Parents Do privates help with getting skills quickly?

[SHELOVESGYM]

DD (7) is training level 3 and hoping to compete this Fall but is still missing a couple of skills. She came to pre team late and just hasn't had a ton of time to work on the skills. Coach seems willing to do some privates but I'm wondering if I can expect this to help with getting the skills or not -I don't want to have unrealistic expectations for the privates and of course I want DD to be able to get the skills on her own time -but I also want her to compete with her team this Fall.

 

[Sasha]

What skills does she need? Is she close at all?

I'd say yes, privates should help, but all skills take time, and it's unlikely 1 or 2 privates will "get" her a skill if she is not already close.

Also, it depends *why* she doesn't have a skill. For example, if the problems is strength (like arms or core), privates won't get her very far. More conditioning is the solution (which takes time). If that's not the issue, though, I've seen privates work well for skills that benefit from coach spotting, such as connecting the back handspring, and getting the right angle/form on vault.

Also, privates can work well to start cleaning up form with lots of hands-on minor corrections that may not be as possible in a group class.

I'm just a parent-observer, but that is my experience in case it helps.

 

[raenndrops]

If the problem is "not enough reps" then privates can work. If, as @Sasha said, the problem is lack of strength, then skill-focused privates are a waste of time.

Good luck

 

[munchkin3]

I agree with Sasha. If it's close, then privates will help, especially if fear is involved.
If it is lack of strength, then no, privates can't speed that up however, in L3 the only skill that requires more strength IMO is the pullover, and the BHS, and back roll. But I have seen kids with poor upper body strength fling themselves over the bar to get over......obviously not the ideal thing but she should be able to get all her L3 stuff if she is close, and the fear thing is in check.

On the flip side, I have seen kids who were simply not ready to compete being rushed along. The sad thing is that kids go to their first meet expecting to have fun and do their best and once they do, they walk away with maybe one, or no medals......no matter how much you tell a kid 'you were awesome' the kid catches on very quickly that they did not get medals, and then leave upset or crying......so much for a good experience.

You will know if the private is helping.......Must she go to the first meet if she is not ready? Can she go to he second or third meet?

 

[skschlag]

Yes. They can. D has done privates with specific skills in mind. The funny thing is, usually he will not come out of the private with the skill, but the skills comes in hte next practice. Sometimes I think just having the reps and/or having time to explain things a bit differently helps a lot!

 

[SHELOVESGYM]

I don't think it's strength. She's not the strongest in her group but has enough strength for a pullover and standing BHS on tramp. She can't seem to get the shoot through, cut back and mill circle and front hip. Also can't connect RO and BHS.

 

[gracyomalley]

Privates can be really helpful in fine tuning, overcoming fear, adjusting details, and getting more reps - also if a child is stuck "almost" with a skill and needs more spotting or coach attention to get there. Privates also build confidence. Privates on a regular basis do make the difference between the top dogs and the other kids if the coaching/gymnast ratio is a little higher than ideal, IMHO....just not enough coach to go around.

That's a lot of stuff to be "almost there" with for fall season...not saying she won't get there, but its a tall order. Dd went into old Level 5 without her kip/front hip circle - and did some privates -but still scratched bars the first 3 meets. The privates did help if only to make sure she was training them properly - still took time. On the other hand my older boy went into his L7 season with about 6 skills still iffy - and did them all by regionals 3 months later - however he was in the middle of a rapid skills progression, getting stuff daily literally all summer - there have been years when you could watch the grass grow between his new skills, so it was specific to last season that he was able to go so quickly.

Right now we are using privates for DD to get back the skills she lost taking time off gym and going through puberty - they really help because she trusts the coach and knows the coach believes in her - and at L8 the privates allow the coach to tinker with various skills and find what will work best for her, which is hard during regular practice with 45 other girls and 17 boys there. The boys only have 3 upper level kids, so privates not needed.

