Parents Help- will this ever come?

[rjb123]

So my DD is a level 4 this year. She is seven, and competition season has already started (one meet down). She is doing well on floor and beam (well into the nines) and also vault (around a nine) but bars, oh dear lord. She scored around an 8.0 and was last. This is no surprise at all to anyone. She is just struggling on bars. She "has" the kip but it is just not consistently "right". She can do straight arms, but then can't. Then they are bent or she has this funny wiggle (she said her left hand gets slow on the shift?). Her coach told me last spring that she was doing "great" on everything else but that "bars was terrible". So we have done privates, she has added home conditioning (pull ups, push ups, hollow holds etc). She is crazy focused and motivated- this kid truly drives the bus and "owns" her sport but it just doesn't seem to be clicking. It is breaking my heart to watch her. She just won't quit, and she is sooo upset that it doesn't seem to be getting better. Everyone says "she will get it, it is coming" but deep in my heart I am starting to think that maybe she WON'T get it. I know this is terrible, but it is there. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Will it ever "click"?

 

[htimcj]

You will hear LOTS and LOTS of stories about that darn kip. I think it must be one of the hardest skills for some to get and for many this is the first skill that just doesn't click like everything else. All I can say, is yes DD will get it but it takes a lot of time. It comes and goes and comes back again. Just hang in there. It WILL come consistently.

 

[MaryA]

You will be amazed by how much their "best" event will change. I have always bought my DD those silly bears with the level number on their belly when she moves up (still do even though she's really outgrown them) and when I ordered her "level 4" bear they accidentally sent me the "first place beam" bear. When I called the company, they sent me the correct bear without making me send back the other one. I gave it to DD's coach to use when someone on the team made 1st place on beam, and when she said, "You should keep it. Maybe DD will be first place on beam sometime." I gave her a knowing look and said, "Yeah right. Like that will ever happen." Level 6? State beam champion. Each event has been her "best" and her "worst" at one time or another in the 6 years she has been competing. So don't sweat it. And no matter what her coach says, 8 is not "terrible."

 

[3LittleGymmies]

My daughter's weakest event has always been bars. She started out last season getting absolutely terrible scores. But by the end of the season, she was scoring in the high 9's and her bars looked amazing. Beam and floor are her best events because she is really great at choreography and she is a perfectionist, so she nails every little thing. Vault is vault ;0). But bars have never come easily for her. I just don't think that she is naturally strong (even though she trains just as much as her team mates)... or maybe it's that she hasn't quite figured out how to use her strength yet. I'm not sure. But some girls just get up on the bar and knock out an amazing routine flawlessly and it looks so easy. My daughter has to work sooooo hard and really focus and "talk to herself" during the routine to get a good bar score.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I know how you feel!
My dd is also a L4 and this summer she has really worked hard for her kip (she started team in April). I never thought she would get it, but I listened to the more experienced gym parents who tols me she would, and that she then would likely lose it and struggle with it for a while. All true! She "got" her kip a few weeks ago, lost it and struggled for a few weeks and now is getting it pretty consistently .... A couple of days ago, she got her high bar kip! She sounds a lot like your dd, bars do not come easy to her and she really has to fight for it. I almost cried when I watched her do her high bar kip the other day, I seriously did not think she would get that before competition season. Now, I actually have hopes she might get all the bar skills required to compete, I was doubting it before.... But the coaches put her in this level because they believe she can do it and I see it happening now!

I think my dd does her kip better when she's not fighting so hard for it... Almost as if relaxing and not struggling with it makes it happen. I think she was stressing herself out about it. I notice lots of times when she feels she's not doing it well, she totally psyches herself out and does even worse (she's doing this with vault right now after going over badly...)

Good luck to your dd, and listen to the coaches and other experienced gym parents... It will come!

 

[Krystan]

It WILL get better! And, really, for a first year, beginning-of-season L4, an 8 on bars is great! So what about last place. Her hard work and persistence is what will serve her well in the years to come, not how she scored in L4. It sounds like she is a hard-working, determined girl, and that is what matters! (It's just hard for moms to stand back and watch sometimes!)

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Don't be concerned with scores at level 4. Be concerned with progression and improvement. It will take her time. She's 7. My dd was an okay compulsory gymnast...but she is now rocking optionals. People are amazed when I tell them in level 4, she didn't even qualify to go to state!! Keep the course and just encourage. She will get there.

 

[Jen H.]

It will come, and go and come again and go and come and stay for keeps-promise!
She sounds determined and hardworking, and it is a matter of time, strength and her brain wiring up correctly to her body.
My girl was last (or second to last, can't remember now ) to get her kip consistently, and is usually one of the last in her group to get new skills, but when she gets it, it is generally really good and with great form, which I actually think she has come to accept as an asset.

I agree with the PP about not worrying about scores at this stage of the game, I know how hard it is, especially at meets when a LOT of parents are OCD about not only their child's scores, but with every other competitors scores as well!
If high scores are emphasized this early-when it is relatively easy to put up 36's and 37's, then it is going to be a set-up for disappointment as she progresses and scoring, tricks and competition is harder. Try keeping the emphasis off scores and levels, and have her make non-score related goals for herself. Keep it fun!

 

[luvmygymdtr]

Your daughter is 7, competing level 4, and nearly has her kip? Wow! to me she sounds like a superstar. A year from now you won't believe you were even worried about this, because it will be consistent, straight armed and perfect. Trust me.

 

[flippingtogether]

We are 2 meets into this season at level 4 - and the doom of the bars rotation hits many kids hard at each meet. Bars is such a super short routine - blink and you miss it!! - but there are so many elements that have to flow together. First we all worry about the kip - can the kid do the kip and get it consistently? Then it's the straight arm kip, WITH the connections (oh, those dreaded connections). Then it's making sure the casts get to horizontal on both low and high bar, AND the tap swings are high enough. Then it's straight legs together with toes pointed for the whole routine, and stick the dismount. We are seeing kids all over the board with scores - many in the 7s for sure (and lower - some from kids repeating this level), hardly any 9s. If you are in the 8s, you feel good. It just takes time and repetition and patience (lots of patience) - but she will get there. I promise - we all promise! And your DD is super young - lots of advantages there!!

Slow and steady wins the race on bars. It is a tough event. (So is vault and vault scoring. But I digress.)

 

[Flossyduck]

It will definitely come. I'd be surprised if any of them get straight arms immediately. All the girls I've seen have slightly bent arms and not altogether perfect form for a while until they get the timing right, so they can hit it every time, and they can work on refining it.

And yes. Getting it at all at seven is good going. Relax.

 

[SignHere]

Older DD took a year of old Level 5 competing with high 7s on bars (bent arm kips) before she ironed it out her second year of Level 5 to start getting 9s. Younger DD got 9s on bars straight off in her Level 5 year, ending up with something like. 9.7 on bars at state. Just goes to show, you can't compare gymmies, some "get" it right away, some don't, but it happens eventually. Older DD ended up getting a 9 ish on bars at states her second season of Level 5.