For Parents Another meet...another crash!

[Blackie6]

OK, so maybe my DD only needs to one good vault, LOL because she crashed the second one again yesterday!

Let me back up a little. You all know she crashed the second vault two weeks ago at Sectionals. Well she has vaulted since at practice including the L5 vault over the table. At the last practice on Thursday night she REFUSED to vault. When threatened with conditioning from the coach my DD opted to do 1/2 hrs+ of conditioning on her own. Coach forgot she likes to condition. She tells me when she got home she is scared now. Coach feels she can do it fine and when I asked if she was going to do it at the meet she said she would.

OK, fast forward to meet yesterday. Girls LOVE this meet they get to do a little skit/routine and the judges are dressed in Halloween costumes and it is a laid back fun meet. No pressure as they already qualified for states. The girls get bags and when they visit the judges table at each rotation they get candy. Parents and coaches probably HATE this meet because it tends to run longer (we were there 15 min BEFORE we were supposed too at 11:15, meet started around 12:15ish with skits and then routines. A ton of girls, I felt like I was at this meet forever as it didn't end until after 3pm and then she wanted to stay to watch our L5's for a while. There were 30 girls in my DD's 6-8 age group alone. Then there is the candy. Not good for the girls to be pigging out in between rotations. Our coach was alone and only had 9 girls, but they were all wigging out, riding the chocolate highs and then crashing by the 3rd rotation, playing in the chalk bucket, bouncing off the walls and had to be yelled at several times. The scores were really low too, even on the best routines. At the vault which was first, my DD practices no problem....read again...NO PROBLEM....she gets to go first & vaults her first vault which looks good. *sigh* of relief from the mommy. Goes for #2 and does a lovely belly flop right onto the mats! I was trying to video and my hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the camera the rest of the meet after that. And then the tears come again. Since she is first now she is sitting alone crying. Again judges try and show her the score..9.4! Why the heck is this kids crying still? Coach later tells me that there is a mat with a line on it that she puts in front of the springboard. She did it for #1 but took it away for #2. I think it has to do with helping the girls with the timing of the jump to the springboard and I guess my DD needs that. She does a stutter step and trips without it! So, they will be working on that and maybe this second vault slip up will stop? I mean if she was afraid she wouldn't go over at all right? Or is it just in her head she can't do the second one? Placed 4th with the 9.4

OK, onto bars. She did everything fine here, no help from coach this time and got the highest score on the team a 8.65. Onto beam. I HATE beam. I already knew she was coming off this again. I could tell when she first got on by her face. I can always tell in her face if she is fighting for it or she gives up and is just on it. She was not the only one who fell, almost everyone on the team fell off. We were all in the 7's except for the ones that stuck it and they only got 8's. Methinks there will be a long beam practice coming for the girls this week. They all fall off on the run leap into the one foot pose (don't know what it is called) and for some reason the beam was a lot higher than the girls are used too. Coach even said the girsl were alittle afraid they were up so high. They had to stand on about 3 mats just to reach it. I didn't realize the beam had settings? Anyway, even with the fall my DD managed to pull off a 7.95 which got her 15th place ribbon. Floor wasn't all that either, it wasn't as good as she does it at practice even. The scores here were especially low and DD got a 8.45 for 14th place.

V 9.4
UB 8.65
BB 7.95
FX 8.45

AA 34.45 (got an AA medal can't remember what place...maybe 13th)

BTW, I never saw so many places at a meet, guess it was because there were so many girls in that same age group?)

So, even though her AA score was higher than the first one this season & probably her highest so far, it just didn't seem like it was a good meet for her. All her scores seem inconsistant and I thought for her second year she would do a little better. Is it possible she's just good at practice and can't get it together for a meet?

 

[MdGymMom01]

Awww Blackie, I am sorry to hear about the crash. Btw, I love the way your write--I couldn't help but laugh out loud when you were describing the kids pigging out on candy in between rotations!! Those scores seem pretty good to me, although I am a newbie and still have no real clue about scoring sometimes! Dani and her teammates have the mat before the springboard that they use as a timer to jump onto the springboard which really helps, and the MDL is lax, so they let the girls use it in competitions.

