UP vs NU: UAAP CDC 2013 Part 2

This is the 2^nd part of my NU vs UP: The UAAP CDC 2013 Routine Review. This part will focus on the tosses. I think I should rename this sort-of-series “Why UP Pep Squad Lost and Became the First Loser” cause the more comparisons I make, the more times I have my palm and expectations slap my gorgeous face. Anyway, everyone recognizes a toss. It’s very much different with other stunts and it never fails to give the crowd twinkles in their eyes, jaw-dropped. Fliers stand before their labels cause they really fly. Basically, a flier is thrown up into the air (maybe 10 to 15 feet off the ground) and then performs tricks in the air before being caught again in the embraces of mighty biceps and triceps of the bases. I generously and patiently made some stick figure GIF animations so you can visualize what I am talking about here and not go nuts with the technical terms.

Bird Front

Kick, Full Twist

Layout with Full Twist

back Layout

Straddle, Tap-out

Back Tuck, Kick-out

Cute animations, right? Now, take time to differentiate which is which, so you will not get lost as you proceed. LOL. 

Which is “easy” and which is “difficult”?

There are not many tosses but there are many variations. The simplest is when a flier just gets her air, tossed and then waits for gravity to pull her down without any tricks in the air. Just like throwing anything vertically into the air. In the UAAP CDC, I think, the hardest toss done was the back layout with double twist. I honestly do not know, which is the hardest. Check on the animations above, let your imagination sips into your noodles and try to compare how hard those things are if you were the one thrown. 1,2,3. I guess, you’re done daydreaming of flying.

By the way, I did not differentiate “hand toss” from “basket toss” cause I think, all you need to know is the air. But if you’re lucky enough to know which is which, then you’ll appreciate the difference in the difficulty.

Now, let’s go to the review.

Again, magic score cards brought to you by MS Excel, my curiosity and weirdness.

Before we start, I would like to make this early “disclaimer”. You know, I downloaded decent 480p videos (thanks to the ABS CBN News Youtube channel) but it feels like it’s more ancient than 360p from other countries. The vids are not as clear so I really found quite a hard time spotting the skills. Oh, well. I love the Philippine video qualities.  Very much alike with the Philippine porn video qualities.

UP	Toss	NU
3	Layout 2/1	4
2	Layout 1/1	6
3	Layout	0
0	X, double	1
1	X-out	0
0	Pike	0
1	Straddle, tap	0
1	Kick, double	2
1	Bird Front	5*
12	TOTAL	18

*Poor camera angle, I cannot count how many NU-ers did bird fronts, there were five in formation, though.

Again, pardon me if I overlooked some stunts. This are good estimates, I think. 

AND, for the rest of the article, forgive some grammatical errors. LOLS

The Comparison

Again, NU egdes UP in terms of the number of tosses performed, 18-12. UP did tosses in nine occasions but tossing at most two fliers at a time. On the other hand, NU tossed out in just FIVE occasions but managed to have thrown fliers for a total of 18 times. In their opening toss, they bombed with SIX layout with full twist. UP? They opened their routine with only one layout double twist. It sets difference, at least, for me.

I personally think that most of the audience does not really know the technicalities of tricks. It’s like watching fireworks - the bigger and the more colorful, the better. But not  until you tell them the chemistry of fireworks will they appreciate how hard it sucks to be making fireworks. Just like in cheerdancing, more twists and higher tosses are sufficient for the WOW factor. I think that was where UP lost some of its points. They did scattered single tosses instead of concentrating in “mass tosses” like NU did. NU actually did three main “mass tosses” with 6, 5 and 4 fliers, respectively. The rest are fillers for the performance, I guess. Doing many tosses adds up to the difficulty. Although cheerleaders can count 1 to 8 and 8 to 1, timing and synchronicity are two other shits to be bothered about when doing things altogether at one. Not to mention, the force each bases has to exert to achieve same height for the fliers which are obviously different in weight. 

Take on this: if you throw one apple in the air alone, you care less how high it will go. BUT, pull beside five more of your friends, give them an apple each and throw it altogether, trying to achieve same height, at least. Now, that’s business, isn’t? Then, here will go my favorite phrase, hands down, NU.

