WAG Does different equipment at meets make a difference?

[duyetanh]

Before I begin, can I just say I would appreciate it if no meet names were mentioned, because I would like to keep this thread on a friendly basis.

As the meet season is now in full swing for many of us, I couldn't help remembering a few meets we went to last spring, where the equipment, while looking fine, seemed to cause issues for the older girls. I overheard a few of them saying the equipment didn't 'feel' right, for various reasons. Now my young child has not noticed this stuff before (and nor have I), and perhaps it is coming...but maybe these girls were overthinking? I know that every gym's equipment is unique, but they were mentioning things like spring of the floor, the flex in the bars, the beam's stability...? I can honestly only think of one meet where the floor seemed a bit springier, but this actually helped my child, who probably needed more spring to her step at the time, lol.

Have you been at meets where you felt the equipment was, shall we say, a bit 'interesting?' And if so, did others also notice it? Just curious if this is something I get to look forward to in the future!

 

[ZJsMom]

I think what matters most is if the kids think it matters. When my dd competed, she only liked the vault table with the texture top, which she called the "basketball" vault. If it was the smooth one she would psych herself out.

Thinking of vault though, there was a meet last year where the vault was excessively chalked up and DS's team had trouble with it. One boy's hands slid right off. It was scary and thankfully he was only doing a FHS. If that happened and he was doing a flipping vault it could have been really bad.

After competing for as many years as they have, DS and his teammates know which floors are more or less springy. They don't seem to stress out about it much though.

 

[skschlag]

I do know that my ds will say things like that. The floor is springier/not as springy. High bar doesn't flex as much or more, love the pbars/pommel horse, etc. But he knows how to adjust to different equipment at this point and just go with it.

 

[duyetanh]

I do know that my ds will say things like that. The floor is springier/not as springy. High bar doesn't flex as much or more, love the pbars/pommel horse, etc. But he knows how to adjust to different equipment at this point and just go with it.

That is pretty cool that at the higher levels they know how to adjust!

 

[beachgirl]

My daughter said at one meet that it felt like there was wood under the vault floor. You could actually hear them running. Also, at one meet it was brand new equipment and she said nothing felt springy.

 

[skschlag]

That is pretty cool that at the higher levels they know how to adjust!

They kind of have to. I mean, we don't have a meet ever at our gym for the boys, so they are always competing on other equipment. D can tell you which gyms have the "good" of each piece of equipment, but what he likes and what someone else likes can be completely different. But he has to learn to adjust...and not blame equipment for any mistakes he had!

 

[GymCMLA]

DD will say things like the beam was "Sweaty" or "Sandy". But we have been to some pretty bad little meets where the equipment was clearly as old as me LOL (the kids disappears into the resi it was so worn out after the level 3 (old level 4) vault.
Last winter the girls had a tough day on bars and it was a "new" set that there was a ton of give in the bar and it seemed to respond differently to their motions/casts/giants etc.
Also last year, at a new meet, the floor was awful, the foam was coming out the side, the carpet wasn't attached to each other and kids feet were going under the carpet and pushing foam piece out the side. It was a "big" meet and the equipment company was no help at all to actually fix it. they walked out and "jumped" it together but nothing moved. It was dangerous TBH.
In general they all adapt pretty well to what is at the meet, but we mostly are a big, well established meets these days.

 

[raenndrops]

Our girls always go out and test the springiness of the floor either during open stretch or just before march in.
One meet we go to has a "reflex beam" that affects some of our girls. We used to go to a meet that didn't even have a spring floor - floor foam on a gym floor. Our Optionals would try to find a way to rework their routines to adjust for it.
Another gym has uneven bars that have issues - at least 3 girls from our team (and as many as 8) will get rips in warm ups or competition... Optionals have been known to fly off the bars at the wrong times (We had a L6 that flew of on her low bar clear hip... then again on her high bar clear hip - but managed to actually fly OVER the bar and grab it again... and she got credit for her B skill).

 

[Committed]

As a parent, I can tell when floors are extra springy - our girls fly out of their tumbling. This one is a problem for DD, especially. However, she really dislikes "weird bars"- too smooth is her biggest complaint. Really, there's nothing they can do about the equipment, so they have no choice but to figure out a way to make it work.

