Parents Scared DD

[SuperMom]

Recently, Liv has started a fear of RO BHS backtuck. She has had it for a little over 3 months now, and it is one of the skills she has for level 6. When she first got it, she was not scared of it...not even a tiny bit. Now all of a sudden, she is scared of them...a reason even she does not know of. I know I should stay out of this kind of stuff, and just let her coach see what the problem is, but its hard to when she comes home really frusterated, and sometimes even cries. She tells me that a voice in her head says dont do it! and she ends up not doing it. She also waits a long time before she goes. To help boost her confidence, I told her to write all positive stuff on a page, and how she can do it. She reads it alot, but it still dosnt help...
She has also told me that this little fear thing is not only with that, but with flyaways, and other skills. She is just so frusterated..I dont want her to end up quiting gym because of that little voice in her head!
Has your DD been in the same situation? What did she do to help boost her confidence?

Thanks for reading!

 

[MdGymMom01]

This is more common than you would realize so hang in there! How old is Liv? My dd started developing a fear of backwards tumbling when she started learning the tuck as well. She was 8 years old. She would freeze just like your dd and wait a long time before she went for the skill as well. The problem was that she "thought too much" about the skill, and she would psych herself out. She is also very afraid of the power and speed that she generates with running backwards tumbling. I have found that the backwards tumbling fear usually starts when kids have mastered BHSs and are moving onto tucks. They are two completely different skills which require very different body movements (the BHS you go back and up and the tuck, you mainly go up). This differentiation causes a lot of confusion in these young kids brains so their "natural defense mechanism" kicks in and tells them "Don't do it!!!" This is my theory anyway from watching a child go through it and many of her cheer and gymnastics teammates.

What helped with my dd (she is now 11 and STILL has these backwards tumbling fears) is going back to basics. She does a lot of repetitions on a cheese mat or into the pit to get her body and muscles used to the skill. She also has a fear of the flyaway as well, so she needs to do lots and lots of drills and spotted flyaways to build her confidence up.

Don't worry--this happens. And it usually happens to the kids that "think too much" or have to understand and "feel" a skill 100% before they attempt it or master it on their own. Just be patient and the best thing is NOT TO PUT PRESSURE on her. I know--easier said than done. She'll get the skill in time. Good luck!!!

 

[my4buffaloes]

We have not been in this situation, but I'm so sorry your daughter is going through this. My daughter and I were at Woodward last week and I sat in on a Q&A with Sam and Bridgette from the last Olympic team. Apparently Sam had huge fear issues when she was little. She said that whenever a fear developed her coaches would take her back to the basics for a day or so to help her get the skill back and be confident in it. So for instance when she was scare of the RO BHS she would go back and do it with spot over and over again until she could do it on her own again. She said on the beam when a fear came up (usually with a skill she had had for awhile) her coaches would let her work on that skill on the low beam for a day and each day move to a higher beam until she was back to normal within a few days. She said it worked well for her. I thought it was very interesting. Sam also said that the hardest skill she ever learned was the RO BHS. Good luck!

Jennifer

 

[taximom]

Mdgymmom and I have identical twins! I was going to post something encouraging but MD and I share the same story. Hang in there!

 

[emandelsmom]

Count us in there too with the RO BHS. DD is terrified of them, but will do front tucks and back tucks, front handspring etc. Has taken lots of patience and dropping back down a level to get confident of them again. Yes, she went all the way back to basics. Hang in there. There is nothing as a mom you can do but be a cheerleader for your daughter.

 

[Bobby]

This is just speculation from the POV of a former gymnast:
The RO,BHS,BT is one of those first skills where everyone starts to say (with encouraging intentions) 'wow that's so cool, can't believe you can do that, I'd never do that' etc. It does seem pretty common that there's no problem until the gymmie starts thinking about it. And thinking about it seems quite likely to trigger fear.
I'd be quite tempted to do the opposite of what you're doing. (Sorry ). I think my advice (from you to your DD) would be: don't think about it- just trust your body.
Obviously you'll still be responsive and sympathetic when she wants to talk to you about it, but maybe not encourage/permit dwelling on a problem that can only really be resolved when she's at the gym. Discourage thinking altogether - it seems to hinder not help!!

 

[Sunobo]

My DD has back tumbling issues as well. She competed L4 for three years and in that last year she developed huge fears with her roundoff backhandspring and her back walkover. She would be fine for months with the bwo and then fear creeps in and she won't do them. She will get a spot for awhile and go back to just doing backbend kickovers, slowly moving her foot out until she's back to the bwo. With the robhs bhs she will now do it but someone has to be standing on the floor within touching range. She is now going into her second year as a L5 and really wants to get better so she can be L6 the following year.

