My coach friend

[gymdd]

I am posting this for my coach friend who does not have a chalkbucket profile. He has a level 7 who did exceptionally well this season. At states she got: Vault: 9.65 Bars: 9.705 Beam: 9.4 and Floor: 9.6 with an all around of 38.355. She however cannot seem to grab a hold of any level 8 skills. Should he still move her up?

 

[bogwoppit]

Why would she be moved up without her L8 skills? How can she possibly compete against girls without the skills needed?

 

[AmandaLynn]

I don't think that any of us can answer that. It depends on how the training program is structured and how quickly that particular athlete picks up skills. Is there any reason that putting her with the L8 training group during the offseason and re-assessing her progress and skill rediness closer to the season is not an option? If the kid has mastered the L7 skills, she should be training L8 (and above) skills and drills. Will the L7 training group be uptraining L8 skills during the offseason? It's really impossibly for us to give you an answer without knowing the program and the kid.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

huh?.......................

 

[AmandaLynn]

huh?.......................

Is that about my response or about the OP? I just re-read my response and realized that it's kind of wordy. :blush:

 

[Esoteric]

Because there is so much time between competition seasons, our gym often has girls uptraining and working on perfecting skills right up until December- at which point, they are told what level they will be competing in January. A LOT can happen in the next 9 months. I cannot imagine why anyone would think they could predict what will be going on skill wise that far away. I suggest telling your friend to relax. =) When the fruit is ripe it will drop.

 

[gymdog]

Is that about my response or about the OP? I just re-read my response and realized that it's kind of wordy. :blush:

I'm sure it's response to the strange phenomenon of a coach that is able to coach a child to get 38s in level 7, but can't evaluate her level placement next season. Also, level 7 and 8 aren't really that different anymore, so that's also a bit strange. I can't think of many scenarios where a kid would get a 38 in level 7 and be unable to put together at least passable level 8 routines. It's only a few more combinations. There can be extreme fear issues of course, but you would expect that to also impact the level 7 skills and scores as well.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Is that about my response or about the OP? I just re-read my response and realized that it's kind of wordy. :blush:

not you AmandaLynn. and what Gymdog said was just about right for me.

 

[CoachTodd]

I'm with gymdog. There isn't much of a difference between 7 and 8 skill wise. Level 9 may be a slightly different story.

 

[AmandaLynn]

I'm sure it's response to the strange phenomenon of a coach that is able to coach a child to get 38s in level 7, but can't evaluate her level placement next season. Also, level 7 and 8 aren't really that different anymore, so that's also a bit strange. I can't think of many scenarios where a kid would get a 38 in level 7 and be unable to put together at least passable level 8 routines. It's only a few more combinations. There can be extreme fear issues of course, but you would expect that to also impact the level 7 skills and scores as well.

This is true. Could be that the gymnast came from another gym. Or that the current coach "inherited" her from a departing coach. Who knows?

It is strange to me that the coach did not just create their own account in order to ask this question, as well. It's not much work to create an account on here.

 

[gasrgoose]

I agree with others above, it seems kinda strange that she could be that good at level 7 and not be prepared for level 8. I know nothing about coaching skills, technique etc. But I can see at our gym the coaches are introducing the level 7 & 8 skills to the level 5 & level 6 girls. The level 7 & 8 girls are working on level 9 skills at least the ones who are somewhat successful at 7. There are some girls that have clearly reached there limit, either physically, mentally and/or commitment level, but they aren't scoring 38's more like 33's and 34's.

Is this the only successful optional kid this coach coaches? Just curious if this is a case of a not very capable coach having a very talented kid but not knowing how to proceed past level 7.

 

[jsfofec]

That does seem very strange to score that high as a 7 and not be ready to step right into 8. The vault is different, but you can still do your level 7 vault and just start at a 9.0 starting value until you get comfortable with a level 8 vault.

Our 7's always trained level 8 and 9 skills, so they step right into level 8 when it's time. A couple of girls did get held back and repeated 7 this season and the only reason was that they didn't work hard enough on conditioning and were having a very difficult time completing a third tumbling pass on floor, so the coach didn't want to risk an injury and held them back. Maybe now they will condition harder

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

Doing well at skills you already know and have practiced for years does not always translate into good new skills...and with 9s on every event, the gymnast has probably already done L7 for a couple years. She could have fear issues with new skills, or she could have blocks on twisting or vaulting or pirouetting or what have you. I guess the best thing to do would be to have her do level 8 with the bare minimum skills needed, and hopefully be able to work in some more skills as the season goes on. If she's stuck on a particular event, she can scratch it if she needs to at the first meet or couple of meets. It just doesn't seem fair to let her compete level 7 again against all the new girls. ;-)

 

[gymdd]

The coach's girls normally score between 36-37.5ish. Problems are: Bars-Absolutely refuses to turn hand for piroutte. She wont even do it on the floor with spot, or from a dead hang on the bar. Beam- Is afraid to connect skills while there is a flight involved. This could probably be fixed with some work. Pauses for a good 2 or 3 seconds after backwalkover step-in and cant seem to get foot even close to step-in with backhandspring. Floor- has twist problems (unfortanute since her back layouts go WAYYY over everyone's heads). She cant figure out which way to twist comfortably (ex. Will be doing halfs and will start to twist one way, then quickly start to twist the other) and vault is almost fixed, she repulses very low. Any drills for that? And any tips overall will help.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

repel is the correct word for blocking. this girl sounds like she has vestibular issues.

 

[iwannacoach]

Vestibular issues and a small capacity for stress, and maybe a "victim type" complex where she "knows" failure and disaster are wiating arounf every corner. Not saying it her, but I know a guy who was trapped for over an hour after a motor vehicle accident, with his two best friends more or less crushed back into the rear seat where he was sitting. He was not too severly injured, and was concious the entire time as the rescue teams removed the other vehicle and cut him out..........his friends had no chance of rescue, and he has acted like a victim ever since, always paronoid and suspicious of even the best people around him. For what it's worth....