Parents BHS Beam Mental Blocks

[Swiftli]

My DD 1yr Lvl 7 worked all summer on her BHS and I have seen her practice it beautifully. It took awhile for her to have confidence. The coach used panel mats stacked up and allowed her to drop it slowly until eventually she was doing them on high beam. I have seen her do her whole routine without a blip of hestation on anything.

Then 2 days before her first meet...she lost her BHS. Now she just stands frozen on the high beam with her hands in the air but not able to go back. Coach steps up to spot her but DD still doesn't go.

At the first meet she warmed up her BWO series beautifully, her FWO beautifully and her front tuck dismount...but stuck frozen on the BHS. DD was in tears. Coach had her scratch beam at the meet.

This week in practice she still hasn't found it. Head coach's new incentive...Do it by Friday or you will spend the entire 4 hour practice only on beam rotation with HC until she gets it.

I am frustrated because I know she can do it, I have seen it but when you ask her what stops you she can't explain it and becomes an overly emotional and won't talk any longer to me. I have no gym background so I just spout "visualize it and try to remove negative thoughts and go."

After the meet where she scratched, I did not say a thing. I did not want to pressure her or make her feel worse but boy, was it killing me. I wanted to say WTH were you thinking? I know you can do it so just do it. I know that probably makes me sound like one of those crazed gym moms. I am just lost on how to help her.

 

[ginnymac]

Take a look at dunno's post in the current thread about back tumbling. He wrote an excellent post re: the vestibular system.

Good luck to your dd in overcoming this. I would think the a 4 hour practice with her coach will simply add fuel to the fire

 

[flipper's fan]

My dd has been working the BHS on beam for three years, starting a year prior to her level 7 season. She has lost it three or four times. Once after a few weeks out of gym due to injury, once for no apparent reason at all, and once after splitting the beam and getting a nasty bruise on her hip. Each time she gets it back by going back to the low beam, using mat stacks, and getting spotted. I've seen her stand on the beam and burst into tears because the coach made her stay there untill she tried it, and I've seen her storm out of the gym humiliated after that too. I don't think the problem is that unusual.

Patience, calm, and hard work will pay off. She has competed it successfully in many meets.

And I concur on the back tumbling thread, lots of good info and other reasons for having issues.

 

[Megley]

I live in fear of this happening to my dd. I agree 100% with flipper's fan, though, taking it all back down is the best idea. I think that having her spend four hours on the beam with the HC is a terrible idea and pretty much guaranteed to be a disaster. The HC should just start all over again as if she's teaching her the skill for the first time and work from there.

 

[gym law mom]

Been through it with the bhs-bhs series. Of course having her 1st coach call the girls "losers" and "whimps" if they didn't do it just added to the anxiety.

The thing is she knows she can do it too. Thats what frustrates the girls---they know physically they can do the skill. Look up info on Doc Ali--you may find that helpful in working with her.

The plan of keeping her on the beam for 4 hours until she does the bhs is a recipe for absolute failure. I can predict she'll end up in tears, be up and down on the beam and may just give up. At this point she needs what others have mentioned----work the progressions. Start on that low beam with mats, then pull mats away, then on to a medium beam and finally high beam.

Will the world end if she doesn't do the bhs on beam at the next meet? No. She'll have a lower start value since she needs an acro flight element, but thats about it. Right now, she may see scratching beam as punishment.

She's supposed to be in the sport because its fun. Not fun to have a fear that you can't explain, but if she knows that everyone understands and is working with her in the gym to help her overcome this, then gym can be fun.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

To quote gym law mom...."She's supposed to be in the sport because it's fun."

She needs to take the pressure off of herself. My DD's the same. She does a BEAUTIFUL BHS on low beam, but can't make herself "go" on the high beam. She'll get it when she gets it.... In the meantime, her coach is letting her do a Roundoff at her first meet. and she will keep working on the BHS in practice.

 

[hakunamatata]

To parents and spectators, it must just seem like, "You know this! You've done it a million times, there's no reason for you to be afraid of it now." Unfortunately it's not that simple. It's so common in gymnastics to have a skill down-pat for months and suddenly develop a fear of it. I, as a former gymnast, have had similar experiences and can honestly say that I have no idea where those fears come from, and I, as a coach, know that overcoming the fear has to come from somewhere inside the gymnast. It is an internal thing that she will work out in time (trust me).

I haven't read the other responses so this may already have been said, but the best thing she could do now is take it back to floor beam with panel mats and work her way up again. Sometimes re-learning is necessary to re-build that confidence and make the gymnast realize they really DO have it and there really IS nothing to fear.

I went through a similar experience with my BHS, and it came back to me. Your DD will get it back, too. Just continue to be supportive without pressuring her, as you've done so far. Let us know how things go!

Edit: 4-hour session with coach is a bad idea. I would dissuade this if at all possible. The coach is probably acting out of frustration because, like you, he/she knows your DD has the skill and wants her to do her best, but it could so easily end up with major frustration in both parties and even more mental blockage on your DD's part. As if your DD doesn't put enough pressure on herself to succeed, right?!

 

[Optionals United]

Just wanted to add some advice about the 4-hour beam session with the head coach. That is just setting up for DISASTER!!!!! I promise you there will be tears, frustration, and will most likely make her fear even worse.

This happened to me a month ago with my bwo bhs series on beam. It was me and 2 other girls and we had to do 4 series on 3 different beam and were not allowed to get off until we finished. Only one of us finished, and she had a mat on the beam to make it wider. We were on beam for 3 hours straight. From the time we got on at 5 until the time practice ended at 8. There were sooo many tears, frustration, and in the end a lot of standing around, because we terrified to even GET on the beam none less do anything. We had to go back the next day and finish the assignment before we could rejoin practice. The was the worst 2 days of gym and my life.
Those days just made me sooo scared of my series to the point where I am still hesitant on going for it. That experience will most likely not giving her a feeling of being successful as a gymnast and not feel welcome on her team and even at the gym. You dd will most likely not want to go for gym for a while after that day if it does happen.

I would talk to the coach and see if there is anything else that could be done beside spending 4 hours trying to get her to go for it. This might a block that just needs to me given time and not putting pressure on her. And by staying away from the skill for a couple days doing some on low beam ect. Because trust me having her get up and know that she wont go for it is just creating bad habits and setting this up to happen again in the future. This might be also a true fear where she might have to start from scratch again. I would suggest maybe taking her to an open gym at another gym so she can work on it by herself at whatever level she comfortable even if it is on low beam with mats stacked all the way up. That way she can test the waters and see where she is at, why exactly she if afraid of it, while not being pressured by her coaches.

These words of advice are just from my experience you can choose to take them or leave them. Hope this maybe helps you understand what exactly is going on.
Sorry for the rant.

 

[Swiftli]

Yes, I agree that the 4 hour beam "torture" will be a disaster so I am hoping tonight goes well. She did have off last night but practice resumes tonite (Thurs) and Friday is the "deadline"

Please send her vestibular fairies OR confidence fairies OR any other fairies that will help!

 

[Optionals United]

Sending confidence faries her way!

 

[flipper's fan]

Fairies dispatched! Now everyone relax and let thm do their work.

 

[Swiftli]

Power of positive thoughts! DD came out of practice saying practice was "Awesome". She restacked panel mats and dropped them down at each successful BHS and was back flipping on the high beam before the end of beam rotation.

Let's hope it sticks this time. But at least she knows she can get back to basics and rebuild.


Now...on to mastering that giant! haha

 

[Optionals United]

Congrats! postive thinking and confidence really do help you! thats great that she got it back on high beam. Sending her confidence faries to help her do it again next practice.