WAG Jump to high bar

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FlippinPrincess

Proud Parent
When kids start jumping to the high bar, is the bar placement based on the kid's height or do they just try to get them all jumping from one or two settings regardless of height? My dd is super small and it's the first skill I've been nervous about. I have seen how much work goes into changing the bar settings so I would think coaches don't like changing them often. That said, I am imagining her jumping with all she has just to reach it and that terrifies me!
 
Our gym has one setting no matter the height of the gymnasts. It was an issue for 3 years for my gymnast, as she is the smallest one in the group. Finally this year she seems to have gotten over the fear. But that jump can look cavernous at times!
 
Same bar setting, no matter the size for my daughters level 4 team. She said they use a ‘wide’ bar setting- she’s the shortest and certainly looks like a flying squirrel jumping to the high bar. She has teammates almost a foot taller.
 
Same bar setting, no matter the size for my daughters level 4 team. She said they use a ‘wide’ bar setting- she’s the shortest and certainly looks like a flying squirrel jumping to the high bar. She has teammates almost a foot taller.

How tall is your daughter?
 
She was 47/48 inches at the beginning of training level 4. She’s closer to 50 now (about yr later)

Just like my daughter. Glad to hear it can be done safely when you're tiny. I will probably just continue to avoid the gym while they train this skill. :)
 
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Just like my daughter. Glad to hear it can be done safely when you're tiny. I will probably just continue to avoid the gym while they train this skill. :)
Hahaha for sure. It’s impressive and terrifying all at the same time when you are them make that jump
 
We have never had more then 2 settings. You do one or the other.
 
It depends on the gym, but most will try not to have more settings in use in a group than absolutely necessary. Shorter gymnasts will usually just have to get used to jumping farther. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though - learning to truly commit to making that jump and fully stretching out to grab that bar (and getting over the fear of falling - every gymnast will fall and you learn to do so safely) is a necessary part of learning release skills on bars later. Think of the shorties as getting a head start on that aspect of gymnastics on a safe, relatively simple skill. Once they get over that fear and GO for it, they'll usually find they can make the jump with the bars a lot farther apart than they thought. Speaking from experience as the shortest gymnast on every team from level 4-10 and now the mom of a one of the smallest on her team :)
 
Yup, all the girls at the same level use the same bar settings, regardless of height. My dd is one of the shortest so had to jump far.

But hey, when she learned giants, she said she likes being short because she knows she can’t hit her feet on the low bar (too short to reach it), so one less thing to worry about!
 
We (usually) have 2 settings by the time the season starts ... but as the Level 3s are starting to train "the jump," we start with 1 setting. It is FIG. Then, as time goes on, the taller girls move to the wide setting. And the little ones either stay on FIG or move to the wide setting (only those who are confident enough) and sometimes, this move is done gradually.
For us, it's like vault. They all start going over the table on "0" ... We already knew that LSS should vault on a 2 (beautiful FHS at Open Gym about a month before they went over the table in gym). That first day, the last time she vaulted, they raised it to a 2 for her. Her vault was much better and more controlled.
This past week, there were more girls also vaulting on 2 ... and some vaulting on 1. Only 2 girls are still vaulting on 0 at this point.
 
We start with 1 setting. When there are kids who get fear issues, we put them in a rotation group together. That way the bar only has to be changed before and after that group (we use a system with groups of kids staying at certain situations for 5-10 minutes, then everyone switches a station)
 
At my daughter's gym L3 uses one setting when working the jump to high bar, but L4 and L5 use two. The L4/L5 coach takes personal preference as well as height into account when determining who swings on which setting.
 
Our gym has two settings. My daughter first learned jumping to the high bar when she was 45-46 inches. Now she is 47 inches, just went to the doctor, and doesn’t have any problems but she is fearless and her coach is Always there! She is not allowed to do it without a coach there just in case she peels I have no idea at what level of comfort they are allowed to do it without the coach but all of the former level 4s do it without the coach.
 
My daughter has been jumping to the high bar, only on the wide setting, since she was about 49". It's never been a problem for her even though the jump looks cavernous. She loves the wide setting now that she's working giants. Our gym only competes the Xcel girls on the wide setting. I'm not sure if the JO girls change settings or not, but based on one meet where my daughter rotated with our L7s I don't think they do, because all the L7s used the wide setting regardless of height.
 
Our gym has used up to three in L4 as there was an almost 2 foot difference between the shortest (my dd) and tallest (8th grader). At first the jump to high bar looked impossible for my tiny little DD, but she sort of just needed to learn how to jump hard from the bar rather that the taller gymnast that get to basically lean into the high bar. This also made the squat on harder for her, and something she will miss from time to time.
 
There is also a two foot difference in my daughter's level. We have girls who are very short for 8 years old, and teens who have reached their full adult size. I'm glad we have two settings! At her old gym, one would have been sufficient, because everyone in a level was near the same age and size - until upper level optionals.

The setting DD jumps on would still let her do giants without fear of hitting her feet until she grows quite a lot.
 

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