Women New Bouncy Bar This Season or Next?

[Boatergal]

I heard that USAG is changing the uneven bars to ones with more "bounce". They are definitely harder to hit handstands. Anyway, I heard that change was THIS season. Someone else said it was next. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[JBS]

This season...they are not any harder to hit handstands.

 

[Mustanggal99]

At what level are the soft railroad required to be used?

 

[MeetDirector]

"soft railroad" ?? The "soft rails" are required to be used at the 2014 JO Nationals. I will leave it to you to figure out what level goes to JO Nationals.

 

[curlygirls]

"soft railroad" ?? The "soft rails" are required to be used at the 2014 JO Nationals. I will leave it to you to figure out what level goes to JO Nationals.

That was a rather snarky response to what was likely just the result of auto correct on a mobile device...

 

[MeetDirector]

Snark is in the eye of the reader. Check what you type before you hit send.

 

[Mustanggal99]

Wow... Sorry. Didn't mean to offend by making a single mistake. Just trying to make sure my gym is legal and I don't need to be saving up to buy the new rails immediately. I didn't realize that people weren't allowed to make mistakes. Thank you for the answer though.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Wow... Sorry. Didn't mean to offend by making a single mistake. Just trying to make sure my gym is legal and I don't need to be saving up to buy the new rails immediately. I didn't realize that people weren't allowed to make mistakes. Thank you for the answer though.

i don't think this is what you meant. and in fact, you don't have to have soft rails in your gym at all. there is no USAG requirement or insurance requirement. understand?? this will only be required atUSAG sanctioned competitions.

MeetDirector, i think i'm not imagining this, but i think we had the soft rails at Nationals up in Minnesota this year. i think i remember finding out that's what we were using AFTER the close of the meet.

please everyone, this is really no big deal. and even with the soft rails, they do not compare "bounce" wise to Speith, JF, Senoh, etc; it's apple and oranges. the AAI are still "tight".

the reason for this is because the other manufacturers use a lighter grade steel for the upright standards and spreaders. they also use a smaller diameter cable. AAI still uses heavy grade steel for the uprights and larger diameter cables.

so then, unless AAI manufactures the exact same design as the others along with the light steel materials, their bars will never bounce like the others. and that is an engineering fact. does AAI have a little more bounce because of the soft rails? yes, but as i said it is negligible.

 

[MeetDirector]

Spot on, Dunno! I believe you are correct regarding this past season's Nationals; I think USAG just told everyone this time what to expect in advance. As long as things are AAI, it will be high quality equipment. maybe now this can be put to rest. My Lvl 9/10 dd says "what's the big deal, the bars are slightly different at every meet; we adapt." Moving on.

 

[sleeplessinnewyork]

Just wanted to second that it really isn't a big deal- chances are that you wouldn't really notice the difference. Our gym got a new bar set
(a little over a year ago), and only after we had used it for 2 weeks with no suspicions were we told that the new bars were soft rails. No-one had had any problems with it.
Also remember: "A good gymnast needs good equipment, but a great gymnast needs any equipment."
Yes, I know that it's not 100% true, but our coach tells us this when we are at meets and are complaining about the "weird" equipment.

 

[Mustanggal99]

We do host meets that are USAG sanctioned but we are a new gym and only have new 6s right now as our highest level. However, if we were to host a meet this year, are soft rails a requirement to get the sanction for compulsory meets or lower level optionals (like L7/8)? I guess that is the question I'm trying to find the answer to as I haven't heard anything official or have not been able to locate it.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

We do host meets that are USAG sanctioned but we are a new gym and only have new 6s right now as our highest level. However, if we were to host a meet this year, are soft rails a requirement to get the sanction for compulsory meets or lower level optionals (like L7/8)? I guess that is the question I'm trying to find the answer to as I haven't heard anything official or have not been able to locate it.

no. optionals and up only.