Parents Parenting question involving gymnastics

[ZZMom]

Gymnastics is very complicated both physically and mentally. The number of correct repetitions of a skill needed before you REALLY have it (in muscle memory) are huge. I don't know your little daughter but have had three children who were/are high level athletes (including one level 10 gymnast and two AAA hockey players) and do know that this type of thing takes a lot of time. I agree with a couple of the other posters that you need to make sure that she really understands and feels what will be different if she has her feet together before she will begin to improve. After that, it will take a LOT of repetitions before she is consistently able to make this change. Please be patient with her.

Best Wishes,

ZZMom

 

[NotAMom]

OP, this may be just the way it is. And, your daughter may not be the one to blame (aside from the un-attentiveness that you mentioned). Yes, in time and through practice and reinforcement her form should get better and it will. (she's a L4, no?) But, I will NOT put money on it that it will become perfect eventually. Unfortunately, not all bodies are made to perform gymnastics in good form as it's defined by the sport.

Just to put things in perspective... My now L8 14yo has always had less-than-perfect form. Has she worked hard at it? You bet. But, her feet just naturally come apart in many situations no matter the event. You want to see big split, just check out her L4 vault. Just yuck! Fast forwarding a few years to last year, as a L7, her form improved a ton and she consistently placed well. But, still not perfect by a long stretch. At L6/7, she had a powerful bar routine and her skills were huge -- clearly, one of the best in our state, at least from that standpoint. But, she always got beaten at the big comps due to form. So, was I less proud of her? No. We have accepted it long ago and we are fine with that.

Well, long story short, just let your daughter do her thing. There is nothing wrong with calling it out to the coaches but once stated back off and let them do their jobs. I bet you anything that her form will get better eventually -- hopefully soon.

 

[emandelsmom]

Have to just agree with some other posts, she may not be able to "correct" it yet. My DD took quite awhile to fix this (age 6 when she started) and 3 yrs later it was worth the wait, she has a lovely ROBHS and even into the 2nd BHS or into a BT. I found that the first yr of L4 was learning the routines and the second year was about correcting her form on skills. Some kids pick it up quickly, other like my DD needed the extra time to mature and understand what the correction were and try to fix. Can you videotape her and SHOW her what she is doing wrong? Does coach have any drills that she could do w/you DD to allow her to feel what it is like to have legs together and body tighter? Maybe standing BHS using the big rubber bands or trying to keep a foam pit block between legs?

Emma is working on the bhs as well. They use the rubber bands around her legs to help her to keep her legs together. She loved it and giggled about it and said it helped. It is a common learning step in robhs. HTH

 

[Midget's Dad]

Emma is working on the bhs as well. They use the rubber bands around her legs to help her to keep her legs together. She loved it and giggled about it and said it helped. It is a common learning step in robhs. HTH

they have been doing this with Midget too.

To touch on what ZZMom said, with many sports sometimes it is about the coach finding the best way to convey it so the child/player gets it. Midget reacts best to things like the above where she gets a chance to feel it right a bunch of times. But not everyone learns that way.

I would say that you should stay out of it with your DD and instead talk with the coach privately and just mention that she does not seem to be getting it and are there any alternative teaching methods to try (even mentioning some) as well as asking what type of involvement the coach would like from you.

After that just be really patient.

 

[Rainee100]

If you have a digital camcorder then you can video her. When you play it back do a frame by frame(slow motion). Sometimes they feel like they are making a correction but they don't know what they really did until they see it back. My 11 year old asks me to video at meets so she can see how she did. She's the first one to point out that her toes weren't pointed, legs weren't straight, etc. I don't like to make suggestions because I did once and she said "Mommy you're not the coach."

 

[MamaofEnS]

You have already received a lot of advice from the parents here, but I wanted to add my two cents.

My DD doesn't take criticism about gymnastics from me well at all. So, if I see something that looks wrong, I have to approach her very carefully about it.

For example, it looked like she was piking when she was doing a backswing on the bars. Her teammates seemed more straight. So, I just asked her what the body position was supposed to be. She told me that she was hollowing, which is what made it look like a pike to my untrained I. The coaches never correct her on this, so I guess it was okay.

There are other examples that I would ask her about, and she would say that she did whatever wrong, and that she needs to do whatever. Then, I ask her if needs help improving, if she needs to talk to the coach about it, or if she wants me too. I keep reminding her that the coaches' jobs are to coach her, and that they are not doing their job if she isn't making the correction.

That said, if she is not trying 100%, then she isn't doing her "job" either. I hope this advice helps.

MamaofEnS