WAG Fear of BWO on beam.

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AgingHippie

Proud Parent
My DD just started training L5 and is afraid to attempt a BWO on the medium height beam. She has been doing it successfully on the low beam for a few weeks. The coach will not spot a BWO on beam as she told dd it's harder to do it alone if she gets used to a spot. There will be a coaching change next week due to the new season and DD says she is just scared and is going to wait for the new coach to see if she will spot her instead. Is this a typical fear when learning this skill? I'm worried the new coach will get frustrated over this.
 
My DD has an on again off again relationship with her BWO on beam. Even when they are on again, even when she thinks they are fun, they are still scary to her. She has been at a few gyms, all with differing approaches, and some worked for her and some not. One in particular was spectacularly bad for her (no spotting and had to restart from a back bend kick over, which was horrifying to my DD). My DD works best with a mental spot for the first two and then being allowed to ask the spot to back away when she's ready. If they aren't allowed to have a spot, are they allowed to stack the mats? Would she be allowed a spot in a private? Sometimes kids can get attached to spots, and sometimes they need them just for a bit.
 
As a coach, I prefer to spot them sparingly until they are more comfortable on the low beam, then do lot of reps by themselveson the low until they are comfortable. They can always go back to the last place they were comfortable, I.e. If you're doing them well on the low beam and balk on the middle beam, you go back to the low beam and do enough reps to be comfortable and then try again. If you're good to go on the medium beam with an 8"er under but balk at the high beam? Go back to the medium. :) Rinse and repeat as necessary.
I don't like spotting them on the high beams because by the time they get to work them on high beam I want them to be completely comfortable with doing them on the lower ones without spotting.

My own DD didn't have any issues with the BWO, she just kinda upped and did it when she was doing an extra workout with a higher level group, but she had a very elaborate set up in place when she was working on the BHS. Lots of moving mats around and getting everything just so, lol! Finally her coach convinced her she didn't need all that stuff and she went for it, and did just fine. :)
 
I feel your pain. My daughter is also training level 5 and has been having an on and off relationship with the BWO on the high beam. It is torturous to watch. She has done them very well on the high beam and then will start balking again at the next practice. Her coach just has her back track to the lower beam until she feels comfortable again. Her coach also avoids spotting. It is definitely not easy to watch your child struggle with the fear. But, I am hoping that she will be able to work through it. I wish your daughter luck!!
 
I'm sorry she is struggling. We have been there! My DD competed Level 5 and had a solid BWO on beam. Never fell during a competition, no fears while learning it. Then came training Level 6 skills and the dreaded BHS on beam. She suddenly became afraid of all backward tumbling. She couldn't do a BHS on the low beam or a BWO on any beam, and it even started to affect her ROBHSBT on floor. There were lots of tears and frustration and she even talking about quitting. It was a long few months and I honestly thought she wouldn't stick with gymnastics. Her coaches had her go back to working BWO and BHS progressions on the floor, then floor beam, then low beam, etc and the skills came back little by little. She even conquered the BHS just in time to compete Level 6. Her coaches will spot if needed but they try to be pretty hands off as soon as they can for those skills. Maybe the change in coaching will be good for your DD. Is she allowed to stack mats? The best tip I can offer is don't watch! I am sometimes at the gym because my other kid does a rec class and it was so hard watching DD struggle. But she just had to get it in her own time and I learned to not watch and not ask her direct questions after practice. I'd just offer support when she was down about it, telling her that everyone gets skills at different rates, her coaches know she's ready, her body knows what to do, there is no rush, etc. Of course in DD's mind EVERYONE else had the skill except her! Which wasn't true of course but it felt that way to her. Good luck to your DD!
 
I think any back tumbling can inspire fear. My DD has an on-again/off-again relationship with her BWO. I've noticed that she needs a spot to start, but then gains confidence and is okay. But change the beam or the coach and we start all over again with gaining that confidence. Eventually she'll realize she can do the skill and will move on to the next fear.
 
It's pretty typical. DD always likes to have her 1st 'whatever' spotted. She doesn't even care if it's a pretend spot; she just cares about the proximity.

