MAG small hands

[momto2js]

DS is 8 and competed level 5 last year. He was in the top third pretty consistently, often won floor and did well on Pommel. He is good to go on those events for level 6 and has a decent vault too. Today, coach said to me "he is going to have to do another year at level 5, his hands are just too small for pbars, rings and highbar" Is this really an issue or is it an excuse?

We have had a lot of turnover and progress has been slow. I truly don't care, but DS will. He thought 6 was a possibility and he likely wouldn't care if he was last at every meet. She did say he could uptrain all year with the 6's and she would not make him drop back to the level 5 group (they are young and a mess most of the time).

He is starting to have a bit of a complex about his size. He is 48" tall and weighs 50lbs but he is still in a size 13 toddler shoe. His hands are really small. In order to get grips that fit, we had to get girls hot shots and we just took a sharpie to the girl label. Anyone have advice for the kid with small hands??

 

[skschlag]

When D was a level 6, his hands were in a 000 reisport grip for hb, nothing for rings. He still has small hands..more that his fingers are short. It does affect him on Pbars, but that is it. And he is just having to learn to deal with it. I would think he could do 6 after training all summer. He may not be able to get all the bonuses, but should be ok. I would keep pushing for it.

If you measure his hands, how big are they? (from base to middle finger tip)?

 

[momto2js]

The first set of grips bought were reisport 000. They are WAY too big even 2 years later. He got them out a couple of weeks to try again and had them on about 3 minutes and then back in the bag they went. His hand is just over 4 inches long.

 

[skschlag]

They start you guys on grips early! I can't imagine D having grips at 6 yo.

He got them at 8 and was 000. we didn't measure so I don't know how big his hands were.

I really wouldn't worry too much. I think he will get hb and rings. Does he use grips on rings too? And he will figure out ps!

 

[momto2js]

No. You get grips when you get your kip. He will be 9 in November.

 

[skschlag]

Sorry..my mistake...lol. It sounded like he got them 2 years ago

He'll get it. As long as he keeps working the skills, he will learn to adjust. D deals with short fingers and short arms and has to figure out how to make skills work.

I hope his coach just gives him that chance!

 

[momto2js]

No grips for rings. He is really struggling on pbars. Well see how it goes. I'm thinking the small hands thing is an excuse. We have been in coaching purgatory for a long t8me. This summers flavor likes to coach things kids know how to do but not really teach. New skills are slow coming when the response is "do something you are good at" when you aren't successful with the first attempt. Current coach isn't much of a teacher.

 

[skschlag]

That stinks. To me that is the bigger problem. I am sorry about that. Having been through it last year I understand how frustrating that can be.

D still has a hard time on p bars. He slides off A LOT. Especially when bailing. His fingers can't hold on. He is getting better by doing lots of finger and grip strength exercises.

 

[Sasha]

Argh, it sounds like your coaching situation is the real issue. If you're stuck with this gym, it seems like as long as he is able to continue training with the 6's, perhaps you could 'wait and see' if he gets the L6 skills without hand-slipping issues, and then lobby to compete 6 closer to season if he is looking strong and safe?

I really have no idea if small hands would be unsafe in 6. I would think it really depends on how the specific kid deals with it. But I do understand that gyms may have safety guidelines in place for certain levels. All our L6s are required to have both HB and Ring grips for safety. Head coach rules. At L5, it is optional, but recommended. We DO actually have one 6 year old training L6 (fast track - he hasn't actually competed any lower levels yet), and yes, he has grips. He is definitely less than 48 inches tall, but I never looked at his hands (maybe they are huge, who knows!). But he is required to wear grips when training certain HB and Rings moves with the rest of the team.

Sorry you are dealing with this. I have an 11 year old who wears boys size 1 shoes and also has tiny tiny hands (way smaller than my 7 year old's). He isn't a gymnast, though, so can't share any grips story there. But he is self conscious sometimes. He wants to buy shoes bigger than he needs so his feet look bigger, so I get that part. Hope your son can overcome this hurdle and enjoy his L6 training even if he must delay competing it.

 

[OzZee]

He is definitely less than 48 inches tall, but I never looked at his hands (maybe they are huge, who knows!). .

haha, I can see you with binoculars trying to get a look at this kids hands now just to satisfy the curiosity of a bunch of strangers.

 

[munchkin3]

Sorry about the coaching. That really stinks!
As far as grips, there is a company in FL that will make custom grips for any size hand for any apparatus. CA Grips, on Facebook and if you call, you will talk to the people making them. The nice thing is that they also are easy to break in. A friend of mine in GA got a pair and loved them....also GINASTA USA makes some very specialized grips and you can actually call them and talk to them about what you need.

He may not need grips yet, but if you want them there IS someone out there who will make em.....hand size sounds like a weird excuse for not advancing.
BTW I have seen senior women in elite go grip less, so that should not limit any athlete.

 

[momto2js]

His little HB Grips aren't an issue. I think the size issue is mostly pbars. But from what I'm hearing here, this is more an excuse kind of thing. "It is more work for me to teach him, so let's have him repeat. Tell mom his hands are to small".

Having him repeat 5 has always be an option. And honestly he will compete well, likely win lots, most likely go to regionals. At 6 he will start the season dead last (but someone has to be last) and by mid year he will be in the middle of the pack. I get that it is a tough call. I was just wondering about the reasoning.

 

[skschlag]

I agree. If he is staying 5 based on skills, that is one thing. But to use hands as an excuse seems odd. repeating 5 isn't the end of the world, btdt. But I think waiting for summer training is a good idea

 

[curlymop]

Not knowing enough about how hand size could affect his ability to do L6 skills, I would ask the coach to explain exactly how that is an issue. Is it a safety concern regardless of whether he gets the skills? Or is it just harder to get the skills with smaller hands? If it's the latter, it seems like training with the L6 group would allow him the chance to get the skills and prove her wrong. My son is a 7yo L5, and his coach said his hands were too small to get the muscle up unassisted. Something about the false grip being difficult with small hands. A couple of months later DS had it. Who knows? Maybe he had a massive hand growth spurt and I never even noticed.

 

[gracyomalley]

We have a boy going level 10 who was too small for grips until level 8. Never caused h issues even being top 10 in nation future stars. I do suspect he had very strong, small hands and placed them very precisely.

Level 6 can be a bit brutal score wise compared to level 5 if a kids technique on rings and pbars is still developing (my younger boy just competed it and wants to stay back cuz he's scared of giants). In our area the 9-10 year age group was very tough competition, very few 7-8 year olds. Whether it be size or coaching, if he gets to up train but stay back it may be a good thing-the boys can always skip ahead later (which my older boy who started gym at almost 11 successfully did last year going from 5 to 7 and now 8. ).

Probably more a strength than size issue, imho

 

[profmom]

I don't think there's anything at all bad about a second year at L5 for an eight year old, especially if he didn't have most of the bonuses cleanly last season. It does sound like the coach is going to keep training him with the 6s, so that's good. L6 rings, pbars, and hi bar are a whole different ballgame from L5! I do think the size thing is pretty bogus though. We have a guy who did L6 last year as an eight year old and he is a scrawny little dude. This year I think he's moving up to size 00 in the Gibson Just Right uneven bars grips. Our coach keeps the guys in girls' unevens until their hands are a little bigger and then transitions them to separate rings/hi bar grips.