MAG to WAG Transition Tips
Welcome MAG gymnasts who want to start training/competing WAG! The intent of this document is to ease your learning process as much as we can, from both a skill development and rules perspective. If you have any questions or suggested additions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at rules@naigc.org.
Helpful links
- Base rules/skill values (Note: The FIG code has different skills and values, so if you want to know all that you’ll have to buy one of the below or find it at your gym):
- Quick Guide Posters – To print and keep in your gym for easy reference
- NAIGC Example Routines – Sample routines with listed start values and skill values
- NAIGC Progression Videos – Drills to help learn select skills
Things that you might think are true but aren’t any more
- You can straddle on a cast handstand!
- On Uneven Bars, you can do a single change in direction without a skill without getting deducted (the most common application of this is that you can do a cast handstand into back giants without deduction).
- You don’t need to stick a landing on floor to avoid landing deductions! You can do a controlled small lunge in the direction of travel and still receive no landing deductions.
- You can repeat a skill for credit as long as the entry and/or exit from the skill are different between the two times it’s done (eg. you can get credit for two back tucks on floor if one is standing and the other is out of a roundoff. But if you do two separate standing back tucks that aren’t connected in any way, you won’t get credit for the second.)
- A fall is only -0.5 and a large step is only -0.3, but judges will be harsher in terms of deductions for poor technique (like poor amplitude or rhythm) even if you don’t have any form deductions.
Specific skills that might be easier to pick up as a MAG gymnast and miscellaneous tips
- VT
- Most of the same vaults are still allowed, but some of the relative values are different. Handspring flipping vaults are relatively more valuable compared to Tsuks than in MAG
- You get to do two vault attempts if you’d like, and only the highest scoring attempt counts!
- UB
- Giants are…different, what with the low bar (straddling to avoid it is probably easier than piking, but more likely to get deductions) and the larger bar diameter, but you’ll figure it out!
- A toe catch from the low bar to high bar is probably the easiest C, but is a lot harder to get without deductions than to just catch it. But it gets you a C and a bar change!
- You can use ring grips if necessary…but you’re better off just buying a pair of UB grips, the dowel is a lot smaller than a ring grip, and it will make a difference.
- BB
- Jump to straddle planche is a C mount, great way to use your strength (if you can)
- Standing arabian or tucked full off the end is an easy way to get a B dismount without being comfortable running or doing acro on the beam
- For jumps, just jump high! A bit more likely to fall off, but gives you tons of time to hit your position then put down your landing gear and spot the landing back on the beam.
- Not having an acro series (or the equivalent at whatever level you’re competing) is generally going to be just -0.5 or less. If you expect to lose more than 0.5 in deductions plus the likelihood of a fall (-0.5), then just don’t do the series (if you’re looking to optimize score).
- FX
- All your tumbling from MAG can come right over to WAG!
- A bunch of the non-acro skills are no longer allowed, so check the code
- Back layout is an A instead of an B!
Rules explanation given previous knowledge of MAG rules
Whereas MAG is generally based directly on the FIG rules with some modifications from the JO/NCAA levels, WAG is generally based directly on the USAG JO & Xcel rules, which have a whole different code of points with different skills and values than the FIG code (and you unfortunately need to buy the JO code, whereas the FIG is freely available). At a basic level, the rules are the same: there’s a list of acceptable skills that have difficulty values (A/B/C/etc), and you put together a routine made up of these skills that follows a list of routine construction requirements as best you can. Unlike in MAG with the “open scoring code” though, the WAG rules are still in the “10.0” scoring, so instead of a D-score and E-score, you’ll have a start value based on your routine construction (maximum 10.0 for the most part) and then get deducted for execution deductions. Additionally, there are a variety of various routine composition and “up to the level” deductions, somewhat similar to the special requirements from MAG like a double flipping skill on floor or touching all three parts of the pommel horse (but there are many more of these than in MAG). There are no element group bonuses in WAG, the most similar aspect is that for a given level you’re going to need a certain number of skills at a given value or higher (eg. 4 As, 2Bs and a C). Because the start values are lower, the deductions are generally smaller as well (eg. -0.5 for a fall instead of -1.0). The requirements are kind of similar to element groups in that they are each worth 0.5, but they are a little less clear in terms of how to achieve them. Some are similar, like B or higher dismount, but others are more complex, like requiring a B release OR lateral turn. The @naigc_rulesinfo Instagram will be your friend when it comes to interpreting the requirements! Even if you don’t purchase the code of points, you can find all of the requirements summarized in our Quick Guide Posters. You can also find tables summarizing USAG rules and vault values for free linked on our WAG rules page under “Resources from USAG”.