WAG Does different equipment at meets make a difference?

[flippin out]

DD's gym does not have flexi-rails, the first few meets that had them really threw most of the team off. DD's first bail on them had the timing off, younger girls even had issues with giants on them. She has figured out how to adjust her power on releases now, but like I said....first meet on them with no training on them was a little off

 

[cadybearsmommy]

DD has had bar issues at some meets. At our first meet of the season, she said the bars were so slippery and she ended up slipping off. She said they had too much chalk on them and needed to be cleaned, but no one else on her team slipped off, so it could have been mental.

I have noticed that on meets with the "stacked mat" vaults (levels 1-3, XB/XS) that the combination of mats used can vary and she will complain sometimes that some mats give her a harder landing than others.

But my dd is also very quick to let something get in her head and bother her like that, so of course she is going to be examining the equipment like a hawk lol. I'm hoping that changes as she moves gets older and competes higher levels.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Yes, my kid notices differences.

The floor bouncier or not as. The bars slipperier (is that a word).

So yes they notice, or at least she does.

First meet this season her FHS was too fast/bouncy she knew it, springy floor.

 

[gymgal]

So the girls were at this meet year competing in the first session. They were up on bars as their second rotation. We noticed that several were having problems in warmup and some were pestering the coaches. After a while both coaches went over to the bars and started taking the high bar apart. Turns out the rental company had installed the high bar upside down.

Thant happened at the end of last season for dd too. Not sure if the bar what on upside down for ours but after the first flight, they had to take the bar set down and reset it. Thankfully the meet was a modified capital cup so they had 2 sets of bars. They just moved both flights to the other set.

I think not liking certain equipment is common. DD talks about different bars and beams in her own gym that she likes better than others. too hard, sandy, smooth, bouncy, etc But when at a meet, you just make it work.

 

[Empowered]

All I know is nothing sends my daughter and her teammates into a texting frenzy faster than a report of "super bouncy bars" at a meet. To a man, regardless of level, they apparently all hate bouncy bars.

 

[wrzos]

My daughter doesn't like meets where the equipment is rental - think in a hotel or conference center. She says the equipment is too "new" feeling, and the bars aren't chalky enough, beam is too clean, etc.

I have seen our coaches frantically ripping out springs from the sprinboard for vault at some of those meets too - as our little bitty L2 girls weren't even heavy enough to get any spring on it...

 

[ascarter1]

Before I begin, can I just say I would appreciate it if no meet names were mentioned, because I would like to keep this thread on a friendly basis.

As the meet season is now in full swing for many of us, I couldn't help remembering a few meets we went to last spring, where the equipment, while looking fine, seemed to cause issues for the older girls. I overheard a few of them saying the equipment didn't 'feel' right, for various reasons. Now my young child has not noticed this stuff before (and nor have I), and perhaps it is coming...but maybe these girls were overthinking? I know that every gym's equipment is unique, but they were mentioning things like spring of the floor, the flex in the bars, the beam's stability...? I can honestly only think of one meet where the floor seemed a bit springier, but this actually helped my child, who probably needed more spring to her step at the time, lol.

Have you been at meets where you felt the equipment was, shall we say, a bit 'interesting?' And if so, did others also notice it? Just curious if this is something I get to look forward to in the future!

Dd says that there are definitely differences, just gotta work through it!!

Here is a funny...
When dd was in compulsories, there was a team known for sandbagging. It was so obvious that we just laughed when competing against them. We hosted a meet and several of their girls fell off the beam, so uncharacteristic of this team. They blamed the beam, said it was faulty. Next time we went up against them at another meet, same thing happened. Finally, at their home meet, they brought in beams from their own gym instead of renting from the same company. No one else had an issue with the beam, they just weren't used to not to scoring 9.9's! Haha!!

 

[duyetanh]

Dd says that there are definitely differences, just gotta work through it!!

Here is a funny...
When dd was in compulsories, there was a team known for sandbagging. It was so obvious that we just laughed when competing against them. We hosted a meet and several of their girls fell off the beam, so uncharacteristic of this team. They blamed the beam, said it was faulty. Next time we went up against them at another meet, same thing happened. Finally, at their home meet, they brought in beams from their own gym instead of renting from the same company. No one else had an issue with the beam, they just weren't used to not to scoring 9.9's! Haha!!

That is hilarious!!

 

[duyetanh]

Dd says that there are definitely differences, just gotta work through it!!

Here is a funny...
When dd was in compulsories, there was a team known for sandbagging. It was so obvious that we just laughed when competing against them. We hosted a meet and several of their girls fell off the beam, so uncharacteristic of this team. They blamed the beam, said it was faulty. Next time we went up against them at another meet, same thing happened. Finally, at their home meet, they brought in beams from their own gym instead of renting from the same company. No one else had an issue with the beam, they just weren't used to not to scoring 9.9's! Haha!!

That is hilarious!!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Different lighting, different vaulting boards or springs or both, floors are always a little different. But just like any sport you adjust to your surroundings.

 

[Canjump]

Coming from a gym who has a very old floor it's great going to any of the city comps the floors are supper bouncy in comparison. There is one gym who's bars are terrible the move around and no matter how much chalk still remain very hard to grip.

 

[MILgymFAM]

With my DD it's the beams. She's bee to meets where the beams are visibly wobbly and it throws all the girls off their game.

 

[flippinam]

Different lighting

This definitely affects me! I have intermittent vertigo, and the lighting at some venues really gets to me.
I am the one to look up venues before every meet to scope out either what equipment they'll be renting or what equipment is in their gym so I can prepare myself mentally lol.
It usually doesn't affect me too much, but there was one meet where the two sets of equipment used by the different flights were completely different. One floor had metal springs, and the other was a foam sprung floor. One vault was the old, squishy kind that you sink into when you hit it, while the other was the "basketball" top. One beam was visibly wobbly, and the other was not. Needless to say, it was not a good meet for my team and the other gyms unlucky enough to get the "bad" equipment.

 

[Presstohandstands]

I definitely get put of by different feels of uneven bars e.g some have more grip than others. Also if they have Janssen Fritzen beams I don't like them because they are more squishy than I am used to.