WAG Bent arms on kip & front hip circl

[John]

I think she did a great job and competed wonderfully. Give her a hug tell her to pick a few things she would like to improve on, short term goals. Hug her send her to practice and simply say have fun, be great.

 

[cmarie]

Thank you, all of this advice has been quite helpful. I think gym has been giving us both some anxiety, we are going to make sure we keep the fun in it!

 

[cmarie]

I also think it's important that she (and you) understand that an 8.3 at her first meet ever is far from a bad score. In fact, just going to her first meet with a kip front hip is by itself a huge accomplishment and fairly unusual. If she has to score out of silver that's one thing, but setting her back a level because she got over an 8 in her first meet seems like it would just teach her that there's no point to competing if she isn't going to place. Especially if she plans to transition to JO, it's important that she's able to set and achieve personal goals when she competes instead of looking for those external rewards. The first meet is just a starting place, and now she can focus on straight arms and the rhythm of her connections and hopefully she'll improve at the next meet. Sometimes it's better to start off with room to grow so she can track and see how much she's improved.

Thanks for the advice. I agree about moving her down due to the 8, her coach also talked about the ability to take her FHC out of her routine but the more I read all of the advice on here, I think she should continue to compete it and practice at making it better. I think this post allowed me to readjust where I *thought* she should be. She has a meet tomorrow, so I'm happy to share with her some of the positive insight about her currrnt skills. BTW, she had practice this AM and was able to do a glide out kip with fairly straight arms . She's one happy gymnast right now, lol.

 

[M2Abi]

Take a deep breath. She's doing great! Don't worry about her placements or scores. Have her set goals that are dependent on her, not the judges or other competitors.

 

[raenndrops]

Thanks for the advice. I agree about moving her down due to the 8, her coach also talked about the ability to take her FHC out of her routine but the more I read all of the advice on here, I think she should continue to compete it and practice at making it better. I think this post allowed me to readjust where I *thought* she should be. She has a meet tomorrow, so I'm happy to share with her some of the positive insight about her currrnt skills. BTW, she had practice this AM and was able to do a glide out kip with fairly straight arms . She's one happy gymnast right now, lol.

If she has another circling skill (like a back hip circle), why keep in a skill that gets her more deductions. The beauty of having an Optional routine is that you can minimize deductions. She can, of course, continue training the front hip circle, but it isn't necessary to compete it.

 

[amiandjim]

I agree with Raenndrops, why keep it? Especially if she is going to do level 4 next year. A nice cast and back hip circle will serve as a better progression.

 

[LindyHopper]

I also think it's important that she (and you) understand that an 8.3 at her first meet ever is far from a bad score. In fact, just going to her first meet with a kip front hip is by itself a huge accomplishment and fairly unusual. If she has to score out of silver that's one thing, but setting her back a level because she got over an 8 in her first meet seems like it would just teach her that there's no point to competing if she isn't going to place. Especially if she plans to transition to JO, it's important that she's able to set and achieve personal goals when she competes instead of looking for those external rewards. The first meet is just a starting place, and now she can focus on straight arms and the rhythm of her connections and hopefully she'll improve at the next meet. Sometimes it's better to start off with room to grow so she can track and see how much she's improved.

I agree with all of this. Whatever level she competes, there are a few things to understand:

• Have a goal for each event that is not related in any way to score or placement. (Sticking a landing on bars, good rebound on a ROBHS, getting her handstand on beam) That way, there is a goal to work toward that won't be affected by anything but herself.
• Judging is subjective, she could have a routine that is rougher than her last meet, but still get a score that is higher.
• You never know what gyms will be competing in your session or how the age groups will shake out. A score that takes 4th place in one age group. Can take 1st in another age group.
• As I always tell Short Stack--any given Sunday. There can be a gymnast who is nearly always at the top of the podium. If she has her worst meet when you have your best meet, there is always the possibility of placing higher than her

God luck to both of you!

 

[cmarie]

If she has another circling skill (like a back hip circle), why keep in a skill that gets her more deductions. The beauty of having an Optional routine is that you can minimize deductions. She can, of course, continue training the front hip circle, but it isn't necessary to compete it.

Her back hip circle is a part of her dismount, so from my understanding it wouldn't count. I think she could add it to the lower bar and be fine. Here's a video of it, her form in it seems to be less bent than her front hip circle.

 

[LindyHopper]

God luck to both of you!

*Good*

 

[cmarie]

*Good*

Lol, I didn't even notice! But thanks so much!! I appreciate all the input as this is a new world for us both!

 

[raenndrops]

Her back hip circle is a part of her dismount, so from my understanding it wouldn't count. I think she could add it to the lower bar and be fine. Here's a video of it, her form in it seems to be less bent than her front hip circle.

The dismount is the underswing. The back hip circle isn't "part" of it... it is just connected as it should be.
That is why the coach said they could take out the front hip circle.

 

[gymdog]

Honestly it's not that bad although I don't think I would put the front hip in there myself. She seems pretty strong so I think she can fix it though. She probably did not receive credit for a horizontal cast FYI which might be an easier fix because at least on the high bar she drove her legs up but her belly was down. If she tries to squeeze her butt and pull her belly in after she drives her legs she can increase her score up to half a point or more

 

[cadybearsmommy]

She's doing amazing for her first year of competition! I agree with gymdog, I would think that she didn't get credit for her cast, it has to be horizontal and judges are very picky about it sometimes, if any part of the body doesn't quite meet horizontal, they will take off of the start value and I think it's .5, which would have made a huge difference in her score.

