Parents How to increase height in cast?

[GrayceFlips]

My daughter is in level 5. She is on the taller side and lean. She has built up her core and overall strength. The height of her cast is very low...barely higher than the bar. She says she is squeezing to stay tight. She looks hollow. Her coach is telling her to go forward and kick her heels up. I think he means she needs to get her shoulders forward of the bar when casting and kick her heels up. I don't think she is getting forward enough of the bar...I don't think she understands how far forward she needs to go. She will eventually need to do a cast handstand to progress to level 6 so isn't the technique the same for the kip cast and kip cast handstand?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I explained it to mine using a pencil. I held it near one end, lifted the other end and we watched it fall back, I then held it in the centre and did the same, it stayed up, we talked about her legs weighing 1/3 her body weighing 1/3 and her head and shoulders weighing 1/3, and how she had to get her top half over the bar to counter-balance her (very long) legs. It helped her

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i replied to your PM. and to anyone else that is interested, a coach can tell them to lean, etc; until the cows come in. if they are not strong enough, or no strength weight ratio, they'll never cast to handstand. conditioning is the prescription, and bar specific in this instance, almost all the time.

 

[Gymsanity]

To add to dunno, you need strength for sure, but after that there is the 'fear factor' that has to be dealt with. Casting bigger or to HS is scary for most kids, so we spend a lot of time at an early age getting over the fear of casting to and over HS. Technique is also a factor, but as stated above, being strong is always a good thing!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

and i submit to you that these bar fears ARE because they are at a strength deficit. and they know it but can't tell you why at certain ages. they are not coaches.

now, if coaches would spend more time preparing their bodies to do bars you would see many fears disappear BECAUSE they are so strong, and they know it.

if you make them strong enough...a kid will run thru a cinder block wall if you ask them. it's our responsibility to get them that strong that they would do it if we ask.

physical weakness in gymnastics is the 2nd leading cause of fear and injuries due to those strength deficits. same goes for casting to handstands. you would be scared also if you already "knew" that you couldn't do what is being asked of you if your brain and nervous system 'read' that your to weak to do it. the problem is that kids can't read their own nervous systems and verbalize why they can't get up. they just know they are scared. that's what you feel when you are to weak to do our sport.

this is a most often misunderstood concept for coaches.

 

[Gymsanity]

'and i submit to you that these bar fears ARE because they are at a strength deficit.'
I concur that that can most definitely be a source of fear for some, but not all. I have/had many girls that were WAY strong enough to cast to HS and wouldn't until they got over the fear and developed better technique. I also have a group of little 4-6 year olds that are fairly weak, and they can cast over, albeit pretty ugly!

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

As a mom of a L5 gymnast who struggles with bars, I thank you for explaining that! In my DDs case, I would guess it is definitely a strength to weight ratio. She's by no means overweight but she is solidly built in comparison to her teammates. She's a little powerhouse on floor and does very well on beam, but bars are hard because she has to be that much stronger to haul herself around... Her casts aren't great, her tap swings are on the low side and her straddle casts to handstand not pretty. And conditioning isn't her favorite thing ever, lol! I'm going to have her read through this and maybe a lightbulb will come on..!