- Sep 3, 2005
- 8,791
- 7,529
My dd is 11 years old and level 9. She's progressed quickly, but right now she is having trouble. Last season she had a block on her bhs bhs bb series. She is working towards getting it and has done it quite consistently lately. All of a sudden now, she has a fear of doing her giants and dismount. Both "blocks" are out of the blue with nothing happening to cause them. My dh and I had a long talk with her yesterday and she said she loved gym and did not want to quit, ever! But is she really ready to quit? We've always been supportive, but never pushy. Gym is something SHE loves. She is an emotional child, so when her coaches get upset with her (over the blocks) she shuts down. They don't want to work with her, the other day she got sent home because she wouldn't do it. Any advice? Do we push her to quit?
In my opinion she needs time to discover if it is time or not. She is very young. When the body enters the fight or flight response...there is nothing that one can do...it is automatic...
The "fight or flight response" is our body's primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to "fight" or "flee" from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival.
Now read the definition in Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response
Notice this part...
also called the fight-or-flight-or-freeze response
The only way to do the skill again is to NOT enter the fight or flight response.
-------------------------------------------
OK...now...search this site for the term "vestibular". Read all the posts and threads about it...here is Wikipedia again...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system
Read this post...
Link Removed
-------------------------------------------
Your child is 11...a time when many grow. When the body changes...the vestibular system gets thrown out of wack for a while. This causes one automatic system (vestibular system) of the body to trigger an automatic response (fight or flight or FREEZE)...the kid freezes...no skill happens. Stress makes all of this worse.
-------------------------------------------
This is all just my take on this...what do I know?
I know that we are now pulling more kids through this time at our club. We are not treating them as "broken"...we are treating them as "normal". We are going over all of this with them. We are telling them that they cannot control it and that is OK.
We are simply giving our gymnasts time and information. The human body is amazing.
Give them things that they are able to do to get the vestibular system back in line. Will they do it with a spot?...will they back tumble on 8" mats?...will they play add-a-trick on trampoline with no issues? No...then just ignore the whole issue and give them time. Try...try...try...but don't drive the gymnast crazy because you can't fix them...they are not "broken".
I'm rambling now...later.