Grips not right?

[gym law mom]

My daughter got her 1st pair of grips about 2 mos ago. She has done a season as Level 6 and once meet season is over they work giants full time. When she got them(Ten-Os with dowel) one coach told her to get a 0. She tried a pair on and the coach who does bars thought they fit too tightly over the knuckles(I know you can use sandpaper to make the finger holes larger) and told her to give them back and get a size 1. This is our 1st journey into the world of grips, so size, feel etc. are all new. She is past the "feel weird, don't trust myself stage"and they are broken in. Now she is saying that the finger part sometimes slides off her fingers since they are stretching a little.

Big problem is they are going to a big out of state meet and have gone back to doing the Level 6 routines to get ready. She feels fine except on the kip after the clear hip. Says she is "regripping." She thinks she did this during meet season, but then she did bars with bare hands so it didn't make a difference. Now she says she gets the dowel hung up on that skill. I don't know if she is just thinking too much or the grips aren't fitting the way they should. Asked her when she does a clean routine what does she do differently and she says "I probably don't think." This is a kid who normally scored from 9.2 to 9.4 on bars this year and she is just so frustrated.

Any suggestions/thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!!

One solution told to her by a Level 9 was to just take the dowels off---I don't think thats what we want to do.

[JBS]

Sounds like she just needs some more practice with them on that specific set of skills.

Anyway...when sizing uneven bar grips (not men's grips...totally different), the gymnast should be able to open the hand so the palm is flat.

As far as the grips sliding off...this is normal. Many gymnasts have started using a rubber bands to hold them on. How....

1. Hook a regular rubber band (not too thick) between the two finger holes (use a larks head knot).
2. When you put the grips on, pull the rubber band back over the back of the hand and hook it to the buckles of your grips. Just put the strap or velcro through the rubber band and fasten them like normal.
3. Now your grips will not fall off.

Let me know if you don't understand and I'll get a picture for you. US Glove even makes a very popular pair of grips called "Hot Shots" that come with rubber bands. The rubber band hooks to the dowel on their version (see pic below)...just hook it in between the finger holes.


Never mess with grips by cutting the dowel off. If this is really what she wants, you can buy them with the dowel already removed. I forget who makes them, but I'm sure Mike at US Glove could make you any style he carries without the dowel.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

A grip without a dowel is pretty pointless, in my opinion. The dowel is the whole point of the grip.

Grips definitely take awhile to get used to, but it's easily worth it.

[JBS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffrey Taucer A grip without a dowel is pretty pointless, in my opinion. The dowel is the whole point of the grip. Grips definitely take awhile to get used to, but it's easily worth it.

I agree...

[gym law mom]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I showed my daughter the description of the rubber band trick and she said she knew about something like that. Was going to grab a couple tonight and try it. She's also going to try on a teammate's size 0 grips just to see if they feel better/worse. The meet is this weekend, so she'll either have the confidence in the kip or not in 24 hours. I told her I remembered her having a similar problem at the beginning of the season when she was trying to go for clear hips to handstand and had a little trouble keeping that kip under control.

She's the kind of kid, if the coach says cast high---she tries for higher. If he talks to them about big clear hips---she tries giant ones. Sometimes it is a little better to be totally in control than being a little wild.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Bwahahaha, I love those kinds of kids.

[JBS]

Power...what a great thing...just have to figure out how to harness it.

[hammy]

I agree with Geoffrey Taucer when he said that grips without dowels are pointless.

Also, if the finger holes are too big try just wrapping some athletic tape around them--to me, it's a little easier than the rubber band.

Dowel grips are a little scary and weird to get used to--especially with some tricks.

[JBS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by hammy Also, if the finger holes are too big try just wrapping some athletic tape around them--to me, it's a little easier than the rubber band.

Totally forgot about the tape trick...that's what I used to do. It works great!