WAG L4 bars - half-turn dismount - R x L?

[Ginger]

So my daughter is a righty gymnast, but when she does this dismount, she turns to the left (meaning, her left hand stays on the bar, her right hand goes off and taps). I watched a few youtube videos and it looks like that the righty gymnasts always turn to the right (makes sense as their right hand is supposed to be stronger). My DD says it is easier for her to do it 'lefty way', and that her coach says it doesn't matter. I would believe there won't be a deduction as it is the only righty/lefty skill on the bars (so the judges won't even know whether the gymnast is R or L), but what about safety?
Do you have a gymnast who does this dismount the opposite way (righty to the left, lefty to the right)? It it OK?

 

[Gymsanity]

When you say that your daughter is a righty, do you mean she has a 'right' cartwheel? If so, that is a left twist and her dismount correctly corresponds. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter which way they twist for their dismount. I encourage them to try both ways and go whichever way feels more comfortable, as it helps later on when they start to blind and pirouette. Good luck.

 

[Ginger]

Thanks for the reply Gymsanity. Yes, all her floor skills are righty (cartwheel - her right hand touches floor first, back walkover - right leg goes off floor first, split - right leg in front etc).
I have another daughter also training L4, she is also righty and does this dismount the opposite way (right hand stays on bar, left goes off and taps = she turns to the right).
I was thinking that safety-wise, the stronger hand (the right one in this case) should stay on the bar.

 

[Gymsanity]

Hopefully, if she doesn't cheat when she climbs the rope, her hands should be equally strong. For that particular skill, grip strength isn't as large of a concern as with others. Check back when she is doing one arm giants, might have a different opinion!

 

[happychaos]

DD's coaches pay strict attention to which way the girls twist on the L4 dismount. Even when it feels wrong to the girls, the coaches make them twist the "right" way. I have no idea what the implications would be of continuing to do it the "wrong" way. Perhaps by L4 they expect that a dominant side be fully developed?

 

[munchkin3]

I cant imagine that it would matter. How could they deduct on the direction of the turn??
We have both kinds of turns on our L4 team and veteran coach of 30 yrs. does not say a word about it.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I'll have to pay attention next time I see L4 doing bars. I can't remember what DD did last year, but I do believe all the righties turned one way and the lefties the other. Perhaps there are other skills that will build on this basic movement later..? No clue, just guessing.

ETA: just asked DD and she said all but one followed their leading side on this, one rightie thought it was easier to go left so she was allowed to. DD says they are allowed to twist either way as long as they are consistent (on floor) and it was the same with the L4 dismount.

 

[gymdog]

I'm a righty and I would definitely pick my right up and turn left. Furthermore, if you were extremely concerned about "correct" in the sense of which direction of the blind change action would lead to a full turn when you add a pirouette posted on the right arm, them you'd have to pick your right hand up on the blind change.

But in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't be the end of the world either way. Also there's no way to establish what the child's dominant side is when doing a bar routine, so there's no deduction for switching things like there can be on floor.

 

[Ginger]

@Gymsanity, she never climbs the rope. Not because she cheats, but because there is no rope in our gym

@happychaos, is the 'right' way as I described it (righty turns to the right, lefty to the left)?
Now gymdog says (s)he is righty and would turn to left (just like my older DD does), but I watched several videos on youtube (some great ones - can be found under L4 Colorado state) and the girls always did the turn as I described in my OP - L to L, R to R.

Thanks for all the responses!

Made me wonder... are there L4 and up gymnasts who actually don't have their dominant side, and never establish it thorough their career? My OD, as I stated, has all her moves 'righty', but her cartwheel actually looks better when she does it to the left (but no problem w/righty roundoff - never tried it to the left). Her 'strong side' for splits and leaps is definitely R.

I know they need to follow their R/L pattern during the floor and beam routines (or there are deductions for switching I believe) and my daughter never had problems with it, does all the moves naturally righty, just her cartwheel and now the dismount made me wonder...

 

[gymdog]

How can you tell if they're righties or lefties?

There's no universal "right" way. There could be reasons to do one or the other, but there is no instruction in the compulsory materials as to what way they should turn.

This is a blind change action and if you wanted to continue into a full turn in the same direction by pirouetting put on your right arm, you'd have to initiate the blind by picking up your right hand and posting on your left. But you could also just learn a left pirouette or blind one way and pirouette the other (not evaluated the same way, but not the end of the world).

Also those things are a long way off for most level 4s anyway so it's pretty theoretical.

 

[sce]

Looking at my sons picture I can see that he turns that way and cartwheels right handed. As well, I can say that I do a right cartwheel and would definitely do that dismount the way your dd does.

 

[Ginger]

@gymdog, you mean how I can tell when watching the youtube videos? I can if I watch the floor/beam routine of the same girl. Tried it again and finally found one video where a girl that is lefty on floor and beam does the dismount turn to the right. But all the others do it as I described above - L to L, R to R.

But it is good to know I can relax and let my ODD do the turn to the left while my YDD will do the dismount to the right, whatever is more comfortable for them. They used to have a lefty coach who was not very focused, so there was a lot of confusion and I wanted to make sure this is not one of those.

Thanks again for all the responses.

 

[fuzi]

As a judge, no deduction. Plus: the bar judge wouldn't know which "side" the gymnast is anyways.

 

[Committed]

Our girls all turn to the right to dismount, despite "side".

 

[Ginger]

@domalley, is it their own choice to turn right or they do so because they were taught it this way?

 

[Committed]

Apparently I lied. I just asked DD, and she said they turn according to their "side." She's lefty and taps with her right hand.
I could have sworn they all turned the same direction!!!

 

[Becauseisaid]

My DD is a righty and twists to the left for this dismount. In fact, I think all the girls do. I need to watch tonight at practice and see.

 

[Becauseisaid]

Just polled the team girls and they all twist left naturally, regardless of whether they are righties or lefties.

 

[Ginger]

@Becauseisaid, thanks. Are you sure they picked the left twist naturally? Or maybe they were taught or told so?
It looks like there is really no big difference, so I believe unless a coach steps in, the girls would choose whatever is more comfortable for them, but most of them would still be able to master it to the opposite way if taught so.

 

[OrangeArt]

My daughter cartwheels right (right hand down first), I can't recall what her walkover looks like. But for the dismount right hand comes off and she turns left.