Parents Backward beam skills...fears?!

[LJL07]

Who invented the beam anyways? They obviously had torture in mind.

 

[duyetanh]

[QUOTE="Ali'sMom, post: 424744, member:

My anthem for September was plainly: FEAR SUCKS.[/QUOTE]
This!!! Can I have this theme for October?

 

[JMACAZ]

My 11 DD also will not try the BWO on the high beam. She is Xcel Gold. Since it is not required Coach has stopped all talk of it for now. Just makes finding that 2nd acro more challenging.

 

[UnoMas]

It took my daughter three full years to get ahold of her BHS fear. She broke her wrist trying one before she was ready, and after that she avoided them like the plague. She finally had to do them in order to get past L7. It has been an absolute beast for her. No amount of pushing would have done one bit of good for her, she just had to be ready to do it. Take the pressure off, let her work other skills and let her be the guide. It might take a long time, or it might not. Hoping for less than 3 years for your DD

 

[meganliz77]

Well low and behold that little turkey did her BWO on beam tonight! No spot no issue!...? she said they did a game of progressions and she said she "just did it!"

Sigh.... Lol

 

[Moxiegrl83]

And tonight when mine got home and I asked how practice was, she started crying and said she wouldn't do her backhand spring "even with a mat!!" Two steps forward, one step back.... Some food, TV , and a subject change stopped the tears.

 

[munchkin3]

Today was a BHS day.......we will see about tomorrow.

 

[Ali'sMom]

[QUOTE="Ali'sMom, post: 424744, member:

My anthem for September was plainly: FEAR SUCKS.

This!!! Can I have this theme for October?[/QUOTE]

Yes, I will share it, because I still need it for October. And maybe November.
But there's plenty of anthem to go around!

 

[xxStumpyxx]

My daughter has been struggling in the beam for 6 months after falling multiple times off the high fat beam in one practice, ever since then she has lost her cartwheel and keeps falling off the side and making no improvement, things came to a head last Saturday when both gymnast and coach were visably frustrated and body language between them was terrible (open viewing week and could see the stuff I don't like to see), a decision was made somewhere down the line to lower the high fat beam and place a block under so it was just under the beam, magically my daughter landed a few wobbly cartwheels (should have happened as soon as the fear issues crept in but the coach thought that my daughter was above needing modifications (clearly she wasn't) and shouldn't need to go back to basics (clearly she did)

My daughter practiced her cartwheels on the floor at home and tried to do them slowly with control and steady her landing, it paid off and she landed loads of cartwheels on high fat beam with no wobbles and then landed a few on normal high beam, she and the coach were over the moon.

They did beam again last night (3rd time in a row) and my daughter could still stick her cartwheels and moved on to back walkovers and did 3 on the high fat beam with a light spot to her back.

The beam fairy is now free to visit someone else who needs it

 

[Ali'sMom]

The beam fairy is now free to visit someone else who needs it

So happy for your daughter!! and YOU!!!

 

[Kcanflip]

Grew news! Beam fairy come visit us now!!!

 

[munchkin3]

Yay!!! That's great! Please come to our gym beam fairy!

 

[munchkin3]

Beam fairy, thanks for sending your cousin, but I need the Real deal......

 

[auswi]

Who invented the beam anyways? They obviously had torture in mind.

Not sure but there's NO BEAM for MAG

 

[munchkin3]

Well, from DS perspective, parallel bars can be just a scary, and those two little rails can cause some serious damage......ouch!

 

[balancedmom]

My DD also has her BHS on beam fear back. So frustrating. She has had this before. Did a private, where she did it with spotting and then came home saying she cried after beam because she couldn't make herself do it. We are trying to take the pressure off-- telling her she doesn't have to do the first meet. She did this skill at every L6 meet last year, and is supposed to compete L7-- this may keep her back

 

[duyetanh]

My DD also has her BHS on beam fear back. So frustrating. She has had this before. Did a private, where she did it with spotting and then came home saying she cried after beam because she couldn't make herself do it. We are trying to take the pressure off-- telling her she doesn't have to do the first meet. She did this skill at every L6 meet last year, and is supposed to compete L7-- this may keep her back

Oh I am so sorry. It's so hard seeing them so frustrated!!

 

[Azgymmiemom]

My dd is dealing with this issue, too. She had a muscular back injury that kept her from backward tumbling and hard landings for two months, and out of gym completely for two weeks. After 6 weeks of PT, she was finally pain free and able to start back tumbling again. Everything came back like magic vault, floor, bars...except for her bhs series on beam. And round off on beam. Two skills she has been competing already for two seasons. She had a bhs bloso on beam, too before all this...it disappeared, too. After much crying and freaking herself out, her coaches and I had a discussion with her telling her that we were all on her side and would support her in whatever she wanted to do.

She made a list of goals for herself and took everything back to basics. Low beam with pads, remove the pads, medium beam with pads and mats...etc. Her coaches would not spot her, but that's because they all spot differently and with her, they wanted consistency. We also had a very dear gymmie friend help us with some mental toughness coaching materials (they really DO help. If you haven't tried them, maybe you should consider it). Well, she just kept making those baby steps. This week, I saw her do 3 bhs series on the high beam one right after the other-no hesitation! She's told me it's because she has found a way to get in the zone and just go. She says if she hesitates and thinks about it, then the fear comes and she won't do it.

And she's got her bhs loso on the low beam back. She's still using a pad on the ro full dismount, but it's amazing progress and she is very proud of herself. (My dd is 12 and trying to go level 9 this year after two seasons of 8 and beam is a nasty 4 letter word in our house, lol).

All this to say, be supportive. I hope these kids coaches are supportive, too. It's frustrating for the parents and coaches to watch a kid who has done these skills before balk and not do them, but trust me, it is even MORE frustrating for the kid who KNOWS she can do a skill but can't make herself do it. I think breaking it down and relearning it from the beginning gives them more control over their actions- and pride in the progress. Just telling them "go for it, You've done it before" doesn't work in these fear instances. It just creates a panic, then you have a hysterical kid who won't be able to do anything but sob.

My dd had a really great week last week. We'll see if she can keep it moving forward. But this all started with the back injury in July. So, four months later, and we are just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Her first meet is the end of Jan.

 

[profmom]

I am SOOOO sorry to hear she's been through all of this but SOOOO glad that things are moving "forward" now! It sounds like her coaches handled it really well. She is so talented and hardworking -- I very much hope that darn series gets settled and sticks for good for her!

 

[flowerchild]

It took my daughter three full years to get ahold of her BHS fear. She broke her wrist trying one before she was ready, and after that she avoided them like the plague. She finally had to do them in order to get past L7. It has been an absolute beast for her. No amount of pushing would have done one bit of good for her, she just had to be ready to do it. Take the pressure off, let her work other skills and let her be the guide. It might take a long time, or it might not. Hoping for less than 3 years for your DD

So comforting to hear your DD got through that.

My DD has been struggling, on again, off again with a fear/ mental block on backward tumbling for several years. It is heartbreaking to see her struggle and frustration and not be able to " fix " it! She is my baby! And I would do anything in the world to make it easier for her, and I can't!

Sometimes I wish she would just quit so I wouldn't have to watch the struggle any longer, it's that painful to watch.

But, I don't say anything, I don't ask anything. I just keep dropping her off and picking her up from gym. And I suggest we stop for ice cream if I see on her face that it's been a particularly tough practice.