Women Confused

[Gymnastics15]

Hi, I’m just here looking for some advice, I’m training xcel diamond for the upcoming season. I’m really frustrated with one of the issues I’ve having with my coaches, I really don’t want to go to my parents, I’d rather deal with this on my own( I’m almost 15 years old). I really want to compete a half pirouette on bars, and one of my coaches is all for it, spotting me eveytime I do it helping me as I am learning, I only have this coach one day a week. But, my other coach I have on bars, I ask to do these and she says no, I’m not doing the whole skill for you or something like that. I then tell her Coach Abby( not her real name) lets me do them, and spots me and I’m fine. She responds with “Well I’m not Coach Abby”.She then tells me to work them on the floor bar, I’m simply tired of going to the floor bar and want spot on the set, I don’t know if she’s not comfortable spotting or what, I am taller than her, if that makes a difference. I really just need some advice, this is a skill I really can’t just learn on my own, I need spot. I’m really just looking for some advice on how to address this. TIA

 

[NutterButter]

I’m confused because your ChalkBucket account says you are a parent and a gymnast. Many of your posts are from the vantage point of a parent yet here you say you are a kid and you don’t want your parents to know about this problem you are having.

So which is it? Parent or child?

 

[NutterButter]

To answer your question though....my daughter was in this situation several times on more than one event. Generally whatever coach let her train the more desired skill was never the head coach or lead event coach. It usually was under the guise of uptraining and usually she simply had a better rapport with the coach that let her explore more skills. Deference was always given to the head or lead event coach, especially on what goes into a routine.

With that said, I encouraged her to advocate for herself and ask clarifying questions when she was told 'no'. Often the answer made sense and usually centered on form of the skill or the fact that one skill change can affect the SV of the entire routine w/o other changes. A couple of times it seemed like the coach was being punitive/lazy/intentionally holding my DD back. For these few times, I did get involved and either met with the coaches or traded emails. Mixed results when I got involved - sometimes the outcome was what my DD wanted, sometimes not. One of the coaches was very petty and to this day (6 years later!) I still get irritated thinking about her!

 

[Gymnastics15]

I’m confused because your ChalkBucket account says you are a parent and a gymnast. Many of your posts are from the vantage point of a parent yet here you say you are a kid and you don’t want your parents to know about this problem you are having.

So which is it? Parent or child?

I’m so sorry if it’s confusing, me and my mom share this account. Also, my mother knows about to problem, I was just coming for some advice.

 

[Dahlialover]

Each coach has a different body and different comfort level with spotting different skills. It is the coach’s responsibility to set boundaries around what skills they feel that they are able to safely spot (safely for both the coach and the athlete). This coach is telling you that she does not feel like she can safely spot you on this skill. You need to respect that. You can gain skills working in the floor bar. Good luck!

 

[Gymdancemm11]

Hi, I’m just here looking for some advice, I’m training xcel diamond for the upcoming season. I’m really frustrated with one of the issues I’ve having with my coaches, I really don’t want to go to my parents, I’d rather deal with this on my own( I’m almost 15 years old). I really want to compete a half pirouette on bars, and one of my coaches is all for it, spotting me eveytime I do it helping me as I am learning, I only have this coach one day a week. But, my other coach I have on bars, I ask to do these and she says no, I’m not doing the whole skill for you or something like that. I then tell her Coach Abby( not her real name) lets me do them, and spots me and I’m fine. She responds with “Well I’m not Coach Abby”.She then tells me to work them on the floor bar, I’m simply tired of going to the floor bar and want spot on the set, I don’t know if she’s not comfortable spotting or what, I am taller than her, if that makes a difference. I really just need some advice, this is a skill I really can’t just learn on my own, I need spot. I’m really just looking for some advice on how to address this. TIA

I have had a very similar experience lately. I am training Xcel Diamond for the upcoming season as well. My one coach refused to work on the skill with me and told me I had to do something else, even though we had a meeting discussing that the skill was going to be in my routine.
The difference between your situation and mine was that I was learning a toe shoot release instead of an apirouette.
The coach who worked the release with me only worked with me 1 day, so I could only really work the skill 1 day, and that just isn't enough.

Lately, the coach who works on the skill with me hasn't been here, and so I haven't been able to learn the skill.
My one coach, who refused to work on it with me, told me to just look up YouTube videos.
So, I did, and now I am super close to getting the skill.
When we had an open bar assignment or when I came in extra, that is all I worked on. By myself.
I taught myself the skill because my coach refused to.