Random questions

[hannahsmom]

Okay, these are just a couple of very random questions I've been wondering since learning more about gymnastics with my dd. They have absolutely nothing to do with my dd, but I'm curious.

1. Why is being tall seen as a negative in gymnastics? I happen to think the taller gymnasts look very graceful and they have great lines. Just from watching the Olympics, it seems like the tall gymnasts have the grace and beauty and the smaller gymnasts have the power, both of which are great. But, our HC has always mentioned that height can be a negative.

2. Why are there minimum ages on the USAG competition levels? Is that to protect the young gymnasts from overbearing coaches that want to move kids along too fast with no regard for their health?

 

[peace.love.gymnast]

Just a comment about question #1...
I happen to agree with you on the beauty of a tall gymnast. One of my most favorite gymnasts is Svetlana Khorkina from Russia (who happens to be quite tall). She makes the beam and bars look effortless and so graceful. I always loved to watch her.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Okay, these are just a couple of very random questions I've been wondering since learning more about gymnastics with my dd. They have absolutely nothing to do with my dd, but I'm curious.

1. Why is being tall seen as a negative in gymnastics? I happen to think the taller gymnasts look very graceful and they have great lines. Just from watching the Olympics, it seems like the tall gymnasts have the grace and beauty and the smaller gymnasts have the power, both of which are great. But, our HC has always mentioned that height can be a negative.

2. Why are there minimum ages on the USAG competition levels? Is that to protect the young gymnasts from overbearing coaches that want to move kids along too fast with no regard for their health?

1. being tall is not seen as a negative. your hc is A wonderful person who may be saying things that are not true.

2. minimum ages are in place to protect the athletes against a lot of things including coaches that think that height can be a negative...

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Dunno-

That is pretty unfair. The fact is that successful elite gymnasts are typically smaller in order to get a higher weight to strength ratio. In the US, it is clear that smaller women are achieving the highest honors in gymnastics

"In 1976, the six women who competed for the United States in the Olympic team event were an average age of 17.5, average height of 5 feet 3 1/4 inches and average weight of 106 pounds. By 1992, the U.S. women's team averages were age 16, height 4-9 1/2 and weight 83."

Globetrotting: Gymnastics small fish to fry

That's not saying that tall girls can't compete. But, when your body is small and compact, it is often easer to achieve greater height and faster rotations on certain skills.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Every sport has an ideal body type which makes it the easiest to succeed. For basketball its being tall, for sumo wrestling its being extremely obese and for gymnastics its being small. It is far from the only thing that allows you to succeed but it helps.

A smaller body will rotate faster for skills like double salto's which are an essential element at the elite level. Also in order to perform the vast majority of gymnastics skills you need a very, very high strength to size ratio. This is much harder to achieve if you are bigger, you need a lot more strength to do the gym skills with a larger body than with a smaller one.

Many people talk of famous tall gymnasts like Svetlana Khorkina to prove that you can succeed at the elite level if you are tall. But the fact is that she is only 5'5", she simply looks much taller when we see her standing next to other competitive gymnasts. She is not tall but in fact only average height.

But height should not matter terribly at most levels of gymnastics, its only at the elite level where tall athletes rarely succeed. There are many excellent college and level 7-10 gymnasts who are tall.

There is a minimum age of the levels for various reasons. For a start it is to protect the child. A child who has not yet gone through puberty can severely damage their body for life if they train excessively in gymnastics. If there were no limits we could have very young children training hours that are extremely unsafe.

Also there are certain skills that should not be attempted before the body has developed a certain amount, again there are serious long term risks.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

look, i'm not going to debate this timeless issue. we don't have 6' 4" gymnasts participating in gymnastics.

people talk about tall like 5' 5". what's tall? and ectomorphs that are taller make the best uneven bar and horizontal bar workers.

the sport is about body types...ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph.

the sport is about fast, medium or slow muscle twitch. and then how the athlete transfers and tranlates that to power externally.

and what brings children to the activity is anthropologic along with its anthropometric measurements.

for years we listened to the experts, including coaches and doctors, state that gymnastics stunts their growth. geesh.

if you are the parent of a 4' 6" 6 year old, me thinks you won't be bringing them to gymnastics for a try out.

and stating that it is easier for short people to do gymnastics diminishes just how difficult it is to do. gymnastics does not discriminate. it is hard for the short as well as the taller athlete. each have their own struggles.

example: a shorter/endomorph will train and struggle with a double back in tumbling equally with a taller/ectomorph that will train and struggle with a triple full in tumbling. both skills are very demanding.

furthermore: endomorphs seldom learn triple fulls. so, by the above posted reasoning and logic, short people have it harder than taller kids in tumbling because they can't multiple twist easily. instead, you say that the taller girls are at a disadvantage because she can't double back. the argument itself is lacking substance and is circular logic.

the argument is also baseless. gymnastics, in its beauty and art form, has lots of skills for all types to learn. so, lets keep it at that.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

and i thought of something else that irks me along the same lines.

those that say that they have to be a certain "size" to do gymnastics. it's the same basless argument.

for most of us that coach, and even fewer that have coached elite gymnasts, we could care less about the 1.

in the US, we care about the masses that we put in to college after their club careers have ended. they are young women. and pound for pound, and skill for skill, i would put any of our college gymnasts up against the best in the world elite stage... event specialist against event specialist.

now, THAT would be a competition for all to see. and it unequivocally would disprove many of the "negative" issues that are discussed in our sport.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

"In 1976, the six women who competed for the United States in the Olympic team event were an average age of 17.5, average height of 5 feet 3 1/4 inches and average weight of 106 pounds. By 1992, the U.S. women's team averages were age 16, height 4-9 1/2 and weight 83."

