form & staying tight

[gymmomntc2e6]

Any suggestions to help a gymnast who really stuggles with form. She has very long legs and arms and is very thin ( eats well but only seems to get longer !!) and is hypermobile.

She has a really hard time staying tight - she always looks loose like a noodle. When told to be tight or straighten her legs she will tell you she is.

I have spotted her BHS and fixed her form, then when she does it herself she says see - I can ( but her legs ar bent).

any help ???

 

[MdGymMom01]

My dd is the same way--very long limbed, thin and her elbows seem like they are double-jointed--it looks really freaky sometimes. What seems to help her is the dance (ballet) training and just practice, practice, practice. It's almost as if she had to feel what "tight" felt like and keep doing it over and over to understand that is what she is supposed to do and look like. Practicing in a mirror can help them "see" that they are doing and what the skills and movements are supposed to look like. Also, pointing toes ALL THE TIME helps as well.

 

[dancengym]

How about videotaping her perform some of the drills. I remember my dd loves bars and she could not understand why she could not get any higher than in the low 9s. We'd go through possible deductions. I'd ask her if her legs were pointed, together etc. The routine goes by so fast, it is hard for me to tell, nor do I have an expert's eye. She always claimed she did everything right. One time, I happen to videotape her bar routine from an angle that showed her legs separated for a fraction of a second when she started her kip on low bar and then again when she jumped to the high bar from a squat on to a kip. She was shocked. The next meet, she won first place on bars and each meet after that and even placed at states championship.

 

[MdGymMom01]

I agree with dancengym in that videotaping is a great tool. I sometimes tape my dd at her privates to show her exactly where her form breaks down and where she isn't tight. She is often shocked thinking "Wow-I thought my legs were straight (or together or feet pointed...)". It took a while for my dd to really get the hang of the "toe point" until she started ballet. Ballet really does focus on toe point and body placement so much.

 

[cher062]

Are you sure you aren't talking about my DD LOL.

My DD needed to see herself on video to see she wasn't doing it. Body awareness takes time and many girls into their teens don't hve it 100%.
My DD's gym has every event with a camera on it and a computer hooked up to the camera. When they do the move there is a 20 sec delay in the viewing and then they can see their move. Now she can see after each practice move what isn't there. Before this at the old gym the coach would video them as they didn't have that same set up. then play it back for the gymnast but would ask before she showed them "Do you think you were....(what ever - tight, straight, pointed toes etc)" When they said oh yes then they looked at the video and they could see they weren't Visual are a great tool.