It was interesting what you said about doing really well at practice and just not being able to pull it together for comps. My dd is the opposite--she will fall off the beam and bars in warm-ups but totally hit the routine for the competition. Yesterday she fell so many times in her handstand on beam in warmups and then over-rotated and fell in UB warm-ups as well. I was surprised she did so well when it was "for real". But, she was the same way for cheerleading too. Her stunt would be crashing left and right in warm-ups but when it was time to go on for real--they would hit. I guess she just performs well under pressure, I don't know.

I totally can relate on the beam with the run leap into one foot pose--Dani is SO AFRAID to do that. She ends up just stepping...probably part of the reason why her beam score was low yesterday.

I wouldn't worry too much, Blackie--I'm sure she will bounce back and do even better at her next meet.

 

[gym law mom]

While the meet sounds like fun, it does seem like it would be a coach's nightmare also. All the fun with the costumes/skits and then having to refocus the kids for a meet---plus all that sugar!!!

Seems like dd is giving mixed signals on the vault. Yes, she can physically do it and do it well, but the refusal to vault 2 days before a meet sends up a red flag(btw---I don't agree with sending a child off to condition--there needs to be a little talking with her). She may be skittish after the 1st crash a few weeks ago and is trying to gut it out and a few nights ago just couldn't do it. Then a 2nd crash followed by alot of tears. Coach moving the tape probably didn't help her confidence at all. My gymmie's coach uses the tape at meets and does move it for each girl(but doesn't remove it)---it gives them the visual cue when to start the hurdle.

Anyway, I would talk with your dd and see if she'll open up about how she feels doing the vault. Why did she not want to vault a few nights ago----that seems so out of character for her. We have a L9 who loved vaulting until she started competing a yurchenko last season. Had a crash on in during the summer(not hurt), but it really shook her confidence. At every practice and before every vault in a meet, she literally had to talk herself into doing the vault. Thing is she scored pretty darned well with it. This season they are working on a different vault for her-----coach, gymnast and parents just don't think its worth the stress of having her continue to push on with this vault. So, this may be something you, dd and the coach need to work through now before it becomes a bigger issue for her.
BTW---Nice job with the 9.4 on the 1st vault!!!

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

Sorry about the crash. At least it came after the 9.4 - that is a great score. I agree w/ Gym Law Mom - talk to her about it, or have the coach do it. There may be more to it than anyone is aware.

 

[GymnasticsMom]

Blackie,

Sorry about the crash, at least she did get one good score out of it. The candy in between rotations was too funny! I know my DDs would probably be bouncing off the walls (literally). Beam must of been rough, glad she got through it though. Skits must've been cute! What did they do?

 

[mariposa]

Sorry about the crash, but what an amazing vault score before that! Hope she gets her vault fear/issues figured out. It has to be scary to run full speed at a big object.

My DDs was a Halloween meet as well and they got candy, etc, judges were in costume (some) and she had a blast. Good thing she has NO idea of scores. LOL.

 

[gym mom]

Sorry to hear she is having vault problems and so sorry she is getting so upset.My dd last season started of in the begining great at vault then went down hill it was frustrating now she is doing beautiful again hopefully it will stay.The scores all were very good!I definintly no what your talking about doing good at practice and not has good at meets.

 

[Mom2Gymgirls]

Hang in there Blackie. It takes some kids longer to get comfortable with competing. My older DD would always do so well in practice and even in warm-ups, but it never failed in a meet that she would always bomb on at least one event. Funny thing was that it was never the same event. Anyway, as time went on she started to get more comfortable with it. I remember her first year as a level 4 at her 3rd meet, which also happened to be states for her, she fell off the beam 3 times. Her first meet as a second year level 4, she again fell 3 times. I couldn't believe it. However, it all went uphill slowly from there to end on a good note. Then as a level 5, beam was her best event, so you never know.

It is hard on them when they miss one of their vaults like that though. My same DD last year as a level 5 crashed into the table on her 1st vault attempt at one of the meets and got very flustered, and had to go back for her second try, which she was at least able to do well. I guess if I had to take my pick though, I would rather nail the first one and mess up the 2nd instead of messing up first which then puts more stress to get the 2nd one. Hopefully this is just a phase, but I would try to talk to her about it and see what she says she is afraid of. Maybe it is just that she still needs the line there to help her know when to hurdle. I would also ask the coach to keep putting that down for her. Good luck to you and DD. It will get better!

 

[UnoMas]

Sounds like a wild and crazy day! I guess there was good and bad, huh, with the crash being bad and the MEDAL being good!