What does 1992 have to do with the height of gymnasts today?, that was eighteen years ago! There have been many changes since then.

 

[gymjoy]

Well, dunno, a couple of college gymnast have just tested into international elite. It will be interesting to see how they do.

As for the height thing - it is relative. There have been successful "tall" gymnast. However, they are not exactly tall if you take them out of the gymnastics world, but more an average height. They are successful because they train to be successful, and they have coaches that work with them, not limit them because of their height. I dislike limiting people on appearances only - it's stupid. ( unfortunately, it happens too much in all aspects of life. )

As for the age limit thing - don't think it has done much good. We still see little girls being pushed to hard at to young of an age because coaches still imagine that having the youngest elite somehow helps them, or their reputation, or the gymnast reputation. I don't know what they are thinking really.
I'm sounding like a broken record these days - but...it is not about who gets to elite first, it is about who gets there when they are really ready - physically and mentally and emotionally!!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I don’t think this is an elite vs. college debate. Even at the college level, gymnasts are typically smaller. We went to a meet at our local U (Div 1 NCAA team, but certainly not a powerhouse). I did a quick computation of the stats of the young women, and the average height was 5’1.5â€￾. That is probably taller than the average elite, but certainly well below the US average height for a college student.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i respectfully submit that you missed my point.

 

[gymdog]

I don’t think this is an elite vs. college debate. Even at the college level, gymnasts are typically smaller. We went to a meet at our local U (Div 1 NCAA team, but certainly not a powerhouse). I did a quick computation of the stats of the young women, and the average height was 5’1.5â€￾. That is probably taller than the average elite, but certainly well below the US average height for a college student.

I'm surprised by that, because it would indicate a significant amount under that height which doesn't really mesh with my anecdotal observations. At about 5'1.5, I'm usually one of the shorter ones (not by much) among the girls my age I know doing gymnastics. With the average height of a female being like 5'4, I would say there are plenty of average height or just an inch under or above doing college gymnastics. Certainly I wouldn't perceive them to be much smaller, either in weight or height, than the average teen or young 20s female, or at least outside an average range. They tend towards being not tall or big on an extreme side, but if you lined them up in a class of 18-21s, I can guarantee most would not stand out as exceptionally small among the females (perhaps a bit shorter height wise...but I don't perceive myself to be especially petite). In fact, many gymnasts tend to put on muscle and can be very powerful but look a little "bulky." There are plenty of smaller, slimmer college age girls that aren't gymnasts. Again most aren't exceptionally tall, but you really don't have to be that small or thin. Probably if you are going to be well above average height, that's one thing. But you don't have to be exceptionally small.

More important is probably the "body type" in terms of overall shape and muscle composition outside the official height. Some body types aren't suited for gymnastics regardless of height. Most girls who are good for gymnastics will have bigger shoulders and smaller hips, in general. With some it is more dramatic than others, but rarely will you see a true pear shape or smaller shoulders in my opinion.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Gymdog – I was surprised as well, but they had a little giveaway that had the stats for each gymnast (including height) and I used the INTERMINABLE WAITING TIME that seem inevitable at all gymnastics meets to do the math. The tallest girl on the team was 5’ 3â€￾. There were three girls under 5’. It’s just one team (and not a particularly good one at that), so my story is anecdotal evidence as well, but I stand by it.

Dunno – Or, perhaps you missed my point. I’m not going to get into a debate with you either because you absolutely have more experience, knowledge, and passion than I do for gymnastics. You were the one who brought up college athletes potentially being superior to elite gymnasts on a THREAD ABOUT SIZE. My point is just that it I think that whether a gymnast competes in college or elites is irrelevant to the discussion of size since both are groups smaller than the average female. Which is why I think it was unfair of you to say that the OP’s coach was an idiot (which Bog toned down) for saying that “height can be a negativeâ€￾ in gymnastics. BTW, I totally agree that some height can also be a positive, as evidenced by my taller than average daughter who uses her body size to her advantage.

 

[All Chalked Up]

1. I'm considered short in school and stuff, but tall at gymnastics only because the other kids are slightly younger as I started late. It's never considered negative, my coaches think its an advantage for me and I do too. I can have more stress and muscle on my body because I'm taller. The only think that I can think of a dis-advantage is on glide swings you have to glide further. That's it. 2. I believe so.