Parents Trouble adjusting to grips?

[GymnastMomX2]

My DD got grips about 5-6 weeks ago. She just finished her second year at old 4 and will be competing new 4 this season. Bars is her strongest event, she's had the bar routine down, complete with straight arm kips, for over a year now. Is close to cast handstand, sort of has a clear hip and is doing giants on strap bar with a spot. Anyways. She hates her grips, I kept telling her to tough it out through the summer, assuming she would get used to them, but it's not getting any better. Her coach told her yesterday to stop using them because she is so much better without them. Right choice? Or is this just going to cause bigger problems down the road?

 

[bogwoppit]

She will be fine. Many kids go into optional s without grips. She will get used to them later on. Maybe she can try swinging in them at the end of each practice?

 

[GymnastMomX2]

Thanks. That's a good idea.. Ill suggest it to her.

 

[GymBeeMom]

Have coach make sure the fit is right. My DD cut the palm of her grips thinner and it helped a lot. As she grew she was able to move to full width grips. This is a totally normal problem and it will work itself out.

 

[wallflower]

My DD tried and quit grips 2 times before finally sticking with them on the 3rd try. The 3rd time it was a very short adjustment time. Probably because she knew it was use grips or don't do level 7. No exceptions.

 

[raenndrops]

Older gymmie had pixie grips. She tried them on and off for a while, but hated them and they just sat in her locker. A year later, she decided she wanted to try them again, but they were too small (a size 1 is the largest they have in the pixies and she had just barely been within the size range when i bought them). So I bought her new grips. She hated them too. At first, she said they were too big (she wasn't pulling them down to where they were supposed to be) ... then it was that she needed longer sweat bands... now it is back to them being too big PLUS she would prefer pre-dowel grips (not palm grips, but the same size as dowel grips- just without the dowel). Since her family is finally (almost) getting involved in her gymnastics, I am having her parents go in on a pair as well as wrist guards for her birthday. No sense in buying them on my own now when it is highly unlikely she will actually use the grips in competition... and if she does, her birthday is almost a month before that, so she will have time to get used to them.

Grips do take some getting used to, and the fit is really important too. Good luck.

 

[Higgsgirl]

My DD was 7 years old as a level 5 when she was required to use grips. She struggled for a year with the grips and she still complained. Two years down the road we found a grip that fits and no more complaints. Her hands were so tiny, I personally think the grip was too big or the leather strip on her palm was too wide. I had wished she wasn't made to wear them as a 5. Her bars suffered that whole year.

 

[kitkat]

My daughter had grips and found that her hands were just too tiny for them so she gave them up and then a year later tried them again. I guess she just needed a little bit of hand growth. I would also suggest that maybe her grips are too big. When we measured my dd hands they measured a size up to what the coach thought she should have.

 

[flippingtogether]

My DD got grips about 5-6 weeks ago. She just finished her second year at old 4 and will be competing new 4 this season. Bars is her strongest event, she's had the bar routine down, complete with straight arm kips, for over a year now. Is close to cast handstand, sort of has a clear hip and is doing giants on strap bar with a spot. Anyways. She hates her grips, I kept telling her to tough it out through the summer, assuming she would get used to them, but it's not getting any better. Her coach told her yesterday to stop using them because she is so much better without them. Right choice? Or is this just going to cause bigger problems down the road?

@Oopski, I was wondering how things are going with grips many months later. My DD just finished new L4 as a good bars worker, and has a goal to be 'grip competition ready' in about 6 weeks before she does her first L5 meet. It was a rough first night tonite.... She couldn't make a kip in them. The coaches seem to have the kids work with the grips for a bit each practice when adjusting to them and then taking them off for the rest of the rotation. I'm not so sure how this process will go.... I am hoping all has gone well since this summer for your DD!

