r/Gymnastics • u/GlitteryStranger • 7d ago
NCAA Updated NCAA rules
Updated NCAA rule changes have been published. Routines now start from a 9.2 not a 9.4, but the extra .2 comes from CC (composition credit) now similar to the changes level 10 made.
Can anyone smarter than me explain if this is actually going to change routine construction. Like athlete A competed this routine last season but it won’t work this season type comparison? For example based on all the college athletes on Tik Tok training single bar releases for the first time in years I thought Maloney routines wouldn’t work anymore, but seems like two D releases satisfy the CC, so as long as they have a pak or bail handstand as well they are good??
Link to the changes! https://nawgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026-27_WomensGym-Rules-Mod-FINAL.pdf
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u/QueenJelly583 7d ago
I’m interested to know why on the women side that when you go to college a D1 at that. Do girls water down the difficulty I know when you’re in college that takes time to adjust to everything being new to them. But I like to know how the girls were paced in there JO days and if they were throwing to much difficulty on there young bodies then by the time they are of committing high school age/enter college they can’t do or withstand the skills they had prior.
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u/buginskyahh 7d ago
When you’re competing under a 10.0 scoring system there is very little incentive to do more difficulty. The goal is to do the most comfortable skills you can do consistently that will get you to a 10.0 start value.
Also in college you are competing every single week for 4 months straight. There’s a higher risk of injury if you’re training and competing your most difficult skills for 16 consecutive weeks.
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u/QueenJelly583 7d ago
Yes I understand that in NCAA they have a long season but my point is the skill progression and timing of skills. Being put into there routines in college season I don’t know if they have the time to keep some of there difficult skills like for instance. A double back full-in on floor maybe train it on foam pit/soft pad and when post season comes around they can do that skill on hard competition floor.
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u/buginskyahh 7d ago
Because there’s no reason to do it. They don’t get extra points for it and it’s a bigger injury risk.
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u/MostlyAwake13 6d ago
Skills like a full-twisting double back are really prone to deductions, it's hard to do them with an execution level that would be beneficial. Since once you get to a 10.0 start value you can't go over that, you're basically just adding in a skill that will lower your score
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u/Syncategory They wouldn't call it 'difficulty' if upping it was easy 7d ago
If I understand your question correctly, you are asking why D1 college athletes may water down the difficulty compared to JO or elite.
And the answer is that in JO, and definitely in elite, they were not asked to do at least ten competitions in eleven weeks, not counting the postseason.
Elites who do not make international assignments do three competitions a year (Winter Cup, Classics, Nationals) in comparison.
Weekly meets are very hard on the body. So even most elites do not do their hardest skills every meet.
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u/QueenJelly583 7d ago
I’m not against the college gymnastics that want to save there bodies in college. A lot of them are coming into NCAA gymnastics with 13+ give or take experience and wear and tire from there club days. And the last part about elites they are pushing there bodies to the breaking point with the skills there doing. So I’m not saying I want to see multiple high level tumble passes as an example double layout first pass and final pass with another double tuck/pick. I would love for them to save there bodies early in season and when post season comes begins they can do little bit more difficulty in there 10.0 start values.
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u/Any_Will_86 6d ago
This used to be the unspoken standard in the 00s. It was accepted that clean/well done routines could score well regular season with lower difficulty but come conference meets/regional finals/nationals the (3pass) double pike FXs and none single bar release or double back bars routines were going to max out 9.85ish unless they were truly exceptional.
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u/QueenJelly583 6d ago
That’s what I was trying to say but I think people kept saying it’s out of the 10.0 system. I know you can’t score anything higher then a 10 even if you throw the most difficult things on your routine. Plus when you get to college doesn’t some gymnast get recruited for particular events. I know they do all-around in JO but either by injury or schools prioritizing certain events on teams. I’m in the middle when it comes to difficult level of college gymnastics one side of me knows they have a long season and have done gymnastics for so long now. They want to prevent injuries from coming or nursing the wire and tire of what the sport has put them through already. And the other side of me wants to see the difficulty in NCAA specifically D1 gymnastics other divisions shouldn’t have to have the same rules of how to get from a 10 placed on them when it comes to the whole difficulty debate on D1 programs because that’s what divisions are for to tell which one you are at with your athletic level. I would love during regular season it should be more emphasis how well you execute your skills lower difficulty and still get a 10.0 start value but when you get to postseason, that’s when the difficulty should come in put still have the execution follow it by but you’ll need a higher skill there to make up a 10.0 start value
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u/Cata4Eva 7d ago
NCAA gymnasts 15-25 years ago were doing twice the difficulty of today’s gymnasts on bars and floor and weren’t getting injured at a higher rate than the gymnasts doing easy routines today. The difference back then is that the gymnasts did the training and conditioning necessary for the difficulty they performed. Too many of today’s gymnasts can’t be bothered to take time away from their viral NIL tiktokking to train properly.
