Bar settings

[gymmommy1022]

My dd is the tallest on her team, and lately she is complaining of hitting her feet on the bottom bar when doing giants or anything on high bar. Her coach absolutely refuses to change the setting of the bars to accomodate her height, and my dd is complaining that it's scary to know she is going to hit her feet. Her coach is not real receptive to parents getting involved in issues in the gym, so I'm not sure what to do. She had my dd crying today, telling her she will just have to adjust to the width of the bars. Can anyone explain to me if this is normal? Should the gymnast adjust to the space available between the bars, or should the bars be set according to the gymnast?

 

[purpleterah]

I think this is creul not to move the bars. However the coach may want to teach your daughter how to adjust her body position accordingy. My DD teammates are tall and we have gone to many a meets with older sets of bars that cant go any wider. IMO he wants her to learn how to do her skills on theses bars so in competition she will be able to adapt if this issue arises. Gymnastics shoes help or terry cloth wrist band on her feet. Tell her good luck.
Danielle

 

[gymmommy1022]

Thanks for the reply, my dd did say her coach told her to hollow down, but even then she still hits her feet. My dd thinks she will need to pike down in order to not hit her feet, but I'm wondering if this will be a deduction during meets??

 

[ahs]

Its hard to say if your daughter needs to fix her positions or the bars need to be moved without actually seeing her swing. I am interested how tall is your daughter?

 

[Shaundra]

Im sorta lucky im quite short
but that is mean not to change
the setting of the bars.
And if he realy wants her to
learn how to costimize it to normal
bar settings. Adgust the bars learn
how to do each move then get the
coach to go through each move
learning how to costimize it!

 

[Granny Smith]

My dd is the tallest on her team, and lately she is complaining of hitting her feet on the bottom bar when doing giants or anything on high bar. Her coach absolutely refuses to change the setting of the bars to accomodate her height, and my dd is complaining that it's scary to know she is going to hit her feet. Her coach is not real receptive to parents getting involved in issues in the gym, so I'm not sure what to do. She had my dd crying today, telling her she will just have to adjust to the width of the bars. Can anyone explain to me if this is normal? Should the gymnast adjust to the space available between the bars, or should the bars be set according to the gymnast?

Ok, I could of swore that you were from our gym in NJ are you sure you're from WI?

Our gym will not change the settings either. I feel bad, but if it anything like our gym I can tell you why. My dd is a Level 7 and she is the shortest one on the team. The bars are set at the furthest setting that she can reach. So, I feel your pain, but from the other end. While the taller girls are hitting their feet or piking their giants, I am praying for dear life that my dd can reach the bar after she does the squat on to the high bar and doesn't wipe out.

Is it fair no, but it's reality. Us parents start to think that for all the money we pay monthly you'd think they'd change the setting. Well we have a couple sets of bars in our gym, but only 1 set that you would do full routines on and if they changed the setting for every girl, they'd never get to do their routines.

Well that is how I am thinking of it, I really don't want to entertain the thought that they are just being lazy!

 

[hammy]

I think it partially depends on the coach's preference. Some coaches like to set the bars once and not have to worry about it, mainly for the reason of not having to change the bars during timed warm up at a meet. Like Audra said, it's hard to determine if your daughter needs to change her shapes or if the bars need to be changed without seeing it.

Try having your daughter just do tap swings to figure out how to not hit her feet, then progress to giants--also make sure your daugther is looking at the low bar as her feet go by.

Like I said earlier, most of the time it is just a coach's preference. Did the coach tell your daughter why the bars could not be moved?

 

[gymmommy1022]

My dd is 4'11", she is training L7. We have 2 sets of bars, one for the really short girls, and the other set for all the rest of the team. Since posting on Chalk Bucket, I have been able to find out from the coach that she says my dd needs to change her shapes, (not sure what that means?). Her explanation is that when training for straddle backs the bars will need to be closer, so better to learn now than have to change everything later.

My dd did mention that she sees some of the taller optional girls kind of do a straddle as they swing back toward the low bar, she thinks that is to avoid hitting their feet. Is that OK, or are the legs supposed to be kept together?

 

[hammy]

If your daughter is 4'11'' and having trouble hitting her feet on the bar then she might be whipping too early (which is hard to say without actually seeing her do the skill).

There are two basic shapes for swinging giants on bars--scoop and whip (scoop is also called hollow and whip can be described as superman). Starting in handstand (or close to it), the gymnast should swing down past the low bar in scoop shape; then at the bottom of the swing (under the bar) the gymnast should whip, then following the whip (on the upswing), the gymnast should kick their toes up toward the ceiling and over the bar in scoop. In other words, the swing goes scoop, whip, scoop.

Many times, gymnasts tend to whip before or at the low bar, which is too early. Men use this tap (swinging action) but women cannot because of the low bar.

As far as straddling when going past the low bar, it's not a deduction, but personally I think that it takes away from the power of the skill. Straddling does help the extremely tall gymnast not hit their feet, which is why many of them do it. Most of my teammates who straddled were taller than 5'7''.


As far as teaching straddle backs, that's a whole different story.


Sorry that was so long, I hope that I didn't leave anything out and that I've helped to answer your question.

 

[gymmommy1022]

Hammy:

The explanation was great, I think I understand now.

Thanks so much!!

 

[gym law mom]

Hammy, I would also like to thank you for breaking down the giant into "parent terms." Now, when I watch my daughter doing giants, I'll have a much better understanding of exactly what she's doing.

She always refers to doing the "tap" which may just be the lingo used at her gyms. Recently, her tap was too early---or too late? and she whacked her foot on the low bar. Really threw her confidence for a week or so(had never had this happen). At the new gym, they let her just work her giants on trench bar for a few practices and told her when she felt ready get back up on the double set. The other night I went to watch the end of practice and just as I sat down she did 3 giants in a row on double set and got down with a big fist pump.

Gymmommy---my daughter definitely sympathizes with your dd. She said hitting your foot on the bar is no fun at all!

 

[hammy]

I'm glad I could help you guys understand how a giant works. I've noticed (now as a coach and before as a gymnast) that gymnasts come home and use the techincal terms to tell their parents what they've been doing at practice, when most parents have no clue what it all means (no offense to those who do know). My dad used to call things "flippy-twisty things."

Smacking you feet off the low bar is never fun, but ,sad to say, it generally teaches the gymnast a lesson about using incorrect technique. Just a warning (not to scare you) that your girls will come home with bumps and bruises, having slid down the beam, smacked their chins and feet off the bars, and landing short on flips is always a fun one.

Gym law mom--I'm glad to hear that your daugther is being confident in her gymnastics! Confidence is one of the most important aspects of the sport.