WAG bar setting question

[sevenatenine2]

No, FIG isn't the furtherest out, but you can only go further out for JO. Elites have to compete on FIG.

 

[GYM0M]

Dd @ 46 in, CAN squat on, jump to high bar on FIG, she just told me. Handspring vaults are on a 4? Now?? Used to be as far down as it would go. Yurchenkos on FIG (with a spot onto the table)!

 

[gymdog]

So is FIG the farthest apart setting? I know you and gym0m have very petite daughters, so I guess height isn't an excuse. I forgot about the vault settings...I don't even want to know!

No. F is not that far but to me it's a bit far for a tinier kid. The smallest kids I have all jump on 4 fine however.

Each number has equally spaced notches above and below it to the next number so that is what "2 below 4" refers to. It's a little wider than 4, but only by a handful of cm

 

[Hollowarchkick]

"2 below 4" is FIG. That is with the spreader all the way up on the low bar and, as gymdog said it is two notches below 4 on the high bar.

 

[duyetanh]

I have no idea what any of this even means, and my kid did lol 4 all last season! I just know she had the smallest bar setting you could have.

 

[duyetanh]

Level 4...missed that one, oops...

 

[2gymmies]

My little dd did old Level 5 when she was 7 (turning 8 during the season) and was just under 40 inches tall - she could jump on FIG with good shape at that point... (it was more of a launch to the high bar, actually) and she could vault on 100 so it can definitely be done! When she learned to jump to the high bar, they put a resi under it because it was a long way down! And she says the squat on had to be perfect to do it.

 

[wallflower]

So is FIG the farthest apart setting? I know you and gym0m have very petite daughters, so I guess height isn't an excuse. I forgot about the vault settings...I don't even want to know!

FIG is a closer setting than what many JO kids use

 

[cbifoja]

We don't change bar settings at our gym. My DD really does have to JUMP to high bar while her teammates do more of a lean onto the high bar. I figure it evens itself out. She doesn't even realize it's possible to hit your toes doing giants but her teammates have to watch for that. She is having a harder time getting her bail at the normal setting and can really only do it by herself if the coaches are willing to move the bars. They aren't so she'll just have to keep working. It would be so much time wasted adjusting if it had to be done every time it was her turn in the lineup.

 

[Shooosh]

My little dd did old Level 5 when she was 7 (turning 8 during the season) and was just under 40 inches tall - she could jump on FIG with good shape at that point... (it was more of a launch to the high bar, actually) and she could vault on 100 so it can definitely be done! When she learned to jump to the high bar, they put a resi under it because it was a long way down! And she says the squat on had to be perfect to do it.

I have to ask about her height! She was under 40 and vaulting on the table? How much did she weigh? My daughter is prob 41" and weighs about 35 lbs and we just cannot find a springboard that she can budge! Therefore vault isn't really happening. :/
There must be a way to punch harder? Did your daughter do punching drills?
Thanks!

 

[duyetanh]

I have to ask about her height! She was under 40 and vaulting on the table? How much did she weigh? My daughter is prob 41" and weighs about 35 lbs and we just cannot find a springboard that she can budge! Therefore vault isn't really happening. :/
There must be a way to punch harder? Did your daughter do punching drills?
Thanks!

Your daughter sounds like how mine was last year. I asked my daughter how they made it work and she gave me a vague answer about either taking out springs or adding more...sorry I can't remember which it was, but it would make sense I think to think it was more springs than less? I am sure coaches will chime in here, as I am not one, lol. I do know my DD used a mini tramp at first until she developed the confidence that yes indeed, she could get over that table. It also helped develop her muscle memory.She then transitioned out of it. I don't know if this is common practice, but it seemed to help my daughter.

 

[profmom]

Just be patient. With time and growth and improved technique, vault will happen. Coaches can mess with the springs and the height of the table, but eventually the problem will solve itself. Spoken as a parent of a child who flirts with being on or off the percentile charts -- when she was old L5, we just hoped she'd get one over.

(Tempted to start forcing DS to eat ice cream daily in the hopes that if he can reach 75 lb., tsuk might actually happen this season . . .)

 

[Shooosh]

Lol. Percentile charts...ugh. She is healthy. She is 6 and is off the bottom. I heard lots of 'I am the shortest in Kindergarten' wailing last year! I think she is the shortest at the gym too.
Sorry to post hijack!!

 

[sce]

she gave me a vague answer about either taking out springs or adding more...sorry I can't remember which it was, but it would make sense I think to think it was more springs than less?

