When do you say a gymnast "has" a skill?

[wallinbl]

DD did 2x BHS on beam (spotted) and 2x BHS on beam (no spot) and now declares herself to "have" her BHS on beam. She'll tell you she "has" her cartwheel on beam as well, though she's about 50% on getting it. For me, I wouldn't say she "has" it until she's 90+% on it. If you've got 5 skills and you're 50% on all of them, the odds of hitting them all in a meet are pretty slim (1 in 32, actually).

I'm just curious what different people use when they say a gymnast "has" a skill.

Don't worry - I don't do much to pressure or discourage DD. I usually just smile and congratulate her on doing it successfully.

 

[gymnastgets10]

Our HC says that we "have" a skill when we can do a bad one and still make it - if after we finish a turn we can say "that felt off, I did this and this wrong - but I still made it!", then we "have" the skill. That doesn't mean we make every turn though - probably 80-90%. I guess by this definition I still don't "have" my tsuk, even though I've competed it successfully twice, because I almost never make my bad turns.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

it's really an oxymoron. certainly they 'have' something when they successfully compete whatever it is. but then they fall in practice and a meet. so then, you only 'have' something in as much as you 'hit' it that day. that's what defines gymnastics.

 

[Esoteric]

My dd's HC tells them that once they've done something 10x with no spot that they "have" it. Because I have a gymnastic's background, I have told my dd that this makes sense, HOWEVER, the kip is the exception. I told her she has to make 300 kips before she can say she "has" it. (I told her coach I said this and the coach agreed.) DD is so funny. After each practice she comes home and adds to her tally marks. She officially has 71 more to go before she "has" her kip!

 

[Mom2Brats]

At our gym they get to ring a bell when they get a new skill, which is defined by the gym as doing it three times in a row. I think that's not a bad way to think of it, since you have to be pretty solid to do three in a row, even if you still fall sometimes. Of course, I'm also pretty sure that my daughter has never rung the bell in her 1 1/2 yrs in the gym because she usually goes from only being able to doing something twice in a row to doing it so well that everyone forgets that she never got to celebrate actually 'getting' the skill.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

I've also heard my DD mention the 3-in-a-row, and we also have a bell although she doesn't like it ring it. However, even when they "have" a skill, they are still required to do multiple (3, 5, or 10) in a row every day when they are doing 'skills' (not routines).

 

[CoachGoofy]

When they go for it and make it first try, three days in a row. Timers & warmup drills are allowed (please, please, warm up a layout before doing a full!), but the first time it's actually what they're attempting I wanna see it.

An alternative criteria: you can do it on someone else's equipment.

 

[gymnastbeth]

At my gym it's also three times in a row. The level 5's learning kips don't "have" it until they do three in a row, without missing one. (And it's the same way for every skill). On beam you don't "have" something until it's 3 times in a row on the high beam. On vault it has to be 3 times in a row to a competition landing, etc.

 

[fuzi]

I think a gymnast has a skill when she go do it three times in a row not just today, but at multiple practices.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

I think "having" a skill depends on the skill. For example, a typically inconsistent skill like a kip or a cast handstand, it might take until the gymnast can do it almost every single time. Of course, there will always be occasional misses. For something else like a round-off 2 BHS, I'd say she or he has it when s/he can do two or three pretty good ones per practice. Some days it would be more, some days it would be less.

It's sort of a progression. First you need to learn to just go for a skill - then you can work on making it consistent and clean, and doing it on regulation equipment.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I would say a gymnast "has" a skill when he/she can do it confidently and consistently.