Giants at Level 7

[gym monkeys mom]

My daughter is going to compete level 7 this season she is still struggling with her giant does she need it for level 7? Also how do you deal with fear of this skill she can cast to handstand and do giants with a coach spot but not alone she is stuck in a rut any ideas?/

 

[Masters_Gymnast93]

giants aren't required, you could just as easily do a free-hip [clear-hip] on high bar, or two on the low bar...as long as she has 2 circling skills w/o her hips touching the bar.
i'm currently a L7 and i'm struggling with giants too.

 

[gym law mom]

GMM--She is not alone in the fear of doing giants solo. Alot of girls seem to go through that. Masters is right, she doesn't HAVE to do giants as a L7, but I think many coaches prefer their girls do giants to prepare for L8. Certainly you want her to overcome the fear of doing them solo. Can she tell you what she is afraid of? What about doing them with just the coach standing by, but not touching her?

 

[hammy]

As the others have said, giants are not required, but as a coach and former gymnast I would recommend doing the giants as a level 7. It helps the gymnast get used to competing them, so they don't have to worry about that as a level 8.

It sounds like she just needs to start going by herself on a single-rail bar over the foam pit--if she doesn't make it around the bar all she has to do is simply jump off (as if she casted over the bar) and land on her feet. Giants are one of those skills that are actually a blast to do once you overcome the fear factor. All in all, it definitely sounds like it's time for her to be brave and do them by herself. She might be terrified to do them alone a few times, but the more she does alone the quicker the fear will go away. Try having her do them with the coach just standing there as a mental blanket; then remove the coach. Like I said before, going over a foam pit (if available) would probably be a big help. Good luck! Personally, I love giants.

Also, one thing a lot of gymnasts like to do is shift too early; in other words, they put on the brakes and stop the giant from going around the bar. For this case, swing big--pull toes over the top of the bar--shift wrists so hands are on top.

Good luck!

 

[gymbabisMom]

GYmbabi did 2 seasons of level 7 while struggling with her giants. Her highest bar score was about 8.4. Her last level 7 meet with giants her bar score was 9 something finally giving her an overall over 35. I wish we had trained thru that first season so she could have concentrated more on getting that giant and having it for the next year.

 

[gymbabisMom]

Oh and now all our level 7s will have giants before they compete. WE have 1 that is competing six this season and will do 7 in spring and she already has hers, her teammate that will move up too, will only compete in spring if she gets it (she's really close) soon.

 

[gracefulone]

giants aren't required, you could just as easily do a free-hip [clear-hip] on high bar, or two on the low bar...as long as she has 2 circling skills w/o her hips touching the bar.
i'm currently a L7 and i'm struggling with giants too.

Our gym was told by judges at the end of last year that you aren't allowed to do two free hips on the lowbar. It messed up a lot of people b/c we weren't told that until two weeks before state, so they had to change their routines.

 

[hunde2]

My daughter was afraid of giant flyaway last year at her first year of level 7,she would not do it unless the coach was standing next to the bars,she also would just rarely do it on pitbars.Just recently did she start doing giant giant flyaway byherself,without the coach standing next to the bars.She worked on her bars very hard all summer.I think practice and alot of repetitions made her finally feel comfortable enough to do it without a coach standing nearby.

 

[lannamavity]

Two Freehips

Our gym was told by judges at the end of last year that you aren't allowed to do two free hips on the lowbar. It messed up a lot of people b/c we weren't told that until two weeks before state, so they had to change their routines.

I'm sure the judges said that the kids can't do kip, cast, free hip, kip, cast, free hip, because they would be repeating the same exact same sequence of skills (kip, cast, free hip) twice, which would make give the second sequence ZERO value.

There are changes which can be made to avoid this...it has nothing to do with doing two free hips on the lowbar.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I am just looking at the requirements for level 7 in USAG and it states there must be two circleing elements that are a minimum of B value and they can be the same or different. This does seem to indicate that two clear hips are acceptable. Perhaps one on the low bar and one on the high bar. There are other interesting circling elements she could try. Why not have a look through the code of points and find something different. She would have a very memorable routine if she competed a circle that others don't generally do. Even if it is a simple one.

The reason I reccomend this is not because she should not aim for her giants but because it can be easier to learn the skill when the pressure is off for some kids. If they know they MUST get the skill in order to compete successfully some kids will in fact get worse because of the pressure (works the opposite on many kids too). If she knows she has that back up skill, she can relax and enjoy the process of perfecting those giants without the added pressure.

 

[gymdog]

I had some issues with giants through my L7 season, it worked out okay in the end. Same thing with losing layout flyaway, easily learned and competed double flyaways just a few months later. It'll come, it sounds lame but as long as you believe it and keep trying to set broken up smaller goals and make progress on them every day, you can work through it.

Giants aren't required. Some coaches set their own requirements because most certainly the routines that score the best in L7 bars have a circling element through HS (for a variety of reasons including that girls with these skills are usually stronger on bars in general). However a clean routine with two free hips can almost as certainly outscore messy giants, some coaches like to focus on competitive preparation such as learning to warm up the giants in a timed setting and perform, rather than focus on the overall score at the beginning of the L7 season. This is why I competed bent knee giants at the beginning of my L7 season, but at states I did just free hip handstand into flyaway off high bar (no giants). We had to have giants to compete L7 bars in the beginning of the season, that was just a gym requirement though, not USAG.

 

[Tuduri]

Giants at level seven

We had one gymnast who did level seven without a giant. And I think she did two clear hips if I recall correctly. Anyway, she did move up to level eight and absolutely had to do her giant. She managed to do them with straps, into the pit, without a spot and then on the regular bars with a spot. She repeated this endlessly. Finally, one day her bars coach(our temporary bars coach before Tkatchev)yelled "why do you need me?" It got everyone's attention. All gymnasts and parents looked up. We were all aware of this one gymnast's mental obstacle with her giants. After a pause, the coach yelled, "just do it". He stood nearby just in case but stood back noticeably. Time stopped. It was a real Zen moment. The gymnast went up into a nice cast and came around once, twice and dismounted with a flyaway! Everyone was cheering. We were all very emotional. I don't know if it was just the repetitions or the gradual step by step progression from straps to the pit to regular bars with a spot or all the above. But the gymnast to her credit never gave up. She perservered and kept going. And eventually with just a llittle mental push, "why do you need me", "just do it", she did it. I think that all her reps and the aforementionned progression gradually allayed her subconscious fears and she eventually did it. This probably varies from one gymnast to another. But the key was not to ever quit or back down. Her determination was inspiring.

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

I go to a YMCA and my level 7 bar routine was kip cast freehip kip cast squat on long hang kip cast free hip flyaway. I scored 9s on that so obviously at least in YMCA you can do no giants and a 2 freehips. It says 2 "B" circling elements

 

[Epomanic]

out of curiosity, does anyone know what B-circling elements are allowed besides clear-hips and giants?

 

[gymch34]

toe handstands
stalder handstand-
but I believe a L7 they can just show a clear support at the end, similar to a clear hip to clear support

 

[Epomanic]

thx gymch34! I think I'd be pretty cool to see some level seven stalders.

 

[CoachL]

toe handstands
stalder handstand-
but I believe a L7 they can just show a clear support at the end, similar to a clear hip to clear support

those are C's

But are the one allowable C in level 7.

 

[MCAgirl]

I go to a YMCA and my level 7 bar routine was kip cast freehip kip cast squat on long hang kip cast free hip flyaway. I scored 9s on that so obviously at least in YMCA you can do no giants and a 2 freehips. It says 2 "B" circling elements

That was my routine too. lol.