WAG Can you teach tight?

[gigitraveler]

Hi all, I'm new to this group and have a silly question. My dd is level 3 and has all the skills for a while now, but she is sloppy. Her coach says she just needs to tighten up. He says she has the strength and skills, her knees always look bent slightly, and overall just sloppy. Is there anything to teach or will time fix all this? I don't want to critique her everytime I watch her perform but season is starting up soon and want her to do well.... Any suggestions?

 

[mouey77]

Great question! No answer for you, but my DD has same issue. Hope someone answers!

 

[AmandaLynn]

How old is your DD? Sometimes it comes with age. Many younger kids (<8ish?) struggle with understanding how to be tight. There are always exceptions. Some younger ones "get it", some older ones don't... But a lot of times, it is an age/maturity thing.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

When my DD was a L3 (old) she looked very sloppy! Her knees always bent and toes not pointed so she just looked like she was doing things half way. She is now L7. I think her form is better than most (of course I am her mom) so I think as they get older they ususally "get it" a little better! I would not worry to much!

 

[Seeker]

Yes...age matters. Form seems to improve as their physical maturity increases...the connection with their body seems to improve around 8yrs old or so. A lot of times, for younger kids anyway, the coach will say "point your toes" or some other correction and the kid will think to themselves "I AM!" and not change what they're doing. Hands on coaching helps with this. Our coach "taps" the girls a lot where she wants them to tighten up, bend or straighten slightly or whatever so they begin to understand how it should feel to do it correctly.

 

[Sparky]

Absolutely - with years of constant reminders . Just like when they are two and you have to tell them 43 million times not to touch the remote! I also really like coaches who "tap" - it's kind of like neuro linguistic programming - they feel the tap and they tighten - eventually they just do it on their own.

 

[MaryA]

Definitely was an age/maturity thing for my DD. I would say she was maybe 8, going on 9, and a (old) level 4 when all of a sudden she looked like a gymnast rather than just a little kid going through a series of motions.

 

[ARKGYMMOM]

Don't know if this will help but I was walking thru the gym the other day and one of the coaches was talking to a group of L3 girls. She asked them when they did a certain skill if their toes were pointed with straight legs. Most of them said yes. Then she asked them to hold their leg out straight and point their toe and keep it tight. She then asked them if that was what it felt like during that skill. They all said no and went back to work. I was impressed as she is a pretty young coach but she got her point across well.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

My dd is a young 9 (turned 9 in June) and she is finally starting to get this a little more. Her body is tight now, which is something she struggled with in rec... But she has done almost a year of tops/team training now and of course training alone accounts for most of the progress! However, she still has a hard time with keeping her legs straight and toes pointed, aka "making it pretty". I ask her if it feels like she's pointing her toes and she says yes.... I figure the coaches will get on her about it more and more as season approaches. she looks better than a few months ago, so it's going the right way.

 

[iwannacoach]

Don't know if this will help but I was walking thru the gym the other day and one of the coaches was talking to a group of L3 girls. She asked them when they did a certain skill if their toes were pointed with straight legs. Most of them said yes. Then she asked them to hold their leg out straight and point their toe and keep it tight. She then asked them if that was what it felt like during that skill. They all said no and went back to work. I was impressed as she is a pretty young coach but she got her point across well.

Smart coach! You can teach tight as this coach has learned to, or you can plead and beg them to tighten and point.

Guess which one gets the quickest and best results.

Age matters a little, but only in the sense that a child is able to absorb information and put it to use. Some just don't have the mental maturity to do that.

 

[gigitraveler]

thanks everyone, my dd just turned 9 in July, just had "preseason" meet to get everyone started and she scored lower than she did on any of her old level 4 meets (she is lvl3 now). Very frustrating... When I asked the head coach if she needs a private, he said she just needs to tighten her lower body....

 

[Deleted member D3987]

she's a beginner. it will take time.

