Scoring change brings
fairness between teams

January 31, 2008

Competitive Cheerleading scores have grown longer this year. Due to
Michigan High School Athletic Association changes to scoring in Round 2,
final scores are now measures to the thousandths.

Marilyn Bowker, 28-year cheer judge veteran,
said the changes bring fairness to teams of different sizes.

She said a multiplier has been incorporated into Round 2 scoring that
amplifies certain skills, depending on the number of competitors on the
mat.

For example, if all members of a large team successfully complete a
standing back tuck, the multiplier applied is 1.4, so a perfect score of 10
is worth 14. For team members performing side splits, the multiplier is .6,
but a (much more difficult) triple split has a multiplier of 1.20.

"In essence, we are saying a judge's perfect score of 10 for a side
split is given 6 points (10 times .6) at the scoring table," Bowker said. "A judge's perfect score of 10 for
triple splits would be 12 (10 times 1.2)."

She said with the addition of each competitor, the multiplier increases
by 1%. The multiplier for five competitors is 1.01, but for six is 1.02,
and on up until the maximum of 1.12 (for the maximum number of 16
competitors).

"The competitor multiplier which was adopted this year was
established to account for the fact that a team with only four competitors
might have a better chance to do skills perfectly than a team of 16," Bowker said. "It is likely that there is [a]
greater chance of team error when so many more are doing the performance
which is done in unison."

Bowker said the MHSAA has subcommittees for
each sport, and that the cheerleading subcommittee discusses any proposed
changes before recommending them. She said judges are provided difficulty
charts so they do not have to do their own figuring during the meet.

Bowker said the scoring change is in addition
to a previous rule that states teams cannot deviate by more than two
competitors between rounds. She said the rule provides limitations in
decreasing or increasing the number of competitors significantly.