Parents So what does your child do to "avoid" working the skills they are scared of?

[my4buffaloes]

My dd is a master at missing her squat on so that she doesn't have to do high bar work. How about your child?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

snack break, toilet break, drink break, politely letting everyone go in front of her whenever its back walkovers on beam

 

[gracyomalley]

It takes ever so long to chalk up properly.

One can never really do too many bhsbhs series on floor even if beam rotation ends before you get to high beam.

Staring into space for ages is really the same as "visualizing"

Ponytails often need extensive adjustment before twisting skills.

 

[Committed]

Usually it's a beam thing. Putting her hands up like she's GOING to throw a skill, then puts them back down (or chews on her fingers) when Coach looks away.

 

[beachgirl]

Half an hour to adjust wrist bands for strap bar giants. Bathroom break in hopes of avoiding anything scary, even if she had just gone to the bathroom.

 

[Jen H.]

Loitering at the CHALKBUCKET!!!

 

[Max]

The never ending pony tail adjustment

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Take longer than necessary with pretty much anything possible, sharing the beam and being generous with others taking turns, finding some adjustment that needs to be done on floor beam.... Before working on BHS on high beam. Oops, ran out of beam time, how unfortunate..!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

looks like beam is the dither station, so glad its not just mine

 

[Flossyduck]

Oh yes beam here too. My dd has spent a lot of time perfecting her stand straight with arms up, pretty hands, one foot slightly raised and toe pointed, glancing around to check no coaches are looking pose - she can hold it beautifully for what seems like hours.

Also - one on the beam, hop down and do three on the floor, one on the beam, three on the floor. Last week I light-heartedly asked her if she was struggling with flics on the floor and she looked at me in disgust and said 'no, why? So I said I'd just wondered how come she'd spent so much time practicing them on the floor and not the beam. I got a half scowl, half sheepish smile.

And on bars she constantly adjusts her straps. She'll get up in front support, get ready to go (giants, upstart cast handstand, clear hips or whatever), then she lets go and supports herself on her tummy and unwraps hers straps and re-wraps them. Then she resumes the ready to go pose and then lets go and does the straps again.

I'm buying buckle straps next time.

 

[Gymgem05]

coach just noticed today that one of dd team mates was taking a 10 minute potty break everyday before her bwo rotation on beam! lol

 

[Ex member]

My youngest dd used to hate doing forward rolls on the high beam after going through a fear issue, she used to pick wedgies, push imaginary hair away from her face (hair was slicked back into a bun), shuffle her feet then eventually squat down to attempt the forward roll, the stand up again and repeat the process before doing a forward roll. Dd doesn't do that any more after getting her confidence back.

If she is trying to avoid something on the floor (more out of tiredness then fear) she would stick to the drills she can do easily rather than move to a mat on the floor ( back extension rolls I think they were called that they are working on), dd can do them on the floor but not always with proper form.

 

[tarheel618]

Loitering at the CHALKBUCKET!!!

Yes this is my oldest DD- she hates bar work

 

[profmom]

The cool thing is that if most of the people in your group are struggling with vault, if everyone takes forever to dig herself out of the pit and then takes a second to adjust the matting after the vault, the entire rotation can grind to close to a halt after each girl goes. It's also amazing how long it can take to put a pad on the beam. You can also find some awesome skill to work on that you really only need a few more turns to get, which precludes working on the currently disliked skill.

The real pros will take a little of each of these methods and switch it up, so that the coaches don't confront them. Of course they think that it's all completely invisible to parents and coaches, but I'm sure the coaches are completely aware that the acro series has only been attempted twice on the high beam in 45 minutes, that the great progress on back twisting is precluding front tumbling, and that no one really needs ten minutes to put on grips and chalk up.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

It's pretty funny to me that this is the skills she is procrastinating with as she normally loves beam. She just isn't crazy about the idea of a BHS on the high beam for some reason...

 

[Max]

I have to laugh at the being gracious, when it comes to sharing with her sister not so much, but when it comes to not wanting to get in line for a skill her generosity can be endless

 

[Pea'sMom]

Oh last summer...the fly away! So many hours spent getting that chalk just right, not too much, not to little. One attempt then back to the chalk bin! Got so bad the coach asked me for advice on helping making sure she got on the bars. Gave her a 10 sec per chalking rule. On the beam it's the pace, adjust shorts, adjust hair, foot shuffle, mount beam, one attempt and back down...

 

[Ariekannairb]

25 water breaks or multiple bathroom breaks, readjusting grips, taking forever to put grips away in between bars and beam.

Most of her fears are beam related, but she has her moments on the bars as well.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

old coaches have seen it all! LOL

 

[wheezy]

Time for vault=time for extra long bathroom break, walk extra slow, talk to anyone in the hall including parents, drink water very slowly. Preferable one drop at a time.