POINTED TOES

I have noticed that every gymnast, has to point their toes, no matter what they are doing. Stretching, l-sits, planche's, etc, they always have their toes pointed. When i first started doing gymnastics my feet could not allow me to do that, becasue the arch of my foot would get really bad cramps. Now i can do it pretty well. But I still dont know how pointed i have to make them. I also don't know why gymnasts do it. Does it make the exercise harder and give one more strength? Or just it just look less sloppy?

Well it does tend to make the muscles more tense and we want that tension.

It does make some movements have to fight a bit more leverage.

But really it's about proper tension.