WAG Likes a certain beam??

[Gymnast-E]

Ok so I am a assistant coach and for a few weeks one of the gymnasts I coach has been crying in the washroom when we go to beam. She never tells me but you can see like when someone has that look on their face that they were crying and she had that look. So I coach 3 or 5 other gymnasts (depending on the day) but they went on that beam after floor because they finished first say who I'm talking about is named Charlotte (not actually but I can't say her name). So Charlotte will take another beam and say she hurt her back and can't do backwakovers but once the beam is free (the other gymnasts finish) "Charlotte" goes right to the beam and starts doing backwalkovers even though she said her back hurts. I know that we have this beam but I don't want her to get too attached for when we go to comp. If it helps "Charlotte" is around 13 - 14 yrs old doing level 5

 

[Gymnast-E]

Also the other gymnasts are around 11-12 in level 7 we are a small gym

 

[mezzamare]

My daughter (13) has definitely shared that she has an "emotional support beam". I think it is the one Spieth beam in a gym full of AAI. She said she just feels more secure doing skills on it. However, she hasn't let it prevent her from doing skills on other beams. It's just a preference, and she will choose the one beam over the others if she can.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Yep, all the kids seem to have a favourite beam. But we do want to ensure they get out of this habit and use all the beams, otherwise competition can be very difficult because they need a beam that feels a certain way.

It can also cause training issues, if they will only use a particular beam and it isn’t available.

Once I saw her do the skill in her favourite beam, I’d be assured her back was okay and require her to do the skill on another beam.

You can find ways to make it fun. Set them a challenge to stick X of each skills in each high beam and those who do get to work a fun skill or something like that.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

My 13 year old most definitely has her favorite beam, as do most of her teammates.

 

[Gymnast-E]

ok thank you

 

[CoachPow]

They definitely prefer certain beams-typically the comp beam, but some would like one of the others. We would make them do skills on all beams. I'd constantly remind them that we don't get to choose the comp beam in other gyms...

 

[GymnastPotterhead]

As a gymnast, I certainly like some beams more than the others and going futher than that, I like to do all skills except dismounts on one beam and dismount on the other beam. During beam rotation though I do try to go to all other beams because well at a meet you can't go on a specific beam.

 

[jamieintexas]

I make my girls routinely switch beams. If I notice that they keep trying to go to the same beam, I ban them from it for two weeks. I tell them “There isn’t a single beam in this gym that I am going to stick in my car and take to the meet.”

 

[Gymnast2009]

It’s always a thing. Some gymnasts like more suede feeling beams and some like more smooth feeling ones. Some don’t feel as high even though they are all the same length. say there are 6 beams in my gym. Something my coaches did was instead of saying stick 5 routines, they would say stick one routine on each beam. Including low beams. On low beams we could add in our B routines were like harder skills in place of the easier ones but that were still allowed at our level. Example, A routine for me, an excel gold, had a cartwheel in it, while my B routine had a back walkover that I was still working on. Or, when we were all learning some skill, they would make sure we rotated. Like if we are all working our cartwheel cartwheel they would say, 3 attempts then go to the next beam, so we wouldn’t get used to learning it on one beam.

 

[Katie]

Everyone at my gym has a favorite beam. It’s pretty normal. I like either of the two that are a bit more smooth the best. One beam I don’t like because it’s close to the wall and I always feel like I’m going to crash into it

 

[LCsMom]

My kid doesn't have a favorite but has, on occasion, blamed a poor routine on the equipment at meets. I can see that they all have a different feel (this one is bouncy, this one is slippery, the bars are soft, the bars are stiff, the floor was too bouncy....)