 

[profmom]

Every once in a while, I go back and look at videos of DD's first year at L5. Short answer to your question: yes!

A longer answer. DS's group had a single coach working with them all year last year when they were competing L5. He is a super stickler on form -- if I had $1 for every time I heard "POINT your FEET EVERY time your feet leave the GROUND, boys!" and "hollow, hollow, HOLLOW!" I would not be having any problems with tuition. And this was for everything -- really, from the minute they walked into the gym to the minute they walked out, he expected them to look like professional gymnasts. All of the boys, regardless of where they started last year, improved remarkably. I don't think you'd believe it was only a year if you saw video of them around early September 2012 and saw them in the gym today. They are all so much tighter and more beautiful and more fluid.

 

[Seeker]

Every once in a while, I go back and look at videos of DD's first year at L5.

Whenever my DD sees video of herself from her first year competing she is somewhat horrified about her form. First gym did not emphasize it or teach it well (they yelled about it a lot, but there was little follow thru) so she had some work to do when she moved to a new gym right after L4 season. She's improved beyond measure in 18 months.

 

[gopuckgo]

My daughter is 8 1/2 years old and is beginning to get her "form." It is definitely age based because at that age (8 and under) proprioception and kinesthesia
(ability to sense where your body is in space) is limited and is not well developed in most kids. There will always be exceptions to that rule. So yes it is developmental (age based) and varies from person to person. This is why some who are younger in age appear behind others and then quickly catch up, their proprioceptive senses have become more in tuned. I hate when a coach yells "point your toes." First, kids are literal at those ages and toes don't point, explain that the movement comes from the ankle (plantar flexion) and tell them to take their heel towards their butt. This should speed up their understanding of the movement needed. Strengthening the intrinsic foot and toe flexor muscles helps to maintain the position of the toes during a "toe point." But it does come for most kids between 8-10 years of age.

 

[Deleted member 15064]

my daughter has been called tight by coaches @ age 6. but didn't know what that meant. at meets i would say she looked very symmetrical, her limbs were firm, pretty hands. not so sure about super pointed feet. and definitely needed/needs reminders to hold her stomach in. is tight just another term for good form, or something more?

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Last year the HC took DD off the floor after a not so great example of tight tumbling: Pulled the laces out of her trainers, and said..... How bouncy is this lace when I try and bounce it off the floor? Not so bouncy..... Now how bouncy is this pencil when I try to bounce it off the floor..... Vey bouncy! You need to change from a shoe lace to a pencil in all things you do. It was one of the best ways to teach an 8 year old..... 6 months later she now realizes that tightness means higher tucks, better vaults, less likelihood to wobble on the beam, easier to get your body around on the giant, and she looks a whole lot better doing them too!

 

[Committed]

It comes with age and lots of practice. I used to joke that DD looked like Kermit the Frog out there. Arms and legs were everywhere! After spending some time on the team and focusing on form and tightness, she started getting it.

 

[vagymmomma]

Age helps tremendously, but I definitely recommend video recording some of your DDs routines. A picture says a thousand words. I remember mine insisting that her toes were pointed and her legs were straight till she saw it in color on the recording. It helped her see that what felt straight/tight to her actually wasn't and ultimately helped her figure it out. [Just doesn't go crazy with the video or photos - some CGMs take it a little too far ].

 

[juststartingout]

Last year the HC took DD off the floor after a not so great example of tight tumbling: Pulled the laces out of her trainers, and said..... How bouncy is this lace when I try and bounce it off the floor? Not so bouncy..... Now how bouncy is this pencil when I try to bounce it off the floor..... Vey bouncy! You need to change from a shoe lace to a pencil in all things you do. It was one of the best ways to teach an 8 year old..... 6 months later she now realizes that tightness means higher tucks, better vaults, less likelihood to wobble on the beam, easier to get your body around on the giant, and she looks a whole lot better doing them too!

This is the perfect way to explain it, I'm going to do that for my daughter tomorrow.