Kip help, shifting

[NGL780309]

I have a question about shifting the hands on the kip. DD is struggling with her kip and I have no clue what she's doing wrong and I wouldn't dare ask the coach. I just sit and watch and wonder. Her coach spoke to me briefly last night and said she was making them before because she was shifting and getting her shoulders over the bar. Now she said DD is back to not shifting, so when she pushes down on the bar at the end of kip her hands aren't on top of the bar and she's actually pushing herself away from the bar. Coaches, how do you teach kids to do this? I also wonder if not shifting is the symptom of something else. Any input? I ask because when DD was first learning her mill circle her coach would always tell me she's not shifting, she'd have it if she would just shift. Her problem with shifting then was really more of a problem of her not pushing up tall and stepping big with her front leg. Once she understood that, she could shift easily.

We don't have a bar at home so it's not like she can practice her kip, but sometimes you can tell her something and it helps her. Like when I asked for help on her mill circle here because she was having trouble stopping. Dunno suggested she use her thumbs. I told her and problem solved. I know this won't be so easy, but any thoughts on this would be helpful.

 

[NGL780309]

I'm going to be the first to reply to my own thread. I have one video of DD trying to do her kip on my phone and I just watched it and she doesn't move her hands AT ALL. They stay exactly the same from start to finish (finish being not making it).

 

[Deleted member D3987]

it'll be awhile. you really don't want her to hear anything except from her coach. if the wrong cues are given to her, and she doesn't shift her hands at the precise moment, she'll end up 'eating the bar' and knocking out a couple of teeth. she's still 'under' the bar from the glide swing. this will change in time.

 

[NGL780309]

Well, they are baby teeth and we are waiting for them to get loose......

 

[NGL780309]

I don't want to confuse her Dunno and I'm not criticizing the coaching she's getting, but here's how practice is going at the moment. Because she has made her kip a few weeks ago for 2 practices and then some number of weeks before that, she's just left to her own devices. They won't spot her anymore unless they are working on connecting everything on the low bar and she just tries over and over by herself without looking like she's making any progress. And maybe that's the best thing for her. It's kind of like they told her what she needs to do and because she did it before they just expect she'll get it again and she will at some point. I know that. I have just found with DD that sometimes telling her something different, that is really the same thing in different words, helps her. She seems like she often needs a lot of explaining.

I was happy to have some feedback from the coach and I trust that they know what they are doing. It just seemed like when the coach told me that, it was with an attitude of, "she can do it, she's just not doing what I told her to do and i know she can do it because I've seen her do it." And those things are true, but like I said, DD often needs lots of explaining. Even when her dad was working with her and trying to get her to do something, I "translated" it to her in a way that made sense to her.

Her dad will be here soon, so maybe some more hands on help will be useful to her.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

well, they are baby teeth and we are waiting for them to get loose......

lol>.......................

 

[Coacharella]

hoping the teeth thing was a joke....lol kidding, I know it was.
but really, no worries. I read two posts from you about your daughter's kip. The coaches very likely are letting her to own devices for a reason. Just sit back and watch her get it. Or, don't watch or ask about it for a while, and when she does get it, all the better.

 

[Bajanswife]

I understand completely how you feel - I can sense my DD's frustration when she isn't getting things right away (like right now it's the kip and consistent beam dismount), and I know we all have to be patient, but I can't help but feel like I want to help her in some way. I know full well that if I didn't watch her, I wouldn't be going through this angst myself, but I discovered early on that I really enjoy watching gymnastics - so much better than DS' football! lol I am good with computers and websites, and have bit by bit become invaluable to the HC with respect to helping with our travel, and now I'm also Treasurer of the gymnastics association in my country. i.e. I am very involved in the sport now, and DD's practices are my opportunities to touch base with the HC and the other parents. So I am there to stay. I just have to learn to take that step back and not involve myself too much in DD's coaching. It isn't easy, though.

It's weird, because normally I am not the type of mom who fixes things for her kids all the time - in fact, I force mine to figure out a lot of things for themselves, as I think that's good for them. I don't know why I am so intent on this gymnastics thing.

 

[NGL780309]

I know the coaches are doing a great job, but I don't think that means a helpful word here and there are bad. We can disagree on that. Especially when a child is younger they sometimes need some extra explanation. I know DD's coach has told her a million times to shift, but she wasn't getting it. Maybe she had heard it so many times that she had tuned it out. I didn't get any good advice here, but good old dad came through with a few helpful words to DD and it helped her a lot. I think I've read this here to, but he just told her to think about her what her hands do at the end of the front hip circle and bam the kip was back.

DD's coach was excited and I told the coach her dad gave her a few helpful words. I told her what her dad told her and after the whole practice was finished she let 2 girls go back to bars that had never done their kip, but were very close. She gave them the advice that helped DD and one of the girls did her kip for the first time! It was very exciting!

 

[Sunobo]

That's great that she got her kip back and I'm glad her dad was able to give her the words she needed. Taking the words a coach gives and putting it into action can be difficult especially when it comes to the younger kids. They sometimes just can't quite get the concept and different words can paint a better picture for them.