Level 5 bars advice

[lannamavity]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gymgirl1999 A girl from my gym had same problem. She was afraid so she always missed it. They stacked mats under the bars for her , so didnt look so far down too fall and had her do a bunch of them and lost the fear.

This poster knows what works...

The problem has NOTHING to do with the distance of the bars at all. I'll bet anything that if the low bar was set at the exact height and distance from the floor that the high bar is from the low bar, this kid could jump that far with no problem. In fact, if even the shortest kid does a squat on and stands up on the low bar, she is looking DOWN at the high bar.

Nine times out of ten, the gymnasts is scared of the height of the LOW BAR when standing up on it. She probably shrinks down on the low bar following the squat on, and prefers to fall off without even trying to stand up, rather than risk standing up and jumping to the high bar.

It's not rational fear. It's a natural fear of heights, not distance.

The only way to train through the fear is to raise the surface BELOW the bars, not pull the bars in. Even the tiniest gymnasts should be able to jump at the FIG setting. The average gymnast can reach out and touch the high bar without jumping at that setting.

So many coaches pull the bars in and the kids spend the next 4 years jumping to the high bar and almost banging their heads on it (with bent arms, of course) because they are only comfortable catching with the bars so close.

Moving the bars around also creates a crazy "gotta know the bar setting" obsession which can follow a gymnast though their career.

The only reason why a gymnast can't jump to the high bar is because they aren't ready or willing to do it.

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Thanks for the input. You've given me alot to think about, and the mats is something that another parent of a small gymnast has suggested (that girl has been State champ several times). I am going to talk to my DD and try to get HER to say something to the coach. Her other issue is she needs a block to mount the beam and at the last Sectional, she actually had to struggle to get on because they did not give her a block or springboard!!! They had 2 mats that were not pushed together and there was a space under the beam, almost directly in the spot where she mounts. It was painful to watch.

On a separate note (a bit of bragging here, hope you don't mind), she had her first USAIGC meet of the season yesterday (we do both USAIGC and USAG) -and did great. Her bars routine is very simple, low bar only, with a tuck flyaway. She was the only one to do that dismount except for 2 of the big (tall) girls who went to high bar. She tied for 3rd on bars, got 2nd on V, 1st for BB, FX and AA!!!

[gymgramma]

what is USAIGC? I have never heard of it

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gymgramma what is USAIGC? I have never heard of it

It is a national program, optional gymnastics at all levels, also called "college bound". My girls like it because of the optional routines. My younger DD made up her own beam routine with help from her coach.

www.usaigc.com/compprog.cfm

[davfit]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gymmonkeymomma My daughter is 7 yrs old, 46.5 inches tall and having ALOT of trouble with her squat-on to the high bar. Her kips look good, and once she gets to the high bar, she is fine. The problem is getting there. More often than not, she falls off and the coach just picks her up. It's very frustrating for her as a gymnast, and agonizing for me to watch as a parent. I watched the video from the last meet, and it looked like she just jumped right down, knowing that she wasn't going to make it anyway. Is there anything she can do as far "learning to jump"? Her sister never had this problem because she's always been tall for her age!

it seems to me (from what you stated) that the skill was set up in a do or die situation and unfortunately.....! Now , there are several ways to avoid this! The bars can be set closer to start with, or the skill could be done with a single bar and a mat in front of it. The coach should also make sure that the gymnast can actually stand on the bar and is fully upright(and under control in that position) before jumping. the squat on must be well controlled and consistent and fluid to the the stand..etc! there are many factors possible. In our sport especially ," a picture is worth a thousand words" and a video would allow greater input. well good luck to you!

[hammy]

Wow, I can't believe I didn't even think of the stacking the mats..duh Hammy. Generally, when I teach jumping to the high bar I stack the mats up for the girls for safety and for confidence reasons. I hope she's getting closer!

[Ingymmom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gymgirl1999 A girl from my gym had same problem. She was afraid so she always missed it. They stacked mats under the bars for her , so didnt look so far down too fall and had her do a bunch of them and lost the fear.

This is exactly how our coach originally taught the jump, but eventually the mats go away and while some gymnasts had no problem with the transition, and latched right on to the high bar some of them preferred the mats and had a more difficult time making the transition.

[Gymmonkeymomma]

OK, so here's an update. I emailed her coach last nite and brought up the frustration, the confidence (lack of), suggested the stacked mats (like they did for her last yr when she first started) and did not even mention moving the bars closer. So the reply was that DD "does very well on bars except the jump" HELLO that is a necessary skill for this and all successive levels????!!!?!?!? She said that DD is "very negative" about the jump and will make a deal with her to move the bars closer IF she shows more confidence. Of course she is negative if she knows she is going to fall everytime! I'll have a talk with her before practice today and may have to offer some kind of bribery!!!

[davfit]

As an added note to your daughters bar situation:
A coach can have a pit mat (large thick mats usually over 24" tall) set under the bars. this creates a lower looking bar setup and often the gymnasts are not concerned with the height! . I cannot believe that there are coaches that are so lazy as to refuse making bar adjustments. Granted , we wish that there was one standard for all gymnasts on the team but that isn't so! good luck

[lannamavity]

I'm a little concerned about the assumption that a coach is "lazy" when he/she doesn't adjust the bars for each kid.

The truth is that it is in the TEAM's interest to have as few bar settings as possible so that the kids can get more time to warm up on bars at a meet.

Most (high level) gyms have two bar settings and stick to them (one is usually FIG). The kids need to fall into one of the two settings...and that's that.

Many hard working coaches use this strategy, and it's not to avoid moving the bars.