WAG Level 9 beam

[Gymmom2129]

My daughter is working on moving to level 9 this upcoming season. She is ready everywhere but is struggling with an on and off mental block on her backwards series on beam. She can do a single back handspring without a problem but has a block on connecting to another back skill. She is hopeful to overcome her block but would love to hear about creative series on beam that are up to level but avoid that back connection. She was also wondering of a one armed front handspring connected to a back handspring was up to level. I know you are the group that can answer that and help her out! Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Coach Kate]

I have a hard time imagining how she could truly connect those two, and I believe it depends on what other acro she would be doing. That series would require the other acro to be a D/E or a Salto or aerial.

The Acro Special Requirement at Level 9 is a two-element series with both elements containing flight. To receive no compositional deductions in the acro category, a Level 9 gymnast must perform a flight series with a C flight element and one additional acro element (either D/E value OR a salto/aerial). The other option for no deduction is an acro series with a salto/aerial, and one additional C acro element. The maximum deduction of 0.20 would be taken if the gymnast does not perform an acro series, or if she performs an acro series with only B flight elements, and no other additional acro elements in the routine. Dismounts are not considered acro elements for the purposes of composition, but acro skills on the beam leading into the dismount would be considered for the acro compositional category.

What other skills does she have? That might help. I also always recommend her having this kind of discussion with her coach. Some gyms are ok with an anticipated deduction and others will have you scratch if can't meet requirements.

 

[TGRI08]

My daughter will be repeating level 9 this year. She competed the flic lay last season but she had a back injury a year ago and the lay gives her some issues. After a talk with the coach, they've decided to change her series to front toss backhand this season. She says it's much easier for her. I would definitely recommend that your daughter talk to her coach so they can come up with a good option for her.

 

[Gymmom2129]

Thank you for the advice! Her single skill is a back tuck so I think they can come up with something for her. She plans to talk and work with her coach on this but she just wanted to go with ideas of possible series that work for level 9. Mental blocks are no fun but having options makes it a little easier!

 

[GymnastMomX2]

We had a gymnast compete a back tuck+back tuck series a couple years ago. Hard to connect, but it could work.

My daughter is also hoping to compete 9 this season, she will likely compete flic+flic series and an aerial and just take the up to level deduction. She’s working flick+lay, and aerial+flic, she has both on the low beam with mats, but it’s all mental for her. Took her 2 years to get her flic+flic. Hopefully with no pressure for this season she can get an upgraded series for level 10 the following year.

 

[rjb123]

What about side Ariel back handspring? It would also set her up really well for level ten.