Giant help Again

gym monkeys mom · #1 06-10-2008, 07:43 PM

Ok so here goes my vent and then hopefully some advice from all of you. My DD is working on her level 8 stuff but, will compete Level 7 again due to her bars. So here is mine and her frustration she needs a giant. She has been working them for 1 1/2 years with the optional coach. Now, the optional coach is also the owner nice guy most of the time. This all being said I do like and respect him 99 percent of the time except on this one thing. How to teach this kid of mine a giant. He is not a good bar spotter due to a sore shoulder. This is not working for my DD. He says she is unwilling to learn them or not trying hard enough. She really is trying and is no longer worried now just really furstrated. She would like to work them with the other coach who mainly coaches Level 4, 5 & 6. The other coach is there at her practice and would work with her if her coach said she could. The other coachc is also a personal family firend but unwilling to cross the owner this i understand. Her coach says no keep working we have had many long meeting about this and I am really frustrated any advice?? My DD loves her club and team mates and her coach except for this on thing. I am willing to try anything. I really do love our club and really dont want to leave. HELP!

kristilyn73 · #2 06-10-2008, 08:40 PM

First of all Gym Monkey & Gym Monkey's Mom, Beetle and I send you big hugs and a trip from the Bar Fairy....

Now for the advice. Do you have a strap bar in your gym? Beetle actually learned her giants without a spot. She first did them on strap bar, after they were not scary on strap she moved to a pit bar. It is a high bar over our foam pit. Once she could clear the bar there, they were not scary any more.. she moved them to double bars. And they were just there... It think she was really lucky.

What is gym monkey doing? or not doin so to speak? Is she clearing the bar? Is she straight coming up the bar and then just not going over? or is she closing her shoulders so she isnt coming over in a hand stand? froggy like? I might have some ideas that can help different issues (I have heard lots of coaching! )

I really dont have good advice for the coaching issue - we have a similar issue in my gym, sometimes our coach just gets overwhelmed, I think. He is also the owner he is also a nice guy 95 % of the time but he also just gets set in his mind and there is nothing anyone can do to change it.. So typical male sometimes (sorry.. no offense to the men on the board).

How does Gym Monkey do at camp? Is there a possibility that she will get over a fear at camp? Then be able to comeback to her home gym and be able to get some progress?

Also, is there a way you can schedule a private with the other coach? Or is that overstepping the boundries?

Hang in there, Gym Monkey is a strong gymnast! She will get this skill! Then just think how great she will feel..

Hugs.

awposey1 · #3 06-10-2008, 09:03 PM

I was thinking the same thing about a camp. dd of mine has gotten several skills at camps during the summer and it tends to be non-threatening to the coach and gymnast.

gym monkeys mom · #4 06-10-2008, 09:11 PM

Kristilyn 73,
She does them with coach with very little spot her coach puts her hand on her back and helps her cast into them. Monkey Girl says it is casting confidence she needs. Not sure if we can do a private or not. Her coach (our friend) would do one the owner coach is being sutbborn right now about these giants. he swears she isn't trying hard enough she says she is. She doesn't do camp or never has. I am beginging to think we should for giants lol. Can you just go to giant camp lol. Her coach has her working 3/4 giants push away before that she could cast to handstand and then when she came around the bottom would balk. I will watch and see if i can describe it better.

CoachL · #5 06-10-2008, 09:34 PM

I don't see how the owner can stop you from doing privates if thats what you need.

IloveBARS · #6 06-10-2008, 11:02 PM

Is she doing more than one giant in a row? Giants get easier with more momentum. I remember learning giants. Once I was comfortable on the strap bar, I moved to the high bar and my coach would just make sure that I made it over. Usually, I would do two in a row. At first, he would help me with both, then I would only need help getting over the bar on the first one, and eventully I was doing them on my own.

lannamavity · #7 06-11-2008, 02:50 AM


Quote:
Originally Posted by gym monkeys mom Kristilyn 73, She does them with coach with very little spot her coach puts her hand on her back and helps her cast into them. Monkey Girl says it is casting confidence she needs. Not sure if we can do a private or not. Her coach (our friend) would do one the owner coach is being sutbborn right now about these giants. he swears she isn't trying hard enough she says she is. She doesn't do camp or never has. I am beginging to think we should for giants lol. Can you just go to giant camp lol. Her coach has her working 3/4 giants push away before that she could cast to handstand and then when she came around the bottom would balk. I will watch and see if i can describe it better.

I'm not trying to defend this coach, but I've taught lots and lots of giants, and I won't teach one to a kid who won't do a cast handstand 3/4 giant and miss the bar. If a they can't do this, then the spotter is actually fighting the gymnast and it takes forever for the gymnast to learn a giant on their own...so it's pointless to fight.

And if she is balking at all, then something is reallly wrong, and she's really not ready to do a giant. I would have her go back and do a million 3/4 giants and put more effort into those first.

gym monkeys mom · #8 06-11-2008, 06:13 AM

She actually can do a nice 3/4 so maybe I am describing the issue wrong. She can cast to handstand on low bar just not the single rail. Her coach has her doing cast to handstand 3/4 push outs on the single rail and that is what is scary to her. Coach sends her to work alone on them lots! This seems wrong to me. Bars has always been tough for her. She also does giants well with minimal spot from the other team coach. Going around the owner to do a private is not a option. The owners are the only ones to do privates right now. We are at a small gtm. Don't get me wrong I like our club and owners 95 percent of the time. This one issue is particularly frustrating to me, DD, and the other coach who is willling to try but, being told no by the owner. No one understands why he is being this way.

gymgramma · #9 06-11-2008, 08:16 AM

could you schedule a private lesson at another gym? if it is far enough away, no one would ever know you took her to another gym.

when DD was struggling w/her ROBHS, we took her to a gym in another state (2 hr drive each way) and just being w/a different coach, she was doing them within 20 min

BlairBob · #10 06-11-2008, 09:32 AM

I will say part of this stems to relationships. A coach must develop a good atmosphere that the gymnast will feel comfortable and be able to trust their coach to spot them. If a gymnast does not have trust in the coach when spotting, she will not go for it. I'm a bit of the opposite that much of the time I will not have trust in a gymnast and myself when trying new skills. Moreso, I just prefer to be used to a kid and they to me before I spot them in something they are used to spotting with another coach. Throwing in a spot on some skills in gymnastics is not something I like if I'm not familiar with the gymnast first. Once I am, no biggie.

Strap bar is a great thing. It's nice to have a single rail so a coach doesn't have to worry about having them swing through the bars when first learning them. Pit is a nice option as well but can be trickier to spot on ( unless you have channel bar or nice sturdy spotting position ).

Perhaps she is not comfortable with the coach or the coach is not giving off that vibe that is really allowing for her to go for it. She should be able to do privates with the other coach if the other coach is knowledgeable and able to spot. This could be an ego thing with coaching optionals though. Honestly, there are a lot of optional coaches that are ego monsters, male and females ( though I've met some really female nazis more than male optional nazis [ we nazi our boys more ]).

Since you're an optional, maybe look at Woodward's or any summer camp around. You have time.