Level 4 or 5?

[GymSurvivor]

So I'm training level 5 and have been since the the fall. I joined back in artistic gymnastics after doing just a tumbling class for a year but not the other 3 events.
As of now I'm pretty good on Vault, Beam and Floor. Not outstanding and I struggle on certain aspects but I can get through the routines fine.
But bars being my nemesis, I don't have either kip (Well I've made them before but they are very off and on) I had my squat-on fine and now I do this weird thing where my feet go through, miss the bar and I end up sitting on top of the bar. And over all I'm really not a level 5 on bars.
I come home after practices very frustrated after practice and get so stressed out because of competitions and the fact that I'd have to compete bars. And only getting about 30 min. on bars each week I can't concentrate on getting my kips I feel I have to do full routines because of competitions. I've asked my coach if I can scratch bars until I get a better handle on my kips but she says no.
And lately I'm becoming even more frustrated and stressed. To the point that when I get home from gym i just wanna quit (But then I start thinking about what would happen if I did and I know I would miss it sooo much and I really just enjoy it in general)
So I talked with my Mom and a few other teammates and came up with why don't I just compete level 4 this year, I'll score well, I don't have to stress out about the competitions and i'll just up train, working on my kips and keeping up my other level 5 skills. This made a lot of sense to me.

I went to my coach and presented this idea and she nixed it right away saying that I have my other 3 events and i don't need to do that. I reasoned with her telling her how stressed and frustrated I'm getting though and why can't i just train the lvl 5 skills and compete 4 taking the heavy pressure of getting my kips and such off. I mean most gyms I see (and even the USAG team at our gym) seem to require having kips before moving to level 5 anyway. But she won't budge.

Maybe I'm not quite seeing her side of things or something. Do you see a reason for her saying no?

 

[Krystan]

Not sure I have a solution, but I really can sympathize! My dd has trained L5 while competing L4 this season, and it was a great option for her. She still didn't have her kip at all one month before the first meet, and she was in a panic. She had all the other events down pat, but bars is really her downfall. Her coaches also didn't want her to scratch bars, and she was so stressed out that she wanted to quit. They brought up the L4 while training L5 option, and it took that stress right off her back. She did get her kip, but without the pressure - she doesn't need to compete it until next fall. I do think the pressure of competition helped some of the girls get their skills cleaner faster (nothing like an upcoming meet to put the pressure on), but for my dd it only made her hate going to practice.

Two downfalls we've realized though: she is 10 and certainly older than the other girls she's competing with. It doesn't bother her, but I can see it bothering some kids. Also, as we get closer to the end of the competitive season, she is seeing the other girls she started with looking toward L6, uptraining, going to L5 states, etc, while she's still trying to perfect that darned kip. These don't bother her too much, but I can see where it might be an issue for some.

As far as why your coach doesn't want you to do L4, it might be that she wants to see you push yourself and knows you are capable of getting through it. Maybe she's worried that taking the pressure off will cause you to not work on bars as hard, or spend too much time running L4 (this has happened with us). Our coach warns the new L5 girls with brand new kips that they'll score really low on bars, and they did initially. But they've all improved so much and they are now scoring right with the rest of the field, and some are excelling at bars. So, especially if you've had your kip and squat on in the past, you might want to just trust your coaches, know you won't be a bars superstar, at least initially, but power through the first few meets until you become more consistent. Have you tried a private lesson? Sometimes even one or two can help you to focus on a specific skill/event, so you can know specifically what to work on - also, I think 30 min. per week might not be enough when you're close to a skill that can't be practiced elsewhere.

On the other hand, if you're so stressed out that you want to quit, I'd broach the subject with your coach again. Good luck with whatever you do!!! Let us know how things go...

 

[gymnastgets10]

Yes, competing level 4 would take the pressure off of getting your kip. But maybe your coach thinks that you would be too bored doing the level 4 routines or that you wouldn't focus on the level 5 skills and lose some of them. Also, it seems like all the pressure to get your kips is coming from yourself, not your coach or parents, and, while it might be hard, that's the kind of pressure that you can really deal with. Take a deep breath and tell yourself that yes, it would be really nice if you had your kip, but it's not the end of the world that you don't have it yet. You have solid routines on all the other events and can still be a competitive level 5 even if one of your events isn't quite where you want it. Try not to get anxious about practice or meets because gymnastics is FUN, that's why you do it. As long as you know that you are working your hardest, there's really no reason to get anxious or put extra pressure on yourself. I know it's hard; I've been working on some skills for years that I'm finally almost ready to compete. HTH!

 

[BlairBob]

30minutes of bars for a L5. Meh. I prefer 45 minutes to an hour, a day. How often are you training? Are you not getting a kip because of a lack of bars strength (abs+pulling and pushing strength)? I've seen the squat thru to butt happen with training 5's. Don't sweat it, it's just a phase.

 

[GymSurvivor]

We're the 'rec team' at the gym. So we train 1 hour and 45 min. 2 days a week. We used to do two events a day so we'd get enough time on each event. But now the coach wants us to get to every event each day which means it seems like I'm just getting started on bars and we go to the next event. Quite frustrating.
My ab strength is somewhat of a problem. But it's coming along. Right now my coach said that i'm changing the timing of my kip each time I do it which is why I'm not consistent. and on the highbar I'm trying to do a tap swing into it sometimes.

 

[cazoon]

1 hour and 45 minute is definitely not enough time to get all of your skills for level 5. In my gym, levee; 5s go 16 hours a week and the level 1s go the same times as you do. I would ask them to make practices longer so that you have more time for bars.