Parents Vent, Daughter's floor routine is driving me Crazy!

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Sam'sMom

Proud Parent
My daughter had a great floor routine choreographed last year, at great expense when she was in level 7, our floor coach at the time had made the decision that all optional routines would only have 2 tumbling passes, so that's how it was choreographed. My daughter had to have surgery before the season began and never got to use it and our floor coach left at the end of last season so they had one of the other coaches fill in and add to everyone's floor routine. My daughter didn't let us see her routine until her first competition, actually her second, her first was to move up to level 8...when I saw her routine I thought she must have forgotten it, it wasn't the routine I paid so much for...they had taken an edgey hip hop routine with sass and attitude and made it 3 quick passes with some movements. There's no flow, no life, it's not the kind of song you should smile and be bright and happy through but there's no hip hop to the movements anymore either.
I said I was going to let my 12 year old daughter deal with it, it is her floor routine, but I feel I should let the coaches know how upset I am with this, it's ruined all chances of her getting a good AA score, she was lucky enough to score a 9.05 once, but usually gets around a 8.85 even when she does her best with this routine, (in past seasons her floor avg is a 9.45)
The thing that really gets to me, they didn't offer us the option of having the original choreographer come add to the routines, they used the new coach, 2 months out of college to do it and told us about it after the fact!

Sorry, I needed to rant, I hope someone can understand....I'm just so frustrated, I want to scream!!!!!
 
Same here, move up in September. To make things simple, a decision was made to keep the old routine. 2 tumbling pases and simple moves. It seems to me that routines with character seem to score better. Then, I heard that dance is not being judged. I understand that we all are people and judges may like some choreography better then other. My question is to what degree. Is simple routine with choreography that my DD outgrew hurting her scores? What difference choreography and a few extra artistic element really make? In our case until next year the skills most likely will stay the same, 2 passes that is.
 
On the flip side, having too many tumbling passes - or more than you need, can you lead to deductions as well - more for the judges to find wrong with the routine. I was at a meet this weekend where a level 7 girl had a great floor routine choreography wise and she was a dancer - you could just tell!! I couldn't help but watch her between the choreo and music, however she scored pretty low (not even top 10) from what I can only assume was due to tumbling passes and leaps etc. She did get a special shout out from the judges during awards for her floor presentation, but that did not equate to placement for her.

My DD's floor scores have seemed to drop some from level 6 to 7. Same choreo (recycled routine anyhow) but tumbling passes have been changed/altered. I recently had a few people take a look here on CB and found a few places where she could use improvement was also told many times that there was a lot going on - more tumbling passes than needed which can equate to a being 'tenthed' to death.

That being said... if I paid a good deal of money for what my DD and felt like was a pretty darn good routine and choreo, I would also be ticked if it got scrapped for really no apparent reason...
 
Do gymnasts (or their parents ;)) have to pay extra for someone to create their optional routines?
Most do. We do. At our gym it's a flat fee and is done as private lessons. Then gets tweaked as needed with pay as you privates. Daughter is using last year's IGC silver routine, being tweaked for level 6.
 
Do gymnasts (or their parents ;)) have to pay extra for someone to create their optional routines?

Generally, yes, and it *can* be pretty darn pricey. Not only that, but often the gymnasts have no say over the music or style of the routine or the dance. The experience can be amazing or awful- my DD has gone through $0-$550, well thought out to rushed, professional to obviously amateur, and has loved the experience to hated it. The answer to every single question is exactly the same: it depends.
 
This is crazy. Do some gyms give you an option if you want the $0 routine from the new assistant coach vs $550 for a coach that specializes in creating these routines? I guess you can't find one you like online and just copy it?

By the way, MILgymFAM, you look different. Did you get a hair cut?
 
This is crazy. Do some gyms give you an option if you want the $0 routine from the new assistant coach vs $550 for a coach that specializes in creating these routines? I guess you can't find one you like online and just copy it?

By the way, MILgymFAM, you look different. Did you get a hair cut?

It's my winter colors, you like? No, if a gym charges for a choreographer there has never been the option to decline.
 
Do gymnasts (or their parents ;)) have to pay extra for someone to create their optional routines?


The OP indicated she had paid a good chunk of $ for the routine... Our gym last year flew in a choreographer from out on the east coast - she stayed for a week in a hotel and came up with all of the optional's routines. I don't know the final cost because given some mental blocks my DD was having we fully expected her to stay level 6 and to reuse the recycled routine.

But yes, you usually have to pay I think!!
 
This is crazy. Do some gyms give you an option if you want the $0 routine from the new assistant coach vs $550 for a coach that specializes in creating these routines? I guess you can't find one you like online and just copy it?

By the way, MILgymFAM, you look different. Did you get a hair cut?
I am sure it's different for all gyms. At our gym, the child can pick the music. (although our kids have had optional music for a long time, so when they were little coaches/parents picked at times). We give coach, three pieces of music. Coach makes final decision. We pay about 300 dollars, they usually keep it 2 years. But you could change every year if you are willing to pay.

For my daughters first routine, she was just clueless about what she liked. Coach sent us 5 pieces of music. My kid picked. She was 7.
 
If her floor scores have dropped half a point plus, it's very likely not the choreography that's hanging her up. It's possible the coaches dialed back the choreography significantly so that she can focus on the tumbling and leaps that are likely to produce far more deductions. Some gymnasts do struggle with the transition from L7 to L8 floor, especially if twisting doesn't come easily. A routine with very basic choreography but clean up-to-level leaps and tumbling will outscore a routine with beautiful, intricate choreography but weaker tumbling pretty much every time.
 
If her floor scores have dropped half a point plus, it's very likely not the choreography that's hanging her up. It's possible the coaches dialed back the choreography significantly so that she can focus on the tumbling and leaps that are likely to produce far more deductions. Some gymnasts do struggle with the transition from L7 to L8 floor, especially if twisting doesn't come easily. A routine with very basic choreography but clean up-to-level leaps and tumbling will outscore a routine with beautiful, intricate choreography but weaker tumbling pretty much every time.
That is what I was thinking. The scores are related to moving up a level and the tumbling, not choreography. And the leaps the leaps are a killer.
 
Do gymnasts (or their parents ;)) have to pay extra for someone to create their optional routines?

Usually yes - we got lucky this year as we had 2 graduating seniors that taught their old routines to new optionals!
 
By the way, if the recent college graduate coach who worked with your daughter was herself a college gymnast, that's possibly a really good thing. They learn a lot about effective choreography that enables minimal deductions. We've had a few former club athletes return now and then to help out with coaching, and it's always been a positive -- in my daughter's case, the timely intervention of a college athlete prevented her coach from picking a nice but very overused piece of floor music.
 
I am sure it's different for all gyms. At our gym, the child can pick the music. (although our kids have had optional music for a long time, so when they were little coaches/parents picked at times). We give coach, three pieces of music. Coach makes final decision. We pay about 300 dollars, they usually keep it 2 years. But you could change every year if you are willing to pay.

For my daughters first routine, she was just clueless about what she liked. Coach sent us 5 pieces of music. My kid picked. She was 7.
At our gym, the girls pick their music. Once a girl picks her music, nobody else can have it (or even a slightly different music). They pick the choreographer (self, another gymnast, a gymnast "committee", or one of the coaches that comes back from college for breaks). Only two of the college kids charge for choreography, and it is either $20 or $50.
They get new music and routines every year.
 

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