Question about bar settings for smaller gymnasts (L8-L10)

[justanothergymmom]

I have noticed that some gyms set their bars wide and some set them close for their smaller gymnasts. Can someone explain to me what the advantage/disadvantage would be for setting the bars all the way out for a gymnast that is small (under 5' tall)? How about setting them close (at or close to FIG)? Thanks in advance to anyone who can help clarify this for me.

 

[BlairBob]

Well, not having to set the bars for different sizes of girls; of course. It's sort of a lazy thing to do (and possibly dangerous), IMO.

 

[Scarface]

If your daughter has any desire to do Elite or TOPs, she needs to swing at FIG.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

^^^ that. and the closer the setting to FIG the better the technique. the farther becomes unsafe for small gymnasts when they must transition from high to low and back to high.

 

[gymgal]

What is the FIG setting? I had always thought that would be a wider setting - more difficulty. DD has mentioned that some girls use the "wide" setting but that she needs a closer setting (54" tall). Just curious. She won't be training high to low for at least another year.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

180cm (although they really set it at 181cm cause it's plus or minus 1cm) on the angle from high bar to low bar. on AAI this means that the high bar is 1 click above the line. the low bar is 1 click above the line. the front/low bar spreader is all the way up. the rear/high bar spreader is 2 lines under 4. FIG forces better technique thereby creating more complex and difficult skills. especially when going from high bar to low bar and back up to high.

anyone that has elite aspirations must swing with the bars no greater than FIG.

 

[gasrgoose]

180cm (although they really set it at 181cm cause it's plus or minus 1cm) on the angle from high bar to low bar. on AAI this means that the high bar is 1 click above the line. the low bar is 1 click above the line. the front/low bar spreader is all the way up. the rear/high bar spreader is 2 lines under 4. FIG forces better technique thereby creating more complex and difficult skills. especially when going from high bar to low bar and back up to high.

anyone that has elite aspirations must swing with the bars no greater than FIG.

At what level (skill level or numerical) would it be a good idea to start these settings? When they start doing giants? or not until they are transferring between bars? I'm assuming my daughter uses a closer setting than this because she seems pretty small.

 

[2gymmies]

My dd is Level 8 (11 years and I think about 54 in.) and they train on FIG. It looks far for her right now - she can swing through and not touch her toes on the low bar. I think it will be especially hard for them on toe hechts and paks/bails (she is only working drills right now) when it is far, but they will grow and get used to it. Everything is harder when they are small it seems - for my dd, vault on FIG is way worse than bars. We had smaller bar settings at Level 5 but then went to FIG at Level 7 (dd was 9 when she went to the group that goes on FIG and she was scared to jump to the high bar at first). I think it is simpler for the coaches - in our L8-10s we have girls that are on "FIG" and girls that are "all the way out" - we have one set of bars all the way out and the others are on FIG. It save the coaches lots of time moving bars around at practice and meets.

 

[justanothergymmom]

Thanks so much for your responses!

Well, not having to set the bars for different sizes of girls; of course. It's sort of a lazy thing to do (and possibly dangerous), IMO.

Hmmmm....BlairBob, you may be on to something here. I believe this is why they are set the way they are. And I am worried about safety, which is the reason for my question.

If your daughter has any desire to do Elite or TOPs, she needs to swing at FIG.

My DD is beyond the age limit for TOPs. I am not sure whether or not Elite is the path she will pursue.

^^^ that. and the closer the setting to FIG the better the technique. the farther becomes unsafe for small gymnasts when they must transition from high to low and back to high.

180cm (although they really set it at 181cm cause it's plus or minus 1cm) on the angle from high bar to low bar. on AAI this means that the high bar is 1 click above the line. the low bar is 1 click above the line. the front/low bar spreader is all the way up. the rear/high bar spreader is 2 lines under 4. FIG forces better technique thereby creating more complex and difficult skills. especially when going from high bar to low bar and back up to high.

anyone that has elite aspirations must swing with the bars no greater than FIG.

dunno, what if she doesn't end up pursuing elite? Is it worth it to try to transition her to FIG bar setting? I do believe that her technique would be better and her high-low, and low-high transitions would be A LOT easier (especially hitting hs on low bar). I am just wondering if she ends up staying on a JO track is it worth it to mess with her settings, knowing that she won't always be this small.

