Hall of Fame
Maria DeCristoforo is arguably the most respected judge in high school gymnastics in all of New York State. For 55 years (and counting), she judged at meets, trained and tested thousands of officials, coached athletes, was a rule interpreter, and co-authored the NYSPHSAA Technical Handbook—a comprehensive rulebook for high school gymnastics competition in New York—starting in 1997. She wrote the Constitution and By-Laws for the Nassau Board of Women’s Officials Association and served in multiple roles with that organization. Furthermore, she was the founder of the New York State Girls Gymnastics Association and was the first New York State Judging Director and Representative to the National Association of Women’s Gymnastics Judges from 1974-80. Over her career she judged Olympic and World Champions such as Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Nastia Liukin, Ali Raisman and Simone Biles. Most recently she judged at the US Olympic Trials in June 2021 and to this day she still judges at Section VIII and NYSPHSAA State meets. Internationally, DeCristoforo represented the United States at the World Championships, Pan American Games, Goodwill Games, USA National Championships and many other events for 40 years. Maria has additionally developed educational materials including videos and printed materials for the sport of gymnastics as professional development tools for judges and coaches. She graduated from the High School of Music and Art (Manhattan) in 1965 and Queens College in 1969. While competing at Queens, DeCristoforo she began her judging career and continued while coaching gymnastics at Paul Schreiber High School in Port Washington (Section VIII). She has been recognized numerous times for her contributions in the last five decades including being the first ever recipient of the Section VIII Coordinators Award of Excellence in 2008, inducted into the Nassau County Hall of Fame in 2021 and was Judge of the Year by the United States Elite Coaches Association in 1992.