MAG Mushroom circles, yay!

[curlymop]

I just want to brag on my kid and how much he has progressed.

Last year, that mushroom was the source of much frustration. I just did not see how it was going to be physically possible to learn how to circle on it. At one comp early in the year, I clearly remember him hopping around that thing in 3 half-circles, saluting after each one. Poor kid had no clue what he was supposed to be doing. At states, he finally got around one and a half times without falling, though I'm pretty sure his legs were scraping it the whole time. It was such a huge victory for him.

Fast forward to tonight, and I watched him fly around the mushroom 10 times. 10 times!! He is finally starting to understand how to keep his legs together and extend his body in a straight line. It was beautiful. The best part was how excited he was to be able to do it. He wanted to keep going and break his record again. I finally had to threaten to take the thing out of his room if he didn't turn off the light and go to sleep.

Sometime around last December, I joined CB and searched the MAG forum for posts about learning mushroom circles. Everyone seemed to say the same thing: that it seems impossible at first but that they will eventually get it. It was so comforting to read that. And it's true!

Also, having the mushroom at home has absolutely contributed to him "getting it". He goes through phases where it doesn't get used at all, but for the past two nights all I've heard is thump, thump, thump, thump... crash. Over and over again. I could not find a used one, so we forked out the big bucks for a new one mid-way through comp season last year. I figured it wasn't much more than what we pay in just one month for tuition between all three of my kids, and once mine have outgrown it maybe I can sell it to another gym family. Also, it has provided some comic relief. Have you ever attempted a mushroom circle? I have, and it was not pretty.

 

[Dr Maleficent]

Well done to him! I think the pre-circle phase is one of the most frustrating- it takes the longest time. But once they finally get it, it is amazing, and before you know it they're flying around like little helicopters. Then they start asking about a mushroom with handles.... Incidentally I have tried a circle. DS has nearly managed to stop laughing about it now...

 

[profmom]

Standing ovation!! I know that he'll be working really hard to get all kinds of crazy skills from here on out, but nothing will ever compare to the sheer delight of that two-week period when DS finally figured out the mushroom.

 

[KCHAMP]

Woohoo! Congrats to him! And no...I have never tried a circle - that would not be pretty!

 

[Dr Maleficent]

Woohoo! Congrats to him! And no...I have never tried a circle - that would not be pretty!

oh go on KCHAMP...do it for your ds! ....perhaps we could start a new version of the ice-bucket challenge - the CB mushroom circle challenge?!

 

[curlymop]

oh go on KCHAMP...do it for your ds! ....perhaps we could start a new version of the ice-bucket challenge - the CB mushroom circle challenge?!

It would have to be for a really good cause.

 

[skschlag]

Congrats to your ds!! Mushroom circles are like a rite of passage SO exciting!

I have tried...it was bad! DH tried too...really bad!! No circles for me

 

[gymmomx2]

Congrats to your DS! I remember the mushroom circle angst well

It took my kiddo 2.5 years to get a good mushroom circle, then another half year before he could do 5 in a row consistently. Once he hit 5, he took off - I think he can do 50 in a row now....and stocklis, spindles, czcech khers, etc, etc. Pommel is now his favorite event!

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Congrats! Same here! My ds took forever to get his first circles. Hc used to send the mushroom home over the weekend to practice. Ds saved his money to buy his own. Now he's two time regional pommel champ. It's by far his best and favorite event.
I do not do circles. Might hurt something I'd never recover from however, ds taught dd how to do them. She can do about 8-10 in a row. My ds wants her to do loops on the beam as her mount, lol.

 

[gracyomalley]

Over the years pommel has always been particularly difficult for my older, and easier for younger - both took a bit of time to get a circle, but the littler one was doing tons of bonuses last year in L5 while the older still made me hold my breath for the 5 1/2 he needed to not blow his AA score! He's soooo happy to skip L6 and just do pommel this year - which will still be his hardest event but he can do better on the actual pommel than the mushroom....while his little brother continues to get those skills faster....its actually nice for the little one to have one event that comes easier for him than his burly 14 year old extra cool I can do a triple front and double back and blah blah blah brother!

 

[cttay217]

You all give me hope! It's been well over a year and DS still barely has a circle. He did move up to L5 this year, but there is no way that he is going to have 3 circles by his first competition. I just keep hoping that one of these days will be the day that it clicks! The mushroom lives in our living room and we still can't get success!

