Question About Chalking Highbar

[GymDad57]

At our gym Level 5 have beginning doing bars with Level 7/8. Our Level 5 do not wear grips-coaches orders. It appears the gripless Level 5 are creating a problem for the Level 7/8 doing giants and flyaways in that the grippless Level 5 do not want heavy chalk on the bar and continue to wipe it and knock it off. Is this a problem for the Level 7/8. How important is it for the high bar to have a nice consistent coat of chalk for giants and flyaways. Is this a safety problem for the Level 7/8's doing giants and flyaways. How would your gym handle this?

[bogwoppit]

In our gym we have girls who use grips and girls who don't, they all share the same bars, we don't have many sets. Sometimes the coach will climb up and rub the chalk off the high bar so the grip less girls don't fly off the slippery bar.

Of course it's a bit of a pain for both the grip and the non grip girls, but it's really the coaches problem, not the girls problem.

Our grip girls put chalk on their grips, but do not chalk up/spray the bar itself. Even at meets gymnasts have to use the same bar as grip/non grip wearers. Our coaches climb up and rub the chalk off for our non grip girls, this has never, ever been an issue.

I feel it really is a non issue. Who is complaining, the 7/8 to the 5's, or are the coaches making an issue of it? If the coaches do not want the level 5's wearing grips, then they have to be there with the solution, not that it really needs one IMHO.

[gymgymgymnast08]

We don't do bars on the same days the level 5s do so we don't really have this problem. One team we compete against though doesn't use grips so they always climb up with their velco and take all the chalk off. If we have like the rotation after them we will put extra chalk on the bars. I feel like we use a lot of chalk and most teams probably wouldn't need as much chalk as us on the bars lol.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Different gymnasts have different preferences about how much chalk is in the bar, but generally they need to be able to swing on any bar presented to them; when they go to meets, they will sometimes be using a brand new bar without any chalk on it, and sometimes they'll be using a 15-year-old bar with 15 years worth of chalk buildup.

So the 7's and 8's might not like it, but I think it would benefit them in the long run to deal with it anyway.

[awposey1]

At meets you often have to deal with too little or too mcuh chalk...I think it is OK...just have to learn good gym eitquette!

[Aussie_coach]

That is the way it goes, unless every single gymnast in the gym either has grips or doesnt then the bars need to cater for everyone. The level 5's need to be allowed to take chalk off the bars and the 7's and 8's need to be allowed to put it on. Unless they are training on the same bars at the same time it should not be an issue. If they do do bars together one set of bars could be for the 5's and another for the 7's and 8's.

What a lot of gyms around here do is require the kids to buy their own chalk and have a chalk bag which they bring to gym and can only use their own chalk on bars. We dont do this but if it gets to the piont where your gym is using an exsessive amount this may be the way to go.

[canadiangymnast_eh]

at my gym the ppl without grips make a spot for each hand just they way they like it then the ppl with grips just dont go in thoes spots. that way no on has to scrape the chalk off then re chalk every couple of turns.