WAG She's made for Optionals not Compulsory

[Gymmom495]

Maybe some coaches can answer this question for me. I have heard or read this several times either from a parent or a coach referring to a gymnast, they say (referring to a compulsory gymnast) she is not a compulsory type gymnast but more of an optionals gymnast. I don't quite understand that statement since we have all pretty much established that gymnastics is about getting a strong foundation of the basic skills before moving on to much harder and involved gymnastic technique. And when they are referring to a gymnast who is currently compulsory how could they tell? I have always wondered that, just never asked.

 

[gymnastbeth]

Compulsories are very specific, you have no leeway with skills and dance. A teammate of mine was always an awkward dancer, and was not at all flexible. She hated floor in compulsories, but she was incredibly strong in tumbling. Another teammate was elegant and was a beautiful dancer, but had trouble with front tumbling. Niether of them did very well with the strict compulsory routines. I think the whole level 5 season they both scored consistently in the low 8s. They both moved up to level 7, where both of them consistently scored in the 9s, and placed at almost every meet. The elegant girl quit after level 7, but the strong tumbler is my teammate at level 9 now, and she is absolutely fantastic.

So I guess compulsories just don't let the gymnast play to their own strengths. A girl can be a great match for compulsories if her strengths happen to be highlighted in the routines, but for some girls, the routines highlight their weaknesses. Compulsories are great for girls that can stay tight and follow rules, but a lot of girls are better suited for routines with their strengths in them.

 

[Gymmom495]

Thank you, this helps a lot

 

[txgymfan]

Beth, That was very well said. Gymmom495, if you look up posts by Bookworm, her dd was a 7 (?) year level 10 but scored very low at compulsory's and was fortunate to have coaches that believed in her optional abilities. Clearly they were right, she is on a D1 scholarship for gymnastics.

 

[Dizzy]

Yep, agree with Beth. Compulsory's are looking for the gymnast to do the basics well where as vols is a chance for the gymnast to show of skills and tricks.

We have two grade 14 girls at our club one did well in compulsorys because she is very tidy but can't tumble and the other is messy but with and incredibly fast twitch and she did bad in compulsorys but we hope she does well in the vols in July

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

My older DD was good at compulsories but struggled through optionals. My younger DD scored 32-34's through level 4, 2 years of 5, and maybe once got 35 at level 6. At our current gym, she would probably still be level 5, lol. Part of her problem is although very powerful, she lacks flexibility so for the compulsory routines even though she had the skills, she was getting killed on form. She is still not a great dancer, but with optional routines her music is chosen specifically to "avoid" having to do a lot of dance. She was also very young and maybe didn't/couldn't understand exactly how high to jump or where to out her arms, etc. Once she hit optionals and could showcase her strengths and to some extent hide her weaknesses, she started doing really well. As a 12 yr old L9, she consistently is able to score high 35's-37.

 

[gasrgoose]

I don't understand it very much either and I've got one. I actually did not 100% believe or trust the coaches about my daughter. Everyone would say "she's just not a compulsory gymnast, wait til optionals". They were right but I still don't understand why?? The only explanation that I've received is that the routines can be tailored to her strengths. Most of the girls that excelled in compulsories are still excelling in optionals. But a few that really excelled in compulsories didn't in the first year of optionals. It looks like the entire team is moving on to 8 so we'll see if their is any difference as the difficulty increases.

 

[LizzieLac]

The problem is mainly on floor from what I have seen - with compulsories you will get deducted for things like taking 4 running steps intead of 3 into the tumbling pass. Girls who don't have a good split will get deducted but in optionals I don't think you have to have a split in the floor routine.

However, I think with bars, while you may get choices on what circling elements to put in - casts are casts, kips are kips, clearhips are clear hips. You have to do those things with straight arms in compulsories and optionals.

But yes, optionals allows the kids to play to there strengths and minimize exposure of their weaknesses.

 

[cbifoja]

This is exactly how my daughter's coach explained this to me as well since my DD fits into this category. Floor and beam KILLED her in compulsories but she always scored well on bars and vault.

 

[wallflower]

The problem is mainly on floor from what I have seen - with compulsories you will get deducted for things like taking 4 running steps intead of 3 into the tumbling pass. Girls who don't have a good split will get deducted but in optionals I don't think you have to have a split in the floor routine.

However, I think with bars, while you may get choices on what circling elements to put in - casts are casts, kips are kips, clearhips are clear hips. You have to do those things with straight arms in compulsories and optionals.

But yes, optionals allows the kids to play to there strengths and minimize exposure of their weaknesses.

Pretty sure you still have to have a 180 split jump/leap of some kind on both beam and floor.

 

[wallflower]

Vault is vault whether you are an optional or not. Bars is also bars no matter what, but being able to straddle cast helps a lot of girls score much higher in level 7 than level 6 where the angle deductions can hit them really hard. I think beam and bars is where you can see the biggest difference. You still have to be able to tumble and do the skills, but you can avoid deductions on little things that you get nitpicked on in compulsories.

