WAG Seriously frightened at today's meet

[cbone]

At my daughter's Level 4 meet today, there was one girl from another gym who was bouncing off of her head on EVERY RO-BHS in warm-ups and a particularly nasty one during her competition routine. I was worried for her safety. I wonder if I'll ever become one of those gym parents who watches scary stuff/ injuries without flinching. I admire those of you with nerves of steel.

 

[raenndrops]

I have been watching Level 4 meets for the last 5 years and I still can't get used to it.

Hopefully, this girl's head wasn't hitting as hard as it looked like it was.

 

[MeetDirector]

cbone -

I think I have commented to you before to buckle your seatbelt because you are in for a bumpy ride. Just wait 'til your dd gets to optionals. Let me just advise you now - don't watch practice as she trains for the higher optional levels; it will give you a nervous breakdown. The key to maintaining your sanity and nervous stability is to develop trust and confidence in your dd's coaches. You have to trust that the coach will train your dd properly and won't let her compete if she isn't ready. Good luck!

 

[gymgal]

cbone -

I think I have commented to you before to buckle your seatbelt because you are in for a bumpy ride. Just wait 'til your dd gets to optionals. Let me just advise you now - don't watch practice as she trains for the higher optional levels; it will give you a nervous breakdown. The key to maintaining your sanity and nervous stability is to develop trust and confidence in your dd's coaches. You have to trust that the coach will train your dd properly and won't let her compete if she isn't ready. Good luck!

I second this!!

Sent from my AT100 using ChalkBucket mobile app

 

[gymmutti]

This weekend this was the first time I've gone to watch the L9 and L10 compete. I have now decided there will be no way I can watch meets if my dd makes it to those levels. L8 is about as scary as my heart can take. I now understand why parents say they just hope their child survives the meet without getting injured.

 

[wallinbl]

This weekend this was the first time I've gone to watch the L9 and L10 compete. I have now decided there will be no way I can watch meets if my dd makes it to those levels. L8 is about as scary as my heart can take. I now understand why parents say they just hope their child survives the meet without getting injured.

I watched a few L10 sessions last year. Saw some crazy falls from bars and saw one girl go out on a stretcher. Glad I have some time before I have to watch my own DD do those skills.

 

[MaryA]

I think the level progression is as much for the parents as for the kid. Like the lobster in a pot of water growing gradually hotter, we don't notice the craziness of what our kids are doing because we've seen them build up to it gradually. I know that now, as a level 7, DD is doing things that would have terrified me a couple of years ago. Level 9 and 10 still look crazy, but level 8 is starting to look less so. Maybe by level 8, 9 won't look so crazy? Or maybe by levels 9 and 10 the water is so hot that there's no denying it any more?

 

[LizzieLac]

Our gym would not allow a child to compete if she were landing on her head during a BHS. That child is not ready and I can't understand what the rush is. Chances are she is scoring 7s, so I am not sure what the benefit. I can certainy see what the harm is though!

 

[Gymmommy71]

Our gym would not allow a child to compete if she were landing on her head during a BHS. That child is not ready and I can't understand what the rush is. Chances are she is scoring 7s, so I am not sure what the benefit. I can certainy see what the harm is though!

I agree...it is one thing to be inconsistent on a skill where it's not a real safety issue if you miss (like a kip where the kid just drops down like they always do in practice anyways, a fall off the beam in a cartwheel or the full turn), but it's another when the kid is landing on their head! Also, the only good reason for a kid w/o a good ROBHS to be competing L4 is if they are amazing on the other 3 events, and even so, if there's a safety issue just don't do the BHS or get a spot and take the deduction (don't risk a concussion!)...

 

[profmom]

I agree...it is one thing to be inconsistent on a skill where it's not a real safety issue if you miss (like a kip where the kid just drops down like they always do in practice anyways, a fall off the beam in a cartwheel or the full turn), but it's another when the kid is landing on their head! Also, the only good reason for a kid w/o a good ROBHS to be competing L4 is if they are amazing on the other 3 events, and even so, if there's a safety issue just don't do the BHS or get a spot and take the deduction (don't risk a concussion!)...

Well . . . while I do agree with not competing unsafe skills, DD's only major gymnastics injury was a broken arm incurred after falling during a full turn on beam. Yes, she had done the skill approximately four billion times prior to this. Yes, she had fallen safely on approximately two billion of the four billion attempts. At our boys' first meet, one of our guys who had been doing two very nice BHSs totally consistently in practice balked slightly before the second in competition and inadvertently competed a full on headspring. Thank goodness he walked away from it. His coach had a lengthy chat with him right afterward once he'd assessed him for a concussion.

