raenndrops
Coach
Ok, so we were at a meet yesterday. First Session was L3. The bars looked fine... of course the girls are only on the low bar.
Second session - L4. I noticed that the bars looked unlevel. I also noticed that they were REALLY, REALLY chalky looking. I was directly in front of the bars but there was 3 feet of walk space and the floor exercise and 3 more feet of walk space and the matting for bar mounts between me and the bars. When HC walked by, I said something to her. She noticed it too. She tried to get it fixed. The Meet Director / HC of host team said it was fine. 66 girls in that session... at least 14 had falls (uncharacteristic for the girls in question... I didn't count falls on squat ons or those who don't have a kip getting counted as falls).
3rd Session - Xcel and L5. The bars looked ok at first. I thought maybe they fixed them... until the first time they were adjusted. Then they were unlevel again. 42 gymnasts... at least 8 falls. It was getting ridiculous. They worked on them between sessions.
4th Session - Level 6+. 45 gymnasts. A L9 fell 4 times... one of our girls fell on her low bar clear hip (her hand slipped on all the chalk build up - she said it felt like there was nothing there.) She continued... jump to front support, squat on, jump to high bar, kip, clear hip ... her hands completely slip off... she flies over the bar and manages to regrasp it with one hand... gets the other hand on, 2-3 swings to get momentum... flyaway! Scored a 7.2... had to go wash the blood off her hand (she was ordered out of the gym because there was blood on her face - from where she wiped her eyes/ face with her hand). They fixed the bars while she was out (including cleaning off the blood) and our next girl went. She moved over slightly (to get away from the super chalky area that they couldnt or wouldnt remove). She couldnt move too far over though and she slipped a little on high bar, but didn't fall or get hurt.
After it was all said and done, the girl with the 2 scary moments was happy. She still managed to qualify for Nationals and she survived. She said they should "fix" their bars to one of our coaches and the other HC overheard the conversation. She yelled at this gymnast - it was your fault that you fell... the bars are just fine... our girls use them all the time... and you dont know if you qualified for Nationals because qualifying scores havent been announced yet! Our coach looked at her and said "She is happy. She had a good day. Dont even TRY to take that from her. Besides, there is no way they will raise the qualifying score more than 1 point from before - so she will still have it."
We have trouble with their bars EVERY year. In previous years, there was enough "safe" space on the bars that we could just have the girls move over 4-6 inches. Now it is getting wider. The host team has more higher level gymnasts who use grips and tons of chalk... and water on the bars. They need to strip the bar and start over... but apparently can't see that!!! Will they ever learn?
Second session - L4. I noticed that the bars looked unlevel. I also noticed that they were REALLY, REALLY chalky looking. I was directly in front of the bars but there was 3 feet of walk space and the floor exercise and 3 more feet of walk space and the matting for bar mounts between me and the bars. When HC walked by, I said something to her. She noticed it too. She tried to get it fixed. The Meet Director / HC of host team said it was fine. 66 girls in that session... at least 14 had falls (uncharacteristic for the girls in question... I didn't count falls on squat ons or those who don't have a kip getting counted as falls).
3rd Session - Xcel and L5. The bars looked ok at first. I thought maybe they fixed them... until the first time they were adjusted. Then they were unlevel again. 42 gymnasts... at least 8 falls. It was getting ridiculous. They worked on them between sessions.
4th Session - Level 6+. 45 gymnasts. A L9 fell 4 times... one of our girls fell on her low bar clear hip (her hand slipped on all the chalk build up - she said it felt like there was nothing there.) She continued... jump to front support, squat on, jump to high bar, kip, clear hip ... her hands completely slip off... she flies over the bar and manages to regrasp it with one hand... gets the other hand on, 2-3 swings to get momentum... flyaway! Scored a 7.2... had to go wash the blood off her hand (she was ordered out of the gym because there was blood on her face - from where she wiped her eyes/ face with her hand). They fixed the bars while she was out (including cleaning off the blood) and our next girl went. She moved over slightly (to get away from the super chalky area that they couldnt or wouldnt remove). She couldnt move too far over though and she slipped a little on high bar, but didn't fall or get hurt.
After it was all said and done, the girl with the 2 scary moments was happy. She still managed to qualify for Nationals and she survived. She said they should "fix" their bars to one of our coaches and the other HC overheard the conversation. She yelled at this gymnast - it was your fault that you fell... the bars are just fine... our girls use them all the time... and you dont know if you qualified for Nationals because qualifying scores havent been announced yet! Our coach looked at her and said "She is happy. She had a good day. Dont even TRY to take that from her. Besides, there is no way they will raise the qualifying score more than 1 point from before - so she will still have it."
We have trouble with their bars EVERY year. In previous years, there was enough "safe" space on the bars that we could just have the girls move over 4-6 inches. Now it is getting wider. The host team has more higher level gymnasts who use grips and tons of chalk... and water on the bars. They need to strip the bar and start over... but apparently can't see that!!! Will they ever learn?