Parents Good News / Bad News

[pixie flips]

Congrats to her on getting those level 5 skills. Abby has all of hers except the FHS and it is not pretty, LOL.

I agree that as long as they uptrain, she will be fine doing L4 again. Abby already started meet season and they are still uptraining on some days. Many times it is a reward for working hard on routine stuff.

As for grips and jumping to the high bar, at Abby's gym, they get grips usually before they get moved to L5, after meet season is over. Once they are in grips, they are not allowed to do bars without them. That said, Abby does her jump to high bar and long hang kip without grips. They like them to have that pretty good and nice tap swings before they get grips and I think they wait to introduce them til after meet season is done.

I know Pixie will have an amazing L4 season and if they keep her challenged, she will be more than ready for L5 when she gets there.

Nice to get an update!

That darn FHS, lol! Surprisingly, Pixie had a harder time with that skill too. She got her BWO on beam before she got her FHS on floor. I don't know what it is about that skill maybe the blind landing? I don't know. I remember struggling with it when I was a gymnast as well.

Do you know if they are giving Abby the opportunity to move up mid season if warranted?

Abby and Pixie are going to rock L5 when they get there

 

[Megley]

From what I understand it is gym policy that no gymnast jumps to the high bar without grips unless they are put up there by coaches. I wonder if there was an incident in the past that caused them to set this rule. They won't give her the grips until she moves past L4 becacuse they don't believe in moving back and forth between using grips and not using them. I'm sure that they will order her grips after States this season.

Hmm, seems like an odd policy to me. Everything I have been told indicates that you are more likely to peel off wearing grips as opposed to not wearing them. But it is what it is and you have to go along with what the gym says. Hopefully, she will make a quick adjustment to the grips. I'm hoping the same for my dd when she starts wearing them at the end of this season.

Best of luck to Pixie this season!

 

[mariposa]

That darn FHS, lol! Surprisingly, Pixie had a harder time with that skill too. She got her BWO on beam before she got her FHS on floor. I don't know what it is about that skill maybe the blind landing? I don't know. I remember struggling with it when I was a gymnast as well.

Do you know if they are giving Abby the opportunity to move up mid season if warranted?

Abby and Pixie are going to rock L5 when they get there

Abby always lands like a frog on her FHS, she just isn't ready for it yet. Her friends from old gym that moved to L5 are struggling with stuff, I am so glad she is still a L4. She is loving getting to do well at meets, while still uptraining.

Her gym does move girls up after Fall season if they are ready, but I don't think Abby will be moving up then. They usually still compete some meets at previous level and will do just one or 2 at the new level at the end if they are ready, sometimes just a few events, but just to see how it is scoring at that level, what they need to work on, etc. She expects to be a L4 until summer, so she is okay with that.

As for grips, Abby's old gym they didn't use them sometimes until L6. At her new gym, they get them when they have a good kip/jump to high bar and nice tap swings. They usually get them after meet season is over.

I agree that it is more likely to peel off the bar with grips then without. I do think they should let Pixie move to L5 since she already did so well at L4 and has her L5 skills.

Her size shouldn't be a problem if they lower the vault table, move bars closer, etc. There is a "little person/dwarf" that is same age as Abby (turned 7 in summer, much sshorter than her, tiny hands, etc, typical little person. She is doing L5 this season and rocking and she rocked L4 as well. I can't wait to see her compete. She goes to another gym and just rocks. She is very muscular though and powerful, so who maybe that is why. Extremely determined and competitive to. Always has her game face on at meets and during awards.

 

[mariposa]

I also think it is great that she trains some nights with the L5s. She will really get a chance to get her L5 skills solid and will be really ready when she competes L5. It will be nice for her to be able to focus on the little things, not trying having to focus on the major skills AND the little things.

 

[Mom2Gymgirls]

I know that gyms are of two minds about grips for small hands. Some seem fine putting the littles in grips and they certainly do make them small enough. They go down to 000 in a couple of brands. Other gyms and coaches, ours included, say no grips for small hands until they start L7 skills (i.e., giants). As a result, my 7yo dd (almost 8) will be starting and probably competing L6 without grips. There is an adjustment period for sure, but she could learn L5 bars without and then go into grips once competition season is over.


Meg

Sorry this is off-topic, but I was wondering how those of you with small dd's hands hold up without grips. My dd is ripping all the time now. do their hands eventually get used to it and toughen up?

 

[bogwoppit]

Sorry this is off-topic, but I was wondering how those of you with small dd's hands hold up without grips. My dd is ripping all the time now. do their hands eventually get used to it and toughen up?

My oldest didn't wear grips until last year, my youngest still doesn't. They both were working flyaways, baby giants and giants. Their hands do toughen up and I don't think oldest gets less rips now than she did without grips.

In our gym it is up to the gymnast if they wear grips.

 

[Megley]

Sorry this is off-topic, but I was wondering how those of you with small dd's hands hold up without grips. My dd is ripping all the time now. do their hands eventually get used to it and toughen up?

Bog is right, their hands do toughen up, but my dd has never been a ripper. She gets maybe one or two per season. She is currently training L6 which involves a lot of circling skills and seems to be doing okay. If it's a really big problem, you can try tape grips. That's what Lily uses when she does have a rip. Also, you can work to prevent them by keeping the calluses softened.

Meg

 

[Ingwe]

My DD still gets Rips even with grips. She has one hand that get pretty bad. Last year at a meet we taped it up, and she wore her grips over it but by the end of her bar rountine you could see where she had bled through. This is just my opinion but I really don't think grips prevent rips, I think if you are prone to getting them you will get them regardless. Oh, and yes, the hands do eventually get tough.

 

[NOG]

1st--- Hugs to you and Pixie. I know that she must have been counting on moving up, she had such a phenomenal L4 year.

2nd-- you know your dd better than anyone, do you think that she would be crushed to not be on top of the podium all the time? Or do you think that she would really excell with the challenge of competing L5? I only ask, because you said that you doubted their reasoning. If you think she would really excel with the challenge, maybe have another meeting with the coaches and explain how you see your dd's personality. Competing L4 again can be a good think though, as long as they will continue to let her uptrain. She would REALLY be ready for L5 and rock the competitions, and if she is really petite, some more time to grow would be a good thing.

Just some things to think about.