WAG Kip question

[CuriousCate]

So I accidentally found myself in the coaches forum when I clicked on new posts. There was a coach discussion about tips for a child who was having a tough time getting their kip. One of the coaches said that if they are not getting a good jump to the bar that it will make the glide and Kip much harder.

My daughter is 6 1/2 and is level 3. She is the smallest and youngest in her practice group and the only one who has not gotten a Kip. After reading that post, I am wondering if perhaps it is because she cannot get a good jump to the bar. There are girls that are at least a full head taller than her and they never adjust the height of the bar when it is her turn.

Obviously, I have read repeatedly that this is a very tough skill to master, but is it possible that the bar height is contributing to her difficulty? They do you have a springboard but the springs are for a minimum of 50 lb and my DD is only 41 lb so she doesn't get much power from that.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Kips are hard. My daughter was one of the last to get hers. Many months after most of the other girls on her team. And the last 2 were months after her. They all have them now and they are all L5/6. Time she needs time. That is why they uptrain. She is a season away before needing a kip. Around here that's a year, including all next summer to work on it.

Don't compare you daughter to what everyone else can or can't do. She has her own curve/timeline. And it's hard not do that. That's why I don't watch practice.

 

[CuriousCate]

thank you!

Kips are hard. My daughter was one of the last to get hers. Many months after most of the other girls on her team. And the last 2 were months after her. They all have them now and they are all L5/6. Time she needs time.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Kips are hard but I will say I do believe the height of the bar (or what they're jumping from) does make a difference. My daughter is shorter than most in her training group and they don't adjust the bar just for her at practice. When they are getting more serious and doing practice competition routines, they will take the time to adjust the bar for her and her kips are prettier and her casts are much higher. You could ask the coach or since she has a year (I assume that if they do one season per year), let her keep trying hard. If she can get it with the height being too tall, just think of how good they'll be with the bar adjusted for her.

 

[HoldThePhone]

My DD got her kip around your daughters age, and had many of the same issues with bar height. They never adjusted it...while it was a pain at the time for her, overall it taught her she had to work harder. She was/is also small. One of the bigger reasons I saw for not adjusting, was that when we went to meets, even if the bar was all the way lowered, it was still really tall for her, and not all gyms had a mat available, so she just had to do it anyway. She'll get it, don't worry.

 

[mommyof1]

They do you have a springboard but the springs are for a minimum of 50 lb and my DD is only 41 lb so she doesn't get much power from that.

I am not a coach, but I don't think they really get any spring from the springboard on the kip because they are not punching it. I believe the springboard is used primarily for height. Sometimes you will see a springboard-shaped mat used in place of the springboard.

My L3, who is currently working on her kip, says that the placement of the springboard/mat in relation to the bar is important to the quality of the glide.

 

[gymdog]

Maybe...it's hard to tell without seeing it. But I wouldn't be too concerned yet. Can she do a straight front hip and mill circle? Sometimes their hands just need to grow in order to be able to shift well.

 

[ayyyrial]

The nice thing about being a short person is that they don't have to pick their toes up as high to avoid skimming the mat. Some smaller girls I have seen also learn how to use that to their advantage to make their glide more powerful. She will get it. Being smaller than teammates makes some things harder and others easier - it will balance out.

 

[Flyaway]

I can only echo what everyone else has said. My dd is the smallest in her group and was the last to get it. But she finally figured it out. She will get it eventually.

 

[3rd_time_around]

A lot of getting the kip is timing more than anything. The glide has to be just right, and the hands shifting at just the right moment, and their body position getting up at precisely the right time, etc. There's a lot going on right there!

 

[.Emmy.]

I was taught my kip in steps..
This was manyyy years ago. When I was younger I would get "tmi" in my brain, so my coach would make it simple.... for example
-jump head down
-glide out and extend
-toes up
-pull
Instead of giving me a thousand steps at a time, and she would change it up if she saw I was having troubles.
I think she may be experiencing "tmi." Ask her
"What do you think when you do your kip?" If she hesitates or names a whole list of things, or can't remember any at all, she probably needs basic steps.
At that young of a age you aren't going to take it all in at once.
Maybe go back to basics?

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Kips are hard when you are 6

 

[Azgymmiemom]

My dd learned her kip at 6 and she was probably tinier than yours. She used to stand on a mat that the coach would then pull away(so no spring from the spring board). She got her kip fairly quickly (maybe one of the ONLY skills she actually got quickly!) My ds however struggled and struggled with his and it took him over a year to get. He's two years older than her and was quite a bit bigger than her, too. Just saying, that I don't think it has anything really to do with their size. It's just the darn timing and mechanics of it. She'll get it if she just keeps practicing. Yes, it's frustrating. But when she finally gets it, then there will be another skill to be frustrated about, lol. Such is gymnastics!

 

[flipandfly]

I was taught my kip in steps..
This was manyyy years ago. When I was younger I would get "tmi" in my brain, so my coach would make it simple.... for example
-jump head down
-glide out and extend
-toes up
-pull
Instead of giving me a thousand steps at a time, and she would change it up if she saw I was having troubles.
I think she may be experiencing "tmi." Ask her
"What do you think when you do your kip?" If she hesitates or names a whole list of things, or can't remember any at all, she probably needs basic steps.
At that young of a age you aren't going to take it all in at once.
Maybe go back to basics?

THIS. The first time I made my kip, I wasn't thinking at all and just found myself on the bar.
I was tiny then and still am small for my age.

 

[CuriousCate]

Can she do a straight front hip and mill circle? .

Haha! I don't know what that is! I'm so gym-lame!

 

[gymdog]

Haha! I don't know what that is! I'm so gym-lame!

The skills at the beginning of the level 3 USAG routine. One is like a forward roll around the bar to a cast and one is going around the bar in a split position. If you compete AAU I don't think they do these.

 

[GYM0M]

My DD is small, really, really short. If I had to pick her weakest event, it would be bars. She got her first kip at 5, almost 6, if I remember correctly. She struggles with lots of bars skills, which could be her size or lack of confidence, but I wouldn't say that her size had much of an impact on her kip, tbh. She did have a problem jumping to the high bar at first, issues with the mill circle (to this day and she's L9ish). She'll learn to compensate for her tiny stature, just takes time.