Competitors and their Coaches, officials and volunteers are the only people allowed onto the competition floor.

There will be a viewing gallery for your family and friends to watch you from. When you are not competing, you are able to sit with your family and friends. Usually club members, family and friends sit together in the viewing stands. At higher level competitions, competitors are not able to sit with family and friends as they are all together in another gym with their coaches and team members.

There is usually a photographer on the day and you can go to their stand to see the photos after you have competed.

There are sometimes other stands too depending on the size of the competition.

Please do not forget your;

• Leotard - club or school depending on who your are representing and the type of competition - this is really important as you will not be allowed to compete if you do not have the correct leotard.

• Club Tracksuit - if you are representing your club

• Trampoline Shoes

• Hair must be tied up close to your head

• Ensure no underwear is showing - bra straps, pants etc.

• Support Strapping - must be flesh coloured where possible or discreet

There are Panels (Judging panels in front of numbered trampolines) and Flights (the group you are competing in) at a competition. The competition programme/schedule will tell you which Panel and which Flight you are competing in along with the class that you have been entered for. Where a class has more than 16 competitors, there will be 2 or more flights for that class. Your flight warm up start time will also be given in this information - however, you must always be at the competition at least1hour before the stated time as competitions are allowed to run up to an hour before the stated time in the competition programme/schedule. If you are the first flight of the day then you need to arrive about 15 minutes before the Flight time start time to orientate and familiarise yourself with the competition arena.

The Panel will have a number (ususally 1 to 4 but depends on the size of he competition and the number of competitors). You will be given a Panel number where you will perform your routines. There are ususally 2 trampoline beds in front of the judging panel and you can choose which one you want to warm up and compete on.

The Flight is the number of the group which you are competing in on your panel and will be given an approximate start time for warming up on the competition programme/schedule - so in a day there are typically 6 flights and each of the flights will be made up of specific classes.

Warm up time given on the trampolines is around 15-30 minutes depending on the group size and you all take it in turn to warm up on the trampolines using both trampolines at once - approx. 45 -60 seconds per go. Your Judging Panel will inform you when it is your last warm up by saying: One Touch – this is your last chance to run once through one of your routines. In your earlier warm up bounces you will have already run through your routines. At some higher level competitions you warm up in another gym area and are allowed One Touch on the bed you choose to compete on for your panel in the main competition arena.

Sometimes you may see the Judges practicing/getting their eye in during your one touch routine - this is not scored.

Waiting to compete:

Once the warm up has concluded, the gymnasts from their flight sit on benches in the order that they will be called to bounce and the Marshal will call them when it is their time to go up and compete your first routine.

Depending on the level of the competition the scores will either be shown on the screens or the judges will show their scores.

You may be asked to spot for one of your team members.

You will then return to the bench until the Marshal calls you to compete your second routine.

A competition can be over in 1-2 hours depending on the numbers in a group. 

Results and Prize Giving:

Depending on the arrangements at the competition, the results will either be available on computer screens in the viewing area, or on the compeition organisers FaceBook page fro example. The volunteers on the door should be able to tell your where the results will be able to be viewed.

Prize Giving for Medals and Trophies is usually done several times during the day, or sometimes at lunch time and then at the end of the day. At higher level competitions there is a bigger presentation done at lunch time and the end of the day. At some competitions competitiors parade onto the floor before collecting their medals.

Routines

A Routine consist of 10 skills.

Each move must be completed one after the other with no extra bounces or one footed landings.  Either of these errors will mean that no scores after that move will be counted, but you can continue to the end of your routine if you wish.

If you touch any part of the padding around the trampoline then your routine will also stop at that point.

Everyone will do two routines - a Set and a Voluntary (Vol)

For some people these two routines will be the same, and for others they will be different.

The Set routine is set by the class that you are entered for and everyone does the same routine.

The Vol is made up of either the same moves as the Set or a series of moves agreed between you and your Coach and will have a difficulty tariff depending on the moves in the routine.

At some higher competitions the top 8 competitors will progress to a Final and perform another third routine.

Click here to see all the routines for the BG competitions and the BSGA competitions.

Range and Condidtioning:

At some competitions the top two or three placed competitors are required to do a range and conditioning exercise which is a set routine of exercices on the floor and are judged by a panel of judges. A score of 70% or above is requiredf or your to pass and be allowed to go through to the next level of competition. Your coach will train you how to do this routine amd what is involved in it. The routine is found on the link above to the routines under the British Gymnastics TRA Regional Technical Regulations 2023.

Scoring a Routine

There are 3 or 4 different elements that make up a trampoline score. These are:

Routine 1 - Set Routine

Execution (E) Score: this is what the judges mark on the form, control and stablilty of each move - max 20.0 for a routine 

Horizontal Displacement (HD) Score: how much you travel outside of the box with the red cross in it - max 10.0 for a routine

Time of Flight (ToF) Score: how much time you spend in the air in the routine - 1 second = 1 whole mark.

Routine 2 - Voluntary Routine

Execution (E) Score: this is what the judges mark on the form, control and stablilty of each move - max 20.0 for a routine 

Horizontal Displacement (HD) Score: how much you travel outside of the box with the red cross in it - max 10.0 for a routine

Time of Flight (ToF) Score: how much time you spend in the air in the routine - 1 second = 1 whole mark. Difficulty (D) Score: each skill has a set difficulty rating and the 10 skills are added together

Time of Flight is not used at all competitions and is usually only at the higher levels. It is not used at Schools competitions or Disablity competitions or the lower levels for British Gymnastics competions.

The two scores from the Set and Voluntary are added together to get the final results. The highest score wins.