Hope this brings smiles - sharing a memory

[sportzmomov3]

With this being compulsory season, and seeing all the posts from concerned parents about bars and that dreaded Kip, I wanted to share our DD's experience - hope you enjoy!​

“What Kip?â€￾ A Very Short Story as retold to mom by DD​

Preface: At the tender age of 6 or 7, a rambunctious and strong girl faced her first challenge in what would become her biggest passion – the exciting, exhilarating, and often exhausting sport called gymnastics. The story takes place in a local gymnastics facility in Gymville, USA.

“This is sooo hard…â€￾ laments the girl to her two friends. They nod in agreement. Once again, probably for the 167th time, she is faced with another turn at trying this thing the coaches call a “Kip.â€￾ It’s supposed to be something she needs in order to do this event called uneven bars. And it’s something she needs if she is going to compete – which she probably wants to do because it sounds cool.

She gets up on the bar and focuses on completing each of the steps in this Kip thing while her two friends stand behind the bar awaiting their turns. Swing, glide, pull up, hips up, something like that, right? She gets off and exclaims, “Boy this is going to take a while!â€￾ And her friends who have been watching her intently, in amazement look at her and shriek, “You did it! YOU DID A KIP!â€￾ The girl replies confused, “Oh. I did? Oh, I guess I did!â€￾ (Big smile) And this is the beginning of the journey…

Years later, the memory is still so clear- that it was a whole lot of failures until that one moment when it “just happenedâ€￾ and she did it. So all you parents who are stressing over your DD’s Kips, know that it WILL – JUST HAPPEN!


Postscript: A million Kips later, the little girl is now a bigger girl and that nemesis Kip is now her friend. The bars fast became her favorite event and still is today, one of her strongest events – in fact she’s been a State Champion on bars. Love that Kip!

 

[CoachGoofy]

Oh that's cute.

I just love how surprised they look on their first kip. It's like, huh, how did I get all the way up here??

 

[LizzieLac]

Very sweet - thanks so much!

The dreaded kip has admitttedly become overly important in our house. DH and I trying to figure out why DD didn't "get it yet." DH asking after every practice "Did you get your kip today."

I know we need to backoff and just let her work on and one day she will get it.

 

[mariposa]

I definitely remember when my DD made her kip the first time, she was a few months shy of 7 years old. She was sooo excited. She had to make 10 one day in order to be able to take home the "I made my kip trophy". She came home with the trophy, a huge smile and a bunch of rips! But she was so proud of herself! It wasn't all uphill from there, either. She had it for a long time, in fact she first got her kip 1 1/2 years ago now, but it has come and gone and made it through re-learning after an injury and then re-learning it AGAIN when she got grips. She still comes home excited if she has made her kips, but now she is only happy when they are with straight arms!! I think it will be a long time before she can call the kip really, really hers, it is actually one of her short term goals, consistent straight arm kips.

 

[Deanna]

That is such a sweet story. Kinda made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I catch myself sometimes watching my daughter struggle with things, that in my mind seems so easy. Things I could do myself (nothing to complicated..lol). But I REALLY do have to step back and realize she JUST turned 5. Ive had 33 yrs to figure out how to control my body. She has not. She did her first "perfect" vault last night at practice and for her that was her biggest accomplishment to date. I warmed my heart to see her so excited and proud of herself. It kinda erased all those times of her coming home upset because she couldnt do it. Its an amazing adventure so far and its just started.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

I think kips are hard mostly because they're a weird motion you've never done before outside of gymnastics. Your strength program should make you strong enough to make one by the time you try - so it's all trial and error from there on out! I never had much trouble with mine - just kept trying it and trying it and made it in about a month or two. But I've watched so many kids struggle I almost know what it's like myself!

Daaarling story. Just darling! "Oh, I made it?" That happens to me all the time! Like, "Oh my goodness, I'm still on the beam! How did that happen?"

 

[sportzmomov3]

I'm glad everyone's enjoying this thread - that's all it was meant to do - bring a smile to your face as you remember or take that step back.

The funny thing is, I don't recall any of this because as I've said before, when we started this adventure I was CLUELESS beyond clueless. The writing of this is mine, but the memory itself is all my DD's. She remembers it clear as day - and it brought a smile to MY face when I was listening to her tell it to me, and she laughed her head off thinking about it!

Keep it all in perspective - the underlying thing is that it really should be FUN for THEM (though not always so much for the parents as we deal with the gym drama, financials, chauffeur duties, hair & wardrobe, etc. etc.)

Good luck with everyone's season!

 

[nettyinpa]

That was a sweet story. I think we can all relate it to our gymmies, on any event. With my dd it was the ROBHS-BT in level 6. She had lost it for a while, then all of a sudden one day, she did it! She even stuck the landing which shocked her even more! However, now she hasn't tumbled in almost 6 weeks because of her knee injury, she'll have to experience that all over again.

 

[All Chalked Up]

I almost cried when I got my kip. Seriously. I was SHOCKED when I got it!

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Just this weekend in daughters gym the 3 new level 5 got thiers. When I picked my daughter up at practice they all came running out with smiles. They were all so close according to my daughter but how great is it that they all got them at the same time.