WAG Grips?

[westernsuzy]

My daughter just finished L6 without grips and no rips. She is tiny, and found the leather too bulky for her little hands.. she started out L6 using Hot Shots, but really struggled to use them, and then finished the season without them...

.. Anyhow, she is now doing giants on straps.. looking great! One coach says if she doesn't rip then she really doesn't need grips until L8 and he pointed out that in China, where there are many young, tiny (by age) gymnasts like my daughter, they don't use grips and do everything. Her other coach says she won't train my daughter on giants if she doesn't have grips. Very mixed messages. I've also heard the dowel on the grips helps the girls get a good grasp on the bar.

I don't know what to do... Is it possible to safely do giants without grips? Is the only issue rips, which my daughter doesn't seem to do? Any direction would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[gymgal]

Sounds like the coaches need to get on the same page.

Beyond that, dds coaches told her it really is just a personal choice. There are countries who don't use them, others who use hand made tape/cloth ones. So it definitely can be done. Dd says that grips help her do more reps without feeling the friction/burn as much. Prior to L7, that's not as big an issue but once they start working giants, they are doing a lot more reps.

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[Canadian_gym_mom]

Is it possible to safely do giants without grips? Is the only issue rips, which my daughter doesn't seem to do? Any direction would be helpful. Thank you.

My daughter's bar routine is 3 giants to a flyaway and she does not use grips. She rips once a season usually, but girls wearing grips rip too.

She has been told by a bar coach that she has had some extra training with that this summer she needs to learn everything again with grips for next season, because the biggest issue is the amount of time it takes to prepare the bar for her with bare hands. She HATES chalk so the coaches have to use up time in the warm up sanding off the chalk for her. They said next year when she switches levels there probably won't be anyone left without grips, so she should start wearing them now.

She has tried a couple of things with them and said she is scared of losing everything and starting over with grips, but I guess better now than later.

I know there was a reason her coaches didn't introduce grips before this, but I can't remember exactly why.

 

[gymnastflip]

Get some of those small beginner dowels like pixie grips. They are thin. They sell them on ten o I think. Also you can do giants safely... But once she gets used to grips she will find stuff easier and will rip less.

 

[wgagym]

It probably would be better to introduce them at this point. Her coaches will probably want her to have them at soem point and why not now before she starts learning big skills. I had and will have the same problem with my dd she is tiny. I am sure there has got to be something out there for tiny hands.

I fought with my coaches about grips and learned my lesson while learning giants. I peeled off the bar, scared the begeepers out of myself, walked over to my coach and asked how I could get myself a pair of grips