Parents BWO on beam fear

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Gymmomintraining

Proud Parent
my 10 yo daughter is in her 2nd year as a 4 and is so so fearful of the BWO on beam. She cannot even begin to think of doing it on the high beam by herself and her coaches do not spot beam. I have downloaded some doc Ali's meditations on fear but she doesn't seem to like them so much. I don't ask her about it at all anymore and don't watch practice. She is very strong and talented and deeply loves the sport. I'd hate to think of this skill keeping her from moving up. Any suggestions?
 
Well, I would leave it to the coaches to work to get her comfortable. The Doc Ali stuff is good and will give her tools to help with her fear. Also, though, there are 3 options in level 5 for the beam skill, BWO, BHS and back extension roll. Does your gym ever do the alternatives?
 
No they do not do alternatives. And although I like her coaches a lot they don't seem to be helping her get over this fear as it's been over a year .
 
No they do not do alternatives. And although I like her coaches a lot they don't seem to be helping her get over this fear as it's been over a year .
One thing that worked for my DD is me telling her that NO ONE is going to help her through fear, except HERSELF. It is a mosnter she must tame, with the *help* of her coaches. But even if her coaches are not able to help, or if they might be having a bad day, etc....its still up to her to manage it. At 11 years old i think its a good age to begin picking the fear apart and identifying what is causing it. Is is her hands missing, is it hitting her head, is it vestibular...
I dont mean to sound blunt, but I cant tell you how many 13,14,15 year olds at my DDs gym that are still blaming the coaches because they wont help them with the BHS. They go home and tell mom that the coach is bad, and isnt helping them.
at the end of the day, its up to your DD to find what works. Can she do it on the floor? can she do it with stacked mats? can she work on it at her own pace? But standing there waiting for someone to help is not the answer. Help her put in a plan.

just last week mine was tearing up on the way to practice becasue of beam (!!) and she was like, 'my coach this, and my coach that'. I asked her if her coach is good and she said 'no' (lol, she was two weeks ago) I then said well, 'that sucks'. and too bad not all the coaches are great, and she has who she has. I also told her that if she had to, she could stand on the beam for 1 hr, which is the duration of the rotation.....that wasnt the end of the world. I said this very nicely, and matter of fact.
She cried and said 'i might get ropes' and i said, bummer.....i was sorry for her plight. In the end, she worked it out, did what she had to do sort of, and her coach thanked her for giving it her all.....thats it.
Talk to the coach- but understand they are not magicians.
 
My DD went through the same thing this past spring/summer. She was age 8-9 and training Level 5/6 at the time. She has since scored out of L5 (with a lovely BWO on beam) and will compete L6 this season. But it was a rough few months.... One night she was in tears convinced she had to quit gymnastics because of her BWO on high beam fear. She spent many practices trying to avoid the high beam (frankly she looked lazy and distracted; like she wasn't trying at all!)

Will your DD do the BWO on a low or floor beam? I've seem many of the more expert posters on CB say that you need to start where the gymnast feels comfortable (low beam, or even a line on the floor), and progress slowly from there.

What worked for us? Doing nothing. Coaches did nothing. And I (*tried*) to say nothing. In the gym, if she asked for a spot (which she rarely did) she would get it for one or two, but that's it. Mostly she was given time and space to figure it out on her own. Eventually she got to the point where she would do it on high beam, with mats stacked under, but would mostly go off the side of the beam. (She was straight on low beam though). After many weeks of going off the side, she very slowly started to stick it more often on high beam. Once that happened, she got more confident and started removing mats. The whole process took months, and it is still not a favorite skill. There is a long pause in her routine right before the BWO, and she won't lift her leg up very high before she starts going back.

We are now starting it all over again with the BHS -- ugh -- but I feel like a pro and will not say a word. DD sticks the BHS on low and mid beam, and has done it a couple of time on high beam with stacked mats. But mostly she just climbs on high beam, and then climbs right off.

