Recent content by SpunkyGymMom

Another vote for the snap bun maker! My daughter has very curly hair, fairly thick, longer than waist-length, and the snap buns have been the best for her. She did not like having as many bobby pins in her head as it would take to secure all of her hair with the braid style bun. The snap bun...

We went through a similar decision process with my daughter this summer. She’s also getting into upper level optionals at a gym that doesn’t have a lot of L9/L10 experience, and the gym we would have considered is a much longer drive. She decided to stay where she is. Biggest difference is that...

It’s been a while since I put my question out here, so I thought I’d post a follow up... First, thanks to all of you for your insights and reassurance! My daughter is going to stay at her gym :) She likely could get a little further in her gymnastics journey at another gym, but when we talked it...

My daughter is a 13 year old L7. She typically scores well and places high in competition, though she is definitely not on a fast track. She doesn’t have a ton of natural strength and power, but her form and technique are excellent. An injury prior to the season kept her from L8 this year, but...

My daughter is doing L8 this year. I think her routines are up to level, except maybe floor...? FX: 2 tumbling passes - FLO+FT and RO+BHS+Full, plus an aerial (which I don’t think counts for anything?) and a double turn incorporated in the dance, plus required leap/jump. UB: kip+cast-HS...

On beam, if the routine has 2 split leaps/jumps, do both have to hit 180 to avoid a deduction? Similar question on bars - if the routine has 2 casts (low bar and high bar), do both have to hit handstand or just one? Thanks!

Love this! Ideally, coaches should know their gymnasts - with respect to talent and motivation - and be flexible in terms of their paths. Even though our current gym is more conservative with move-up decisions, they don’t seem to do it just for scores. We have lower-scoring gymnasts that move...

Super-interesting discussion! Seems to me, this all boils down to differences in philosophy, right? My daughter’s old gym seemed to pride themselves on their number of higher level gymnasts. As such, girls move up levels whenever they are “close enough”, even if it means lower start values...

We didn’t see any 38s at our meets this year, either — and totally agree on the vault scoring. Some judges gave only a handful of very low 9s, with lots of 7s and 8s. And at a couple of our early meets, Suk timers way out-scored Yurchenko timers across the board, though that seemed to even out...

My daughter was training L7 prior to the season but competed L6 this year because her bars were not ready (and still aren’t). She competed her L7 beam and floor routines all year, though. After an okay year at L5, L6 seemed like the right call, and she was scoring in the 35s at the early meets...

Against my better judgement, I will wade into this insanely difficult issue. I think it is important to consider the somewhat unique circumstances associated with abuse in gymnastics. In the case of an accusation against a coach - especially a winning coach - believing an accuser is terribly...

This strikes me as a real “teachable moment”. I raised this topic with my DD (11) in the context of what’s appropriate for social media and what’s not. To my surprise, she knew right away the coach I was talking about, as she follows her on Instagram. Her initial reaction was, “it’s okay, that...

That’s true - she is definitely ‘behind herself’ in that she’s not progressing evenly. I guess in DD’s case, she’s not behind her teammates now because she is with the L6 group, but if she had moved to L7 as planned, she would be behind on bars. It’s all relative. I just feel bad that she sees...

This thread hits home... my DD is in the same boat and will compete L6 this year because of bars. The discussion about being “behind” is interesting to me, as there’s been general consensus DD is behind on bars. She has her BHS-BHS series on beam and is working higher upgrades. On floor, she...

I’ve been a long-time visitor to the forum and finally decided to join. Thanks to all of you who make this an excellent resource for everyone connected to the world of gymnastics. I’m a former gymnast and competitive cheerleader. My daughter, now 11, is a L6 gymnast. She loves the sport and I...