Giant help Again

[Gym-Nice-tics]

I have to agree with the camp thing, then. If it is really an issue and the owner will not allow you to do a private lesson with the other coach, then a camp may be just what your dd needs to get this skill. A change of scenery and coaching might be just the remedy.

The situation at your gym does make me nervous, however. A coach needs to be able to let other people help teach gymnasts tricks- not just writing them off as being lazy, not trying, etc. There's a coach in my gym that does that and I am constantly going behind their back to teach the girls different tricks. If this coach /owner claims your dd is not working, and she truly is, who's to say it's not going to happen again down the road, on some other trick. The relationship just doesn't sound very healthy at this point.

[gym monkeys mom]

Thanks for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. Ii would agree that our club is not always a healthy spot to be in. What keeps us their is the low hours 14 hours for Level 6 and up. Also 2 of the coaches one a boys and one a grils team coach are personal friends. They hope to take over running the club eventually. We also have lots of great team kids and friends. Its very hard to leave. The owners will probably turn over more of the teams coaching in the next few years to our friends until then sometimes it is a drag. The owner who coahes the boys team is great. Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate the vent and the helpful listening ears. I will try and pursue a private again with our friend. If I am unsucessful I will look into a camp. DD is not an overnight camper so I will need to try and find a good day camp in MN. She does ok with other friends at camp but, our club has never been a big out of town gymnatic camp group.

[gotgym]

Just from your description it sounds like she is afraid of this skill. As a coach we never move anyone to level 8 without all the requirements especially giants.. Even though the giant is not a requirement for level 7 and the cast handstand is , all the gyms in our area in Illinois require their gymnasts to have giants. We practice on straps and move to pit sometimes lowering the pitbar. I would ask the headcoach for bar privates if he says no ask who he would recommend to help her get the confidence she needs to do this skill.

[AnitaV]

Gee, if it makes you feel any better, my dd had to do level 7 2x because it took her > a year to get the giant and she had great cast HS too so a weak cast was not the issue(and has great bars now). There were two issues fear and a too early tap (swing) because she was anxious. It also took a different coach to help too who knew exactly what was going on (sometimes just a different perspective helps as others point out). Once she conquered the fear (took a long time) she could tap later and she said she feels like she is tapping right before she goes over (which is probably not the case but illustrates how much later she had to learn to tap) .

[BlairBob]

Coach Dan Wittenstein of Arizona Sunrays does something called Over-Lo's. These start as a back extension roll to 30, 45, and 60 degrees of vertical. However, his point is not to think about the handstand and be patient. Strap bar teaches this in a way as well. It's ok to not the handstand in a sense. This is also necessary for multiple giants that build upon each other for big releases or a chinese tap.

Instead of just trying to do whatever ( generally sacrificing form with questionable technique ) to get to handstand, the idea is to be short of handstand on the other side of the bar.

[gym monkeys mom]

We got permision from her head coach to attended a small practice that happens on wednessday afternoons her and 1 or 2 other girls. This will be with the coach she trusts to spot her the best and gain confidence on giants. Yeah!! I will keep you posted thanks for all the support and tips i really appreciate this group of folks.

[bogwoppit]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gym monkeys mom We got permision from her head coach to attended a small practice that happens on wednessday afternoons her and 1 or 2 other girls. This will be with the coach she trusts to spot her the best and gain confidence on giants. Yeah!! I will keep you posted thanks for all the support and tips i really appreciate this group of folks.

That's great, maybe the head coach has finally realised his way is not working.

[Shawn]

Good luck to your girl!

[gymdog]

I'm glad to hear the update, that sounds like a really positive development. I had an interesting relationship with giants for some time, needed a spot, did weird stuff when I didn't have one. I competed them in L7 a few times, scratched bars at a few meets, etc. weird things going on there. Ended up doing just a free hip handstand into a layout flyaway on high bar at states because it was going to score higher. During the summer after I did L7 I had improved it a little but then I had some random mental flyaway issues that caused another setback and I wasn't doing it with a low bar. they did some group merging after we got back from a mid summer week break and the coach who usually worked with the advanced opt group (like 9s and 10s and some 8s at the time, we have a totally different system now but this was a long time ago) gave 10 giants/flyaway on the real bar set (oh no! the real bars) and I looked at her. She knew what I was thinking and she just said if I was going to work in that group I would do the assignment. I got in line, did it, and never had an issue with giants or flyaways again. I got a giant/double back really just a few months later and by then all the drama seemed like history. When I moved into L7, I couldn't even do a bent leg giant on strap bar - I had no concept of the tap. I really owe a ton to the coaches I had those years and to a large extent I feel like if I hadn't been in that environment I wouldn't have ever progressed on bars. I had never learned the basics and if they hadn't taken me back and then insisted that I WOULD do it, I probably would have just given off and written off bars.