yes. the system is being dumbed down intentionally due to injuries and so many kids quitting from year to year. it's becoming a problem. and if you follow usa gymnastics statistics, our industry only replaces those that quit from the prior year. low level is growing and high level is diminishing. i have posted before, less than 2% are producing the kids that go to level 10 nationals and then the elite level. it is a minority sport at the high end.
the only tools that usa gymnastics can put in place to control injuries/safety is to require less. and then disallow other skills altogether.
i can tell you that for every 'good' yurchenko you see at level 8, there will be 5 that follow that are downright reckless. poor judgement is being used in allowing these children to perform these vaults to soon. and the judges are starting to voice their opinions about having to watch kids almost kill themselves EVERY week end.
what you will see happen is the kids stay down at certain levels longer to allow them the time they need to develop. prior to 1988, we had 3 levels of gymnastics. class 3 compulsory, class 3 compulsory & optional, class 2 compulsory & optional, and class 1 compulsory and optional. as you can see, you entered class 3 first doing compulsory only. then progressed to compulsory and optional routines practiced and competed at 3, 2, and 1. it took years, and rightfully so, to become a gymnast in this system.
television is the reason compulsories were eliminated. same for figure skating. i can expound if you want, but i'm sure most of you are sophisticated enough to see how compulsories could take up alot of advertising time. and television controls sports and their governing bodies...not the other way around.
when compulsories were eliminated, us old timers knew that it would be detrimental to a developmental system and deleterious to the children. i travel all over the country. i'm brought in to do clinics for gyms and regional congresses. i am amazed how little is known about uneven bar complex. i am saddened that kids don't climb ropes in their gyms. if you can't climb a rope...you can't do bars. this would be the reason that rope climb was implemented in to the tops program. i'm amazed that coaches don't naturally know that children must be taught ALL uneven bar work with straight elbows. form is one thing, and takes time to develop. but so many kids doing bars with bent elbows.
i could go on and on. usa gymnastics can see what is going on and what the trends are. and now everyone wants to start competing level 3 and down. i predicted this would happen over 10 years ago. i am VERY vocal in my state, my region, and at the national level.
i could touch on all the events, both boys and girls, but would like to simplify for time. and for all the coaches that might read the following here, i ask only that you be honest. you have a girl moving from 5 to 6. they hit the dreaded dead end with a scary fly away. your instincts tell you that the fly away will be the end of their career. what are the options? a tanac, comaneci, toe on front off, blind change to some kind of front dismount, a cross grip giant to front somi, single bar hecht dismounts, clear hip front offs, and giant swing to snap down tsuk to name a few.. now, how many of you know how to teach these skills? and how long will it take to go another direction with dismounts such as these as they now don't fit the norm and will make the construction of a bar routine a little more complicated. and how will you explain this to the parents? and how will you get your owners to get you the education you need to teach skills like these for the kids THAT YOU KNOW will have chronic fly away problems?
the gymnastics education system in the USA is limited by a free enterprise system. and most club owners today want nothing to do with high level optional gymnastics. so we have a chasm in what could be done and what no one wants anything to do with.
i don't want to go off in several directions. there are so many issues affecting gymnastics today. and gymjoy, you are right . it will make the transition from 9 to 10 almost impossible. and you're right again about the advanced 8's moving to 9 even though they may have fundamental deficiencies. there is a shortage of level 9's and 10's. the numbers are down all over the country. even in region 5. this might be what the sport is demanding so that the children that need to move to more advanced gyms will do so.
i realize my response/rant to the dad on the other post looks outta line. and i don't need to put someone in their place as gymgranny let me know. i'm trying to help YOU ALL out. the dad is frustrated/anxious by what he is beginning to realize in his daughter's trials and tribulations in gymnastics, thinks somehow that he can "fix" it by becoming knowledeable. someone else told me that nothing was wrong with having the knowledge, etc; but in gymnastics, what good is this knowledge if you don't know how to coach? all this knowledge will accomplish is making you gymnastics smart. now what?
i think that this dad started out on a post about a "blind change". i recognized in his language what was going on. at the risk of being presumptious to all of you, i bet a steak dinner [i love steak] that his daughter/athlete is not able to do 10 perfect giants swings in a row to a fly away, 5 clear hip to handstands with straight elbows, 5 perfect press handstands in a row on a floor bar and then some kind of floor bar blind change drill whether done on a floor bar, the floor itself, or tramp bar. this gym is figuring it out as they go along. and unless they have a coach with lots of experience and has taught hundreds of blind changes to hundreds of children, then the dad will have to be patient until the gym's learning curve catches up to where his daughter is. or it could be waiting for his daughter's learning curve to catch up to where her ability lies. either way, patience is called for.
so, big changes are on the horizon for 2012 and beyond. you will see our country become more centralized in our training of athletes. the writing has been on the wall for 5 years running.
so, if you have any other questions you know where to find me. right here with the rest of you.
JJ