Don't kid yourself. It is a dangerous sport, even at L4. You just have to ensure that they're in a gym where they are learning how to fall as well as how to complete skills successfully, where the coaches teach good progressions, and where they are getting strength and conditioning training commensurate with their levels. And then, depending upon your particular religious proclivities, as they climb up the ranks, you just have hope and/or pray that it all continues to go well and safely. Oh, and DON'T go to practice when you know they're working on uptraining, go and never look in the back corner when your DD is on the low beam they use for new scary skills. While she remains in gymnastics, your daughter will make your heart stop multiple times, and if your gym is good, 99 out of 100 of those times, she will bounce up smiling.

That being said, the scariest sports injuries I have seen have all been in soccer.

 

[shelovestoflip]

My daughter has just started her first Level 8 meet season. Third meet was this past weekend. I never go to practice so don't really know what she's doing (or what it looks like, she does occasionally tell me what she's doing, lol!)

At her first level 8 meet, I practically had a heart attack when I saw her do a tsuk. Yes, she told me that was her vault. But no, I didn't really know what it was. So when I saw her vault and flip and whatever it is she does, I was holding my breath!

PS, she has placed 1st on Vault at all three meets so far, so she must know what she's doing...but I'm so not ready!! Bars when they start release moves? I'll have to leave the room!! Or at least cover my eyes!!

 

[MeetDirector]

she loves -

Take it from me - DO NOT watch the training for the "shoot over". Thank goodness my dd's coaches are good at catching a flying gymnast.

 

[shelovestoflip]

she loves -

Take it from me - DO NOT watch the training for the "shoot over". Thank goodness my dd's coaches are good at catching a flying gymnast.

Yikes...OK, I won't watch. Don't even know what level they do a shoot over (or what it is!!) I guess that's a good thing...blind faith in the coaches works for me!!

 

[MeetDirector]

She Loves -

Level 9, high bar to low bar release. Very popular. Usually out of a pirouette or some other turn on the high bar; my dd does it out of a hop half turn which gets her another release move. Then there is the whole double back dismount. Then there is beam ... whoo!!

 

[Granny Smith]

A rule of thumb, at every competition you attend at whatever level, there will always be a gymnast (or two or three) that should not be doing the level you are watching.

I consider myself to be one of those nerves of steel parents, who watch without "freaking" but there is usually 1 or 2 who I just pray they make it through the meet alive! This year should be fun... level 10!

 

[MaryA]

That being said, the scariest sports injuries I have seen have all been in soccer.

Really? Wow, I would totally not expect that!

 

[wallinbl]

Really? Wow, I would totally not expect that!

Get two people to kick as hard as they can while running towards each other, but miss the ball and smash their shins together. You'll see a tibia snap in half and the lower leg fold backward. If it's bad enough, you'll see the bone itself. In a particularly nasty one, I saw a good friend's femur after he dove into the goalpost.

 

[MaryA]

Get two people to kick as hard as they can while running towards each other, but miss the ball and smash their shins together. You'll see a tibia snap in half and the lower leg fold backward. If it's bad enough, you'll see the bone itself. In a particularly nasty one, I saw a good friend's femur after he dove into the goalpost.

Ugh! Not a nice picture!

 

[profmom]

Granny Smith, you are so right!

Re: soccer. My non-gymnast soccer fiend son's teammate broke his wrist at their New Year's tournament a week ago. But that's not what I'm talking about. The two scariest ones I've seen were 1) a collision that resulted in a player down receiving chest compressions from the ref (thank G-d he was OK -- he had just had the wind knocked out of him so badly that the ref thought his heart had stopped), and 2) a collision where two kids were going for a header that left one kid bloody and concussed and the other one unconscious. The unconscious one was conscious by the time they took him off the field on a stretcher.

It's really cute when they are 6-7 years old and all making a big scrum around the ball. By junior high, not so much. I love watching my big guy play, but I always breathe a silent sigh of relief when he comes off the field in one piece under his own power.

Wallinbl, I am happy not to have seen any exposed bones and I hope I never do.

 

[DisMom]

Really? Wow, I would totally not expect that!

Without question this is true. I may not coach gymnastics, but I coach soccer. 3 teams. And there are WAY more injuries on my soccer teams than on my dd's gymnastics team. In fact, my older, non-gymnast daughter is sporting a lovely cast on her arm right now, thanks to soccer. Whereas my gymnast has never broken anything. And said gymnast also plays travel soccer...and the only injury she has ever had? Yes, from soccer! (And she only practices soccer twice per week/1.5 hours each time wheras she is in the gym 15 hours/week.)