WAG L7 Floor -- 2 tumbling passes or 3?

[Seeker]

My DD is competing L7 and her floor routine has 3 tumbling passes (FHS-FT, FHS-FP, RO-BHS-LO). I seen other routines at our meets with only 2 passes, so I'm curious what the coaches on the board think. On the one hand...it offers more opportunities for deductions. On the other hand...I don't know -- what is on the other hand? Better opportunities to upgrade for L8?

Any knowledge you care to share is much appreciated!

 

[raenndrops]

We have 2 Level 7s competing this season. One of them does 2 passes and the other does 3. The one doing 3 will be moving up to L8 next season. She currently has a FHS FT (working on FLO and FP), RO BHS BLO, and RO BT... she has a BEAUTIFUL RO BT, so not much room for deduction for her there. She added the 3rd pass mostly because she needed to kill some time in the routine and it put her in the right position and facing the right way for her ending

 

[iwannacoach]

The answer can go either way depending on the kid and the program she's in. I'll give you a few examples of how or why the decision gets made.

Two passes for kids who are going to top out their gymnastics experience and want to collect a lot of medals and ribbons. That may not be possible in many programs because coaches tend to require certain things from L7 kids. If three passes is the club norm, then it's a three pass routine for everyone.

Three passes for kids in a program that works for long term development. The benefit it both the expectation of meeting the club's standard, and the experience of a 3 pass routine will make the upper levels easier to transition to.

A few kids in a club with a two pass philosophy may have anough variety in their skills that it takes three passes to fit everything into the routine..... like a decent layout, a model of perfection for a back tuck, and a nice front handspring front pike. I say let them go out and show it off if they want, because there aren't always enough gems for a child to pluck out of their gymnastics experience.

It really boils down to the nature of the program, the kids ability, and the coach's philosophy with respect to routine composition.

 

[my4buffaloes]

My dd is a level 8 and only does 2 passes. Only did 2 at level 7 as well. She does very well on floor with just 2 passes. I really believe a third just adds up the deductions for most gymnasts and I am sure it would for mine as well.

 

[Muddlethru]

I had to look up my daughter's L7 routine. She only had two tumbling passes but she had quite a bit of dance combination/connections. I however, recall conversations with the coaches indicating my daughter has several tumbling passes she could use in her routine. I remember her coach telling me if at warm up,she was having trouble with a tumbling pass she had a lot of other options. So I don't think it was a lack of viable tumbling passes but I think my daughter's dance elements were quite pretty. She had over splits and has a natural grace.

Does your daughter have a lot of dance elements in the routine. Maybe they are playing with her strengths. She may be a strong tumbler and they chose to fill her routine with more tumbling than dance elements.

 

[wallinbl]

At our old gym, if you went through Xcel on the way to 7, your level 7 routine had two passes because it was just an upgrade of your Xcel routine. If your first choreography was level 7, you had three passes so you could upgrade to 8 without too much rework.

 

[profmom]

At DD's gym, all of the L7s have three tumbling passes and those passes are upgraded for L8 and then again for L9. As far as I know, they keep three passes all the way through in almost all cases. Last year, DD competed a RO-BHS-BLO, FHS-FT, and RO-BHS-BT. This year as second year L7, the first pass now ends with a full and the last pass is her layout. Her coaches have told her that once the full is perfect, it will swap places with the layout. For L8, her two-salto pass will be a RO-whip-tuck, or perhaps a RO-whip-back half, depending on what she's got at that point, but some of her friends are competing front tumbling passes, usually a FHS-FT-FT or a FHS-FLO-FT. I'm pretty sure having a tumbling pass with a full is a requirement to move up to L8 in her coaches' minds.

 

[gymmomtoo]

The level 7s at my daughter's gym all had 3 passes, except if they were coming off an injury and needed to simplify.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

One other thought is that if eventually she will hit a level where three passes are required or preferred, the stamina it takes to add the extra pass is already there. I've seen girls who've increases the number of passes (from two to three, then three to four) and it seems to be a killer for them even though they train and condition very hard.

 

[Seeker]

Thanks for all your replies. The variety of strategies is interesting. My DD's coach is definitely a long term strategy type of coach and it is her intention to use this routine (upgraded) for L8 which DD will likely compete next year (barring any unforeseen setbacks or disasters).

