Anon Beam Mat Safety

[Anonymous (2443)]

In her first meet this season, my DD was warming up on beam, fell on a turn, and fractured her tibia b/c the 8" mat under the beam had been pulled farther to one side by a coach during warmups to accommodate a taller teammate that was dismounting at the same time off the other side and otherwise would have landed off the mat. This caused my DD to land half on and half off the mat. Can anyone explain why such narrow 8 incher mats are placed under beam at many gyms/competitions and why wider mats or two such mats aren't used (it looks like there is maybe 2.5 feet to each side)? Is this a USAG regulation? The next day, my other L2 DD had a meet and I saw multiple girls fall and come close to doing to same thing, has anyone else had issues with this? Can/should anything be done? I was also recently at a college meet and noticed that they do not use such mats under the beam but rather have one continuous surface, which seems much safer to me.

On a related note, my daughter is finally almost fully healed (yeah!) and has an outside shot at being able to compete at the state meet, which she really wants to do. The problem is that b/c she was injured warming up for the first event in her first meet, she has not achieved the required score at her level to qualify for states. Does anyone know if there is any way to petition to compete w/o the score should she be ready to go?

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous (5db9)]

I think petition guidelines can vary by state and level. In my state the petition process for injury includes postseason scores for the prior year. I’m not sure that someone competing a level for the first time can petition. Your coach is the one who files the petition so I’d ask them.

 

[Anonymous (c6a3)]

Assuming this is USAG, there should be a set of state rules on the state website, including state qualification and petition rules. You can’t petition as a parent. The coach will need to do it once they determine if she is even eligible to petition under the state’s rules.

The mat thing sounds scary. I have a short one in a group of tall girls and her coaches do an excellent job of batching the girls during practice so they have mats that work for their heights, and they’re very careful in competitions to move the mats as needed. It is a ton of work for coaches but a genuine safety issue. Even though I can understand how the injury happened, the coaches should have been more alert about mats. I think adjusting equipment is not glamorous but the #1 responsibility a coach has during a meet. I’ve seen ours fuss and fuss to get things just right, and even squat uncomfortably against/behind a vault mat stack for an entire rotation when it wouldn’t stay put.

 

[JBS]

Can anyone explain why such narrow 8 incher mats are placed under beam at many gyms/competitions and why wider mats or two such mats aren't used (it looks like there is maybe 2.5 feet to each side)? Is this a USAG regulation?

The 8" mats are just supplementary matting. They go on top of the CLM's (competition landing mats). College CLM thickness is 20 cm... Xcel / DP thickness is 12 cm. Due to this... you see more coaches using 8" mats in Xcel / DP than college.

Regulation give you an 8"... a sting mat... and a 4" mat at each event. The coaches use them as they wish. You also get a pit pillow on upper level bars.

Equipment trucks carry 7' x 10' x 4" mats... most do not carry 7' x 10' x 8" mats. Most only carry 5' x 10' x 8" mats as that is all that is required.

Personally... I would rather just have 20 cm CLM's for beam with an extra 4 cm mat on the landing area.

With only 12 cm CLM's... I would much rather have a 7' x 10' x 8" mat for upper level vault.

Here are the specs...

https://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/Rules/epuipspecs2223.pdf

Feel free to ask questions.

 

[Anonymous (f714)]

This doesn't answer your question but I relate to this. My daughter dismounted off the beam last year and for some reason many of the meets that are on either concrete or gym floors will only have a narrow mat placed at the end for the dismount. Well, DD dismounted crooked (back tuck dismount) and landed directly on the hardwood floor - no mats at all! She didn't break anything but dealt with on and off heel pain for many months afterwards and like you, I wondered why they don't make the dismount area a bit wider for those gymnasts who don't have perfect landings? I'm grateful it didn't end up being a break but I think for a lot of girls it could have.