WAG To scratch or not?

[npgymmom]

My 11 daughter is back a at a gym after being gone for a little over two years, was doing t&t for a year. She has only been back since September and doing great training level 4, was not going to compete till fall. Sure to an injury of one of the girls she has been given the opportunity to take her place, like a trial run! She is very excited, She has all skills except on bars. .. she almost has her kip, but not quite..her coach wants her to scratch that event, but she feels that would be worse than getting a low score, since she knows that there is a major deduction for spotting. She is stubborn to a fault, but it love her drive and she lives fit competing! Any advice from anyone who has gone through this? Thanks

 

[MaryA]

Coach wants her to scratch, so she should scratch. It should be the coach's call. Don't encourage her to second-guess the coach's decisions.

 

[raenndrops]

I agree that it should ultimately be coach's call... BUT there are different reasons for coaches to want gymnasts to scratch... some more "legit" than others.
If coach wants her to scratch just so she is not disappointed by a low score (legit reason with some girls), then that might be a different story. The girl is aware that she would score low ... if she still wants to compete bars knowing this, then she won't be disappointed with the score she gets.
If coach wants her to scratch because putting up a less than perfect gymnast would harm the gym's reputation (less legit, but it happens), then she should scratch.
If coach wants her to scratch so he has less work to do- spotting and such (kind of almost legit), then she should scratch.
If coach wants her to scratch because her routine is so dangerous that it could cause injury (legit on its face...), then she should scratch.

I might be acting a little cynical right now, but I don't like the idea of scratching an event if it can be competed safely (even if some skills aren't quite there).

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Our coaches do not allow any gymnasts to compete skills they don't have, or skills they have but fail to do well during the workouts the week before the meet. They're not super concerned with scores but will not send gymnasts out that will need any sort of spotting.
Best of luck to your gymmie!

 

[iwannacoach]

Leave it up to the coach because although there are many reasons already stated the reason that should be respected most, if you like the program, is it's the coach's call.

Another point of concern is when you work with kids there are some, or perhaps many, who will seek to keep company with the lowest common denominator. They will use one child's "free pass" into a meet as evidence they themselves can go into meets without proper preparation. Some folks will say there's nothing like that taking place, or see no harm if it does take place, as it's a valid opinion that it's a kids sport and should be there for the kids to enjoy.

Sure, I get that, but what happens is the team wide work ethic slowly erodes to the point that an alarming percentage of the kids are ill prepared for competitions because the adults around them were so focused on making everything positive. Well, there's two sides to the positive coin. To keep kids moving toward *their goals* they need to experience not having what they want. It's that or living in a fairy tale where everything goes just right..... until it all caves in like a house of cards.

Not having what you want is the first step toward earning it, and the most positive thing you can do for most kids is to let them know exactly that.

I know this may sound like a rant, but it's an important issue in sports because if your priority is participation the result will be participation. Nothing wrong with that, as long as dd knows the deck is stacked against her in the context she won't have the benefit of expectations placed before her.

Parenting...... it one heckofa balancing act.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I watched a lot of level 4s scratch bars last weekend. I also watched a few girls that competed 4 without a kip. Either just did a pull over or had a spot. I think it depends on the child and how they will feel with a low score.

Having said that - my experience with watching 2 kids (and their teammates) get their kip is that even once they "get their kip" in practice there is a very long - sometimes months long - time period where they sometimes have it sometimes don't. And even once they have it all the time, it is usually not with good form for a long time after that. So just because they are so close in practice does not mean they are anywhere near competing it. The kip just seems to take a very long time to get right.

 

[npgymmom]

Thanks everyone I do appreciate it! I totally agree with everything you all said. Even though she will not be very happy, She needs to learn to be patient and know that her coach has her best interests at heart! Meet is on Sunday!

 

[wallinbl]

Just tell her it happens, and it's part of the sport. DD scratched bars in the first meet this year, and won bars at the next meet. Just keep working hard and it will come together.

 

[mommyof1]

In this particular situation, it might help to reframe her focus from scratching bars to competing three events months before she was supposed to be ready to compete. It's not a failure that she's scratching bars--it's an achievement that she's competing the other three events. Of course, convincing a kid to think about something in a different way is easier said than done.

 

[npgymmom]

On a side note to this... when they do scratch, do they need to actually go up and tap the bar? This all happened so fast i have not asked that yet!

 

[wallinbl]

On a side note to this... when they do scratch, do they need to actually go up and tap the bar? This all happened so fast i have not asked that yet!

Yes

 

[MaryA]

On a side note to this... when they do scratch, do they need to actually go up and tap the bar? This all happened so fast i have not asked that yet!

Yes... Salute, touch the bar, salute again. And as Wallinb said, it happens. DD scratched bars at her first "old" level 5 (new 4) meet, and has scratched events since then.

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

In level 5 my coach made me scratch bars because I didn't have my high bar kip and I was really mad at him but in the end it made me work really hard and soon after that I became one of the best bar workers on the team. If he had let me compete anyway, I probably wouldn't have worked as hard because I wouldn't have cared about getting a low score. I just really wanted to compete.

 

[gracyomalley]

DD scratched bars her first 3 meets as an old level 5 (which is the first competition level for her team). Her coach wouldn't let her compete bars until she felt that she would make state with her score there (her other events quickly got to that level....which is why she was competing at all - she really wanted to and didn't mind not being on the podium, etc....). She actually made her first full bar routine (actually her first front hip circle EVER and first high bar kip EVER) in the first meet her coach let her compete bars. It wasn't pretty, but now, of course she can kip forever....

I came out of that experience feeling like her coach knew her pretty well....scratching has not been an option for her since then - no matter how fearful she became of various skills, etc....but there's also never been another time she wasn't ready to "do full routines" by a meet - level 6 was only 3 meets and not too pretty, but everything was "there"....sometimes scratching allows confidence and competition experience to grow while learning other skills.

I was, however, recently at a big meet and overheard a parent saying that their level 7 DD (about 11 I think) wasn't allowed to compete her bars until her cast hand stands were "100%"....although she had solid 9+ on other events....I don't understand that approach myself....

 

[wgymmom]

I watched a lot of level 4s scratch bars last weekend. I also watched a few girls that competed 4 without a kip. Either just did a pull over or had a spot. I think it depends on the child and how they will feel with a low score.

Having said that - my experience with watching 2 kids (and their teammates) get their kip is that even once they "get their kip" in practice there is a very long - sometimes months long - time period where they sometimes have it sometimes don't. And even once they have it all the time, it is usually not with good form for a long time after that. So just because they are so close in practice does not mean they are anywhere near competing it. The kip just seems to take a very long time to get right.

I agree with this. DD was the first to get her kip last year, but she also went through a slump and got it back, then needed to work on straight arms, and then she was finally ready to compete it.