The front hip circle is not necessary but other than that I would say all in all it's a good routine for progression. Maybe not the best routine to maximize scores, b/c many in gold do simpler routines (pullover, cast, back hip circle, cast/squat on, jump, tap swing, tap swing, L4 dismount). I see that in gold a lot of kids score higher with pullovers than kips, b/c kips can take a long time to perfect and can get a lot of deductions. A lot of times simple and clean score better. But if your dd is transitioning to JO level 4 next year, progressions and building confidence in competing these newer skills will be more important for her than maximizing scores. If she does move to JO, she will likely have a big increase in training hours and you will probably see a big difference in her form at that time.

 

[ayyyrial]

I thought the bent arms on the kip looked like a pretty normal amount of bend for someone at this level, who is newer to practicing kips. The kip should sort itself out in time. The main issues I saw with the routine were overall tightness and body shape issues, which also are the type of thing that improve with team practices. Scoring can be wildly inconsistent across meets so it's hard to know what an 8.3 means - what's important is that the amount of hours and intensity are right for her and for your family, and that she makes progress towards gaining skills safely and cleanly. Just from these two videos, it seems like she's right where she should be.

Edited to add - she definitely "has" all the skills in her routine right now! Super normal, maybe even inevitable, for them to not be that clean at her first competition ever.

 

[UnoMas]

Agree with gymdog and cadybear on the cast not being high enough. She might be starting from a 9.5 because of that one thing alone...however...I’m not a judge or a coach, only a mom to 2 former gold gymnasts.

 

[cmarie]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone! Today she was able to do a glide kip and maintain straight arms! We were all so proud. Her FHC still had bent arms, so I think it will be pulled from her routine. She received the same score as her last meet, and a judge specifically pointed out her cast being too low to our HC. I'm really trying to keep her (and my) spirits up, but I think the awards ceremonies can be rough for her (I'm still working on adjusting expectations). I keep reminding her that she is just coming up on her 1 year anniversary of gym and her 6 monthg anniversary for team and that progress takes time.

She did get her first 9, it was on her floor routine, which she/we were super excited about. Between that and her kip having straight arms, I know we had some progress made.

 

[cmarie]

Honestly it's not that bad although I don't think I would put the front hip in there myself. She seems pretty strong so I think she can fix it though. She probably did not receive credit for a horizontal cast FYI which might be an easier fix because at least on the high bar she drove her legs up but her belly was down. If she tries to squeeze her butt and pull her belly in after she drives her legs she can increase her score up to half a point or more

You were spot on! Our coach brought it up to me after the meet. Hopefully they can begin to work on correcting it. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[cmarie]

She's doing amazing for her first year of competition! I agree with gymdog, I would think that she didn't get credit for her cast, it has to be horizontal and judges are very picky about it sometimes, if any part of the body doesn't quite meet horizontal, they will take off of the start value and I think it's .5, which would have made a huge difference in her score.

The front hip circle is not necessary but other than that I would say all in all it's a good routine for progression. Maybe not the best routine to maximize scores, b/c many in gold do simpler routines (pullover, cast, back hip circle, cast/squat on, jump, tap swing, tap swing, L4 dismount). I see that in gold a lot of kids score higher with pullovers than kips, b/c kips can take a long time to perfect and can get a lot of deductions. A lot of times simple and clean score better. But if your dd is transitioning to JO level 4 next year, progressions and building confidence in competing these newer skills will be more important for her than maximizing scores. If she does move to JO, she will likely have a big increase in training hours and you will probably see a big difference in her form at that time.

Yes! I have realized that a lot of gold girls have simplified routines (even those on our team). Me and my DH have went back and forth about whether to ask the coach to minimize the routine or not. I do think competing them helps to build her confidence/makes her try harder. Today her kip was straight, which apparently happened over night, lol. She is still struggling with the FHC, so that may be the skill that gets pulled.

 

[cmarie]

I thought the bent arms on the kip looked like a pretty normal amount of bend for someone at this level, who is newer to practicing kips. The kip should sort itself out in time. The main issues I saw with the routine were overall tightness and body shape issues, which also are the type of thing that improve with team practices. Scoring can be wildly inconsistent across meets so it's hard to know what an 8.3 means - what's important is that the amount of hours and intensity are right for her and for your family, and that she makes progress towards gaining skills safely and cleanly. Just from these two videos, it seems like she's right where she should be.

Edited to add - she definitely "has" all the skills in her routine right now! Super normal, maybe even inevitable, for them to not be that clean at her first competition ever.

I'm glad to hear that these things *should* south themselves out with time. Today her AA was the same as the last meet, a 32.15 and I was a bit disappointed. I know she's been more focused and really trying to correct her mistakes, but it didn't translate into a higher score. I tried to point out the victories (like a straight arm kip) as despite the score, I know she's making progress. Thanks for the feedback, it's really helpful as we have no clue what's *normal* or not for level of experience.

 

[cmarie]

I'm glad to hear that these things *should* south themselves out with time. Today her AA was the same as the last meet, a 32.15 and I was a bit disappointed. I know she's been more focused and really trying to correct her mistakes, but it didn't translate into a higher score. I tried to point out the victories (like a straight arm kip) as despite the score, I know she's making progress. Thanks for the feedback, it's really helpful as we have no clue what's *normal* or not for level of experience.

Oops, I meant "sort"