 

[raenndrops]

Older gymmie had pixie grips. She tried them on and off for a while, but hated them and they just sat in her locker. A year later, she decided she wanted to try them again, but they were too small (a size 1 is the largest they have in the pixies and she had just barely been within the size range when i bought them). So I bought her new grips. She hated them too. At first, she said they were too big (she wasn't pulling them down to where they were supposed to be) ... then it was that she needed longer sweat bands... now it is back to them being too big PLUS she would prefer pre-dowel grips (not palm grips, but the same size as dowel grips- just without the dowel). Since her family is finally (almost) getting involved in her gymnastics, I am having her parents go in on a pair as well as wrist guards for her birthday. No sense in buying them on my own now when it is highly unlikely she will actually use the grips in competition... and if she does, her birthday is almost a month before that, so she will have time to get used to them.

Grips do take some getting used to, and the fit is really important too. Good luck.

update on this...
She has had the grips since November... sitting on my kitchen counter. The finger holes were too small, even after I used all the sandpaper that came with them (there was no grit left ANYWHERE on the paper). Had my brother buy sandpaper so I could finish... and it ONLY took him 2 months. 2 weeks ago, I finished and she said they fit fine. She still didn't use them... she "forget them" or she took them out of the bag that holds all of her braces and such.
Well, tonight she FINALLY decided to give them a try - after telling me she didn't think she had them with her (I made sure they were in her bag last night). First, the holes were too small (again), but we dealt with that. Then she went and was able to kip in them and her low bar looks fine.... where she always has trouble is in the jump to high bar and swinging there. She just did some tap swings, but I think she is getting close. I will continue having her use them some each practice and will make sure they are packed for the next meet too, just in case... But was proud to see that the grips allowed her to work on the "big bars" without chalk complaints

 

[GymnastMomX2]

She ended up giving up on the grips for now, we are a couple meets into her level 4 season and shes doing just fine without them. 9.75 at the last meet. She is pretty adamant at this point about not wearing grips, so I'm just staying out of it and leaving it up to the coaches. I'm wondering if they might try and force her to use grips when the season is over. Pretty sure the plan is to score out of 5 and compete 6/7 next year. She's already working giants etc without grips. We also may be moving cross country this summer/fall and have to find a new gym, so who knows what the new coaches might have to say about her not wearing grips Hope your DD has better luck adjusting the the grips, although all the other girls on DDs team who got grips over summer are competing with them now with no issues.

 

[wnl256]

Don't worry! Once your daughter finally gets used to the grips you will routinely forget them for competitions!

BTDT

 

[flippingtogether]

Great to hear the updates everyone -many thanks. @Oopski - congrats to your DD! Sounds like grips not needed yet for sure....
@raeendrops, sounds like progress is starting for your DD - one step at a time I will remind myself and my DD - the kip in grips will come, hopefully in the same form as the kip without!! And hopefully the grip fairy will show up sooner rather than later.
And thanks for the sage advice, @wnl256. Hopefully the biggest worry in the near future is not to forget them!!

 

[wnl256]

And thanks for the sage advice, @wnl256. Hopefully the biggest worry in the near future is not to forget them!!

On more than one occasion we have raced to our gym, hoping that someone was there, to get her grip bag out of her locker before heading to a meet on the other side of the city. At least we remembered them on the way to the meet and not once we arrived!

 

[raenndrops]

.
@raendrops, sounds like progress is starting for your DD - one step at a time I will remind myself and my DD - the kip in grips will come, hopefully in the same form as the kip without!! And hopefully the grip fairy will show up sooner rather than later.
And thanks for the sage advice,

She had actually texted me yesterday during school to see if I could make the holes bigger... I couldn't find my sandpaper, so I CAREFULLY used my dremel and the sanding attachment - the holes fit much better, so it was just a matter of getting used to them. She could do her low bar, but when she jumped to the high bar, she had to do a swing or 2 before she could do her kip. I even suggested she take them off for a bit and work some without them... She ADAMANTLY refused. She said "I am going to do my WHOLE routine IN MY GRIPS!!!" Later, she was back on bars during "Club" work where they choose what they work on. By the end of last night, she could do a FULL routine in the grips, so we are hopeful.