Women Let's talk about pits.

[Gymettemom]

Our current gym does not have loose foam pits. DD finished her level 6 season and is training level 7/8 skills.
HC is dead set against pits as she feels they are dirty.
Is it possible to train level 9/10 without pits?

 

[ascarter1]

Our current gym does not have loose foam pits. DD finished her level 6 season and is training level 7/8 skills.
HC is dead set against pits as she feels they are dirty.
Is it possible to train level 9/10 without pits?

Ugh! I don't know. Dd is training lv 8, working double backs on the floor and off bars, working fulls and 2/1, yurchenkos, etc! I can't imagine her landing these on the floor while learning them. They work new skills into the pit, then onto a mat in the pit, the on the resi all before moving it to the floor.

I'm not going to say it can't be done, but I would worry about safety! I definitely would not want to watch!

Does your gym have any current 9/10? Or have they had them in the past?

Best of luck!

 

[cadybearsmommy]

Our gym doesn't have foam pits, only resis. I do feel a foam pit could be very beneficial as well as pit bars, but right now the highest level we have is an L7 training L8. Looking forward to seeing her progress. I'm hoping it can be done b/c we love our gym and my gymmie wants a chance at optionals in the next couple of years.

 

[fuzi]

Possible but challenging. My gym did it in our old facility with a handful of level 9 and 10s. I'd say without pits you need strong spotters and lots of drills. We also had tramps, tumble trak to resi, and an overhead spotting rig on bars. The optionals would also occasional have "field trips" for training session at neighboring gyms that had pits. They'd use those opportunities to flip the very first double back, add the new twist to a vault for the first time, ext.

 

[duyetanh]

Ugh! I don't know. Dd is training lv 8, working double backs on the floor and off bars, working fulls and 2/1, yurchenkos, etc! I can't imagine her landing these on the floor while learning them. They work new skills into the pit, then onto a mat in the pit, the on the resi all before moving it to the floor.

I'm not going to say it can't be done, but I would worry about safety! I definitely would not want to watch!

Does your gym have any current 9/10? Or have they had them in the past?

Best of luck!

Double ugh! I don't know either, but my child is a notch below ascarters and I can't imagine her learning what she is currently learning without pits, and i have a haRd enought time peeking as it is...

 

[sce]

Possible but tough. Most gyms in my area that do not have a pit rent time from other gyms that have them for their upper optionals.

 

[sce]

Possible but tough. Most gyms in my area that do not have a pit rent time from other gyms that have them for their upper optionals.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I completely agree, probably not impossible but tough. We have a gym that comes down to us regularly in the summer to train and use our pits since they don't have any. Based on the amount of exercises and drills we do into the pits with everyone pre-team and up.... I couldn't imagine NOT having at least one pit!

 

[Aussie_coach]

Yes it can be done. But it takes excellent coaching.

 

[munchkin3]

Old gym had no pits but rarely got up to L9/10...because of other factories.

New gym has pits and I'd say only the L10s and up really use them. The L7-9 are training on regular bars.....

We do use pits for floor. All the doubles and fulls....

It took my DD a long time to make friends with the pits. She hated them for about a year since she was not used to them at all.

 

[Gymettemom]

As a follow up. Yes. Our gym does have 9's, but no 10's. We have had level 10's but they are few and far between. Generally, we cap out at 9. We do have resi pits at the end of the tumble track, under the high bar and at the end of the spring floor strip. I just wonder if that is good enough.

 

[Honey]

I thought this was going to be about deodorant.

 

[Kcanflip]

I thought this was going to be about deodorant.

Made me LOL! Especially since I just had a crazy conversation with my 13 year old about pits...in a sport where your arms are up a lot and being 13...pit attention is necessary. Ha ha

 

[beachgirl]

I can't picture the training of the release moves done in L10 without a pit.

 

[catova]

From a safety perspective, I love the pits. I've seen some amazing spotting from coaches, but they are human, and catching girls when something goes awry, 100% of the time, is not easy. DD's former gym had no pits and with fantastic coaches, their gymnasts did great. But, they had no L9's or L10's yet, so it's hard to know if it would have become an issue.
DD has commented more than once that she feels much safer learning new skills (particularly on bars and vault) with the pits.
Safety aside, I think I underestimated the benefits of pits to her physical well being. Current gym has pits for all apparatus (not used for 100% of practice, of course, but used almost every practice to some extent). Interesting how all the 'normal' aches and pains (feet, one knee, and occasionally her neck) that she learned to live with because they were manageable with ibuprofen - went away within a few months of moving gyms. She still get sore from conditioning, of course, but I really do think the decrease in constant pounding the body takes from landing every, single vault / tumbing pass / bar dismount / beam dismount on mats and resis is part of it.

 

[Flyaway]

I would consider the safety pits offer to outweigh the "dirtyness" of them. I actually don't consider them to be more or less dirty than the floor my dd walks on barefoot for 4 hours a day...

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I am clueless but our gym has them and I can't imagine not. In fact when they are little, they head to high bar and have fall into the pit drills. I am sure this goes along way in easing fear issues. They love the pit.

And our gym coaches are clean freaks. No barefeet in our gym, they all wear gymnastics shoes.

And I have heard my daughter exclaim, "Yeah, its Friday, we get to empty the pit!!!!" Apparently the foam cubes get emptied by the kids so the pit can be cleaned and cubes fluffed or whatever it is they do. It appears its "good times".

 

[Vivianflips]

You can train level 9/10 without pits but as others have said, it's not easy. My gym did not have a pit at their old location, so they would drive an hour every Saturday to use another gym's pit. They had a few level 9's and 10's at that point. I personally feel pits are very helpful for learning skills! For me, they help reduce my fear of trying new skills and the impact on my joints from learning new ones.

 

[ZJsMom]

It's definitely hard and I would think requires good spotting skills by the coaches. DS and his teammates work new skills more independently on pit bar and rings. It would require a lot more one on one coaching for them to be learning new releases and dismounts without a pit.

I think pits also allow higher levels to reduce pounding. During off season, I think DS does all dismounts and vaults into the pit with mats instead of competition surfaces.

 

[gymjunkie]

Our current gym does not have loose foam pits. DD finished her level 6 season and is training level 7/8 skills.
HC is dead set against pits as she feels they are dirty.
Is it possible to train level 9/10 without pits?

Because they are dirty?!

I'd rather see my gymnasts get a little dirty and not break their bones learning new skills than stay clean and get hurt. I'd also not want my gymnast to train with someone who values cleanliness over safety. How many 9/10s does this HC have?