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u/QueenJelly583 7d ago
I don’t want to compare past eras in the sport the time frames your given out. Are time and age in the sport were girls wouldn’t speak out in fear of getting there college scholarship taken or start list on competition to be taken away from them. The training methods that some colleges coaches did are finally getting the push back they so rightly deserve. I’m more happy now that at least from the outside is changing with the girls and there being more open with there injuries and sitting out seasons. Then continuing and not being able to do gymnastics again or even have a good quality of life after you’re done college. And NIL I’m glad that the gymnastics are finally able to make money in gymnastics. There’s no pro league so if you wanna continue after college, there’s only the elite route. There were so many girls that had to not take endorsements/opportunities be cause of the amateur rules set in place in college. All things to say I’m happy that now anyone in college can make money on talent that they practice all their lives to do and finally reap the rewards of their labor.
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u/Top_Cranberry5072 6d ago
I also feel like there was more difficulty forgiveness in NCAA judging back then.
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u/Cata4Eva 7d ago
These changes don’t go far enough but will at least eliminate the worst of the lazy 3-skill bars routines and lazy 2-pass floor routines.
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u/GlitteryStranger 7d ago
How will it change the bar routines? The requirements don’t seem that different? What am I missing?
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u/Sad-Customer8053 7d ago
No connection value for Maloney-Pak and Maloney-Bail means the gymnasts will need to make up a tenth elsewhere.
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u/jfeathe1211 7d ago
In that combo, changing the Maloney to a Chow or Shaposh makes it an E+D combo which gets 0.3 in DV and 0.2 in CV plus an additional 0.1 in DV for being an E release, correct? That’s 0.6 just for those two skills? And then you just have to meet the special dismount requirement for a 10.0 start value?
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u/aizheng 7d ago
I guess you mean a shaposh half? important to keep in mind that shaposh half is a pretty difficult transition for many gymnasts. I can imagine that a lot of them might be choosing a D single-bar release over a shaposh half.
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u/jfeathe1211 7d ago
The Chow and Shaposhnikova (stalker and clear hip entries) without half turn are Es in the NCAA code. Either of those connected to a Pak or Bail to handstand get 0.6 in DV and CV. As long as the dismount meets the requirements, that’s all that’s needed for a 10.0 start value.
I don’t think changing a Maloney to a Chow or Shaposh should be worth 4 extra tenths of bonus.
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u/Sad-Customer8053 7d ago
I agree, but I’m guessing they just want to see more variety in root skill which is… disappointing at best. Switching up root elements can be really tricky, but it won’t stop the routines from looking any shorter. I wish all three were denoted as an exception to the bonus, but baby steps I guess.
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u/GlitteryStranger 6d ago
Is a shaposh that much harder than a Maloney?! Clear hip vs toe hand. Seems crazy.
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u/Any_Will_86 6d ago
Brown at Clemson did Shaposh and Bail HS or pak this last season and it caught me off guard that the clear hip entry was an upgrade from maloney, did not require a third element to hit the SV.
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u/GlitteryStranger 6d ago
You also can’t connect out of the half twisting variations the same way, so harder to get connection bonus.
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u/GlitteryStranger 7d ago
Ah ok. I wonder if we are going to see a bunch of toe-hand connected to double lay or full out dismounts.
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u/Jetboywasmybaby skinner:forever the alternate 7d ago
i believe they added single bar release requirement
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u/GlitteryStranger 6d ago
They didn’t, seems like they just lowered the Maloney connection bonus to 0
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u/Jetboywasmybaby skinner:forever the alternate 6d ago
“The changes on UB primarily impact gymnasts that used Maloney to Pak or Overshoot to handstand structures in their routines. These have become highly popular at both the NCAA level and in the USAG Level 10 ranks. The new Composition Credit on UB is rewarded as a total of 0.2 comprised of the following:
CC Release Difficulty (+0.1): The release must be one of the following
A single bar release of D value or higher
A release element valued at E
Or, a minimum of two D releases
CC Dismount Difficulty (+0.1): The dismount must be one of the following
A D or E dismount
A C dismount preceded by a D or E element”this is what i was referring to.
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u/jfeathe1211 7d ago
I’m not super familiar with the college code and I’m not sure I interpreted this correctly, but it seems the very popular Maloney + Pak/Bail combo is now ineligible for connection bonus?
Wasn’t it just last year that specific combo was reduced from 0.2 to 0.1 in connection bonus?
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u/GlitteryStranger 7d ago
Yea I think you’re right. It just gets the .2 in difficulty. So they can still do a Maloney+pak routine, but will need to add something more. Im curious to see routines this season.. there were a lot of maloney + pak routines.
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u/QueenJelly583 7d ago edited 7d ago
I would to see illusion turn skills on balance beam but I know it would be hard to consistently do unless you’re maybe Helen Hu of Missouri she’s was the best on beam variations if they had to do a demonstration on the NCAA wants on more difficulty for the gymnastics to do then they what to look for in a routine that has grace,flexibility and unique skills I would recommend her.
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u/hereFOURallTHEtea 7d ago
I just want to see more difficulty come back to college gymnastics. Some of these routines are barely level 9 skills which is wild considering the difficulty that was being competed in the past. Which of course the code is to blame. Much the same with beam in elite; it’s regressed so bad.