Difficulty

I didn’t crunch on some difficulty values. It’s quite hard, especially that my gymnastics knowledge limitations will not allow me to designate values for each skill. Let’s take this the easy way.

Check again on the animations. Mostly, back layouts were performed. Compared to back tucks, back layout are more difficult because you are pulling more length from your legs to complete one somersault. You take more time in flipping in layout than in tuck. Even in gymnastics, triple tucks are known but triple layouts are BIOMECHANICALLY impossible. Then, there went the twists. Of course, full twists are harder than flips with no twist at all, then double twists are harder than full twists. Logic. More lessons. “Kick” and “tap” (sorry for the terms, I do not know how to properly label some terms) are two techniques in the air. Maybe, performed for two reasons: (1) to generate momentum, and (2) aesthetics. Usually, kicks and taps are performed without somersaults. Again, see the animations. Lastly, “X” or “X-outs” is used to describe that “moment when they are tucked or piked then they suddenly kicked and stretched their legs in the air”. Come on, feed your imagination.

UP vs NU. Let’s dig on this but let’s go to the bottom line. Both squads did doubles, full,  layouts, kick doubles and bird fronts. UP just did it scarcely, maybe because of the budget cut. LOL. Not really scarcely. I mean, who HONESTLY noticed the single tosses in the background? NU, on the other hand, just machine gunned my eyes with relatively more tosses. And, have I told you NU did so much more of them in combination?

Execution

As I said earlier, in Part 1, NU have messy feet. UP fliers have their feet glues and flexed. That is the UP artistry I am very lauding of. But then again, in a performance and for people with the normal vision and mere appreciation, crossed feet are masked by the feeling of overwhelm when there were six people altogether flying. Nuff said. I love UP, though. BTW, both NU and UP had not fallen in any of their tosses. :D

Letter to UP Pep

Why the scattered tosses? I really want to know the reason why. Please contact me. LOL. 

UP vs NU: UAAP CDC 2013 Part 1

This is the first part of the UAAP CDC 2013 routine review for the 1^st and 2^nd placers, NU and UP, respectively. NU won with a margin of over 70 points over UP.  I don’t really know how scoring goes in cheerleading competitions but I’m still trying to compare the routines in a very technical way. When I say “technical way”, I mean the “gymnastics way”.

In gymnastics, routines are scored based on the difficulty and the execution. Difficulty accounts all skills performed in the routine while execution, oh Sweet Jesus, I bet you know what execution means. These two scores are added, the routine with the highest total score edges the others. Simple.

HOW DID I COMPUTE FOR THE DIFFICULTY?

I listed all the skills. I counted the number of people APPEARING on the screen performing the trick. I designated values for each skill much alike as that in gymnastics. Say, a straddled jump (toe-touch) is an A-skill, a back tuck is a B skill, a back tuck with a full twist (tuck 1/1) is a C skill and so on. The hardest skill performed in the whole UAAP CDC was a back layout with a double twist. I designated an E value to that skill. THEEEEEEN. Each letter corresponds to a numerical value, A=0.10, B=0.20 and so on. If a cheerleader performed a connection of jumps and acrobatic skill, they get bonus. Example, NU did five round off + back handspring + back layout with a full twist.

Round-off is an A, handspring is an A, back layout 1/1 is a D. Total value of the pass is 0.60. Plus Connection value of 0.20. There were five sort of a gymnast cheerleader who did that so, NU gained a total of 0.80 multiplied to 5 difficulty score for those passes. That 4 points already.

HOW DID YOU COMPUTE FOR THE EXECUTION?

