Women Optional Bars Question

[tpMom]

Hi Everyone - level 5 ended earlier in March for my DD and she and her team have been uptraining pretty significantly ever since. From what I can understand, DD is training for level 6 or possibly level 7 next year - depending on how the summer goes. The main decider (I think) is going to be bars. Just so that I can understand a little better, could someone please clarify some bars rules for me (because if I ask my daughter more than 1 question a week about bars she basically refuses to speak to me for the rest of the week, haha!)

First - cast to handstand? I THOUGHT I understood from previous posts that, once you hit optionals, all casts must hit handstand. But, a level 6 mom from another team told me that wasn't true, the angle requirements for casts were actually higher for level 5 than for level 6. So, do optional gymnasts need all casts to hit handstand to avoid deductions? Is the angle requirements just for credit for the skill without deductions accounted for? Why is this so confusing to me!

Second - clear hips. DD's coach told her that she couldn't compete giants unless she had a clear hip to handstand. I'm assuming this is a gym rule but what are the requirements for clear hips in level 6 and 7? Are they different for level 7? I've heard (on this forum) about gymnasts needing giants to compete level 7, but I don't really remember seeing a requirement or a clear hip to handstand at level 7...

 

[MILgymFAM]

Sounds like some gym specific rules. Neither L6 nor L7 require either giants or cast to handstand for full start value. Anything over horizontal meets that requirement for L6 and over 45 degrees for L7. Anything between the requirement and handstand receives a deduction. The requirement that is usually conflated with giants actually calls for circling skills. My DDs planned L7 routine (she just finished L6) includes two clear hips- one per bar- and no giants. It would have a 10 SV.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

It’s tricky, and I’m sure someone wiser than me can explain it better, but this is how I understand it: All casts not to HS in optionals will be deducted, but to get the SR for L6 and L7, they just need to be to horizontal and 45 above, respectively. So if you hit at least that but not to HS, you get the 0.5 for the SR, but will still get deducted as this chart shows. As for free hip to HS, it is not required in either L6 or L7, but it is one of the C skills that is allowed. Many (most?) Cs are not allowed. Obviously gyms have their ones rules! I hope this helps! (Or that someone else says it better) Good luck with summer training!

 

[raenndrops]

First - cast to handstand? I THOUGHT I understood from previous posts that, once you hit optionals, all casts must hit handstand. But, a level 6 mom from another team told me that wasn't true, the angle requirements for casts were actually higher for level 5 than for level 6. So, do optional gymnasts need all casts to hit handstand to avoid deductions? Is the angle requirements just for credit for the skill without deductions accounted for? Why is this so confusing to me!

Second - clear hips. DD's coach told her that she couldn't compete giants unless she had a clear hip to handstand. I'm assuming this is a gym rule but what are the requirements for clear hips in level 6 and 7? Are they different for level 7? I've heard (on this forum) about gymnasts needing giants to compete level 7, but I don't really remember seeing a requirement or a clear hip to handstand at level 7...

1. For no deduction, all casts must be to handstand (or within 10º) except for cast squat/pike on.
In Level 6, one of the Special Requirements is a cast to horizontal... but they still get the angle deduction even if they meet the minimum requirement.
In Level 7, one of the SR is a cast to 45º from horizontal... but they still get the deduction if they arent to HS.

2. This is a GYM rule. A clear hip to handstand is a C skill. A giant is a B skill. Why would USAG require a C before allowing a B? lol

 

[duyetanh]

Gym rule, plain and simple. So if she does giants but the clearhip isn’t to hs, it will be the coaches perigative to have her do 6 instead of 7...and yes, lots of 6s do giants.

 

[tpMom]

Thank you all! I knew the clear hip to hs was coming from the gym, but I didn't know it was a "c" skill. It's actually very possible that it's not really a gym rule either - just my kid's interpretation of something the coach told her to get her working harder on those clear hips! All of my information lately has come from my daughter - who just mentions things about practice off hand and then doesn't want to discuss them any more because "she already told me" . I'm not necessarily pulling for her to compete either level next year, but it's good to know the rules. I usually find meets less stressful (for me!) when I have at least some idea what is going on!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

You get credit for the skill (requirement fulfilled) but still take angle deduction in L 7.

 

[ascarter1]

My experience, for what it’s worth, is that your dd will get dinged significantly if her cast handstands are not to hs (or really close to hs). In my opinion, lv 6 bars scored as tough as lv 9 bars. My dd is a bars girl, but her two lowest scoring seasons were lv 6 and lv 9.

Level 6 video (9.15)


Level 7 (1:30 in video, 9.675)


As you can see, those angles make a BIG difference in scores!!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Giants not required in 6 or 7. My gymmie doesn’t do Giants, she does clear hips. Now that she is getting to HS, she will beat gymmies with giants.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

You can't compare L6 scoring and L9 scoring. You just can't.

 

[ascarter1]

You can't compare L6 scoring and L9 scoring. You just can't.

Oh, gosh no! Lv 9 is a totally different ballgame! My point was that those were the 2 years that my generally solid scoring bar gymnast scored lower. There were many factors that contributed to those lower scores. Personally, I feel that both are big transition years!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Personally, I feel that both are big transition years!

Can't speak to 9, we ain't there yet. But 7 for us sure has been.