Anon Upgrades during meet season?

[Anonymous Post]

Curious - does your gym have the girls work upgrades during meet season? Our gym doesn't but I've seen quite a few that do.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Yes, always. I believe upgrading should be a year round process. Not something we do for a few months.

It also keeps the fire lit in the gymnasts and working in harder skills, makes their level skills feel easier.

 

[Anonymous Post]

It seems our gym does work on upgrades during meet season, while cleaning up their routines in each event for the current season/level. I have seen some gymnasts add in the upgraded skill/pass into their routines mid-season as well, although it is not expected.

 

[Anonymous Post]

My daughter's team starts upgrading when the excitement of learning the new routines had started to wear off and the first competition was done and over with. Yes, they kept practising their current levels, but that gets very boring after a while. They aren't leaning the routines, just a different technique/element every week

 

[Anonymous Post]

We do, although it isn't the focus like it is in the summer. My daughter upgraded one tumbling pass during the season and added a more advanced skill to her beam routine mid-season, so it happens. Our gym is really strict about not letting the girls add a skill to a routine until it's perfect. Based on what I've seen at meets, not all gyms adhere to this philosophy.

 

[Anonymous Post]

AT the lower levels probably not as much as the optional levels but yes they do uptrain during meet season. Typically there is a "day" that they focus on uptraining and other days for routines and basics and what not.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Honestly, our gym does not do much if any uptraining during regular season. They do start some after regular season regardless of if they are competing in the post season (regionals, nationals). Our season is really so short with usually 5-6 meets in 2 months or so (mid January through mid March (state meet). Once meets start, the focus is on perfecting the routines and improving from meet to meet. I still think they have plenty of time to focus on upgrades the other 9-10 months.

 

[Anonymous Post]

My daughter switched from a gym that didn’t to a gym that does (Although not for this reason).

She prefers year ‘round upgrades. It just makes sense to keep working progressions than to put it all on the shelf for several months and then try to pick it up again. And once you are in the optional levels, you use most upgrades as soon as they are ready anyway, so there is nothing to be gained from putting them off until later.

Also, the gym shuts down for at least three weeks over Christmas, which is the middle of our upgrade season (Competition season is June -September) and they lose the first week back doing strength and conditioning and feeling horribly sore, so it’s a bad time to have the pressure on for new skills / deciding levels etc.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Our gym works on upgrades year round, but less during meet season, especially the first months, when routines will be the focus.

 

[SupportingHerDreams]

Our gym seems to work upgrades year round but they are more of a focus during the offseason.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Our gym does, but probably not in ways that would be obvious to the uninformed observer. That is, they're not working on "new skills" but often rather the deconstructed building blocks of those new skills which are quickly assembled into skills when ready.

Doing it this way results in seemly no "new skills" during season but a very quick transition during the summer.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Our gym tries to work upgrades year round but it all depends on how well the girls have their routines down. My daughter definitely prefers summer when they are working on new skills all the time.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Our gym works on upgrades all year, but the crunch time is definitely May to October for upgrades. Occasionally they'll add or change elements in the routine mid-season. They usually concentrate on perfecting routines when in the thick of the competition season and for at least one week before each competition.