WAG Giants

[Muddlethru]

Just out of curiosity..... I've seen many gyms let their gymnasts compete giants by kicking their legs (bending and then straightening) up to get to a handstand and then also kicking up every time they need to get around to do a giant. I've also seen continuous bent legs throughout the entire skill. Is this preferable than not letting them compete or does it create problems later on? Is it better to have the form right from the onset or does this strategy have no adverse effect?

 

[MaryA]

I don't know about competing... hopefully a coach will speak to that... but in the spring I saw my daughter doing straight-legged giants but not able to connect them to the flyaway. Then I saw her doing giants again last week and she was connecting them to her flyaway but her legs were horribly bent (she had a broken foot in between those two giant sightings so it's really not as much time working on them as it sounds). I'm trying to trust that it is all part of the process and that she'll be able to both do straight-legged giants and fly away out of them eventually (hopefully in time for meet season).

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

In our gym the girls who are learning giants may do bent legs, to get the feeling of going around, and eventually get them straightened out. DD went through a period of one bent, one straight, when she started doing multiple giants.

But our coaches would not let them compete them if they were not capable of doing consistent straight legged giants.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

As a professional parent who knows virtually nothing about skills, I know that my dd learned her giants in strap with bent legs and moved the bar higher and higher to get her legs straight. I assume for her it was about the fear of being really high?

 

[vagymmomma]

I see it frequently when girls are first learning giants. For some girls it seems to become a bad habit that's hard to break though.

 

[Muddlethru]

Thanks. So I guess from the posts above it is part of the progression. Bent legged giants are certainly not common at meets. But I've seen a few. What I found more common when first learning giants is the arch when getting around. I wonder which one is harder to get rid of, the arch or the bent legs.

 

[iwannacoach]

What I found more common when first learning giants is the arch when getting around. I wonder which one is harder to get rid of, the arch or the bent legs.

I think kids that arch well before the inverted support phase (handstand, but don't call it that) and barely make it over are working with a mental model that doesn't work. So to answer your question....

A child who's convinced they've got it right (mental model) will take forever to get rid of the arch. Why? Because every correction they get from their coach gets processed to coexist with their warped model.... which usually places emphasis on the handstand. When these kids finally accept the correct model some will nibble at it for 3-9 months and never feel the change (see the boiled frog) that tells them they've done it right. The rest of the kids take in the new/correct model in two or three big bites, and they know right away what really makes a giant work.

Bent legs..... It varies. Some kids bend their legs to shorten their body on the way up to make the giant easier. They won't be able to do the skill with straight legs until they improve the earlier phases of the giant.

Kids who bend their legs because they haven't learned how to keep them straight can remedy their flaw quickly..... usually the day someone really shows them what a straight leg feels like, and they react by deciding they're gonna do it that way the very next time..... and every time after that because this skill and mny others are easier to do with solid leg segments that contribute to the skill instead of being dragged along for the ride......

Good form..... It's not just for looking pretty

Tucked giants...... A step in some coaches approach to teaching giants. That's why "DD went through a period of one bent, one straight, when she started doing multiple giants."

 

[Kiwi]

Good form..... It's not just for looking pretty

LOL! Quote of the month!

 

[Redford]

None of my girls has reached giants yet, so coachwise I'm clueless.
My coach uses the "baby giants" on the strap bar as part of the progression but wont allow us to do giants on our own until those legs are straight and every possible arch is eliminated.

 

[thefellowsmom]

My dd is learning giants right now. It appears from my limited knowledge and only what she has told me (i have seen her do them only twice) that they start with baby giants and then move to strap bar giants until they can get around a few times straight and by themselves. Then they move to spotted hollow giants and then they straighten them out and then they start lightening the spot until they have them on their own.

This process is taking weeks for some and months for others. Form is the most important thing. Dd says perfect form is the only thing and you simply just don't do it by yourself till you can do it right.

They are lightening dds spot at the moment and in tandem teaching the flyaway out of a spotted giant into the pit.

