In other sports, the label of “most valued player”—or MVP for short—is often bestowed upon the most outstanding athletes who have made substantial contributions to their teams. In the context of college gymnastics, there are multiple criteria, based on different notions of “value”, by which MVPs can be selected—for example, hit rate if consistency is of utmost importance, or the number of 9.9-plus scores if scoring potential is valued more highly.
This Data Deep Dive explores two ways in which MVPs can be determined, and how this past season played out for different teams and gymnasts using that lens.
On Road To Nationals, the MVP statistic is calculated as the sum of the scores received by a gymnast on a given event across the season. Since the sum is affected by a gymnast’s high and low scores alike, this has the benefit of capturing both a gymnast’s level of consistency and their potential for impressive scores. Additionally, the “Total” column, which sums the scores received across all four events, can offer some insight into a gymnast’s ability to contribute to multiple lineups.
For the first calculation in this Data Deep Dive, the results of which we will refer to as the “contribution points”, we adopted the MVP…