Less springs is easier to punch more is harder. While in theory more springs should give you more bounce you have to have the power to punch into all those springs first.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

This was a big topic of debate last year. Originally Puma Jr was doing it at the absolute closest setting, but then after the first two meets had AWFUL squat on issues..completely falling backward...She said she felt she were too close, like she was crowded. She begged HC to put them further, and eventually at states the other coach let her compete on the "taller kids" setting , which looked soooo far to me(it appeared there were 2 options at states?) but she nailed it! On Friday one of the coaches (new gym)told me they had it at one closer than FIG for her, which she looked really comfortable at. She is 8 yr old and 50 inches.

 

[gracyomalley]

DD competed old 5 at age 8 - she was about 38 inches tall and the shortest kid at state in her levels until she hit a growth spurt at 11 - then the third shortest!! She had the smallest bars settings, and lots of springs out of the springboard for vault - skipped old 4, so never vaulted EXCEPT on the table - and it did take her first few months of team to be able to even do bars and vault. Coach talked to the judges about her settings - no issue. There were a few other kids over the years who needed similar settings - coach simply put girls in that order for bars and changed settings as needed, and coaches take springs out and add them to springboards all the time both in practice and meets for most teams...my older son often competed in sessions with the L6s this year - so the weight differential from him at about 100 pounds vaulting on 5, and the little guy at maybe 40 pounds vaulting on 0....obviously neither could vault well on the other's settings !!!

As she got older and marginally taller DD has had to really push it to vault on a setting high enough to flip, and still has a LOVELY long jump to high bar compared to the other kids her age who can sort of lean over....obviously the technique she uses with training release moves is different at 4 ft 9 than the girls who are 5 ft 5....

I will say that her few injuries at gym, including a near disaster into the pit from a flipping vault drill, where she bone bruised both shins on the edge of the pit, happened when coaches were lazy or she didn't want to speak up, and didn't adjust equipment for her when she took a turn after a kid literally a foot taller than her...

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Our gym has it at the widest setting for all kids in JO, regardless of size. The only exception is *possibly* they change it to FIG for our National testing TOPs girls for their TOPs bar routines, but I'm not 100% on that one. I do know all our JO girls work on the same wide setting, whether they are 42"tall L3's or 5'8" tall L10's... We have only had one very petite L4 have any troubles with the squat on, and in her case she COULD do it, she just chose not to most of the time (we all saw her do it plenty of times, other days she wouldn't even try).
Bars get adjusted all the time at meets. We have been in rotations where the other team have adjusted the bars for ech individual athlete. We have had rotations where another team was mixed in with ours and we had to adjust the bars back and forth between their settings and ours the entire time.

ETA: now on vault, they use a few different settings depending on the girls and either try to line up the girls according to their vault table heights or simply adjust the vault between each kid. We don't switch out the springs for each kid though, lol, I have seen that done!!!

 

[kris]

I have no idea what any of this even means, and my kid did level 4 all last season! I just know she had the smallest bar setting you could have.

If it makes you feel any better, mine competed level 8 last year, and I have no clue what bar setting she's ever used.

 

[Gymmommy71]

FIG is a closer setting than what many JO kids use

Re: above and FIG being closer than JO, my DD kept going on an on about how close the bars looked on the routines the P & G girls were doing on TV - so I guess this is why if Elites use the FIG setting and it's closer than JO .

My DDs first year of *old* L5 (when she was first doing jumps the high bar), she used a very close setting - and yes, her coach adjusted the bars at the meets so that the girls who needed the close setting competed on what they used ar the gym. DDs second year of old L5 she used a much farther apart setting cause that's what her coach wanted her to use and although she was afraid that very first time she had to do the farther jump, she actually ended up liking it much better (she did not grow significantly taller at all between those 2 years so it wasn't cause she was bigger).

My DD still prefers the bars very far apart cause thats just how she feels more comfortable. She actually tells me how far apart people like their bars is more a personal preference and isn't necessarily a function of how tall the gymnast is. That said, a coach may not feel like changing the bars all the time if there is only one or two good sets at the gym though so I can see where some would push everyone to use a specific setting.

 

[raenndrops]

My DD still prefers the bars very far apart cause thats just how she feels more comfortable. She actually tells me how far apart people like their bars is more a personal preference and isn't necessarily a function of how tall the gymnast is. That said, a coach may not feel like changing the bars all the time if there is only one or two good sets at the gym though so I can see where some would push everyone to use a specific setting.

Your D is absolutely correct. Personal preference.
We had a gymnast last year that liked her bars really close so that she could jump to front support on the high bar... she was 5'4" and was using the same setting that YG had just moved away from at 4'9".
Some girls want them farther apart so they actually have to jump... allowing for a stronger swing into the next skill. Others want them closer so they can just lean and grab. With YG, her long hang pullover from the jump only works if she actually has to jump. She also has better swings if she doesn't have to worry about clipping her heels on the low bar on the back swing.