In gymnastics, small errors are deducted with 0.10, medium errors are 0.30, and large deductions are 0.50. Fall in any skill is a whole point off the score. I’m very particular with legs separations, poor twisting forms, poor landing and all technical errors. Of course, I didn’t check on each forsaken crossed legs INDIVIDUALLY. I would’ve strained my eyes if I did that. I deducted scores for each pass. Meaning, for a single pass, even if just one member twists in the ugliest way possible (a.k.a. Mustafina-ed twist, google Mustafina so you at least extend your knowledge about gymnastics), the team will incur 0.50 points. Now, this is a routine of many people SO it is very righteous to deduct for synchronicity, right? You need not to learn about synchronicity, you just see it. I assigned a maximum of 50 points for the execution. So, if a team incurred a total of 4 points deduction, then they’ll get 46 points. Excel did all the math.

BTW, I forgave some little errors. Like, lack in hip angles and separation of legs during handsprings. FACT: Some people are born with 'bowed legs'. Meaning, no matter how hard they try, those legs will be separated. Put this in this term, it’s like the “spaced” and “hollow” legs of girls who are assumed not to be virgin anymore. 

NOW YOU KNOW, LET’S START. 

Score cards, please.

Legend: DV-Difficulty Value, CV-Connection Value, RO – round off, BHS – back handspring

University of the Philippines

Difficulty Score: 37.90

Execution Score: 46.10

National University

Difficulty Score: 40.90

Execution Score: 46.80

THE REVIEW

In my eyes, NU beat UP in this category SLIGHTLY. I’m quite picky on the jumps and I was not reluctant to take away 0.30 for a UP squad member who can’t reach her toe in a jump. The skill has a credit and a TECHNICAL  qualification. She did a star jump. Well, that is for all those people wondering where the 0.60 deduction came from. 

BTW, I did this because I am bored. LOL. Don't focus on my poor grammar or my not-so-fair-judgement, and some other things I might have overlooked. You ain't perfect, dahling. 

ISSUE #1: Somersaults and Twists

What amazed me with the National University is their DIFFICULT tumbling passes. NU had at least 50 somersaults. Crunch UP’s numbers, they just had a little bit over 30. Yes, UP had at least 75 back handsprings (BHS) but relative to a somersault, it is a lot easier and less risky.

There were a number of ‘twisters’ in NU. UP had nine full twists, NU had 17 in their opening sequence. Plus, 21 other full and double full ('Full' means one whole twist in a flip, a flip is a somersault). So, NU had a total of 38 twisting somersaults, at least. Incomparable to UP’s NINE <maybe, they did NINE full twists in purpose. LOL, IYKWIM>. I am personally amazed with that number of huge twists in a single routine. When a single flip became too conventional, NU took risks of training multiple twisting somersaults – hands down, NU.

 ISSUE #2: Combination Passes

Combination passes are just series of elements combined together in a single tumbling run. UP did five kinds, including that starting from a straddled jump. NU, on the other hand, did seven.

The most amazing run for me: NU's Round off, tucked Arabian, walkout to full twist. Gymnastics do that combination. What sets it apart is that Arabian and a Layout 1/1 are two acrobatic skill. They were combined in a series! You ain't getting it, do you? Take note that Round offs and back handsprings are preparatory skills and the huge skills are those back tucks, back layouts, and twisting layouts. Most cheerleaders do the RO+BHS series then a big skill. But that one NU person was really good to snatch an Arabian in between two prep skills. Again – hands down, NU. UP, where art thou?

ISSUE #3: Synchronicity

Both teams were really good on this field. Period. But I see more issue in the UP tumble runs than in NU. Check on their vids. I didn’t go harsh on their differences in extension. I understand people if they can’t hit splits in the air. Synchronicity for me is timing, anyway.

ISSUE #4: Execution

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting good execution from NU. I know how clean UP performs. Surprisingly, both had great extension in their jumps. I have an issue on poor twisting forms. NU twisters have POOR twisting forms on the bigger skills but as the gymnternet says, the harder the skills are, the harder it is to perfect. The scores were close, slightly in favor of NU. <Well, sorry to say but I kinda hate that UP “star jump-er”.>

Compare and Contrast

I thought UP was good.  Yes, they were. NU did the harder trick, went for broke, and coldly landed each skill with no major fall. Nu won my heart in terms of difficulty. With their execution not that really poor, I think, they are righteous for their edge in this category.

