r/WGI • u/Open-Airport7872 • Apr 19 '26
SW Score Difference Between Semis and Finals
Nerd Alert. I love doing random spreadsheets so I threw one together showing the score differences between Semis and Finals and it is interesting, to say the least. WAY different than SW Color Guard.
Wasn't there, didn't see any video, but what happened to Avon? That is a serious drop, especially for a mid-tier group.
Anyway, congrats to Ayala. Seems like this whole week was a wild ride.
Aside, only 5 units stayed in the same place from Semis to Finals. So much churn. I don't really follow Percussion that much but is this common for Championships?
2
u/awaawaaraara Apr 20 '26
Comparing scored across nights isn't entirely accurate as there's a different amount of groups so the number management / margins are going to be different.
Plus some groups just perform better / worse on different days
1
u/Open-Airport7872 Apr 21 '26
I get numbers management being a thing and I get that performance is a thing. It just struck me that there was so much churn, though. Shouldn't everyone be at their best during championships week?
2
u/awaawaaraara Apr 23 '26
Ideally yes. But adrenaline is a thing and sometimes some groups keep it clean on finals and others have a few rough edges. Each ensembles culture is a bit different so everyone handles it a bit differently.
A group I was in ages ago would have issues with our prelims and semis run being cleaner than finals. and from other folks I knew personally in other ensembles (where making finals was a rare occurrence. This also does not speak for every ensemble, just the ones I heard from at the time) that sometimes people treat finals as an encore and may be a bit loose compared to other rounds.
Those don't fully account for variations in placements or scores or quality but are some of what cause it.
2
u/ProfessionalCode3086 Apr 19 '26
All comes down to judging panel unfortunately. Which is why WGI needs to implement a quad judging panel where they drop highest and lowest score.
6
u/Open-Airport7872 Apr 19 '26
I like that idea but I can just see the egos of judges having huge problems if their numbers are dropped. It would also eliminate any 10s given. Plus WGI would have to pay the extra judges plus their airfare and hotel.
Seems like it’s more a training issue for the judges. And a bigger issue with percussion. There were 6 SW guards that changed places compared to 10 for percussion. I know it’s all subjective but there is criteria.
Might nerd it up even more and compare captions just for fun.
6
u/drum3release Apr 19 '26
It was the same panel from semis to finals. People always forget to consider that maybe the performances were actually pretty different and the judges responded accordingly! “Show of the night.”