The twisting double I referred to is a twisting double back. Sorry, I should have made that clear. The tone of my post this morning was pretty severe because there will be people who will read your post and hope their child id being well served in a gym without a pit, when in fact they are a year or two away from double backs. I doubt the level 4, who's mother you were advising, will be up to that point in a few years, but in 3-4 years it's a possibility and in 5 years it's more a likely hood than not.
If you don't want me making references to you seeking out volunteers to prove your statement you could limit your post to what you do and what you've done. The problem is there are parents and who will be swayed by your statements, and in that sense they will, themselves, unwittingly volunteer their child work skills without the benefit of a pit. Partly because they listened to you, and partly because they listened to somebody else who didn't think a pit was a big deal and they could do without.
The point I was hoping to make abou Gary Morava is that he wasn't some pie in the sky dreamer who didn't know how to train without a pit. That's exactly how he trained.... no pit. So if one of the best gymnasts who was coached by one of the best coaches can do a skill that was relatively simple and lose his life, it can just as well happen to a level 8 or 9 kid who peels while doing a giant. That's the point, there is nobody on earth who can say with certainty that any skill involving height, flight, and rotation going to be safe in every circumstance with every person. Like I said, stuff happens, and when it does it is better to have a pit to make the landing a safer proposition.
You're right.... I'm being hard on you, but watching somebody go head first into a mat is pretty hard too, but harder still would be to hear that a one parent or kid who took your advice ends up with a seriously injured kid. You can control your situation and trust your coach as much as you want, but why ask other people to believe their child is as safe as you assure them.
And about being safe..... It's my opinion that most accidents happen to people who don't believe it's about to happen to them. I'll bet you Gary Morava would say about the same thing if he'd only survived.