 

[skschlag]

It will click And then it will be the next thing LOL! Good luck to your ds!

 

[Dr Maleficent]

You all give me hope! It's been well over a year and DS still barely has a circle. He did move up to L5 this year, but there is no way that he is going to have 3 circles by his first competition. I just keep hoping that one of these days will be the day that it clicks! The mushroom lives in our living room and we still can't get success!

The thing that helped my ds was having a chart on the wall where he recorded his totals - that seemed to help him hang on that tiny bit longer to make it round one more time so he could put it on the chart. Also he persuaded me to agree that when he reached certain targets he could have a small reward, but don't tell anyone

 

[profmom]

I've been through kips with my daughter and mushroom circles with my son, and having watched their workout groups go through it as well, I think it's pretty similar (kips are harder on the girls' bar). What's different is that when the girls figure out the kip, it's really exciting, but they just get to the point where they can do one pretty well. With the circles, there's this period of a couple weeks where the boy suddenly gets it and they go from only being able to do one or two badly to really circling. It's a really dramatic moment.

DS has a teammate who just could not circle. Never got the hang of it in preteam. Fell off at every meet at L4. Fell off at every meet at L5, sometimes more than once. Then, about a week after states, it suddenly clicked and he was putting together 10 and 15. Last year, he competed L5 again and had NO falls on mushroom at any of their meets, and by the end of the season was doing two of the three bonuses.

It will come!! It will!

 

[Sasha]

Can definitely relate to the mushroom madness! For my DS(7), it was a whole year on pre-team working up to 1 good circle, then 6 more months of L4 training (and occasional use of a home mushroom) of getting close-but-not-quite to 2 decent circles. Once he got 2 circles fairly consistently, it was only a few weeks before he was doing 10+ as he started being motivated to practice more on the home mushroom.

Now he just needs to practice not scraping his left leg on most circles ...

Leads me to inquire.....Do boys often first learn with a lot of 'brushing' of the mushroom at first then learn how to get straighter bodies with less leg contact as they practice more? He's reasonably straight-bodied, but not perfect, and scrapes one leg in particular more than the other. Hoping he hasn't ingrained bad habits with all the scraping!

And @profmom , curious, why are kips harder on the girls' bar?

 

[skschlag]

Oh yes. The scraping is very common, and does go away as they get stronger and faster.

 

[sbonham]

Congrats! Same here! My ds took forever to get his first circles. Hc used to send the mushroom home over the weekend to practice. Ds saved his money to buy his own. Now he's two time regional pommel champ. It's by far his best and favorite event.
I do not do circles. Might hurt something I'd never recover from however, ds taught dd how to do them. She can do about 8-10 in a row. My ds wants her to do loops on the beam as her mount, lol.

AzGymMom,
I checked out your link and watched Christian routines at the 2014 AZ State meet. He's a fine ALL Arounder. Nice swing on PH & M! And HB PB too. Congratulations. I was sorry not to see his rings!

 

[profmom]

@Sasha, whatever you do, never express amazement at what a boy can do on high bar in front of his sister if she's also a gymnast! The girls' bar is thicker and they swing without wrapping their thumbs, so a lot of the skills take the girls longer to get than the boys. At my kids' gym, the boys who have some aptitude for high bar are learning back and front giants for L6, whereas the girls don't learn front giants until L9. My L6 son currently has some high bar skills that my L8 daughter does not have on unevens (front giants, hops, starting to work on stalders and endos in straps) -- but he will never have to learn a straddle back, yay!

 

[Azgymmiemom]

AzGymMom,
I checked out your link and watched Christian routines at the 2014 AZ State meet. He's a fine ALL Arounder. Nice swing on PH & M! And HB PB too. Congratulations. I was sorry not to see his rings!

Thank you! That's nice to say!

And I second profmom, lots of arguing here on which is harder, girls bars or boys. I try not to get in the middle of it unless it looks like it's coming to blows...

 

[curlymop]

Thank you! That's nice to say!

And I second profmom, lots of arguing here on which is harder, girls bars or boys. I try not to get in the middle of it unless it looks like it's coming to blows...

I guess that makes one thing my kids will never argue about, since I have all boys. On the other hand, if both of mine stick with it for long enough, it's possible they will be competing the same level in the same age group.