how to score in competition 5A (prelims)?

[hadoq]

Hi, I had the first taste of competition last week end but as it was x division, I didn't have to go through the preliminary round. but I went through the 1A round (without preparation tho) and it was a good experience.

I found the prelim round much more stressful as you don't have the time to really recover from a mistake.

As I want to step it up a little, I plan to enter the european championship, where there are 5A prelims (1 min). I'd really like to go through the prelims so I plan to prepare two freestyles, one of them being the 1 minute for prelims and the other being the 3 min for the finals.

I just started, picked up the music

but I don't really know what does score in 5A, so I could really use some help here.

obviously string hits, but what about CW moves ? E fan combos, CW/Tech stuff, rotations, body tricks etc...?

so to all 5A competitors out there, what makes a good 5A prelim freestyle and how should I prepare for it?

[Tourqe]

<div><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mFtphTXaT84&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18&amp;rel=0" width="425px" height="344px" wmode="transparent" quality="high" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="never" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" autoplay="false" autostart="false" /><noembed><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mFtphTXaT84&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18&amp;rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/mFtphTXaT84&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18&amp;rel=0</a>

[fzzyrn]

if i remember correctly, string hits and body contacts from the cw are the criteria. with the same unique element condition as 1a, of course.

[Elephark]

Tricks where both the yoyo and counterweight are doing stuff simultaneously.

[hadoq]

thanks, I'm not really the archetype of a "fast" player but it seems possible to work on a 1 minute routine that "moves around"  a little

I'm not sure, at my level, that I'd be able to enjoy the preliminary round because there's still a significant chance that I couldn't make it to the finals, BUT I will prepare a separate 3 mins FS (because I still believe I CAN make it), so the pressure will be huge.

what I get from tyler's vid

- no scenic act at all
- tons of stuff in minimum time
- not that many string hits but rather constant motion

he basically does nothing but E fan and a couple tangler routines but it's clean and fast. I also think he does tricks that, if he misses them, won't take much time to recover from, no big knots, technical/intricate stuff

the thing is, I don't really do much of those, we'll see, I started to work on the combos already.

I love being on stage, but the prelim round is so critical

[Sottle]

As a basic rule, keep your counterweight moving at all times. Like Elephark said, you don't scare unless the counterweight and yoyo are both "in play".

Also as you correctly noted from Tyler's vid, Prelims are 100% technical score, there is no consideration for performance whatsoever.

[hadoq]

alright so I should leave the CW rotation and "tech" stuff "à la jon rob" for the final round and focus on constant motion and "aerial" stuff

I thought that I'd have a break with 5A not having prelims next year but it seems that there'll be some challenge, and the general level probably went up a notch since last time.

it'll also force me to work on stuff that I'm not used to work on, maybe try and create a couple double dice tricks, these should score nicely too as there's lots of motion and I take it that they might count as "difficult" tricks for the judges, involving 3 objects in motion.

how much can I make up for my lack of skill, replacing it by preparation ? how many folks will come unprepared or as 1A players who do "some" 5A ? how many spots in the finals ? if there's 15 spots I might make it in, if there's 8, I'll be out for sure.

how can people cope with working on 2 freestyles without knowing if they'll be able to showcase both ? final rounds are much more easy IMO, leaving you time to recover, giving you enough time to plan ahead and leave some "recovery zones" in between combos. If you mess up one big time in the prelims, you're basically out til next year.

is it me or preparing a prelim FS takes MUCH more work than a finals FS ?

[rizki_yoist]

this is interesting!

[cbaxt98]

5A prelims are so tough! But what I usually do for my prelims is electric fan combo, beesting combo, a bunch of counterweight bounces, braintwister combo and then a butterfly/counterweight bounce combo. Usually it scores pretty good. Suprisingly, I have scored 10 more points every 5A prelims. MidWest Classic I got 30 points, then Worlds I think I got 40 points, then at Nationals I think I got 50 points. It just starts to come to you after each one. I also try to go pretty fast, but not faster then I can go.

[Sottle]

how much can I make up for my lack of skill, replacing it by preparation ? how many folks will come unprepared or as 1A players who do "some" 5A ? how many spots in the finals ? if there's 15 spots I might make it in, if there's 8, I'll be out for sure.

You can definitely beat more talented players by being more prepared, but it depends on the level of competition at a small countries Regional or National contest you might get away with it, at a bigger National, Continental or World contest though, even the most talented players are going to have meticulous preperation.