Anyway, since she has been having issues for awhile, we just started working Dr. Alison Arnolds program. I really like the ideas Dr. Arnold has for conditioning the mind so they can learn to conqure the "I can't" talk that goes on in their head.

 

[starmaker]

Like everyone else has mentioned it is pretty common!! I would not consider my dd fear based but lately has developed over cautious-ness. Seems more "aware" of the possible dangers and starts "thinking" too much. Liv's been doing handstand on beams since she was 5 years old and all of sudden a few months back admitted to fears. I was like....are you kidding?!?! Didn't expect that at all. At first I thought she was "copying" or repeating what another gymmie said. There was no way my Liv was "afraid". At her previous gym fear was running rampant!

Now a few months later (and at another gym) she seems to have conquered that particular fear but others have developed like the flyaway. She's afraid of hitting her foot on the bar. I asked her.. so what??? You've never hit your foot before? She's like yeah. Sometimes just using logic works for her. It clicks in her mind like Yeah what's the big deal!! Now she's still working on her confidence but we've talked about worst case scenario not being so bad after all and she's coming around.

Liv is scared of back tucks too. But we don't talk about that one. She tells me she has time to work on it. And you can physically see her use self talk. Liv likes to feel in control of the skills. Aerial flipping makes her feel out of control and she concludes it's dangerous.

Good luck with your dd. Let know what works.

 

[SuperMom]

Thank-You everybody, it really means alot. DD said that she is just not going to think about it, and go! She said that she made up positive things to say to herself while she's running, hurdling, roundolfing, backhandspringing and then, the flip. Her next day of gym is tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. I will keep everyone updated!

 

[NotAMom]

What everyone has said...

These fear cases or mental-blocks are very common. Most gymnasts go through it (that happens in other sports as well) at least once and it is extremely rare that they don't overcome it eventually. (or they can work around it once she gets to optional)

For more talks similar to this one, try doing a search. In fact, there has been a few over recent months.

Good luck!

 

[nettyinpa]

I've posted about this a few times over the last couple of months. Many of you know that Olivia had this problem as well, and at States of all places. The difference being that she fell out of her back tuck too soon and landed on her back. Scared her out of doing again, for a long time. Her coaches took their time with her, had her doing stuff into the pit, then on the tumble track then into a panel mat, slowly but surely building her up to the point where she has no fear at all. As a matter of fact, I think she's getting them higher now than she ever has. So, tell her to keep up the positive thinking and she'll get it back!!

 

[SuperMom]

Yesterday DD said that she went into the pit, and slowly worked to the floor. She said that she kind of waited long before she went, but she still ended up doing the backuck at the end. I think she is starting to overcome her fear, step by step and day by day!
As for flyaways, she hasn't said anything about them...which I am guessing is a good thing!
Again, thanks for all the help, you guys have helped so much!

 

[runnergirl]

I can completely sympathize - my daughter is currently experiencing a fear of giants. She has been working with straps and her tap swings are good, but she just does not want to progress to the giant. I have tried to talk to her about it, but I'm not sure I'm helping She just left for camp this morning and she was really looking forward to that - I tried to discuss it with her last night that maybe she can discuss her fears with the coaches at the camp as they are a fresh face/perspective and she didn't want to tell her gym coach. I told her the best way to deal with it is to ask for her coach's help, but my daughter's personality has always been to be independent and work through it on her own, but it seems to be just causing her more stress by keeping it to herself.

 

[Flippers Mom]

Like others have said, this is a very common problem. Flipper was a level 7 when she developed a fear of back tumbling on floor. She could still do a back handspring on beam, but wouldn't even attempt it on floor. Flipper, her coaches and parents were all frustrated to the point of tears. As others have suggested, her coaches started back at the beginning - relearning each part of the skills in small steps. It took months, but she came back stronger then ever. Dr. Ali has some wonderful resources that help explain mental blocks and give suggestions on how to work through them.

Flippers breakthrough came when she had a gymnast friend at the house. They had stacked couch cushions, pillows, mats, etc. on the living room floor. Flippers level 5 friend was goofing off, doing back handsprings and vaulting on the cushions. She finally looked at Flipper and said, "If I can do this as a level 5, you can do it!" Flipper was a bit hesitant, but tried - and did a really lousy back handspring. Cheering ensued. The girls dug out the DVDs we recorded of the 2008 Olympics and watched Shawn and Nastia win their gold medals. Flipper was heard muttering, "I want to be like that!" They went out to the living room and worked on gymnastics until they about dropped from exhaustion. It still took time for Flipper to get her form back and quit hesitating, but she quit balking from that point on.

She came home from gym last night walking on clouds. She has been nailing her back 1-1/2 on the floor without spot and did a double back onto mats in the pit last night. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

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