WAG Bent knees still in optionals

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Ellen Jean

Proud Parent
My DD struggled all through compulsory with her form. It seemed no matter how hard she tried or trained she could not fix her bent knees or point her toes. Her coaches always told her she would be a better optional gymnast. Here we are 4 years later and she is set to compete level 7 this coming season. They had their skills test today and my DD scored low. She has always pushed through and stayed with the sport because she truly loves it. She is 11 and last season was her hardest year to date as the low scores and not winning started affecting her more than before. She was excited at the thought of doing optionals because of hope her coaches had given her in the past. After tonight I once again had a teary eyed little girl who can't figure out why she isn't improving. I'm hoping someone will have a suggestion that might work with her on improving in these two areas. She has all her skills and some level 8 skills but her form is not great and showed in her test today. Ive always supported her and encouraged her to continue and her hard work will eventually pay off. At what point is it time to try a new sport? Or is there still hope her form will eventually come? I want to be supportive but it is starting to break my heart.
 
Sounds like she's a determined little thing to have stuck with it through all these levels - it would be a shame to give up if she still loves it. Has she tried ballet classes to help with straightening the legs and pointing the toes?
 
Well DD has a teammate who scored low as a compulsory gymnast. She had flexed feet that turned in at the knees and a slight bend that always seemed present in her knees. She had more power than she knew what to do with and when adrenaline kicked in that was magnified. Once she started competing level 7 she started scoring better each meet, than she began quickly gaining more and more skills. She was 11 in level 7 then ended up scoring out of 8 and competing 9. Long story short, 11 is not old for level 7, if coaches say she will be a strong optional believe them. If your daughter loves the sport and wants to do it keep encouraging her. It's hard to watch them struggle and be frustrated and upset, just keep reminding her of how far she has already come since starting this journey.
 
What do you think the root cause of her issue are? Is it a flexibility issue? How much do they focus on it in practice? Does she pay attention to it in drills and warmups? Every little bit of focus on it helps.

If it isn't coming naturally through her training, I would figure out how to address it elsewhere. My dd is very flexible (oversplits all 3 ways and great back and shoulder flexibility), but she had a hard time pointing her toes well -- like physically really couldn't do it easily. Turns out, her calf muscles are really tight making it hard to engage the right muscles quickly. Her foot is also shockingly immobile. Some specific stretching from her PT and focus on that area during warmup has helped immensely.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the replies. She definitely is not the most flexible. I will have her focus more on her stretching at practice because I know sometimes they forget there is a purpose for them. She took ballet privates for a while, she has a separate ballet class at gym and her coach all working on her knees and toes. I know she is excited about optionals but I'm worried she will be disappointed if she doesn't do well. She has been told for four years she will do better as an optional so she has high expectations for that first meet.
 
Probably the best thing you could do to help her is have her take a bath and then massage her hamstrings and calf muscles and then do some light stretching. You cannot straighten your knee easily if your hammys are all bound up. If you do that a few times a week, it should help...another option would be PT with a focus on increasing her flexibility to prevent injury.
 
Not able and not doing are Seperate issues. Can she point her toes and keep her legs together while sitting?
 
Not able and not doing are Seperate issues. Can she point her toes and keep her legs together while sitting?

This is very true...my dd couldn't physically engage the muscles to do this....it was like her foot/toes were frozen. It was bizarre because she is really flexible elsewhere so this was not the first thing to come to mind. She was having Achilles and foot pain, so we went to PT -- and that is where the connection was made. It's much much better, both the pain (it's gone) and the foot and ankle flexibility.
 
Not able and not doing are Seperate issues. Can she point her toes and keep her legs together while sitting?
Coachp, my dd is able to sit with legs together and straight and point her toes but struggles with bent legs in a lot of her tumbling. Most noticeable in standing bhs vs running robhs. Coaches have been working with her since our gym switch in March but she still struggles. Are there things she can do at home such as certain stretches?
 

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