However, she had a different beam coach last practice, and Coach flat out refused. Told her to do it herself. (This was a BT dismount, BTW). She'd been struggling with this fear for nearly a year, though she has been getting more comfortable recently. Anyway, she did it without a "spot" and did several more afterward.
After I picked her up, she told me she's not afraid anymore. She had it in her head that she could not do the skill if her first one wasn't spotted.
 
My daughter had it, competed it and can no longer do it. I caught beam at pick up on my carpool night this week. In 45 minutes she attempted 3 bwo and fell on all 3, 1 badly because her hand slipped off. The coach never even came over to her. She went to the bathroom twice, got a couple of drinks, wrote in her beam book, etc. She said that's what beam is usually like for her for the last few months. She was beam state champion in November and usually had scores between 9.5 and 9.7.
 
I feel your pain! DD gym does NOT spot beam. Period.
My DD style is she is usually one of the first to throw a new skill, or try it etc.....but then fear catches up, and gets stuck on the low beam, or a beam with the mat etc.....then the rest of her team gets the skill, and puts it on the high beam quickly, and THEN she reluctanlty will do it as she is supposed to.....but this can be months......patience.....
but there is no spot......once the girl gets it, its theirs forever...(in theory)
 
My own DD didn't have any issues with the BWO, she just kinda upped and did it when she was doing an extra workout with a higher level group, but she had a very elaborate set up in place when she was working on the BHS. Lots of moving mats around and getting everything just so, lol! Finally her coach convinced her she didn't need all that stuff and she went for it, and did just fine.
Oh how I LOVE to watch little gymnasts with their wierd rituals! it is the cutest thing!! i have seen setups that take 10+ minutes to set up.....very very specific and exact!
 
My daughter had it, competed it and can no longer do it. I caught beam at pick up on my carpool night this week. In 45 minutes she attempted 3 bwo and fell on all 3, 1 badly because her hand slipped off. The coach never even came over to her. She went to the bathroom twice, got a couple of drinks, wrote in her beam book, etc. She said that's what beam is usually like for her for the last few months. She was beam state champion in November and usually had scores between 9.5 and 9.7.


Hang in there - I know how hard it is to see them struggle on something you "know" they "can" do...DD scored 9.5s on beam all year as a level 7 with a L8 series - then missed an entire year of comp (including 3 months of gym completely) after developing a fear of BHS-BHS series which spread to "all things backwards" - it started with vestibular issues and puberty/growth - not sure if your DD is going through some similar changes.

What I know is that I really want a coach to come over and "fix it for her"....but that when her previous coach tried to do just that for months (and it looked like it worked as she was able to compete it flawlessly in meets - I only later found out that she never did them in practice...) it ended up backfiring in that her whole sense of herself as a gymnast was wrapped up in that particular skill - same thing happened when she later "lost" her giants and the new bars coach had her on pit bar ALL SUMMER doing that one skill - even though she had been a high placing bars worker in 2 years of L7 without competing giants - so she lost her freehip to handstand and pirouette...and believed that she "stunk at bars", and hates giants so much that she didn't do them again for 6 months after that coach left - now having to get them back - again!

If the coach is leaving your DD alone on beam and letting her work on it as she can - that may be the coaches way of saying "this too shall pass and its no big deal". Its common for them to "lose" these skills at certain ages/stages and for many girls patience and time is the ONLY thing that resolved the issue - other than going back to earlier drills and trying new skills - DD new coach has her doing more front tumbling both on floor and beam - and is willing to be extremely creative with her routines - if DD will just get out there and compete again. I think the coaching approach is great - I don't know if it will keep DD in gym, but she's learning alot about herself -

I do need to try to NEVER watch, though, as it breaks my heart to see her working with the level 6s on stuff she did well 3 years ago....even if in between I catch her throwing a few new L8/L9 skills flawlessly....
 
Oh my gosh, @gracyomalley I could never watch that. I do want the coach to fix it, but know that only my daughter can fix the problem. I'm not happy that my daughter is allowed to just waste time instead of doing the skill or any practice for that matter. I'm sure the coach has a plan, at least I hope so. I feel for your daughter (and you). She must have great perserverance to keep trying after so many setbacks.
 