Finally, there are a ton of threads on this very issue. Reading them helped me. Mine is here: https://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/bwo-on-beam-fear.59546/

Good luck!!
 
my 10 yo daughter is in her 2nd year as a 4 and is so so fearful of the BWO on beam. She cannot even begin to think of doing it on the high beam by herself and her coaches do not spot beam. I have downloaded some doc Ali's meditations on fear but she doesn't seem to like them so much. I don't ask her about it at all anymore and don't watch practice. She is very strong and talented and deeply loves the sport. I'd hate to think of this skill keeping her from moving up. Any suggestions?
Has she talked with her coaches about her fear?
 
Thank you everyone for ideas and suggestions! Her coaches do know of her fear- we talked about it at her conference last spring. They said repetition was the key to getting over the fear but obviously they cannot make her go for it. She will do it on a floor beam (squishy kind) and floor beam (hard) but then doesn't want to go higher. There has been a few rare occasions she has been spotted on the high beam and she came home so proud of herself. I don't expect her coaches to solve it for her, but I do wish they would spot her on 1-2 to help give her confidence. in my heart I know it's her battle but it's so hard watching your little one struggle with something you can't help them with.
 
I hear what the coaches are saying, but for my daughter's overwhelming fear of BHS on beam, repetition was NOT key. It is not a skill issue - it is a fear issue, and I wish more coaches understood it better. Maybe bringing it down to where she is comfortable (as you mentioned, floor beam) is the type of repetition that will work, but not at a place where the fear is strong.

My daughter's coaches had the same philosophy -- keep trying, keep doing it -- and all that happened is the fear started to spread. She started to get scared of flyaways on bars, and even ROBHS on floor! She was getting screamed at and mocked on a daily basis. We switched gyms and moved to Xcel, and all my DD's skills came back and started to progress again. Except for BHS on beam - luckily she can work around it now and perhaps one day she will get it. I truly feel for you, but the best advice I received from all the advice on this board was to not mention it, not stress about it. Lots of luck to your DD.
 
Not sure if it's an option but my dd did compete BWO & then shortly after got her BHS on beam. She swears the BHS is less scary. This year she had a choice between BWO BHS or BHS BHS, still says the BHS series is less scary.

Just know it's not abnormal for gymnasts to have an issue like this. Every time my child grows an inch or two, she loses skills she's been doing for years and once she stops growing, POOF! it comes back overnight just about.

The biggest thing to me is just not to make a big deal about it. She finishes practices & has had a bad day not getting a skill, I just say,"you'll get it back like you always do!" And move on to another topic.
 
We have had some BWO beam fear issues at our gym the lasts few weeks. Girls running off the beam to the restroom in tears. Meet season is here and coaches are asking for many routines each practice. Watching DD's coaches they offer two spots then ask the girls to do the skill, give them a countdown from 5 then ask them to step off the beam. DD does BHS BHS no BWO she has had no major fear issues to this point. She says she is scared from time to time but she trusts her coaches and remembers advice i gave her long ago. There is no brave without fear. She says everyone is scared you just trust your skills and push through, this is thoughts of a ten-year-old.
 
Wanted to update that she has it on the high beam by herself! We agreed not to talk about it until states were done and then she picked the coach to do a few privates with. Her face when she did it on her own was one I will never forget.

What a fantastic update! Congrats to her!
 
Wanted to update that she has it on the high beam by herself! We agreed not to talk about it until states were done and then she picked the coach to do a few privates with. Her face when she did it on her own was one I will never forget.

honestly, this is more huge than the skill. the confidence and thrill she must be feeling having done it is worth more than the skill itself. my dd went through something similar with her series on beam and her current bar routine. neither event are perfect right now but she is just so happy that she is doing them that she doesn't care about her score.

she is so pleased with just doing the full routines. she asks me, did you see. i say yes even though at the last meet i did not see b/c i was so nervous. haha

huge congrats to your dd! and to you too!
 

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