Grades, spotting and deductions..

[Ex member]

My youngest dd is doing her county grades/levels this spring and she will be doing Level 3 (they go 1-6), she has to do a squat on beam mount, dd's coach told me after practice that she is slightly concerned that dd might struggle to squat on the beam at regulation height (120cm) due to her size (don't know if dd is even 120cm herself), she has to squat on using one springboard, at practice tonight the beam was set at 115cm and she managed to squat in using 2 foam springboard type things. The coach said if she cannot do it by herself then she has two solutions - one is to spot her (she can do everything else that is required for level 3) and maybe lose the mark and she still should pass and the other is to drop her down a level or so where she will not need to do the squat on beam mount, I am happy with either solution and dd said she wants to do level 3.

My question is can dd have a spot for the mount and would that usually lose you too many marks (enough to effect wether she passes or fails the grade)? Where I do support the coach and know she has dd's best interests at heart it seems drastic to drop her down a level over 1 squat on mount, I am hoping she can attempt it on her own and just sort of scramble up, but I know nothing about what is or is not acceptable when it comes to this sort of thing.

One thing for sure is that dd will be doing all 4 pieces and range and conditioning and she will do a floor routine to music (I am really excited about that). If anyone wants to know the requirements for dd's level I can put them on here (if that is allowed) as she has them written in her gymnastics homework book by her coach.

 

[sce]

I say to go with whatever the coach decides is best. She's young and has time to grow and develop skills. Jsut enjoy her chance to gain competition experience.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Interesting, I have never seen anyone spotted at grades so have no knowledge of the deductions. @Jenny or @marie83 might know.

 

[Ex member]

I say to go with whatever the coach decides is best. She's young and has time to grow and develop skills. Jsut enjoy her chance to gain competition experience.

That is how I feel, I honestly don't mind what Grade/level she does as long as she gets a chance to do them and I finally get to see her perform a floor routine to music.

I guess I never even thought that my dd might struggle a little bit due to her being quite short - 8 years old and around 115cm tall, I am hoping that she can get her squat on but it seems a physical impossiblity due to her size, I don't know if it is just a case of try,try and try again and see if she can get it.

In your experience (uk parents/coaches) do they lose too many marks for an incomplete move (even a beam mount), enough to damage a gymnasts chances of passing the grade

 

[Gymbee06]

My dd is the same age and height as yours and manages fine with this move she does more hours than your dd and has been doing for longer too maybe it's just something that takes longer to get?

 

[Ex member]

My dd is the same age and height as yours and manages fine with this move she does more hours than your dd and has been doing for longer too maybe it's just something that takes longer to get?

Perhaps, dd tried this move for the first time last night at gym, she is fine with the "jump to front support and swing leg over the beam" move. Dd has also got to learn a squat on from a cast on the bars (only one older girl can do this and she has been in the group nearly 3 years - she is 11).

I think that the lowish hours are holding them back as there is only so much strength stuff you can do on two practices a week that last for 2 hours each after warm ups (and that is not including conditioning and cool down), I know the coach wants them to have another session as she is not happy that they are doing grades on low hours and she is trying her best to make this happen, it was a fight to get them to go in two nights a week let alone 3. Dd's coach is young and I think that it will be a struggle to coach 8 girls on her own doing different grades, at the moment 2 are on grade 3, 4 are on Grade 4 and 2 are on Grade 6 (the oldest two at age 11 and 13 are doing this grades, the grades go from 1-6).

I think that dropping dd down a grade is not the end of the world even though she can compete 98% of her routines before they even start serious practice on grades, what she needs to learn is a squat on a 120cm beam and a squat on the low bar, being 100% on a lower grade sounds better but there still might be time to get the two missing moves, not sure when the grades are and when the entry cut off point is, coach doesn't even know much yet, this will be the first time she has taken a group to grades. I think the grades are at gym in our county with the initials PV.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Smaller girls usually are better at the squat on on bar as they don't have so much leg to hoick up and over, but I can see on beam where it may be an issue if her hands are above her shoulders to start the move. Surely there must be an allowance somewhere for that - using a higher block ? Is the beam height set ?( I don't know as we have never altered it ). Thinking about it when Pink does her stoop through on beam her hands are roughly level with her chest, which doesnt seem to present her with too many problems.

I'm pretty sure I know what gym you are at from your posts and your regional calander has your grades at 22nd March, so you have some time yet, I will send you the calander - your lucky, our region hasn't bothered to do their clalander yet, luckily our club has so I have been circling days in my diary !

 

[Gymbee06]

Our grades are earlier in march what grade is she doing?

 

[Ex member]

Smaller girls usually are better at the squat on on bar as they don't have so much leg to hoick up and over, but I can see on beam where it may be an issue if her hands are above her shoulders to start the move. Surely there must be an allowance somewhere for that - using a higher block ? Is the beam height set ?( I don't know as we have never altered it ). Thinking about it when Pink does her stoop through on beam her hands are roughly level with her chest, which doesnt seem to present her with too many problems.

