Women Level 7 Skills?

[txgal]

DD is training L7 and I'm a bit confused by what her coach is doing with her. She has not started choreographing her floor routine yet (DD knows the music she wants to use, but the coach hasn't given final approval), but she is working L7 skills. So far, DD has mastered the following skills: Switch leap/straddle combination, Layout, Back tuck from L5. Front tumbling has always been weaker for DD and this is where my confusion comes in. Right now HC has her training FHS-Front, Front-Front, and FHS-FLO. Am I correct in assuming all of these are acceptable front tumbling skills for L7 and HC will choose the one that will result in the fewest deductions for DD (i.e, is the most consistent, etc)?

 

[fuzi]

Sounds like your coach is doing the right things with her.
For floor, she'll need to have a layout tumbling pass (check) and a front tumbling pass that involves two skills one of which is a "flipping skill" (any of the three passes you mentioned would work). Some level 7s will just have those two tumbling passes, others will do a third tumbling pass, like a back tuck. Her switch leap straddle will fill her leap series requirement. Add in a turn and some choreography, and she's got all her requirements, at least two B skills (switch leap and straddle jump), and plenty of A skills.

Good luck to your daughter.

 

[iwannacoach]

Good strategy. Choreography can wait until August or September depending on what the kid can do and when the first meet is scheduled.

 

[profmom]

Heck, my daughter didn't get her L7 floor routine until October, but was fine to compete in late November! You'll be surprised by how quickly she can learn it. It's so much fun watching the girls you've watched do compulsory gymnastics finally get to let their strengths shine.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Our girls typically start working on (or getting new if that is happening) their routines 6-8 weeks before competition season starts.

For DD this year it will be less, as they typically keep their routine for 2 years and just tweak with upgraded skills.

The tumbling lines seem in keeping with what our L7s do.

 

[cbifoja]

DD is training L7 and I'm a bit confused by what her coach is doing with her. She has not started choreographing her floor routine yet (DD knows the music she wants to use, but the coach hasn't given final approval), but she is working L7 skills. So far, DD has mastered the following skills: Switch leap/straddle combination, Layout, Back tuck from L5. Front tumbling has always been weaker for DD and this is where my confusion comes in. Right now HC has her training FHS-Front, Front-Front, and FHS-FLO. Am I correct in assuming all of these are acceptable front tumbling skills for L7 and HC will choose the one that will result in the fewest deductions for DD (i.e, is the most consistent, etc)?

DD didn't even pick out music until August. The summer before optionals was all about seeing what skills you could obtain for your routine. Then I believe in September, HC started scheduling time with each girl to teach them their choreography on floor but some of the stronger girls (strong dance backgrounds) didn't get started until October.

Her skills sound fine. My DD competed ROBHSBLO and FHSFLO for her tumbling. She only did 4 meets at L7 last year so my experience isn't as high as other parent's but I believe I didn't see a whole lot of FHSFLO but rather FHS fronts or front pikes instead. But it seemed like everyone was doing BHS BLO.

Beam choreography was different. The girls played around with different skills and dance elements and the gymnast and coach would together decide what they liked. The girls had way more input in their beam routine. This was done in chunks until they finally had a complete beam routine. They were encouraged to use things from their floor choreography so even these routines weren't done in the summer.

 

[gracyomalley]

Rare to start dance choreography until mid/late summer. Skills first. Sounds like your DD is on track for L7 and yes, the front pass is by far the most varied thing other than beam in L7. All those you mentioned have the same "value" - coach will pick the one that the kid does the best with least deductions - with keeping progression in mind (FHS-FLO is more progressive than FHS-FT but only a bit...so should be very clean or leave it out!). Good to be working on all three as may use in the future. DD team did the 3 passes even though it often led to minor deductions in order to build stamina - unless a kid was a weak tumbler then they left out the second back tumbling pass.

 

[txgal]

Thanks for all the input! This is my first foray into the optionals world and there's so much I don't know! Both DD and HC seem pleased with her progress--their first meet is usually mid-January, but there is an open invitational in late December that HC will sometimes take the girls to if she feels they're ready to put ALL their routines in front of judges. She does this regularly with the compulsory kids (our comps kids compete in August, so the invitational is usually June-July). It gives the girls an idea of where they stand a month or two out from meet season and it helped DD really focus on what was weak in each of her routines as well as which of the 4 events would be her weakest that season.

As far as tumbling, DD can out-tumble (is that even a legitimate phrase?) the L9 in her gym...She is a very strong tumbler and she is excited because she'll likely get the 'harder' of the 3 front tumbling passes. (HC says her LO is already (high enough, powerful enough?) to make either a double or to aid more than one full (she is beginning to work fulls on the tramp). Dance, however, is very weak for her. She has a private ballet tutor and she has helped DD tremendously not only with the dance elements in her rountines, but with her CONFIDENCE in her own ability to have both strong dance AND strong tumbling. She has only been working with her for a few months, but I can already see significant improvement in the quality and confidence of her dance skills.

She has already discussed beam choreography with HC...she has told her she wants something different (not necessarily difficult, just different) from what the other first year optionals girls will be doing. Beam is her 2nd best event (for now--floor is coming on strong now that we've begun addressing the dance issues) and HC nodded in her approval, so I can't wait to see what she comes up with (other local gyms use our HC to choreograph their floor routines).

I am glad she is on track to compete L7 in January...she has really worked hard this season and I'm glad to see it is paying off for her.