Women xcel silver beam struggle

[gymnastics<3]

I am an Xcel silver gymnast and recently I’ve been struggling. I feel like I am progressing slower than most of my teammates. Skills that I used to be closer than them to getting they now have an I seem to be getting less close. Overall I feel like I’m getting worse at all my skills and I haven’t gotten a new skill in a while. I’ve lost my flyway, front tuck, and cartwheel on beam in the past 2 months and I’ve been getting a lot less close to countless other skills (ro bhs bt, fhs over vault table instead of silver mat stack, etc.). I’m really having difficulty on beam. A few months ago I had my cartwheel on beam pretty consistently but then I began to lose it for weeks at a time and only get it back for one practice before loosing it again. I still landed it at all my meets but I had to change my acro to a handstand after my last meet because cartwheels are so inconsistent at practice. Now while I work on cartwheels at practice, which I’ve completely lost now and can’t even do on a low beam, my teammates are working on back walkovers, which some of them have gotten even though I used to be closer to getting it than them. Whenever I do get to practice back walkovers, I can’t put my hands correctly ever. I put them sideways, next to each other which makes me twist off the beam. I’ve asked multiple coaches for help with my hand placement but nothing they do has helped.

 

[gymnastics<3]

I forgot to mention, my coaches told me that I am being moved to gold next year. I am worried that I won’t get my cartwheel or back walkover in time and I will only have one acro on beam. I’m scared that they won’t move to to gold if that happens, even though I’m a second year silver,

 

[RTT2]

Have you gone through a growth spurt recently? It can take time to adjust as your body changes and some skills may temporarily feel harder. It also sounds like you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Remember that this is supposed to be fun! Try going back to the basics and the drills that led you to getting the skills initially and try not to compare yourself to your teammates. Every gymnast hits bumps- just keep putting in the work and you will get past this.

 

[gymnastics<3]

Have you gone through a growth spurt recently? It can take time to adjust as your body changes and some skills may temporarily feel harder. It also sounds like you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Remember that this is supposed to be fun! Try going back to the basics and the drills that led you to getting the skills initially and try not to compare yourself to your teammates. Every gymnast hits bumps- just keep putting in the work and you will get past this.

Thank you for the advice! All of that sounds about right. I’m really trying to change my mindset/put less pressure on myself.

 

[MMgym]

I’m sure your coach is giving you drills for this stuff but I am also working on my cartwheel on beam and this has really helped me. What I do is I use a floor beam/low beam and have a mat or mat stack at the end of it. I put a line of tape on the mat the width of the beam and the do the cartwheel putting my hands on the beam and then landing on the mat. Then you can progress to landing one foot on the beam and the back foot on the mat (I put mat stacks around the beam too because I sometimes worry about landing on the edge of the beam and twisting my ankle) and eventually landing both feet on the beam. I don’t know if that makes any sense but it really helps me because I still get the feel of doing it on a beam versus just a line on the floor, but even if I land crooked I know I won’t fall/ get hurt. It also helps me to just go for it and do the cartwheel quickly because the momentum makes it easier (I know that’s harder to do than it sounds). Sorry this is really long but good luck! And take your time, this won’t work overnight.

 

[Coach Kate]

As far as moving to gold, there are a ton of acro options too! You only need one vertical acro, so the handstand would count, and then you could also do a forward roll or back shoulder roll. Further, you could use bridge kickover as a stepping stone to back walkovers, and many of the kids on our group actually prefer tick tocks to back walkovers because they can see right where they're going. Always talk to your coaches about what might work for you. I know at our gym, we love Xcel because we see each gymnast's routine as a puzzle to be put together based on her own individual strengths.

 

[art vs sport]

I found back walkovers easier than cartwheels on beam. I was REALLY flexible and would put my wrists together , palms on beams and fingers on the side of the beam. easy to watch first foot land. should be ok if you have the shoulder and back flexibility. try on floor landing in a scale (arabesque) and s l o w l y put 2nd foot down. can try cartwheel on floor landing in scale also. If you can land in a controlled scale you should not have a problem on beam . stay tight in your core and you should be able to do it on high beam in on the high beam soon. GOOD LUCK AND KEEP YER CHIN UP .( tucked in if appropriate LOL)

 

[gymnastics<3]

As far as moving to gold, there are a ton of acro options too! You only need one vertical acro, so the handstand would count, and then you could also do a forward roll or back shoulder roll. Further, you could use bridge kickover as a stepping stone to back walkovers, and many of the kids on our group actually prefer tick tocks to back walkovers because they can see right where they're going. Always talk to your coaches about what might work for you. I know at our gym, we love Xcel because we see each gymnast's routine as a puzzle to be put together based on her own individual strengths.

Thanks for the insight! For some reason I blanked on the fact that I could change my acro. I’ve tried back shoulder rolls before and managed to do them successfully so that might be a good option for me. I also would love to try tick tocks. I will make sure to ask my coaches about that.