Silly Questions from a L8 Mom

[LMV]

If the kid has all the L9 skills you mentioned-why not have her compete L9? If she wants to do the skills you mentioned-she should compete L9, instead of competing L8 and taking the deductions. Makes no sense-if she's young have her do 2 years of 9, rather than 2 years of 8 with really low scores (when she is capable of L9 skills).

She has never competed L8 before so she will probably not do two years of L8. She is coming back from taking some time off from gymnastics entirely due to medical illness and last competed in 2009 [when she did a single meet at L7]. Her skills came back much more quickly than we anticipated [honestly we didn't know what to anticipate but we really had not thought she would compete in until 2011-2012] so we are trying to let her have her gymnastics but we have some real concerns about all of this.

 

[Granny Smith]

Is it possible she could compete a L8 meet, get her score to score out of 8 and move onto 9. The skills you are mentioning she could easily do 9.

 

[gymcoach34]

Oh, LMV-that makes sense. Good luck!

 

[LemonLime]

She has a blind change in her bar routine at the moment but maybe that is meant to be pulled when they start competing. He has had her working her new skills into the routine because he wants her to not just have the skill but have it connected into a series---does that make sense? Maybe I don't fully understand. I probably don't, this whole jumping into optionals can be a bit hard on parents I think.

What is she doing "out" of the blind change? A front giant (going over the top of the bar in reverse grip giant) or is she swinging back in the same direction in which she came?
****If she's swinging back in the same direction after the 1/2 turn, so long as it doesn't go to handstand, she can compete that skill in Level 8. It is a B if it does not go to handstand. This is a 10yo tops skill and very age and level appropriate for a 10yo L8.
****If she does the front giant out of the blind, that's two Cs in a row. Her start value drops to 9.0. Ouch.

In either event, the skills are giant circle variations and not releases.

The 1/2 turn of the blind (if it's performed as a B) would fulfill a requirement at Level 8.

I understand training the blind to handstand because it's very progressive toward other skills. It would elongate her routine at Level 8 - especially depending on where the clearhip was in the routine - which could present some issues. I'm not as much of a fan of bhs/bhs/tuck. Maybe a switch/tuck would be more progressive.

Although everyone would have their own opinion on this, it's not bad sportsmanship to compete a C element that is not exempted. I think coaches and judges would wonder why the coach is doing that, but you should do what's best for your child. Clearhip 1/2 Cs are allowed at Level 8 and are insanely hard and no one blinks negatively when gymnasts do those.

 

[LMV]

Is it possible she could compete a L8 meet, get her score to score out of 8 and move onto 9. The skills you are mentioning she could easily do 9.

Her coach did suggest this because she is doing really well. The problem is that there are a lot of other things going on in her life (and in our family) right now so we think that L8 is still the better option.

LemonLime---
She has been doing front giants from blind changes. She has also been working on a lot Tkatchev drills [she loves these, I don't really love watching]

 

[gymnut1]

It sounds like she should concentrate on rocking level 8 this season , she could put everything in allowable as she feels confident with it and keep uptraining in the gym. Next year she will be ready to go solidly to 9 and have a season of settled competition behind her.

Another option might be to compete one meet near the end of the season at 9 but compete states at 8. Then next year she would have the option of doing level 9 or level 10 depending on where she is. That would also give her coaches more flexiblity with her for next year.

I think your priority should be that she gets out there and enjoys it after her long break. Good luck she sounds like she is doing brilliantly.

 

[LMV]

It sounds like she should concentrate on rocking level 8 this season , she could put everything in allowable as she feels confident with it and keep uptraining in the gym. Next year she will be ready to go solidly to 9 and have a season of settled competition behind her.

Another option might be to compete one meet near the end of the season at 9 but compete states at 8. Then next year she would have the option of doing level 9 or level 10 depending on where she is. That would also give her coaches more flexiblity with her for next year.

I think your priority should be that she gets out there and enjoys it after her long break. Good luck she sounds like she is doing brilliantly.

Thank you! Yes, enjoying it is definitely our priority for her [and when that stops she will be done]. They get to sign up if they want to do their whole optional floor routine as in gym exhibition for coach/teammate critique at the end of their Saturday team practices. She just did hers and she seriously beamed through the entire routine [it is a fun routine ]. One of the L10 girls complimented her front layout twisting so she was really proud of herself then. [I think it was good but this girl is also very nice and encouraging of the younger girls it seems and we're glad to see that her gym has those kind of kids. I think that is important too.]