Women Difficulty vs Artistry focus junior elite

[DP gymnast mom]

Hi, my 13 year old is training for elite qualifiers and it seems like they are focusing on getting as much difficulty in the skills as possible at lighting pace, and very little on artistry. I feel my dd is weaker than some in artistry and I have some concerns around that.

Is that the preferred focus at this point? Is that because difficulty takes longer to learn and is best while younger? Your thoughts are much appreciated.

 

[Gymgirl84]

I certainly think artistry can be more easily improved with age, as long as they have a good flexibility/mobility base, and even if they don't, there are quite a few artistry deductions that maturity can help with.

 

[DP gymnast mom]

Thanks. Does that include arms, and upper body form? It seems like they are in such a rush to get the difficulty as high as possible and as a result, often the rest gets neglected...

 

[raenndrops]

My guess is that they hope if her D score is high enough, it can more than balance out the artistry deductions.

 

[DP gymnast mom]

That makes a lot of sense to me. I guess if artstry isn't there difficulty can take over.