Thanks for all the reply's everyone. I am not sure if she will be able to use mats or not but I suspect after the coaching change they will really start to work on the new level skills a bit more consistently. It is comforting to know others have been down this road before. It was killing me not to ask her a hundred questions about it in the car on the way home. I changed the subject completely away from gym because I didn't 100% trust myself not to go there.

I don't watch practice so I don't get to see her struggles first hand, it sounds like this is a good thing so I am going to stick with that.

There is a part of me that feels there may be some added stress due to the coaching change that is not helping either. We love, love, love her coach so the adjustment is going to be tough.
 
Yep. Been there, done that. With the BWO on beam, BWO-BHS on beam, BHS-BHS on beam, and giant on bars.

She's finally conquored the BWO on beam (I think), but all the others still rear their ugly head on a regular basis.

When she finally gets a skill but then loses it, I just remind her that its OK. She'll get it back.

There really isn't anything you can do about it. And really, all the coaches can do is to go back to basics and/or not make a big deal about it. Our coaches also don't do much spotting on beam. I think it is just too hard for them to really provide much spotting assistance safely on something 4 feet off the ground. Instead, as others have said, they just have the gymnast work the skill over and over again - on a line on the floor, on the floor beam with mats on both sides, on the floor beam with no mats, on a cranked down beam with a pad, without the pad, high beam with pad, and finally high bare beam. Some kids might progress through that in a couple of weeks. Others might take months or even years!
 
My DD could do them effortlessly on low beam, but was scared on high beam. (I don't actually know our gym's theory on spotting...). But one night at open gym, she went to the high beam that the girls are allowed to crank up & down. She lowered it all the way. Did a BWO. Raised it (barely), and did another one. Progressively, until it was back to "high beam" height, then realized what she did, and was like "Wow! Look at that! I CAN do it!".
 
Oh my gosh, @gracyomalley I could never watch that. I do want the coach to fix it, but know that only my daughter can fix the problem. I'm not happy that my daughter is allowed to just waste time instead of doing the skill or any practice for that matter. I'm sure the coach has a plan, at least I hope so. I feel for your daughter (and you). She must have great perserverance to keep trying after so many setbacks.

Well she "quit' for almost 3 months, then missed it too much, came back to condition and hang out only for about 2 months, then only in February decided she might be ready to start working toward getting her L8 skills back - of course with all that time off and puberty, lots of coach changes, etc she feels like a totally different gymnast - from a top dog well liked kid to the "weirdo who can do A but won't/can't do B and didn't compete, etc" on her new team. Her HC is great - and some of the junior coaches knew her in the past so realize what her journey has been, so to speak - but its very hard for her some days - I'm sure she would have quit completely if her brothers weren't on the team too - and her friends. And yes, during all of this stuff there have been MANY times that I have felt that my money was being "wasted" as she spent 30 minutes chalking up before doing 10 strap bar giants then 30 minutes stretching then doing 2 beam BTs...again, best to NOT know these things....

If there's anything to be learned in this sport, though, for 99.9% of kids, its not giving up on yourself....and for adolescent girls in particular, that's a lesson they really need.
 
DD started bwo on low beam with a spot. Then no spot. Next up med beam with spot then no spot. Now doing them on high beam with a spot with resi mat underneath. Next will be no spot with a resi and then all by herself with nothing. Has been working them for 2 weeks or so. Sounds like it is a spot no spot progression at her gym.
 
Beam is DDs worst event by far. She looks like a deer in headlights the minute she gets up on it and starts shaking. She has never scored higher than a 9 on it (that's not as good as it sounds, scores were out of 15). So she's got a BWO in her routine this year, if she stands on the beam doing it over and over again she can stick it 99% of the time, but the minute she tries it in her routine she will fall. Even if she's just done 30 of them in a row. It's like the fear takes over when she knows she's only got one shot at it.

She HAS come a LONG way though. She used to not even attempt it on the low beam.
 
Update: Her new coach allowed a spot and she got the BWO really quickly so now we can move over to a fear of the bars dismount ;).

Just for the record I love, love , lover her old coach and can't wait to have her again. I didn't want to come off as complaining about her because she is awesome.
 

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