I hear this said a lot and while it's true for some kids to an extent for the above mentioned reasons, we aren't talking about kids who can't do the skills and if they just jump to optionals they will suddenly be fabulous. I heard someone say they aren't as strict on form and I don't think that is true at all. You still need straight legs, toes pointed etc. You can just design your routines to hide more of these things.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Pretty sure you still have to have a 180 split jump/leap of some kind on both beam and floor.

DD has switch leap straddle in her floor routine. No split. Yes, the split (not 180) in her beam hurts her scores.

I don't think anyone said optionals are not strict on form. I mentioned form related to my dd's age at the time but also meaning in optionals, you can play up your strengths and downplay the weaknesses (which in dd's case is lack of flexibility which in turn affects form).

 

[gymmomtoo]

Obviously the judges are as tough (if not tougher) on form in optionals as they are in compulsories. But as many have said, in optionals if you aren't good at a certain skill, you can put in something you ARE good at instead. Forget part of the routine? Doesn't matter--just throw the skills in there and make it look good, after all the judges have no clue what your routine is supposed to look like. Compulsories--you don't do it exactly the way and order you are supposed to and you get deducted.

 

[Mom2Brats]

Being able to play to and use strengths is huge as well. My daughter's worst L5 meet, she did her undershoot on bars (I think that's what it is) and went all the way to handstand. It freaked her out, she dropped down and never got back the power to get her tap swings high enough to count. She scored a 6.7. This happened a couple other times as well though with not quite as low results. L7, when she could actually put that power to good use (giants were not a problem) was wonderful and her scores went up. Also, she's always been a good twister but that's not something she's been able to use. Now, training L9, she can finally show off those skills instead of being forced to compete things that don't play to her strengths.

 

[Faith]

I also think it's about age, maturity, skill level, and type of gymnast rather than "compulsory vs optional" on it's own.

If you think about it, early on in gymnastics the girls that are going to excel are the ones with natural form- pointed toes, straight legs. In those early years you don't need the power and strength so much. The skills are BWO, BHS, cartwheel. The flexible, graceful, co-ordinated child is the one who shines. And also the ones who are naturally taller/big for their age, to get the rebound off the floor and springboard.

Then you hit level 6 and above- your kids that have been winning so far suddenly have to find speed and power. They may find they haven't innate fast-twitch, and struggle with tumbling and the flipping vaults. Then the strength to weight ratio needs to skyrocket for harder bar skills, and if they were the bigger kids, it takes a lot of conditioning....

So then you have the tiny high strength to weight speedsters who have been slogging the compulsory years on their form, on their flexibility, on dance. This sort of thing can be learned with time. Suddenly they're finding they have the power for twisting salto's, flipping vaults, swinging giants. You have the kids with the spatial awareness for multiple somersaults, twists, and release moves, which you don't need at lower levels.....

Once you get past ROBHSBT and handspring vault it's a whole other ball game, and a different talent set. Some good compulsory kids may have those talents, some may not. Then there the kids who do have them, but haven't shown them because the lower levels don't need them. Those are the ones who rock optionals..

 

[wallflower]

DD has switch leap straddle in her floor routine. No split. Yes, the split (not 180) in her beam hurts her scores.

I don't think anyone said optionals are not strict on form. I mentioned form related to my dd's age at the time but also meaning in optionals, you can play up your strengths and downplay the weaknesses (which in dd's case is lack of flexibility which in turn affects form).

A switch leap is the 180 degree (hopefully haha) split jump or leap.

 

[wallflower]

A switch leap is a 180 degree split jump or leap of some kind. It doesn't have to be a "split leap", just 180 split of some kind.

DD has switch leap straddle in her floor routine. No split. Yes, the split (not 180) in her beam hurts her scores.

I don't think anyone said optionals are not strict on form. I mentioned form related to my dd's age at the time but also meaning in optionals, you can play up your strengths and downplay the weaknesses (which in dd's case is lack of flexibility which in turn affects form).

 

[wallflower]

Oops thought the first one didn't post. Weird computer!

 

[Dka]

My dd would fall into this category. After level 4 and 5 seasons being filled with 33-34- she received 36-37 at level 6- her weakest events were still floor/ beam at level 6. She did manage to get in the 8.9-9.2 range on both. But received 9.3+ on bars and vault all year. Since she is very strong, they plan on skipping the new level 6 and going to new level 7 or even 8...her coaches have said from the start - she will be great at optionals( I'm proud of her for working very hard to fix her form issues to atleast score 9's on bb/fx... Good luck to your dd

 

[iwannacoach]

Compulsories........ Something you do while you wait to get strong enough, flexible enough, fast enough, and experienced enough to do optionals. Beyond that, their only utility is to guide people who have little experience, and to provide rec-centric programs an opportunity to field competitive teams and/or allow them to credit themselves with multiple state champions at L3 and L4.