If you can afford them and the coach thinks its a good idea, in your DD situation privates may be helpful in figuring out if she is close enough to push toward competing, or just needs another training season...which would also be AOK

 

[sce]

I don't think it's strength. She's not the strongest in her group but has enough strength for a pullover and standing BHS on tramp. She can't seem to get the shoot through, cut back and mill circle and front hip. Also can't connect RO and BHS.

For my dd, with some of those skills, privates helped because the coach could focus in on just her and what she needed to fix to get the skills. She didn't necessarily get the skills in the privates but was taught techniques and things to focus on when going for the skills that did improve them.

 

[profmom]

If she's not worried about it and the coach isn't worried about it, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Anna's_Mom]

It also may depend on why she isn't getting skill. We do semi-regular privates for DD because she has trouble focusing when the gym is going full-tilt with team, rec classes, little kids... She has ADHD and, even with all of her meds in full force, it can be overwhelming. Which means that she isn't paying proper attention to the coach and/or what she is doing. Coach says she has more beam falls than anyone else on the team because her attention wonders mid-skill. So, a quiet gym with just her and the coach makes a ton of difference and she can accomplish a lot in that hour. And the coach has the time and attention to figure out exactly where she is going wrong and can find a creative way to fix it that wouldn't work in the more crowded "normal" gym time.

 

[IreneKa]

I don't think it's strength. She's not the strongest in her group but has enough strength for a pullover and standing BHS on tramp. She can't seem to get the shoot through, cut back and mill circle and front hip. Also can't connect RO and BHS.

Two years ago when my DD just joined L3 team, she didn't have any of those skills either. Well, she did get her ROBHS around June, but struggled with the bars skill all through the summer. She got all the skills by the end of October, no privates. They just take times. I do think some of it is strength. Take a cut back for example (DD struggled with this one a lot); it looks easy, but you need to be able to hold yourself over the bar on one arm, even if just for a second. It takes strength.
Surprisingly, bars is now DD's strongest event. Once she got strong enough, the skills started coming pretty easily for her.

 

[suebee]

Dd is level 3 too and she's been working on those bar skills for more than a year. Her shoot through is still not consistent and it took her a while to get the FHC too. It took her a while to get the mill circle consistently for level 2 too, and she did do a few privates right before the first meet for level 2 that helped her get it more consistently. But I think that some of those skills just require time, although privates may decease the amount of time needed.

It may be that those are just too many missing skills to get well quickly in a short period of time. Does the gym allow them to compete without all the skills or do they require her to scratch the event, or do they not let her compete level 3 at all if she is missing major skills on 2 events? Will they let her comoete level 3 if she acquires the skills later in the meet season?

 

[Flyaway]

As others have said, it depends on why she is having trouble with the skill in the first place.

For example, my dd has had several privates to help with her ROBHS. She was struggling due to strength and courage. She still isn't consistent, despite having probably 6 privates specifically for that skill. I believe this is due to the fact that strength takes time. Conversely, at the end of one of her ROBHS privates I asked the coach to look at her mill quick because she just wasn't getting it. 5 minutes later she had it and has kept it. Clearly in that situation it was one quick adjustment that she needed the coach to help her make that made all the difference.

 

[z2akids]

Privates can help. DD struggled with her FHC on bars and 2 privates really made the difference. But, she had several months before competition at that point and she was very close to the skill - just having trouble keeping her head up at the end and staying up.

I think it depends on how close she is to the skills. The list you gave is pretty extensive for L3. The shoot through and mill circle are the bane of many L3's lives. Last year we had girls who were repeating g L3's who still were not consistent on those two skills. Is your DD doing a BHS on the floor? Moving from tramp to floor can be tough for some, especially if their round off isn't strong enough.

If she just needs tweeks, then I would go for it. But, if she really still needs progressions for many of these skills, I would let it come organically during practices and potentially plan on another season before competing. As some here say, it is a marathon, not a sprint and at L3, those skills should be able to be taught within the context of practice without spending hundreds of extra $$.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My dd has been training for level 3 since January (first meet is in September). I think it wasn't until probably a month ago that all the girls were able to do the FHC consistently. They all competed level 2 so the mill circle wasn't a problem this time, although in level 2 it was definitely a struggle at times. They are all just now being allowed to work on the ROBHS unspotted although they have been working on drills and progressions for it since January. The shoot through is the one bar skill that is still hit or miss for my dd, and several others. When she gets it, it looks great. But that's only about half the time.

