First 4 Piece Competition

[xxStumpyxx]

My 8 year old has her first 4 piece competition coming up in 5 weeks, her group started working on it today,they done a little bit of the beam routine, there are 6 girls working towards the competition in my daughters group and the coach has given the same routine to the girls but did it in pairs, 2 girls have one routine, 2 girls have another and so on.

My daughters beam routine is a Squat on, some dancy steps, forwards roll, more dancy steps, possibly a catleap and more moves they haven't put in yet and ending with a round off dismount.

Bars is chin circle up, cast, back hip circle (x2?) either a squat on dismount or a straddle undershoot dismount.

Vault is more than like a handstand flatback

I am going by what my daughter has told me so far and the little bit of beam routine show showed me after gym. They will have a floor routine set to music but haven't even begun to put a routine together yet.

I have no idea of level but it is a Future Stars Challenge competiton out of county so possibly regional?

The only draw back is that there are only 5 weeks before the competition including this week and they train 3 times a week fighting for space with other groups and the gym is shut the week leading up to the competition, the groups last training day will be at the end of July and this is a new group, they have been together for 2 months. Is it normal to be this close to a competition and not done much work on the routines yet or are routines usually quite quick to put together using the elements learnt over the past month or so?

I just find it unusual not to train in the week leading up to the competition and then expect the girls to compete in their first competition (for some of them, some of competed in different groups in the past) The girls train 7.5 hours a week.

 

[OzZee]

5 weeks should be fine to get the routines though on the short side for beginners who aren't used to learning them. I agree odd to put them into a comp after a week off gym though.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

I thought it was a bit odd as well, there are 3 girls who have never learnt routines before including my daughter, I am hoping that they will get extra time to work in routines during the first week of the summer holidays, they will only have a week before our annual gym shutdown, I must admit I am on the fence with this, part of me is excited adm the other out is thinking "are the crazy" for entering the girls for a competition when they cannot practice before hand, realistically they only have 4 weeks as I should imagine the last 2 sessions they have left will be spent on working in starting floor routines and the vault.

Has anyone entered completions before with this much short notice, the coach is young and this is her first group so no real competition experience except being an ex gymnast. My daughter is also on the fence, she wants to do it but isn't comfident she would be ready and I don't want to push into something that she is unsure about, I want to be able to leave this in the coaches hands, if she does enter and doesn't come last and remembers all her routines when the time comes then that will be an achievement and a successful competition. Maybe we can just use this competition to gain some experience in competing routines, have some fun and get the chance to wear her completion leotard that doesn't get much use, last worn in the Christmas display.

 

[xrachx]

Don't worry
In DDs club, it's pretty much standard to only get floor routines a month prior to a competition, and (touch wood) none of the girls have ever forgotten their routines come comp day. But, these routines are generally built on over time and used for multiple competitions.

DD has just been given her new routine, and it will be used in a local friendly in July and voluntaries in September at the least, and probably adapted for grades in March

 

[Jenny]

The only Future Stars competition I know about is an advanced rec one at Huntington.

It sounds like an invitational in which case it will probably be a friendly one and no need to panic. Yes she has plenty of time to learn the routines. Hope she has a great time.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

The only Future Stars competition I know about is an advanced rec one at Huntington.

It sounds like an invitational in which case it will probably be a friendly one and no need to panic. Yes she has plenty of time to learn the routines. Hope she has a great time.

This one is in Colchester, the last one she was supposed to do was the Pipers Vale Pearls, but as the group had only been together 3 weeks when the invite went out, the coach decided not to go to that one as she had no floor routines ready, I am glad she made that decision.