DD is long-lines, flexible, balletic so I don't think there are 3 passes for her tumbling prowess. . Her tumbling is okay, it's just not her main/best strength.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

level 7= less is more.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

I would like to "pile-on" to Dunno's reply.

Just enough is the answer! I like to have a routine that is around 1:10 sec. in length for a USA G L7. I have found that 2 passes, skills and dance that meet the requirements allow for better learning and mastery for the L7. If they spend "too" much time on the FX they will inevitably receive deductions on series elements/dance/execution and they are novices to expressive performance and will loose the audiences (includes judges) interest/attention.

However, I have athletes, small minority, who compete tumbling 3 passes as their skills are at mastery level for L7 and we are working on routine physical/mental skills to move on to L8. This example is not performed at our State Championship by the athletes. We go back to our "basic routine."

Best, SBG -

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

I think less is more to a point. In level 9 I competed a ro bhs 1.5, a fhs front pike front pike, and my last pass was a front full. My teammate competed a fhs front layout, a front tuck step out ro bhs back tuck, and her last pass was just a running front pike. She was a very good dancer and I was not. The easy tumbling she did had better form then my tumbling so at the smaller meets she would beat me on floor by a little bit because her routine was much more graceful. At bigger meets however, I would always beat her because I actually had level 9 worthy tumbling and she did not.

It also depends what you are trying to get out of gymnastics. I had bad form so even if I did two passes or three easier passes like my teammate did, I would have probably gotten as many deductions on a back layout as I got on a 1.5 so I did the C tumbling pass instead of an A tumbling pass.
I was also looking to compete in college (not on floor that was my worst haha) and she wasn't. She was only in level 9 because she had won pretty much everything at level 8, not because she had level 9 skills.

 

[Seeker]

Yeah...that was my thought too. There are definitely some "opportunities" to clean up some built in deductions in her floor routine. But I think her coach does not really have the goal of her being a L7 champion...her goal is more long-term in nature and the overall holistic development of her as a gymnast. I can see both sides, but I tend to think it would be best to maximize potential and minimize risks at each level so there can be success achieved along the way.

Good food for thought...

 

[cbifoja]

My DD's routine was developed to start at L6 and either move up to L7 mid-season or do a year at L6 and then next year at L7. She has 2 tumbling passes. When she moved up, one of my reservations is that her floor routine would be re-choreographed for 3 tumbling passes but her coach said her routine was designed to fit L7 requirements anyway. So she did FHS/FP as an L6 but FHS/FLO as an L7. Her back pass is BHS/BLO for L6 and BHS/half for L7. She hasn't done a meet at 7 yet (first one is beginning of Feb) so I don't know if those passes are standard or not.

Personally, although it would mean a change of choreography and all of the hair pulling that would cause my sequencing-challenged child, I think I would be okay with three passes since it would mean less dancing! LOL

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

Personally, although it would mean a change of choreography and all of the hair pulling that would cause my sequencing-challenged child, I think I would be okay with three passes since it would mean less dancing! LOL

My mom asked my coach if I could have 6 passes in my routine so I didn't have to do any dance at all....haha

 

[Seeker]

Hahahahha! That would be very tiring!!

 

[wallinbl]

So she did FHS/FP as an L6 but FHS/FLO as an L7. Her back pass is BHS/BLO for L6 and BHS/half for L7. She hasn't done a meet at 7 yet (first one is beginning of Feb) so I don't know if those passes are standard or not.

BHS/BLO is in the majority of routines I've seen so far. DD's whole team can do halfs (and some can do fulls, though I don't believe those are allowed at 7), but they don't do them because their layouts are much better. DD does FHS/FLO, but so far I've only seen one other girl do that. It's close to 50/50 between front tuck and front pike.

 

[Quadqueen]

All L7s at our gym have three passes.

 

[Quadqueen]

BHS/BLO is in the majority of routines I've seen so far. DD's whole team can do halfs (and some can do fulls, though I don't believe those are allowed at 7), but they don't do them because their layouts are much better. DD does FHS/FLO, but so far I've only seen one other girl do that. It's close to 50/50 between front tuck and front pike.

Fulls are allowed on floor in L7. DD can do one (and also FHS-FLO) but her coach isn't having her compete it because she believes in meeting minimum requirements to minimize deductions.