Spring competitions, who's up?

[Ex member]

Just under 3 weeks until older dd's Invitational Floor and Vault competition, really looking forward to it, the floor routine is done, just got to clean it up and put it to music.

 

[Frase]

Dd is now going to compete in a pre-grades warmup invitational this weekend. We hadn't initally entered her as she was still in plaster at the time but we've put in a late entry as she's come on in leaps and bounds in the 2 weeks the cast has been off.

As I've said before she's only doing national 8 this year so nothing too taxing but after nearly 6 weeks of doing very little, just watching her able to tumble again is so lovely. I don't know yet if she will vault at all - lets just say that her vault is 'interesting' but there are only three in her age competing so it's not the end of the world.

She said to me 'but what if I can't do everything' and I told her it didn't matter and she could only do what she could do and this was just a confidence competion and that she was expected to come third to which little miss stubborn replied 'I might not!'

 

[Learning Parent GB]

In March my DD has her grade 13 followed by a floor and vault comp the following weekend. It suddenly doesn't seem to far away as I turn the calendar page to February. It's all for fun, but as it's her first grade she's taken she doesn't really know what to expect.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

It looms quickly doesn't it. She should be oaky with 13 as long as she is good with the R&C - thats what our girls seemed to struggle with, the skills arn't too tough. How is she on beam ? That handstand can be tricky.

 

[Frase]

In March my DD has her grade 13 followed by a floor and vault comp the following weekend. It suddenly doesn't seem to far away as I turn the calendar page to February. It's all for fun, but as it's her first grade she's taken she doesn't really know what to expect.

I know - where has January gone???

Good luck to your dd in her first grades and good luck to you too watching! I love and hate watching grades in equal measures. I also don't know if getting the scores after each apparatus makes it better or worse.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

I didn't know that about the scores. I don't know what score she needs to pass but I am sure I will by then.

The R&C seems to be coming along, although they've never done the full routine yet - but thy are clearly practicing the elements.

Beam is interesting as that was a nightmare for her last year. However - there is no full turn so her confidence has improved. The handstand is about there, but the forwards roll isn't yet. She goes straight but is unclear about how to stand up! I see that as positive as some of them are still rolling off on the diagonal. What she wants to know is if the order of the beam routine is fixed - or just the included elements. she wants to swap the order around and I've told her I don't think she can. She's obviously never had a compulsory routine before.

She will be using the bones of her old level 5 floor routine, but has had to take out the round off flick and front tuck to put in the required elements. I haven't seen her do it, but she seems to know what she has to do and that is probably her strongest thing.

Vault will be interesting going back to a flat back, but she used to core well on those.
And bars - should be fine except her new grips that were due in December only arrived yesterday and don't fit so we have had to re-order and there isn't much time left to fully break them in. Apparently I need a wire brush to beat them up a bit - any particular kind?

Sorry for the long answer, I've just been trying to think it through.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

The elements don't have to be done in a set order, a routine must just include those elements. The forward roll can be tricky

 

[vbbf]

I dont think the order of the skills matters as long as she includes them all. I know in my dds level 5 she can put the skills in any order and i think it would be the same for grades. Good luck, sounds like shes going to do well

 

[Tally Ho]

I agree that with 13 if you have good range it's a big scorer, dd did grade 13 last year and it seemed to be a good bar routine was where the big scores came from?

 

[Learning Parent GB]

Thank you for the replies.

That's interesting to know. She is so confident she would do a better beam routine with a different order, but it's not really her call to make. Apparently she is happier between the supports when she does her split jump. She's got to go with her coach and it can only toughen her up in the long run.

 

[Frase]

Thank you for the replies.

That's interesting to know. She is so confident she would do a better beam routine with a different order, but it's not really her call to make. Apparently she is happier between the supports when she does her split jump. She's got to go with her coach and it can only toughen her up in the long run.

Absolutely. You have to trust the coaches. I may not always agree with the decisions they make, but I do 100% believe that dd's coaches a) make decisions based on what they honestly believe are the best intentions for her in mind and b) I trust them with her safety. If I didn't we'd have to be looking at different clubs.

Just out of curiosity what does she want to swap? Could it be that it is part of a sequence that needs to remain that way?

 

[Learning Parent GB]

I *think* she is happier rolling towards the centre of the beam than towards the end of the beam. And she wants to do her split jump in the middle rather than right at the end. So she'd probably just do it all in the middle and not go to the ends of the beam ever!!!

That's me just guessing - I'll ask her tomorrow - but then I don't want her to start thinking about changing it as an option. We do completely trust her coaches and this year she is lucky in getting time with them both as they each connect with her in a different way. It's actually a good sign that she feels she can talk to them that she even thought she could ask the question as last year she just smiled and nodded

 

[Frase]

Miss Alpha Factor schedules north and south have been posted. Anyone attending?

 

[chocolate]

My dd will be doing the north alpha factor . I noticed in the south region compulsory 4 tyesha mattis younger sister will be competing so it'll be interesting to see how she does.

 

[vbbf]

my dd will be doing the angel of the north. Cant wait, shes really excited

 

[Frase]

My dd is doing north too so that's at least three of us!

 

[Jenny]

and so it begins! Good luck everyone. Have a great last few weeks preparing for grades!

 

[floppycat]

I See there aren't too many compulsory 5s at either event compared to the 4s and 3s I presume this is due to that the level 5 requirements differ between regions or maybe it's just v hard for some just 7 year olds.

 

[vbbf]

I think it will be mostly because every region has different level 5 requirements. My dd is doing the miss alpha factor compulsory level 5 even though her regional level 5 is different. Her regional level 5 is easier though compared to the one she will be doing for alpha factor.

 

[Tally Ho]

We're heading north too!