As for finals spots, it's down the contest organisers, but depending on the size of the contest it usually ranges from 10-25.

how can people cope with working on 2 freestyles without knowing if they'll be able to showcase both ? final rounds are much more easy IMO, leaving you time to recover, giving you enough time to plan ahead and leave some "recovery zones" in between combos. If you mess up one big time in the prelims, you're basically out til next year.

A lot of people don't...For example, the year Chris Fraser got 3rd at Worlds 1A, he didn't have a fully prepared 3 minute, he put all his time and effort into the 1 Minute trying to make it as good as he could, but not really expecting to qualify. When he did, he had to scramble to polish out his 3 minute, and still managed to get 3rd.

1 Minutes are brutal and unforgiving, but i wouldn't necessarily call them more work than a 3 minute. 1 minutes just require boring repetitive practice of the most high scoring tricks you can think of. 3 minutes really require you to think about pacing, presentation, theme and all that other stuff to really put together a great one.

[hadoq]

how much can I make up for my lack of skill, replacing it by preparation ? how many folks will come unprepared or as 1A players who do "some" 5A ? how many spots in the finals ? if there's 15 spots I might make it in, if there's 8, I'll be out for sure.

You can definitely beat more talented players by being more prepared, but it depends on the level of competition at a small countries Regional or National contest you might get away with it, at a bigger National, Continental or World contest though, even the most talented players are going to have meticulous preperation.

As for finals spots, it's down the contest organisers, but depending on the size of the contest it usually ranges from 10-25.

how can people cope with working on 2 freestyles without knowing if they'll be able to showcase both ? final rounds are much more easy IMO, leaving you time to recover, giving you enough time to plan ahead and leave some "recovery zones" in between combos. If you mess up one big time in the prelims, you're basically out til next year.

A lot of people don't...For example, the year Chris Fraser got 3rd at Worlds 1A, he didn't have a fully prepared 3 minute, he put all his time and effort into the 1 Minute trying to make it as good as he could, but not really expecting to qualify. When he did, he had to scramble to polish out his 3 minute, and still managed to get 3rd.

1 Minutes are brutal and unforgiving, but i wouldn't necessarily call them more work than a 3 minute. 1 minutes just require boring repetitive practice of the most high scoring tricks you can think of. 3 minutes really require you to think about pacing, presentation, theme and all that other stuff to really put together a great one.

you definitely nailed it here.

The general level in 5A at EYYC is a big unknown for now, I've been watching the players who would enter and I'd have to be very prepared and a bit lucky to make it through the prelims, but "difficult" only means one thing for me: "possible".

1 minutes are, and I think you got the terms right here, brutal and unforgiving, but since I started working on it a couple days ago, I think that preparing for a prelim FS definitely boosts my level, the question being, will I be able to be disciplined enough to keep practicing hard everyday, that hard.

I don't do it because I want to, but I have to go through the prelims to do something I really want which is compete in the finals and see where I stand as a 5A player in europe. I know I'm not top 10 material but I also know, from what I've seen last year, I can bring something to the table. But then again, I need to get 3 minutes, 1 minute prelim is not the time or place to express oneself, but it's certainly the way for me to up my level a big notch, working on it.

[gee_]

Not sure what it's like from a 5a perspective but when preparing for a contest, I just practice a 3 min with the first minute being only fast, high scoring tricks. That way I really only have to prepare 1 freestyle. It's a lot let stress and it's really easy to adjust my timing or trick order based on the music I end up using. I also practice to 3 or 4 songs and choose the one I feel is the best the day of the contest, usually moments before I'm up.

[hadoq]

Not sure what it's like from a 5a perspective but when preparing for a contest, I just practice a 3 min with the first minute being only fast, high scoring tricks. That way I really only have to prepare 1 freestyle. It's a lot let stress and it's really easy to adjust my timing or trick order based on the music I end up using. I also practice to 3 or 4 songs and choose the one I feel is the best the day of the contest, usually moments before I'm up.

this is probably not going to work for me, the last (and also the first) time I prepared, it was for that Xdiv 2 minutes, the choice of the song was very important and I used lyrics and musical parts to "navigate" through the FS

and my style is not really "high scoring", so even tho I'll definitely use parts of my prelim in my 3 min FS, the direction it takes is very different compared to what I normally do.