Oh, and I should add that I have NO CLUE if her coaches would even be open to switching her bar setting, and I cringe at the thought of having this discussion with them, as they are VERY experienced coaches. I would never want to insult them by coming off like I know more than they do. I am just noticing at various meets we are at that some gyms that are well known for training elites move their bars in for their smaller girls, and ours do not. I am wondering if it is worth a discussion...

 

[gymgal]

What does NCAA use?

Now I'm curious about dd. I'll have to ask her. I know she trains the same distance as L7-10 but I don't know what that is. I don't see the coach change settings in practice for those girls so they are all the same.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member D3987]

At what level (skill level or numerical) would it be a good idea to start these settings? When they start doing giants? or not until they are transferring between bars? I'm assuming my daughter uses a closer setting than this because she seems pretty small.

sorry guys, i don't know how to do that 'multiple quote' thing so i'll have to respond to each 1 separately.

okay, gasrgoose 1st. it's a standard practice for experienced bar coaches to keep the bars a close as possible, even beginning with level 5. as they progress and grow some, the bars get moved out in small increments. it takes more work on the coaches part, but better serves the athlete.

it's okay to have a smaller setting than FIG. the rule is that you can not have them wider. but you could, in theory, move them closer. i have never seen this done with seniors, but have with juniors.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My dd is Level 8 (11 years and I think about 54 in.) and they train on FIG. It looks far for her right now - she can swing through and not touch her toes on the low bar. I think it will be especially hard for them on toe hechts and paks/bails (she is only working drills right now) when it is far, but they will grow and get used to it. Everything is harder when they are small it seems - for my dd, vault on FIG is way worse than bars. We had smaller bar settings at Level 5 but then went to FIG at Level 7 (dd was 9 when she went to the group that goes on FIG and she was scared to jump to the high bar at first). I think it is simpler for the coaches - in our L8-10s we have girls that are on "FIG" and girls that are "all the way out" - we have one set of bars all the way out and the others are on FIG. It save the coaches lots of time moving bars around at practice and meets.

yes. most experienced coaches use 2 bar settings. FIG and what some coaches refer to as 'big FIG". high bar and low bar stay the same, but the spreader will be somewhere around 5 to 6. this is common.

and yes. meets can be helter skelter so having only 2 bar settings, safety considered, is always best for the times warm up. easier to 'block' the warm up with the group.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Thanks so much for your responses!



Hmmmm....BlairBob, you may be on to something here. I believe this is why they are set the way they are. And I am worried about safety, which is the reason for my question.



My DD is beyond the age limit for TOPs. I am not sure whether or not Elite is the path she will pursue.





dunno, what if she doesn't end up pursuing elite? Is it worth it to try to transition her to FIG bar setting? I do believe that her technique would be better and her high-low, and low-high transitions would be A LOT easier (especially hitting hs on low bar). I am just wondering if she ends up staying on a JO track is it worth it to mess with her settings, knowing that she won't always be this small.

Oh, and I should add that I have NO CLUE if her coaches would even be open to switching her bar setting, and I cringe at the thought of having this discussion with them, as they are VERY experienced coaches. I would never want to insult them by coming off like I know more than they do. I am just noticing at various meets we are at that some gyms that are well known for training elites move their bars in for their smaller girls, and ours do not. I am wondering if it is worth a discussion...

even if she doesn't pursue elite, your best bars will performed near or at FIG. the farther you move from that setting, sure, giants become easier...like boys high bar...nothing in the way...so swing however you want with no technique. BUT, it becomes quite precarious, as i'm sure some of you have seen, when they move from high to low and low to high you see the most falls. it is more likely than not that this is due to the bars being to far apart.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

What does NCAA use?

Now I'm curious about dd. I'll have to ask her. I know she trains the same distance as L7-10 but I don't know what that is. I don't see the coach change settings in practice for those girls so they are all the same.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

the colleges use 'big FIG' for most. and sometimes they move the front low bar spreader down a bit, but doing so is negligible to the spread. but when you see combinations like shaposh to immediate bail, hindorff to immediate bail or pak, etc; these girls have the bars at FIG. moving the bars wider for some of these things would make it almost impossible to get to each bar, unsafe to do it, or both.

