WAG Bent arms on kip & front hip circl

[cmarie]

Hi all,

My DD has done rec gymnastics on and off for a few years. She recently moved to a new gym and was put on level 3 preteam and after about 4 months was moved to xcel silver.

The eventually decided to have her compete at gold.

Being new to all of this I thought she "had" her kip and front hip circle, but unfortunately at her first meet she received a 8.3 on bars. We suspect it is due to the bent arms. Here's a video of the first half of her routine:

Any help? She has been doing 4 hours worth of privates a month and I'm not seeing much progress. I will say the coach seems to do a circuit of all of the events at the privates, and doesn't specifically focus on one thing. Maybe that'll be key?

We have a bar at home, so she practices here, but I'm afraid she is just reinforcing incorrect form.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

I think she's doing great for being so new to team. They will get cleaner by time. How many hours a week does she practice? If she's doing more than 6-8 hours a week, I don't really see the need for the privates.

 

[MILgymFAM]

How often does she practice with her team? Regular practices *should* be enough and I’d be wary of a gym that ends up requiring an hour private every single week. We’ve done privates in the past and they’ve never been a circuit. They’ve always been quite targeted. Do you know why they decided to score her out of silver? How was her score in the score-out meet?

 

[cmarie]

They were originally doing 4 hours per week but in January it moved up to 6 hours.

She will be moving over to compulsory after her xcel season, I'm guessing level 4, so I just worried that her form would be a really big problem during that transition.

 

[cmarie]

They don't require the privates, I pushed for them because I thought she might clean up some of her problem areas and have a better chance at placing... we had no such luck

Since I'm so new to gym as well, I guess I have a hard time at knowing what her progression should look like.

Also, you don't have to score out of silver to go to gold. Coaches can place you in either level. Our coach stated based on the skills she has down, silver wouldn't push her/be as competitive. Though after the first meet she did say we can put her in silver for the next meet, but at this point my DD doesn't seem happy about that idea.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

Learning a kip when only practicing 4-6 hours a week is a big accomplishment in itself - your kid must be pretty talented. Polishing it may take some time - it takes time from those doing 10+ hours a week too.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

Bent arms are a problem, but there's a much bigger deduction. She doesn't really connects her skills. You can see how after every skill she stops and swings her legs a bit. Those stops are empty swings and either 0.1 or 0.3 per swing (can't remember)

 

[cmarie]

Thanks gymisforeveryone, that makes me(us) feel better! She had been under a lot of pressure to correct her form as she really wants to do well at her next meet.

 

[cmarie]

Jared- thanks for bringing that to my attention, I guess it's something she'll need to focus on in the future. Xcel gold doesn't deduct for it, but platinum and above do deduct .30. I'm guessing that deduction will be there in compulsory as well.

 

[MILgymFAM]

They don't require the privates, I pushed for them because I thought she might clean up some of her problem areas and have a better chance at placing... we had no such luck

Since I'm so new to gym as well, I guess I have a hard time at knowing what her progression should look like.

Also, you don't have to score out of silver to go to gold. Coaches can place you in either level. Our coach stated based on the skills she has down, silver wouldn't push her/be as competitive. Though after the first meet she did say we can put her in silver for the next meet, but at this point my DD doesn't seem happy about that idea.

You do have to score out of silver to gold, just FYI.

 

[cmarie]

View attachment 7094
You do have to score out of silver to gold, just FYI.

Milgymfam, thanks for the clarification! I think it's when you haven't had previous competitive experience you don't have to score out, you are just placed where your coach sees fit *up to the gold level*, which is what happened to us.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

View attachment 7094
You do have to score out of silver to gold, just FYI.

From when was that? In a version from October 2014 it does say the entry level is either bronze, silver or gold

 

[MILgymFAM]

Milgymfam, thanks for the clarification! I think it's when you haven't had previous competitive experience you don't have to score out, you are just placed where your coach sees fit *up to the gold level*, which is what happened to us.

I really hate to bemoan the point, but when you don’t have previous competition experience is exactly when you DO have to score out. If they did not score out your DD.. well that’s between them, usag, and you- but you should at least be aware of what they did or did not do.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

No. You have to score out. I have found many coaches have not stayed abreast of the requirements, which changed, I believe, in 2016. The code of points starting in 2016, and the recently released 2017 have that particular chart.

 

[MILgymFAM]

From when was that? In a version from October 2014 it does say the entry level is either bronze, silver or gold

They changed it either last year or this year. We aren’t Xcel anymore so I’m not sure of the exact date of the change, but it is in effect.

 

[cmarie]

They changed it either last year or this year. We aren’t Xcel anymore so I’m not sure of the exact date of the change, but it is in effect.

It was released in July 2017. I found the updated rules https://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/xcel/cop_rev_072817_2.pdf

Thanks for letting me/us know!

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

It was in the 2016 code of points too, so it was changed before that. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/xcel/cop_rev_082616.pdf

I had to tell our own coaches this. It's surprising to me that so many don't seem to read the new COPs that come out for updates. Especially because all new changes are bolded or highlighted, so you just have to skim. (In the 2016 chart, the silver score requirement is in bold, so you know that was the year it was changed.)

Is it true that the empty swings aren't deducted in Xcel? Our coaches always try to fix those before state. I would agree rhythm is the bigger deduction I can see in the video.

 

[cmarie]

It was in the 2016 code of points too, so it was changed before that. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/xcel/cop_rev_082616.pdf

I had to tell our own coaches this. It's surprising to me that so many don't seem to read the new COPs that come out for updates. Especially because all new changes are bolded or highlighted, so you just have to skim. (In the 2016 chart, the silver score requirement is in bold, so you know that was the year it was changed.)

Is it true that the empty swings aren't deducted in Xcel? Our coaches always try to fix those before state. I would agree rhythm is the bigger deduction I can see in the video.

That was correct for the old code of points, as I am reading the new one it appears that poor rythym/connections is up to a .10 deduction for each occurence

 

[raenndrops]

Bent arms are a problem, but there's a much bigger deduction. She doesn't really connects her skills. You can see how after every skill she stops and swings her legs a bit. Those stops are empty swings and either 0.1 or 0.3 per swing (can't remember)

Not that big a deal in Xcel like it is in JO.

 

[Flippin'A]

I also think it's important that she (and you) understand that an 8.3 at her first meet ever is far from a bad score. In fact, just going to her first meet with a kip front hip is by itself a huge accomplishment and fairly unusual. If she has to score out of silver that's one thing, but setting her back a level because she got over an 8 in her first meet seems like it would just teach her that there's no point to competing if she isn't going to place. Especially if she plans to transition to JO, it's important that she's able to set and achieve personal goals when she competes instead of looking for those external rewards. The first meet is just a starting place, and now she can focus on straight arms and the rhythm of her connections and hopefully she'll improve at the next meet. Sometimes it's better to start off with room to grow so she can track and see how much she's improved.