Parents Equipment for optional levels

[Smiley007]

How much of a disadvantage for an optional gymnast is being at a gym where they aren't able to put in a channel bar, nor a tramp bar. I notice our gym's weakest event is bars in the optional level. They are in the earlier stages of developing their optional program with only 1 gymnast reaching nationals until this past year when we qualified 2 gymnasts. They have tried taking the girls to another local gym to practice on occasion, but it proved to be too inconvenient to do on a regular basis. How unusual is it to lack these training tools?

 

[mariposa]

I'm thinking those are probably pretty rare, at least at gyms I've seen. My daughter used those at a college gym camp and thought it was pretty awesome.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Not to sound too stupid, but what are those?

 

[kayjaybe]

We have neither of those. We do have a pit bar.

We have multiple L10 gymnasts each year and 4 that went to nationals this past year. We also have gymnasts that receive full or partial college scholarships pretty much every year.

The lack of that equipment doesn't seem to affect our girls.

 

[Committed]

We have neither of those and very strong level 9 & 10 bars.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I know what a channel bar is (our gym does not have one, but does have successful Optionals) but I'm trying to imagine a trampoline bar (and in my mind, that's pretty awesome, lol!).
I think if your gym has NO bars that have spotting and "soft falling" options, you may be limited, but if you have basic pit bars etc you should be fine.

 

[gymdog]

Channel bar is really nice but to be honest most gyms don't have one. There are more gyms with level 10s than gyms with channel bars, let's put it that way.

Tramp bar? Do you mean a floor bar attached to a tumble track or like a strap bar set up over a tumble track (Todd Gardner has that, but it's pretty usual. And I'm super jealous of it). The former is not hard to get though. I don't really see why there would be a big barrier to getting one. You do need a tumble track. It doesn't have to be angled although some people do that.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

For those wondering or even asking your gymnast if their gym has one. I was told she never heard of a channel bar and to stop trying to know things. I told her lots of ppl are talking about it on the Chalkbucket and after i google imaged it....

Mom thats a TRENCH bar! And yes, we have one! *Insert 11 year old eye roll*

 

[munchkin3]

We have a pit bar, but it is not used frequently.....no trench, although it would be nice.

My guess is a coach can use NOT having a pit bar as an excuse for not being able to get many girls to L10, or to be good at bars.......I don't think either is necessary.......nice to have though.

My DD is training 7, and has never used the pit bar. I only see girls use it occasionally......

For the guys it's a whole different story.....they are always on the pit bar doing crazy stuff.

 

[2G1B]

I'm in an area with lots if gyms that have lots of optionals. (Within in a reasonable price of my house tgere are at least 8 gyms.) Only one has a trench bar.

 

[skschlag]

We do have a trench bar, although lots of the kiddos don't really like it. We have a bar that is attached to a tramp in the middle where kids can practice different skills (over the bar release moves, pirouettes, etc.) I think it is only about 6 inches off the tramp or something like that. That one gets a lot of use.

 

[thefellowsmom]

We have a pit bar with these flip Down spotting platforms, used all the time in our gym. We have a floor bar that attaches to the tumble track but they only get to use it when no one else is using the tumble track while they are on bars so not as much there. Lots more in the summer when they have the gym basically to themselves. No channel bar but they use these huge mats to create a sort of channel on the bars set to the little kids setting. They use that all the time.

The coaches make great use of all the equipment. No lines or standing around. There are drill circuits using mats and conditioning equipment, floor bars, this bouncy thing the put there legs on, girl working on strap bar, girl working in "channel", three full set bars, drills being done on baby cross bars, someone working with coach on pit bar etc etc.

We have great bar workers all the way through level 10.

 

[Smiley007]

Thank you everyone for all of your replies! It is really helpful and encourages me to look into getting more resources for our gym.

We will look at getting some spotting blocks for the girls to simulate a type of channel.

We are working with tumbltrak.com to see if their flex bar will work with our tumble track. This is what I was looking at:

Adding these training tools will hopefully provide more places for the optional girls to get more turns and result in improving their bar scores. We hope to also get a male coach who can spot! I worry that our wonderful female coaches could get hurt trying to spot the older girls.

 

[Smiley007]

Does anyone have this type of dual-spotting platform over their pit? http://www.gibsonathletic.com/gibson-spotting-platform-br-00900 or this one Link Removed

The gap in the platform makes me feel uncomfortable for the safety of the coaches, but perhaps I am wrong. Maybe some parent-coaches can comment on their thoughts? I looked for reviews on the equipment but couldn't find anything online.

Our booster club wants to help buy an auto-retracting spotting platform but it has to attach to the main bar. It can't have a stand of its own like a few of the ones we see online because there is no room to bolt a separate platform next to the pit.

Thanks!

 

[skschlag]

Does anyone have this type of dual-spotting platform over their pit? http://www.gibsonathletic.com/gibson-spotting-platform-br-00900 or this one Link Removed

The gap in the platform makes me feel uncomfortable for the safety of the coaches, but perhaps I am wrong. Maybe some parent-coaches can comment on their thoughts? I looked for reviews on the equipment but couldn't find anything online.

Our booster club wants to help buy an auto-retracting spotting platform but it has to attach to the main bar. It can't have a stand of its own like a few of the ones we see online because there is no room to bolt a separate platform next to the pit.

Thanks!

We have soem retracting platforms. The coaches wear a belt that holds them to the bar when they are on them.

Is your booster club a 501c3? If so, you can't purchase equipment for the gym . Be sure to look into that very closely before you do. You could lose your non profit status.

 

[Smiley007]

OK thanks for your comment. We plan to buy the spotting belts for the coaches. When we showed them a video of it, they totally loved the idea.

Is your retracting platform one single platform or a smaller platform on each side of the bar?

Our booster club is not a 501c3 so we should be ok.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

Is a channel bar a bar of what we call the v pit? We have a narrow oblong shaped pit that has crash mats slopped up each end and the middle filled with foam blocks, the pit isn't very wide - around 3 to 4 foot wide. We also have a large pit with p bars, a set of A bars and a high bar as well as rings over the pit, the tumble track ends in the pit as does one of the vaults.

 

[skschlag]

OK thanks for your comment. We plan to buy the spotting belts for the coaches. When we showed them a video of it, they totally loved the idea.

Is your retracting platform one single platform or a smaller platform on each side of the bar?

Our booster club is not a 501c3 so we should be ok.

I think they just have one platform on one side, but there could be another one that just isn't used as much. Not sure why they would need one on each side.