Anyone have Advice on Front Mill and Front Hip Circle?

[mmcmanus]

I am new to the forum. I was looking for information to help my daughter when I stumbled upon this forum. I am not very literate about blogging or message boards or social websites but I will give it a try. I have a 7 yr. old in her first year of competition. Her first competition is at Chow's in Des Moines, IA next week. She is very excited but I am a little concerned because she will have to scratch bars if she doesn't get her front hip and front mill circles in the next 9 days. She just recently got past a fear of trying the front mill circle on her own and so she is behind. I think she is holding onto the bar too tight as she comes around it so that she can't get up. As for her front hip circle, she is very close but doesn't quite know how to throw her weight over the bar to make it all the way around. I am told that her meet at Chows goes off total points so that her scratching an event will have a big impact. I don't really care what she scores as long as she has fun but I know that she is SOOOO close to having this event and I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help her. We have a practice bar at home.

 

[Gymdad2]

helpsing dd

MMC,

If you would like some advice from an old gymdad who has been around this sport a long time, it has been my experiece that the best thing you can do to help your dd is to let her coaches teach her these skills. After all, that's what you a paying them to do. What you can do is make sure your dd understands that your support her 100% no matter how she scores and emphasize that her first meet is for fun and the score doesn't matter one bit becuase it really doesn't. If you have lots of extra money and want to pay for privates that would be okay, but it really isn't necessary. She will get the skills when she is ready. I have said for years that the sport of gymnastics is a marathon, not a sprint. You will find that it's not always the little superstars who race through the levels who last in this sport. So often it is the girl who loves the sport, who has endless determination and the willpower to keep working and trying who ends up at the top. Good Luck to your dd.s

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

my advice would be - patience, patience, patience. This is not an easy skill for the girls. To be honest it took my DD about 6 months to actually 'get' it. She did not have it for one meet last year. She still did bars, but had a big deduction for not making that skill. Probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry. She did get her front hip circle much easier but she did not even try that until she had her mill circle. She was competing L3 last year and did not need the front hip circle.

Best of luck to her - just be supportive and tell her it will come. Maybe not in time for her first meet or even second, but it will come.

 

[starmaker]

Hello and welcome!

If you search and read in the coaches forum or skills and technique forum you will find some very helpful tips you can tell your daughter that might help.

I know my dd is also struggling with the mill circle and now I have tips I remind her of like: remember push down on the bar, keep the bar against back leg, keep you chest up, look at the high bar the whole time, take a big step forward and good luck. It has seemed to work. Her mill circle has improved tons and has actually made a couple recently.

They explain all this better in the other forums. Hope this helped.