 

[gymgal]

Wow - so I just asked dd. She said she used FIG (can't believe she knew the setting!) for her L6 score out but usually she is on a 5 or a 6. Things I learn when I ask.... Thanks Dunno

 

[momof5]

Dunno is it hard to transition to FIG setting if their bars aren't currently set up that way? Is it hard for the girls who trained like a JO athlete the whole time then at some point decide to pursue elite to change things to fit the setting requirement?

 

[bookworm]

What does NCAA use?

Now I'm curious about dd. I'll have to ask her. I know she trains the same distance as L7-10 but I don't know what that is. I don't see the coach change settings in practice for those girls so they are all the same.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Funny you should mention this...my daughter has been on a FIG setting for 6 years and this year her coach set the bars all the way out to prepare her for NCAA next year...the transition was hard for her but she is glad that she did it BEFORE she got to college.

As far as the OP's daughter, I would say that bar settings would be under the realm of the coaching you are paying for and let the coaches worry about what they will be...whatever they are , they will have to train her to compete effectively on their chosen setting.

 

[wandrewsjr]

Funny you should mention this...my daughter has been on a FIG setting for 6 years and this year her coach set the bars all the way out to prepare her for NCAA next year...the transition was hard for her but she is glad that she did it BEFORE she got to college.

As far as the OP's daughter, I would say that bar settings would be under the realm of the coaching you are paying for and let the coaches worry about what they will be...whatever they are , they will have to train her to compete effectively on their chosen setting.

I am intrigued by this. Did your daughter's future college coach request that she train on this bar setting? I recently watched a UCLA meet and 4 or 5 of their 6 up on UB were swinging on FIG (not unexpected on a team stacked with former elites).

 

[bookworm]

I am intrigued by this. Did your daughter's future college coach request that she train on this bar setting? I recently watched a UCLA meet and 4 or 5 of their 6 up on UB were swinging on FIG (not unexpected on a team stacked with former elites).

She didn't request it that I know of but our coach has had gymnasts go off to college programs and knew that they ended up changing their bar settings when they got there so I think she wanted my daughter to get used to it during this year....according to my daughter, college teams don't change their bar setting because it cuts into warm up time...and when I asked her about it ("I see people running around the bars etc etc") , she said they are moving mats or springboards but the settings remain the same...maybe UCLA swings on FIG because they have so many former elites so that's "their" setting.

 

[justanothergymmom]

Funny you should mention this...my daughter has been on a FIG setting for 6 years and this year her coach set the bars all the way out to prepare her for NCAA next year...the transition was hard for her but she is glad that she did it BEFORE she got to college.

As far as the OP's daughter, I would say that bar settings would be under the realm of the coaching you are paying for and let the coaches worry about what they will be...whatever they are , they will have to train her to compete effectively on their chosen setting.

Thanks for you reply, bookworm. I do enjoy reading your responses and know that you have a lot of knowledge and experience to share, and I appreciate that. I hear what you are saying...let the coaches do the coaching...and I get that.

I must say, however, that if not for asking questions like this on here, I would still have my kids training in a facility where the coaches claimed that they knew exactly what they were doing (and even were prepared to train my oldest daughter elite), when in fact they had VERY little knowledge at all of the upper levels of this sport. I did the "trust the coaches-that's what you pay them for" thing for 8 years and got burned pretty badly, as did my girls. Never again will I blindly trust that a coach knows every thing about every aspect of every level....When I see something at a meet that jumps out at me, I will question it, unapologetically, especially when it can potentially be a safety issue for one of my girls--as dunno and BlairBob both hinted at.

Lucky for you that your daughter trained all along on FIG and you didn't have to watch her at 4'7" try to catch her bail to handstand with the bars all the way out....it is a little nerve-wracking to say the least. Watching girls at the last few meets that were her size swinging with the bars moved in and catching their high-low transitions and sole circle catch high with ease made me wonder...that is the reason for my original post. I hope you get where I am coming from.