Parents sweaty gymnast - use of chalk at meets on all 4 events

[e'smum]

so dd has been called puddles from the owner/coach since she started team and she's only 9. her hands and feet are a sweaty mess - she has been known to leave puddles behind on mats from her feet and hands. she uses a ton of chalk. at her mobility meet in august she slipped on the vault springboard because her feet were so sweaty. that's never happened before. luckily she nailed her 2nd vault but she was fighting back full blown crying. she's not a crier. she wasn't scared to do her 2nd vault, thank goodness, but the slip freaked her out. she says some of the older girls sweat like this too. i told her i'd get her a little thing of chalk to keep with her at meets. she needs it for beam too. the last thing i want is a slip off beam following her BHS.
can she do this? she's already asked me a couple of times about it. i want her to have it so she doesn't have to run over to the chalk buckets if it's on the other side of the room. any other suggestions for a sweaty gymnast? i can't imagine what it's going to be like when her hormones kick in! she already lives at the bucket at our gym now. haha

 

[gymdog]

Have you tried that liquid chalk/grip stuff?

 

[e'smum]

Have you tried that liquid chalk/grip stuff?

no - despite dd going to level 6 this season, i still feel new to the sport. she just got grips in march/april! i'll look into that - thank you!
ps - this was not what i had planned for our lives and i wasn't into gymnastics as a kid or with watching the olympics... it's still a mystery to me.

 

[MabelSt]

I don't know about for a kid- but can't Botox be used for excess sweating?

 

[gymdog]

Not sure they do that treatment on hands and feet. The stuff I am talking about is kind of like an anti perspirant you can put on your hands and feet. They make it for rock climbers, but there's also prescription strength ones. I guess you would see a dermatologist?

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Search here. I know it has been discussed! There's a deodorant/antiperspirant that really helps. Has she considered beam shoes? I know it's a little old school but some of our gymmies have ended up basically having to use them because nobody wants to be sharing a beam with them otherwise, as they are leaving puddles behind...

 

[gymdoc]

We have 2 puddle makers on our L6 team. They both have a small container of chalk that they carry to each event. They use it even at practice so they can stick their feet in it

 

[e'smum]

i knew mine wasn't the only one going about leaving her mark on equipment! thanks for all the feedback!

 

[aerials]

My dd's team has one like this too. Their coach will not allow chalk except for bars so she (and some of the older girls) use a spray antip/deodorant. Others on here have mentioned it before so you should be able to find it on here. It seems to work well.

 

[MomIdidit!]

Certain dry can be purchased at Target. Drysol works great but you need a prescription.....doc suggested 8 yo dd only use drysol during meets and certain dry daily. Drysol works great but it's strong.

Keep us posted and I hope they work for DD....it's a tough enough sport so it stinks when they have to worry about the excess sweat on top of everything else.

 

[CLgym]

We are in the exact same situation. It is crazy how much my DD's hands and feet sweat. Slipping on vault? Yup. Puddles on beam? Yup. We have started using Certain Dri on hands/feet (apply at night after bath) -- although DD reports little to no improvement. Talked to pediatrician just a couple of weeks ago and she suggested seeing a pediatric dermatologist. (Which reminds me I need to make an appointment!) My google research suggests that Botox of the hands and feet would require literally hundreds of very painful shots every 6-12 months and therefore did not seem like a good solution for younger kids (My DD just turned 8 years old; Level 4). DD also recently asked for beam shoes -- so we are gonna try those too. At least the beam coach now allows DD to use chalk.

Good luck and please keep me posted on your sweaty journey.... I'd love to hear about any possible solutions!

 

[ascarter1]

so dd has been called puddles from the owner/coach since she started team and she's only 9. her hands and feet are a sweaty mess - she has been known to leave puddles behind on mats from her feet and hands. she uses a ton of chalk. at her mobility meet in august she slipped on the vault springboard because her feet were so sweaty. that's never happened before. luckily she nailed her 2nd vault but she was fighting back full blown crying. she's not a crier. she wasn't scared to do her 2nd vault, thank goodness, but the slip freaked her out. she says some of the older girls sweat like this too. i told her i'd get her a little thing of chalk to keep with her at meets. she needs it for beam too. the last thing i want is a slip off beam following her BHS.
can she do this? she's already asked me a couple of times about it. i want her to have it so she doesn't have to run over to the chalk buckets if it's on the other side of the room. any other suggestions for a sweaty gymnast? i can't imagine what it's going to be like when her hormones kick in! she already lives at the bucket at our gym now. haha

Us gym moms were reading through the code of points recently, and came across a deduction for excessive chalk use...

We call my daughter mop hands, so I get the crazy chalk issue!