I'm pretty sure I know what gym you are at from your posts and your regional calander has your grades at 22nd March, so you have some time yet, I will send you the calander - your lucky, our region hasn't bothered to do their clalander yet, luckily our club has so I have been circling days in my diary !

Thank you. I am not sure about the rules about the springboard, the coach doesn't have too much info yet herself, she is going to have a meeting with the senior/head coach about my dd and see what needs to be done.

I have no idea if the beam will be shoulder height to her arms using a springboard, I was told that the beam has to be set at 120cm.

 

[Ex member]

Our grades are earlier in march what grade is she doing?

If this question is directed at me dd is doing County Grades/levels set by our county (I think) and not the new Club Grades. The County is Suffolk and the grades/levels go 1-6.

 

[gymdilettante]

I'm curious as to what skills she will perform if you don't mind typing them all out. I'm sure it's not really but it seems to me that the British system is a lot more complicated (I stumbled across that full turn thread that turned into a discussion of the British system which made me curious...and confused!)

 

[gymdilettante]

Actually sorry for the double post but I just had a further thought. ...suppose she drops down a level because of this mount this year. ..what is to happen if she barely grows this year and is basically the same height next year? It seems pretty extreme to drop down a level over this especially since you could be facing the same situation next year. I think it makes more sense for her to stay at level 3 and keep trying to get it.

Also check out some YouTube videos of young girls doing beam. ...I don't know exactly what the mount is but I see tons of Itty-bitties doing beam on YouTube and I can't believe she is the shortest one to ever do so (iI know they aren't all using this mount but even so you may see how other people handle it).

 

[Faith]

I'm curious as to what skills she will perform if you don't mind typing them all out. I'm sure it's not really but it seems to me that the British system is a lot more complicated (I stumbled across that full turn thread that turned into a discussion of the British system which made me curious...and confused!)

Well done for making it out of there!

 

[Ex member]

The British gymnastics system is a bit confusing lol. I will type out dd's routines a little bit later. If dd has to drop down a level dd's coach said that there is no reason why she cannot compete 5 levels higher (if age and ability allows) in 2016.

 

[Ex member]

I'm curious as to what skills she will perform if you don't mind typing them all out.

These are dd's skill lists for level 3:

Floor-
Straight jump full turn, cat leap scissor kick series, 1/2 spin 1/2 turn, handstand bridge, cartwheel, 1 handed cartwheel, bridge (2sec hold) kick over.

The floor moves will be made into a routine set to music

Vault-
Handstand Flatback on 70cm mat

A Bars-
(LB) Upward Circle (pullover), cast, cast into back hip circle, squat on and jump off to show landing.
(HB) 2x swings to 45 degrees, let go at the back of the second swing and land.

Beam (set at 120cm?)-
Squat on, arabesque below 45 degrees (2 second hold), tuck jump, forward roll, 1/2 spin, straddle jump off

Range and Conditioning-
Bunny Hop to tuck handstand, forward roll into straddle sit, move into Japana (Pancake), lie back and move into bridge, lie back down and move into dish, roll to arch, move into front support, move leg round into splits (show hands outstretched and hold 2 seconds), twist to opposite splits and hold, swing leg round into pike sit and do a pike fold, go from pike fold into a backwards roll and stand.

The range and conditioning has to be done slowly with control.

 

[Jenny]

Interesting, I have never seen anyone spotted at grades so have no knowledge of the deductions. @Jenny or @marie83 might know.

I have never seen anyone spotted on a beam mount but I have seen people who obviously can't do a move make an attempt at it, fall and then just climb up and carry on. It will take a while but I wouldn't worry I am sure she will get it in time. You can't expect to get everything the first time you try.

 

[Ex member]

I have never seen anyone spotted on a beam mount but I have seen people who obviously can't do a move make an attempt at it, fall and then just climb up and carry on. It will take a while but I wouldn't worry I am sure she will get it in time. You can't expect to get everything the first time you try.

Thank you, that is encouraging to hear. If dd did compete her level and fall during her attempt of a squat on beam would she lose too many marks, enough to stop her passing her grade? If dd does struggle and the coach is happy to let her go for it then I have no issue with it, I am happy to go with what ever the coach decides.

I measured dd tonight and she is 116 cm tall at 8 years 3 months.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Well pink fell on bars 3 times this year and still passed with a Highly Commended, so its not too drastic, 1 mark for a fall isn't it ?

 

[Mumof2gymnasts]

There's still time for her to get the mount as well, I was worrying before Christmas that my dd wouldn't get her bars together, but in a week she had all the moves and put it all together and now does it every time.

 

[Ex member]

Update.. Dd tried the beam at 120cm settings for the first time and she got her squat on the first time she tried it, she even surprised her coach, she managed to do it a few times more to show it wasn't a fluke. It looks like she can stick with level 3