Giants at Level 7

[gym monkeys mom]

My daughter is going to compete level 7 this season she is still struggling with her giant does she need it for level 7? Also how do you deal with fear of this skill she can cast to handstand and do giants with a coach spot but not alone she is stuck in a rut any ideas?/

[Masters_Gymnast93]

giants aren't required, you could just as easily do a free-hip [clear-hip] on high bar, or two on the low bar...as long as she has 2 circling skills w/o her hips touching the bar.
i'm currently a L7 and i'm struggling with giants too.

[gym law mom]

GMM--She is not alone in the fear of doing giants solo. Alot of girls seem to go through that. Masters is right, she doesn't HAVE to do giants as a L7, but I think many coaches prefer their girls do giants to prepare for L8. Certainly you want her to overcome the fear of doing them solo. Can she tell you what she is afraid of? What about doing them with just the coach standing by, but not touching her?

[hammy]

As the others have said, giants are not required, but as a coach and former gymnast I would recommend doing the giants as a level 7. It helps the gymnast get used to competing them, so they don't have to worry about that as a level 8.

It sounds like she just needs to start going by herself on a single-rail bar over the foam pit--if she doesn't make it around the bar all she has to do is simply jump off (as if she casted over the bar) and land on her feet. Giants are one of those skills that are actually a blast to do once you overcome the fear factor. All in all, it definitely sounds like it's time for her to be brave and do them by herself. She might be terrified to do them alone a few times, but the more she does alone the quicker the fear will go away. Try having her do them with the coach just standing there as a mental blanket; then remove the coach. Like I said before, going over a foam pit (if available) would probably be a big help. Good luck! Personally, I love giants.

Also, one thing a lot of gymnasts like to do is shift too early; in other words, they put on the brakes and stop the giant from going around the bar. For this case, swing big--pull toes over the top of the bar--shift wrists so hands are on top.

Good luck!

[gymbabisMom]

GYmbabi did 2 seasons of level 7 while struggling with her giants. Her highest bar score was about 8.4. Her last level 7 meet with giants her bar score was 9 something finally giving her an overall over 35. I wish we had trained thru that first season so she could have concentrated more on getting that giant and having it for the next year.

[gymbabisMom]

Oh and now all our level 7s will have giants before they compete. WE have 1 that is competing six this season and will do 7 in spring and she already has hers, her teammate that will move up too, will only compete in spring if she gets it (she's really close) soon.

[gracefulone]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Masters_Gymnast93 giants aren't required, you could just as easily do a free-hip [clear-hip] on high bar, or two on the low bar...as long as she has 2 circling skills w/o her hips touching the bar. i'm currently a L7 and i'm struggling with giants too.

Our gym was told by judges at the end of last year that you aren't allowed to do two free hips on the lowbar. It messed up a lot of people b/c we weren't told that until two weeks before state, so they had to change their routines.

[hunde2]

My daughter was afraid of giant flyaway last year at her first year of level 7,she would not do it unless the coach was standing next to the bars,she also would just rarely do it on pitbars.Just recently did she start doing giant giant flyaway byherself,without the coach standing next to the bars.She worked on her bars very hard all summer.I think practice and alot of repetitions made her finally feel comfortable enough to do it without a coach standing nearby.

[lannamavity]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gracefulone Our gym was told by judges at the end of last year that you aren't allowed to do two free hips on the lowbar. It messed up a lot of people b/c we weren't told that until two weeks before state, so they had to change their routines.

I'm sure the judges said that the kids can't do kip, cast, free hip, kip, cast, free hip, because they would be repeating the same exact same sequence of skills (kip, cast, free hip) twice, which would make give the second sequence ZERO value.

There are changes which can be made to avoid this...it has nothing to do with doing two free hips on the lowbar.

[Aussie_coach]

I am just looking at the requirements for level 7 in USAG and it states there must be two circleing elements that are a minimum of B value and they can be the same or different. This does seem to indicate that two clear hips are acceptable. Perhaps one on the low bar and one on the high bar. There are other interesting circling elements she could try. Why not have a look through the code of points and find something different. She would have a very memorable routine if she competed a circle that others don't generally do. Even if it is a simple one.

The reason I reccomend this is not because she should not aim for her giants but because it can be easier to learn the skill when the pressure is off for some kids. If they know they MUST get the skill in order to compete successfully some kids will in fact get worse because of the pressure (works the opposite on many kids too). If she knows she has that back up skill, she can relax and enjoy the process of perfecting those giants without the added pressure.