Letter to UP Pep

I don’t want you to risk injuries, but I hope to see more stellar tumbling passes. You can own it. Just a tip, glue your feet together unlike the NU people who mess around their toes while twisting. I love UP but this is how my comparison went. :D

Gymnastics in the Philippines

This is my first blog. No, not as if I had not had blogged before but this is my first entry here. I've been reading quite a handful of blogs in the internet so I decided to create one of my own. I don't know how far this will go. Maybe, I'm just bored. It's summer and I've got nothing to do.

What will be in this place? My weird, random thoughts I can't share with my friends cause they won't listen or they know nothing about. The foremost reason I made this is to release my insights about gymnastics. Yes! Gymnastics! It's my favorite sport (to watch). I am not a gymnast. Cartwheels, spins and jumps - that's all I can do. I wish I had gymnastics lessons when I was younger. I might be in the Worlds or had been in the Olympics. Sheesh. Dreaming. Gymnastics in the Philippines is not even an emerging sport unlike football. Its's not even known here! Ask people what a Tkatchev is and they will just show you that very ignorant face  and you can already tell they don't know what it is. Even explaining it as "a release skill in the bar" or "a reversed hecht to regrasp", they're faces alone will just tell you "you are one weird folk." In this country, Gymnastics is tumbling. Gymnastics is a very entertaining SHOW.  Period. That's it. No Nadia or Olga.

I started liking gymnastics when I was 14 after watching Stick It! I was curious about Haley Graham talking about Rulfova, Chusovitina, and Shaposhnikova. Then, there went the series of YouTube-ing ang Googling. I   watched this "Named Skills" video on YouTube and was then amazed. Then it went on like obsession. I met Khorkina and the uneven bars then years went and before I knew it, I almost memorized all the skills in WAG. Up until now, I go crazy reading a lot of gymnastics stuff. But I was alone having this all in my mind. I will put on videos on my phone and whenever I'm watching, somebody beside will peek and watch along. You can see them amazed but never curious about the sport. That's it here in our country. We have gymnastics competitions or a number of gymnasts competing internationally. The last time I checked we had two gymnasts for MAG in the 2011 Worlds. You guessed it right! they did not qualify. Triple twist hasn't landed in this country yet, I think. There are double pikes on floor, Yurchenkos on vault, back tucks on beam, flairs on the pommel. That's it. You can pick on any retired gymnast from the last, last quad, ask them to go to the gym with our gymnasts and I can tell you, they can do harder tricks even with the rest they have had. Gymnastics in the Philippines is very raw and very, very simple. On one hand, I appreciate them. Seeing a countrymen doing my favorite sport is really overwhelming. It makes me think that I am not alone kicking asses trying to understand the sport. But then again, everything is not ready for one bigger leap yet.

<Rhythmic is different story though. I think we have taken home medals from Southeast Asian  Games. Anyway, RG is my lesser favorite gym discipline. I just watch it.>

There are gymnasts in this country but I am pretty confident (but really sad) to say that at this level of performance, we are not ready to compete internationally. I put here a link of one routine in the Philippine National Games (credits to the owner) and you might see what I am talking about. Take note, this is the NATIONAL GAMES.

See? Kohei Uchimura can do this in blindfold. I sometimes think that the potentials of Filipino gymnasts are not really explored. Well, what would you expect with no facilities and no NGO or government support. Gymnasts train, they compete but the people barely know the very existence of the sport. I read one YouTube comment saying that we have the potentials. We are competing strongly in cheerleading competitions. I know well the difference between the two sports. The point is, we are one step closer in having the right coaches, right training and everything so we can attain international standards. We just have it. Having "it" and utilizing "it" are two different stories.

Just to set the record straight, I am not pulling the sport down. I am comparing. Gymnastics in the Philippines is so left behind. Way, way behind. I am wishing that one day, this sport in this country will be appreciated. Sadly, gymnastics talent go in TV competitions. They will do twists and flips and the air and the people gasp in amazement. That is the level of appreciation they have. Not  for its sports value but for its entertainment value. I have hoes. But I hope that that day is not that far away.