I think a couple of privates wouldn't hurt, but I agree with the others that it's probably just a matter of time and practice.

 

[needcoffee]

Privates would probably help as it doesn't sound like its strength issue. My 10 yo has never ever been able to do a FHC (and has never even tried a mill circle, I'd actually never even heard of them until I joined CB) as they are not competed here. She is strong though, has her kip etc, so I'm guessing it's a technique issue.

Personally though, privates at level 3 sound like a waste of money to me.

 

[SHELOVESGYM]

She isn't doing BHS on floor but honestly I don't think the coach ever has them try it that way in their group -they were doing it down the wedge mat and then moved to tramp and then to thick mat -but on the thick mat they only do ROBHS -they never try BHS alone on the mat. Only a couple of the girls have ROBHS at this point -I realize this might be surprising to some b/c I know some gyms make sure everyone has all skills way before the first meet. I do think DD is pretty close to the bar skills and BHS -but I'm no coach.

I do realize that in the long run it won't matter if she competes this season or not -particularly as she will likely be a level 3 next year either way. But she REALLY wants to compete and I think it will be difficult for her if the rest of her group competes and she doesn't -so I'm trying to do what I can to help her get ready in time. Yes, scratching one event or skipping a meet or two are options -so hopefully she gets her skills at some point during the season even if not in time for the first meet.

 

[shelovestoflip]

DD (7) is training level 3 and hoping to compete this Fall but is still missing a couple of skills. She came to pre team late and just hasn't had a ton of time to work on the skills. Coach seems willing to do some privates but I'm wondering if I can expect this to help with getting the skills or not -I don't want to have unrealistic expectations for the privates and of course I want DD to be able to get the skills on her own time -but I also want her to compete with her team this Fall.

My daughter is 16 and will compete Level 10 this year. She made it to Easterns this past season. She has been doing gymnastics for 12 years. In all these years she has done maybe 3 or 4 privates. And those were not for 'getting a skill' but really more about fine tuning something in a 1:1, quiet, early morning setting. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that a lot of privates aren't necessarily going to make a 'better' gymnast or one who goes farther. They are in the gym a boatload of hours and we parents spend a lot of money! Getting a skill should be happening during practice. My two cents.

 

[Kcanflip]

We have found occasional privates helpful for that one on one time with the Coach for an emerging skill or a skill that needs fine tuning. Sometimes just having that time to get to do multiple reps with the coach right there to make corrections to form or technique is just what is needed. That one hour of dedicated time to me seems to equate to about two weeks or even more of just straight practice time with shared coach time. But privates are costly and we try to not make a regular habit of privates. Especially knowing this is not a college bound path thing for my DD so there is honestly no rush.

 

[meganliz77]

My DD did one private session before competing Level 3. She had progressed quickly in the sport (went from no gym/tumbling experience to being expected to compete in 7 months) she was in such a hurry (enthusiastic may be the best way to describe it) to learn her ROBHS that she quickly developed a couple of bad habits that I could see needed to be addressed before they became a permanent issue. The private did help with that. My kiddo ended up not even competing the ROBHS during the first half of the season, but did compete on floor and still scored well. She ended up getting the skill without a spot by the end of the season. We haven't had a private since then, but they are rare at our gym anyhow.

Bars can be tricky but you'll be surprised at how much can come together in a short period of time! It seems like once they get it, it just clicks and it's fine.

I think other posters were right when mentioning it might be good for her to have that 1:1 attention and it being explained differently in the form of a private.... I don't think it could hurt but don't have false expectations either. The other thing is, our HC mentioned that because her time was being split up between stations and groups of girls, the 1:1 was helpful because she could see where exactly DD was struggling or where the issue was.