Parents Compulsories and right vs. left

[JumpingBean]

My dd is 9 and dealing with this as well. She is a lefty but learned most of her floor skills and some acro in dance where they worked both sides but the right side was used much more frequently in dances. It's taking her a long time to settle on a dominant leg and even the coaches keep wavering on which is better. She is also still doing dance where both legs get used depending on choreo and that is making matters worse for gymnastics.

 

[sce]

They can choose their dominant side. They are not supposed to switch dominance within the routine because it requires an extra step here or there.
At our gym, when learning the routines, we split the girls into lefties and eighties to teach them.

This is not totally true. There are a few skills, specified in the text that can be done opposite of the routine. The text also specifies where steps are allowed to accommodate these skills

 

[raenndrops]

This is not totally true. There are a few skills, specified in the text that can be done opposite of the routine. The text also specifies where steps are allowed to accommodate these skills

I know… but MANY coaches don't like girls doing that, so I was answering generally. Basically, not everyone has to do the entire routine as a righty (They can choose their dominance - left or right) and learn the routine designed with that dominance in mind.
We have a few girls that do (where allowed) switch during the routine… but they still learn the routine with their main dominance in mind.

 

[Gymnast C's mom]

This is not totally true. There are a few skills, specified in the text that can be done opposite of the routine. The text also specifies where steps are allowed to accommodate these skills

I see. There are 12 girls on dd's pre-team and for roughly 8 of them, dd included, right split is the preferred side. My dd doesn't have left all the way down. Do all level 3 floor routines require right splits? Or left splits? What if a girl has right all the way down but not left, or vice versa? Again sorry this is slightly off topic OP.

 

[raenndrops]

I see. There are 12 girls on dd's pre-team and for roughly 8 of them, dd included, right split is the preferred side. My dd doesn't have left all the way down. Do all level 3 floor routines require right splits? Or left splits? What if a girl has right all the way down but not left, or vice versa? Again sorry this is slightly off topic OP.

They can do left or right splits. Hopefully, the splits dominance is the same as main dominance... I can't remember if splits is one of the reversible skills.

 

[AmandaLynn]

They can do left or right splits. Hopefully, the splits dominance is the same as main dominance... I can't remember if splits is one of the reversible skills.

It is not. Basically, all of the dance (jumps, turns, splits) must be on the same side. The Acro elements (Handstand to bridge, handstand forward roll, round off) are the only ones that may be reversed. If you have a kid that does a leap on their right and a cartwheel on their left, you would teach a "righty" routine and reverse the round off.

If you have a kid that does a right split/leap and a left turn, you will run into issues with the compulsory routines, as none of these skills are reversible. They will need to learn to turn on the opposite side.

Keep in mind that many coaches will not allow the girls to reverse skills and will force them to either change their dance side or to change their cartwheel side.

 

[tpMom]

This happened to my daughter. She did rec for only a couple of months before she moved up to level 3 and we discovered she was switching legs. The coach let her choose which leg she wanted to stick with and she ended up having to relearn her cartwheels and roundoffs. It was really tough in the beginning. She spent lots of evening in tears because suddenly she couldn't even do basic gymnastics. But she stuck to it and within a few months she was feeling more natural. Now, only a year later, she has her robhsbt, a decent front tuck, and is training for level 5. As long as your DD can push through and not give in to the frustration she'll get it, and she'll be a better gymnast for picking a leg and sticking with it.

 

[blueberrygym]

Thanks for all the comments! My DD is likely one to get frustrated easily because she thinks she already has big skills...so she needs to learn patience to relearn them on the other side (not to mention the fact that she needs to relearn her skills with better form). Her dance skills are right sided and her acro skills are left-sided. She does her turn on her left side. Sounds like she would have problems. The gym I visited that has invited her to their compulsory program would want her to have a dominant side.