Do Everything with STYLE
What is Style? Style is the team’s WOW factor! It’s what makes the team’s performance memorable to the judges and audience members. It’s the opportunity for the team to try something they’ve always wanted to include in a performance and get points for their hard work. NorCal and SoCal Associations had a combined Style Webinar event in 2021. There were tips given from an Official’s, a Team Member’s, and a Coach’s perspective.
Here are my Notes on the Style Webinar.
Required Elements & Team Choice Elements: Every problem has 2 required Style elements. These can be found in section F of every problem. Then teams have 2 Team Choice elements. These cannot be anything that is receiving score in the Scoring section (D) of the problem. It is advised (especially if the team decides to ask judges to score a different aspect of a LT element) to have a third Team Choice ready to use. Teams will have to revise their Style paperwork at the Check-in if the judges feel something is unclear or not allowed.
Style Choices CAN Change Some teams might come up with an exciting theme from the start. Other teams might spend a lot of time creating something out of a certain material and later decide to repeatedly use that material in other aspects of their solution.
Teams May Look But Don’t Copy Exactly It is okay and even encouraged to be amazed by another OM team’s creativity. That is the exciting part of going to tournaments.
You can find slideshows of past tournaments on YouTube. Here are the links to the 2023 Qualifying Tournaments and NorCal State Tournament that Bob Lipman created. Here is the World Finals Montage from Odyssey HQ for 2023. Teams might see certain trash items being used or interesting set designs from previous tournaments and use that information to inspire their own ideas for this year. However, if the team copies another team’s idea exactly or follows step-by-step instructions on how to make something on YouTube, those items are not considered “team created” or “original.” Teams should experiment and create their own materials and/or unique designs. Hopefully seeing the hard work that other teams put into costumes or set pieces inspires them to work hard(er) on this year’s solution.
Note: It is prohibited for teams to change their current solution from one tournament to the next level tournament using ideas that were seen in another team’s solution this year. You can make changes to your solution (to try and improve scores in certain areas) but those changes cannot use ideas from teams you saw during this year’s tournaments.
Good luck! And remember to HAVE FUN!
