Body Types from the parents forum!

[gymgymgymnast08]

vmom
Proud Parent
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 9



Body types
Has it been anyone's experience that larger/muscular gymnasts don't score as well in compulsaries on floor and beam? My daughter is shaped more like Mary Lou Retton rather than Nastia L. It seems no matter how good her routines are technically, she scores lower than the other girls. It's gone so far as to one of her coaches suggesting she wear the leg seams on her leo higher to make her legs look longer. On bars and vault she scores right up there (if not higher) than her team mates. Is her body shape not looking "dancey" enough? It seems like the thin girls with the long legs score better on floor and vault. Just curious. Thanks. (P.S.- I would never do anything to encourage my daughter to try and change her body shape!!! Just so there are no concerns. She's beautiful and strong just the way she is!)



Ok I thought i'd post this in the chalkbucket forum so everyone can post on it.

I am definitely one of those gymnasts built like Mary Lou Retton. Short muscular and built like a fire plug. I have always scored lower then my friends on floor because I am not that good of a dancer but I think some judges will give taller people better scores because they have good long lines so it just looks better.

Beam I usually score better then my teammates only because I usually stay on and they don't always. I'd say if we both landed depending on what skills we both did they might get higher scores by a little. I don't have the best form so that could be it too but it might be the long lines looking better.

Being built like Mary Lou is definitely better for tumbling and vault and bars. I am a good tumbler and powerful. See I would score better on floor if its just tumbling but then the dance I score lower. On beam I score pretty high because my series ( back handspring backhandspring) is concistant.... Bars is probably my best event because you don't have to do anything with dance. Vault I'm pretty powerful on.

Some judges might give better scores for long lines but us gymnasts built like Mary Lou Retton have advantages in bars tumbling and vault!

[ZJsMom]

I haven't noticed judges scoring differently based on body type in the meets I've attended. There's one girl from another gym who competes my dd's level and is quite short and stocky (you could call her chubby), but she does amazingly well. Same on the the boys' side. There's a boy in our state who competes my son's level and is really big, but scores really well. I enjoy seeing kids who don't necessarily look like the stereotyypical pixie gymnast doing well in gymnastics.

[cccam]

see! thats the only reason i get so ticked off at people [mostly on youtube] going around hating shawn johnson and other gymnasts built like her. i think its very rude to descriminate against any body type at all. Especially for a judge, its not fair and not somthing the gymnast can control or change. not that shawns body type is the only one being discriminated against, there is a girl in my gym who is 5'5" and not the "lightest" person in the world if you know what i mean, but she is an amazing gymnast with extradinary power [plus her execution is very good] but i hear some of the other kids making fun of the fact she isn't small. Its disgraceful. Even i am discriminated against. I am a very long legged girl, but because of the fact i am so tall, [5'7" now] i was told im not allowed to join team. i believe the exact words were "not what were looking for"

[gymgymgymnast08]

we have a girl whos like 5'8 5'9 and shes good! its not about ur body type

[gymnasticsbabie]

a lot of people "discriminate" against shawn johnson for her flexibility problems, not for her body type. she has an extremely muscular build, but she is similar in her build to alicia sacramone. its possible to have flexibility AND a muscular build. i also have a muscular build and in compulsory levels i wouldn't get high scores either (i don't know if that was because i wasn't "graceful" or because i just didn't have good form) however now it is not the case. once you get to optional levels and you are able to chose your skills it is much easier for you to get around skills that don't take grace to do and put an emphasis on skills that require a lot of power

for your case gymgymgymnast, we are built the same. however i dont score high on things like bars because i don't have a body like nastia's. i don't think judges "discriminate" against short stockier builds because hell look at the girls who are the best in the world (shawn and alicia) and they are built just like us

[gymgymgymnast08]

yeah man shawn and alicia are amazing! And look at Mary Lou! She was an amazing gymnast too!

[vmom]

Hey, thanks for posting this here. It really may be the judges in our state that prefer longer lines. Plus the compulsary routines are not always a "good fit" for every gymnast. She can't wait to get to optionals and have routines that highlight her strengths. I totally agree that Shawn, Alicia and of course the fabulous Mary Lou are amazing. I try to encourage my daughter to look to them and a lot of college gymnasts for inspiration!

[I-Heart-Beam]

As a 4"11 girl who likes her food, I think that different routine types suit different girls: if nastia did shawn's routine she would look stupid and vice versa. its finding what's best for you that's hard but I definitely think the pixie girls have "more traditional" lines and that's how they manage to score higher. It's really unfair though!!!!

[cccam]

[quote=I-Heart-Beam;18933]As a 4"11 girl who likes her food, [quote]

i-heart-beam, that was the best thing i have ever heard of! Thats the bst starting line i mean.

Mine would start off like this: "as a 5'7" girl whose in love with everything containing sugar" lol

[hammy]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but a lot of college gymnasts in the US are not the skinny, stereotypical gymnast.