WAG Working bars with rips.

[Gymnast2009]

Would you as a coach, make a 13 year old girl in excel gold with a low pain tolerance work bars with a rip? Not a bloody one or anything, but a normal one that is taped.

 

[superNova08]

I will always require girls to work some aspect of bars. Now, that may be on strap bar, or just drills off to the side. If they don't feel comfortable practicing bars and its not during competition, I won't make them do full skills, but I do want to build up the pain tolerance and keep strength and technique while the rip heals. I highly encourage always having tape grips for levels 3 and up along with Silver and up for Excel that way when a rip does occur, you have a layer helping to prevent some friction against the bar. Even if a gymnast wears grips I find that it really helps. But ultimately yes, I would force a gymnast of this age to fight through some pain and work bars. Now, it would be different for a different injury, just to be clear.
As a side note: If a girl is bleeding, crying, bruised, or swollen in any place, I will not require them to use that place, and give them conditioning not involving that limb.

 

[Coach Kate]

We typically try to do at least some bar work with rips, but limit swinging as necessary and offer other options if it's really bothering them, especially if there's not a meet coming up. Usually casting doesn't bug them too much, or squat on holds, and then floor stations and drills.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Tis the season for rips. And you do bars with or without them.

 

[Dahlialover]

Kids have a right to set boundaries about their bodies. It’s appropriate for a coach to explain that learning to handle rips is a normal part of the sport and to encourage the child to power through if they can. But forcing/coercing with anger, threats, or disparaging comments is not cool.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

We typically try to do at least some bar work with rips, but limit swinging as necessary and offer other options if it's really bothering them, especially if there's not a meet coming up. Usually casting doesn't bug them too much, or squat on holds, and then floor stations and drills.

Agreed. I don't make kids do anything if they have rips - I encourage them to try activities that fit their pain threshold, which for some is drilling every skill in a floor version, dish and arch rocks instead of swings.
I know a child who was told to just keep going and her rip developed into a fairly bad infection. Hygiene and infection control are the first consideration. As a coach I don't want to be the cause of an infected hand nor do I want the kid to be off bars even longer because of a preventable situation.
I had an athlete who had a nasty rip prior to comp and I made it very clear she didn't have to do bars, but offered help to tape it up and ice to reduce pain if she really wanted to compete. It's just a youth sport (often low level) at the end of the day.

 

[superNova08]

Kids have a right to set boundaries about their bodies. It’s appropriate for a coach to explain that learning to handle rips is a normal part of the sport and to encourage the child to power through if they can. But forcing/coercing with anger, threats, or disparaging comments is not cool.

Definitely this! Coercion, anger, threats, and disparaging comments are not at all acceptable whatsoever.

 

[superNova08]

Hygiene and infection control are the first consideration.

Definitely. I always make sure that my athletes know exactly how to properly treat their rips.

I don't make kids do anything if they have rips

Neither do I but I will strongly encourage drills and things like casting/squat-ons rather than swinging.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

Both our current gym and our previous one expects girls to continue doing bars with a rip, especially one that isn’t bleeding. Just tape it and keep going. If you can’t swing bars, you can go to strap bar or work drills. I feel like a 13 year old should really be able to push through to do -something- with a non bloody rip, but that’s just my perspective

 

[Aussie_coach]

Yes. Some things are more painful than others.

With rips it’s hardest to do anything where the hands move on the bar with friction. It’s hard to do kips, swings, glides, giants, circle skills and routines.

Many kids can still do things like casts, pirouettes, strap bar and drills.

If the rip is pretty bad and they can’t do that, there are still lots of bar drills that don’t require grasping a bar at all.

 

[JBS]

Would you as a coach, make a 13 year old girl in excel gold with a low pain tolerance work bars with a rip? Not a bloody one or anything, but a normal one that is taped.

Xcel Gold... no. I don't make anyone work bars with rips... but I can tell you that our top bar workers definitely work bars with rips.