I will say I am in total ahh at the strength and ability of her coach. He is the best thing that ever happened to her gymnastics. Not only is he strong enough to catch them in mid air and will throw himself in front of them to keep them from falling, but he gets what makes them tick and how to build their Confidence or see they need to modify because the are just exhausted that day. He is also the toughest coach out there and the first to ignore them or tell them they aren't cutting it if they aren't focused enough for him. The girls adore him.

Even our HC is in ahh of him. I realize not every gym has that guy who can spot girl after girl hour after hour like that.

Sorry, I gush

I have never seen a girl at our gym do a giant either bendy (more than just a mistake) or bent.

 

[jago]

Ahhhh ... Yes ... dd has a coach like that ^^^^^ as well! Love those great coaches!! And great gyms!!

 

[Flipomaniak]

I learned my giants with bent knees and it was very difficult for me to straighten them later on. It became muscle memory and habit... I had to relearn the skill, haha

 

[lovegymnastics]

I learned them on the low bar first, therefore I had to bend my knees. When I grew and I couldn't do them on the low bar annymore. I did them on high bar and bent knees were not allowed

 

[Flossyduck]

I'm struggling to picture a bent legged giant? I honestly don't see any bent legged giants at dd's gym. They learn 'scoop giants' on strap bar to start with, (which maybe are similar to the dish giants people have mentioned?) alongside baby giants on wooden. In scoop giants they swing around in an exaggerated dish shape and as they swing up towards the top the coach shouts 'show me your feet' and if they are in the correct shape she will take them over and if not they are allowed to drop.
This is over a pit and from where I am sitting I like to imagine that they drop into a pit of crocodiles. Maybe the lack of bent legs and very good form is proof that I am right

 

[lovegymnastics]

With bent leg giants I ment just regular giants with bent legs. Hips stay straight but we bent our legs to keep from hitting the floor

 

[my4buffaloes]

Well my dd's philosophy seemed to be "why in the world would I do it with bad form?" I think that might have been why it took forever and a day for her to finally get the giant. But once she got it, she was immediately connecting it into the layout flyaway (as she said "how else would I get off the bar?") and I have never seen her bend her legs on a giant. I have seen many girls get the giant with bent legs and arched back very quickly but then it takes forever for them to fix it. I don't really know which way is right though.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

One of the little girls in DD's group was first to get her giant, but it was on the archly side. They were just happy she was gtting around. But now unfortunately, she is back to basics after 6 months of trying to loose the arch and get that desired hollow form.

 

[iwannacoach]

I'm struggling to picture a bent legged giant?....... at dd's gym. They learn 'scoop giants' on strap bar to start with, (which maybe are similar to the dish giants people have mentioned?) alongside baby giants on wooden. In scoop giants they swing around in an exaggerated dish shape and as they swing up towards the top

This is the exact emphasis needed to move a giant from a maybe column to the sure thing column. The bent leg giant you feel you've not seen is really a scooped giant with the toes, shins, and knees leading the lower half of the body as the turn over to the upside down orientation, but the scoop comes about as the result of a properly done tuck with the hips rolled under to create the scoop.

Some coaches will use this as the step following baby giants, and then transition to the straight leg scoop. The merit of this approach is it enforces the notion that giants go around instead of turn upside down and rise, because once that model works it's way into the child's head they begin to cut the scoop and turnover short and concentrate on elevating to the handstand...... kinda like a back extension roll that extends to early.

Sure they're bending their legs, but not bent legs in the whoops sense.

 

[Flossyduck]

^^^^^^^^^^ ok thanks, that makes sense. I was picturing giants with bent knees and wondering how that could work

 

[profmom]

My son's L6 group is currently working on giants. One of the coaches in our boys' program swears by tucked giants as a transitional teaching phase because he says it teaches the guys how to get around the bar, and another loathes them because he says it teaches them bad habits. Both coaches are having a hand in this process, which has been . . . interesting. But looking at the upper level boys, I see that somehow they all manage to get there!