More Giants!!!

[lakshmi369]

I was just wondering how old other gymnasts were out there when they (you) started doing Giants? Did you learn them with a strap bar, harness or "old school" with gravity as your only friend? LOL! There appears to be a school of thought among some coaches out there that girls need to have Giants down by a certain age but I am not sure that is actually true? Thoughts?

[jes.the.gymnast]

i think i was arounf 13/14 when i started doing gaints i was always scared of them though so girls in my level were doing them a little before then. we only ever doing them in staps because we didnt need to compete them. i now coach at an australian national club and ther are girl in grade 5 so about 10/11 doing perfect gaints i think the youngest one in that group is about 8 and she has perfect shape in them.
i know other people who have never done them, or maybe only done them afew times in straps and have become state champions.
it all depends on the gymnast and what thier strengths are

[hunde2]

My daughter learned giants when she was 8.I think they mostly trained on the regular bars( non strap)with there coach spotting them.They first started doing them with bend knees.They also did strap bars but not as much.There is no certain age in our gym but they like the gymnasts to do giants as a level 7.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I think I was 11 when I got my giants.

The youngest girl I coach who can do giants is 11 (though I have one 9-year-old who may well be doing them by the end of the summer)

[Aussie_coach]

We don't tend to tie it to an age, more a level. I mean you can be 12 years old and be a totaly beginner, or 12 years old and an elite level gymnast. There is no ideal age in gymnastics.

Our girls start to work giants from around level 5, strap bar is the prefferred method. I deally we like the girls to be competing giants by level 6.

[Granny Smith]

In dd's gym, it's not an age, but a level. In order to compete Level 7, you must do giants - no giants, no compete. Dd got her giants when she was 10.

[kvgymnast]

i was in level 6 while learning giants because i skipped level 7 and one of the things i needed to do to be in level 8 were giants. so i was about 8 years old. i learned them just by myself on the par in the pit where i started by doing baby giants (like in the level 6 routine) and then just kept getting further away from the bar and FINALLy i did it one day!

[hammy]

I was 6 when I learned giants--Kips, giants, and flyaways were the first three tricks my coach taught me on bars. He didn't want us to be afraid of swinging on the bars. We didn't use straps--we just learned them on the regular bars with spot.

[gym law mom]

Both gyms we've been at, they've learned giants based on level and not age. My gymmie was introduced to giants as a L5, but then really started to work on them during her L6 meet season. They used a trench bar with a coach spotting then progressed to doing them by themselves on pit bar and then to double set.

[kristilyn73]

My DD has been doing Giants for 2 years now, so she learned at 10. She did them first on a strap bar. She then moved right to Double bars without a spotter. Some of our girls go to the single bar above Pit before moving to double bars.

I agree it is a level thing, not an age thing.