How it works: Women’s College Gymnastics

I figured I couldn’t start a blog about College Gymnastics in an attempt to grow its attention, without explaining to readers what it is and how it works.

A “Relatively” Brief History

Most of us, when we think of College athletics, think of the NCAA or the National Collegiate Athletics Association. Well, in its early days (meaning for the first 13 years of its existence) Women’s College gymnastics was not associated with this organization, as it pertained only to men’s athletics (not surprising).

Therefore, from the sports inception in 1969 (for college that is, the sport itself began the early 1900s for women) to 1972, it was a part of the Division for Girls’ and Women’s Sports. Immediately following, it fell under the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, until it was finally accepted into the NCAA in 1982.

Photo of 1969 Penn State Women’s Gymnastics Team by Penn State University Libraries

Once it became a part of the NCAA, Women’s College Gymnastics still looked very different compared to what it is today. Due to the niche nature of the sport and it not being aired on TV, It severely lacked in garnering attention from those outside of the gymnastics community (and who wants a sport without fans?).

That all changed with a man named Greg Marsden, who was the head coach of the Women’s Gymnastics Team for the University of Utah from 1974 until 2015. He began the job with a goal in mind to reshape the sport by turning it into more of a “show”, similar to other popular collegiate sports in effort to improve its popularity.

To achieve this, he implemented more frequent competitions throughout the season (at least one each weekend), added new features to competitions such as music and cheerleaders, and together with his own gymnasts, personally promoted meets with posters and billboards trying to find anyone to come watch.

His efforts were an integral part as to why College gymnastics is as popular as it is today, where top teams within the NCAA can expect to have over 10,000 fans at any given competition.

Photo of Huntsman Center (Utah) by New York Times

So how does it ACTUALLY Work?

Now that you have a little background into the sport. Let's get into how it actually works.

Like all other college sports, the NCAA divides programs into 3 divisions. Division 1 being the biggest and best skilled schools that offer full scholarships for their athletes, Division 2 is for smaller (maybe slightly less skilled) schools that still offer scholarships, and the lowest level being Division 3 that is also for smaller schools and usually do not offer their athletes scholarships. (For the purpose of this Blog I will be focusing on Division 1 College Gymnastics).

The NCAA Gymnastics competition season starts in the first weekend of January, and lasts until Mid April with the conclusion of the NCAA national Championships (more to come on that at a later date). During this time, teams will travel each weekend all over the country to compete against other teams (both within and outside their respective conferences).

Typical competitions consist of dual matchups (only 2 teams competing). Where the teams alternate events starting with Vault and Bars (home team starts on Vault), and then both move on to floor and beam to finish it out.

Though there are opportunities for individual athletes to win events and the all around (all events) titles, the emphasis in college gymnastics is getting the highest score possible for the team in an effort to qualify for postseason competitions later on. Though teams can consist of up to around 20 women, only 6 athletes can make the lineup to compete in each event (steep competition huh). This is because the competition operates on a 6 up 5 count system, meaning six athletes will compete but only the five best scores will count towards the team total. The gymnasts are scored out of 10.0 based on the amount of difficulty in their routine and how well they execute it.

At the end of each regular season the teams with the highest average team score (NQS: National Qualifying Score) from all the meets have the opportunity to compete in the postseason. All of this makes for a very exciting competition season, that I hope after reading this, you all will start watching.

What and Where to Watch

In order to get you started, below I have compiled a list of some of my favorite teams to watch that always have the most exciting and nail biting competitions. They can often be viewed on TV on conference channels (SEC, Pac 12 etc.) or different ESPN platforms. However, I like to watch them on my own time through a youtube channel I found called #1 Gym Fan that posts the biggest meets within hours of their conclusions. (And it’s Free!)

Happy Watching!

My Top Teams (By Conference):

SEC:

1. University of Florida
2. Louisiana State University
3. University of Alabama
4. University of Kentucky
5. Auburn University
6. University of Georgia
7. University of Arkansas

Big 10:

1. University of Michigan
2. University of Minnesota

Big 12:

1. University of Oklahoma
2. University of Denver

Pac 12:

1. University of Utah
2. UCLA
3. UC Berkeley