 

[skschlag]

Our gym doesn't have a ring tower...the first few times our little guys get on one, it throws them everywhere!!!

 

[duyetanh]

. Optionals have been known to fly off the bars at the wrong times (We had a L6 that flew of on her low bar clear hip... then again on her high bar clear hip - but managed to actually fly OVER the bar and grab it again... and she got credit for her B skill).

Um, that is nuts!!!

 

[ShesAMonkey]

At one relatively small compulsory meet, we were giggling watching the girls warm up on beam because there was something clearly wrong. The girls were very animated about it and we could tell that they were trying to make adjustments. Then, when it was time for DD's beam routine, she went to mount the beam...and kept going...all the way around underneath the beam! lol. OK, the point deduction wasn't funny, but it was funny to watch. DD told me later that the beam was somehow taller than the beams that they are used to using. They were all such little peanuts and were trying their best to make it work. DD gave it a little more power--and went right around!

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

There's definitely differences to equipment. Floors can be springier (or not!!), bars slippery or rough or too soft, vault mats and runways can differ and surface on beams differ. I'm sure that's a partial reason everyone gets to warm up on the competition equipment at every meet..! We are going to one meet soon where DD and all her teammates HATE the beams. There's a weird coating on top of the beam and DD says its slippery, she's dreading it. Ok to do a handstand or cartwheel on, but with a flight series it's a little scarier..!
I know our coaches tell the girls to adjust their tumbling etc according to the equipment. I just tell DD to do her best and have fun!!!

 

[2G1B]

Our gym doesn't have a ring tower...the first few times our little guys get on one, it throws them everywhere!!!

How on earth do you not have a ring tour? That is crazy talk!!

 

[profmom]

So the girls were at this meet year competing in the first session. They were up on bars as their second rotation. We noticed that several were having problems in warmup and some were pestering the coaches. After a while both coaches went over to the bars and started taking the high bar apart.

Turns out the rental company had installed the high bar upside down.

 

[skschlag]

How on earth do you not have a ring tour? That is crazy talk!!

Never have. I guess we have one in storage but to put it in we would have to be down to just 1 set of rings, and 1 set of pbars. So they opt to keep them mounted on the girders.

 

[Seeker]

So the girls were at this meet year competing in the first session. They were up on bars as their second rotation. We noticed that several were having problems in warmup and some were pestering the coaches. After a while both coaches went over to the bars and started taking the high bar apart.

Turns out the rental company had installed the high bar upside down.

Yikes. That sort of thing scares me... Seems a bit silly, but I never want my daughter to go first on anything!

 

[2G1B]

Never have. I guess we have one in storage but to put it in we would have to be down to just 1 set of rings, and 1 set of pbars. So they opt to keep them mounted on the girders.

Wow. I think that we have one tower and one set connected to beams; but full routines always seem to be done on the Tower with the beam set more for drills. I think that one gym in our area has 2 tours.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

Equipment usually is all different, whether or not it's the "exact" brand/style/etc. Wear and tear is different from gym to gym, and if it "looks" different... well.... I think it usually is mental, but it can be dangerous sometimes. Our first meet this season had a vault table that was ancient. It looked unsafe - felt unsafe - many girls did not go in warm up and it was very scary for our coaches. Plus the runway was less than 50 inches - many of us had to start running on WOOD. They also had very little padding around the floor (a possible problem in the upper levels) - if you went out of bounds at around 5 inches you were landing on nice hard wood. And the beam - even our tiny ones shook it. Needless to say we won't be going back there. And then theirs a gym with the best floor, beam and bar set ever, but has a short runway. Point is, each gym has a "good" this and a "bad" that usually, but we usually are able to work around it. Mostly. It does affect me mentally, but I guess that's something gymnasts have to get over.

 

[GymMom4]

My daughter and her teammates have noticed things like the springy-ness of he floor or lack thereof, one place had a beam that felt "sticky" to them, another had a vault that was really old and had duct tape holding parts of it together.

They kids learn to adapt and everyone is competing on the same equipment though perhaps it allows a bit of "home field advantage" when there are big differences compared to what they are used to.