Coaches Straight arm kip vs. getting up there

[coach.e]

I just started at a new gym and have been given the level 4's. The gym is mediocre at best and doesn't have a reputation to win almost ever.
To my surprise, all my girls had all their level 4 skills already and now just need to start cleaning up routines for a season that starts in January. On bars every single one of them has a bent arm "barely up there" kip. So I went back and said no more bent arm kips and started teaching them straight arm only. 3 of my 8 have already gotten them but the others are lagging and aren't getting it yet and it looks like it will take a while. Should I be patient and keep with only accepting straight arms and get them stronger meanwhile or be happy with bent arms and glad that they all have their kips and just try to clean them up as we go?
Thanks!

 

[gymjunkie]

I would keep spotting them so that there is no reason their arms aren't straight. They should have it with time to spare if you do this daily.

 

[flanny2112]

I struggle with this too for my gymnasts. Sometimes I feel like a kip is better than no kip at all but then other days I feel like they just need to do it right. What I try to do is have the kids who have bent arms on their kip have some kind of conditioning or drill (jump to front support w/straight arms 5 times in a row, 3 Stem rises, etc.) before they can come take their next turn. That way kids really want to fix it and are working hard towards it but are allowed to keep working on the kip. Also, I do tend to spot kips if they are consistently with bent arms. That is just my philosophy on it. Hope this helps!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I just started at a new gym and have been given the level 4's. The gym is mediocre at best and doesn't have a reputation to win almost ever.
To my surprise, all my girls had all their level 4 skills already and now just need to start cleaning up routines for a season that starts in January. On bars every single one of them has a bent arm "barely up there" kip. So I went back and said no more bent arm kips and started teaching them straight arm only. 3 of my 8 have already gotten them but the others are lagging and aren't getting it yet and it looks like it will take a while. Should I be patient and keep with only accepting straight arms and get them stronger meanwhile or be happy with bent arms and glad that they all have their kips and just try to clean them up as we go?
Thanks!

the latter

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Straight arms. Lots of spotted drop kips and spotted kip casts. shoulders to the ears turtle back. Only let them attempt solo kips on one station and keep apotting .

 

[gymdog]

It really depends, to me there is a difference between "straight arm technique" pulling from shoulders that has slightly bent arms and being on your chest. Being on chest is not okay, using right motion but being not fully locked out is developmentally okay for me.

 

[coach.e]

It really depends, to me there is a difference between "straight arm technique" pulling from shoulders that has slightly bent arms and being on your chest. Being on chest is not okay, using right motion but being not fully locked out is developmentally okay for me.

I really like this perspective. Thank you.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

It really depends, to me there is a difference between "straight arm technique" pulling from shoulders that has slightly bent arms and being on your chest. Being on chest is not okay, using right motion but being not fully locked out is developmentally okay for me.

Agreed completely. What's important is not that the arms are perfectly locked straight, what's important is that the bar is at the hips when they finish, and does not come up to their bellies.

(In my opinion, perfectly-straight-arm kips are like perfectly-straight-arm front hip circles, in that they are purely hypothetical for most gymnasts and not worth the trouble of working for, but I've already argued that at length in another thread)