Parents how to perform for the judges?

[sportyfam5]

My DD is really moving along nicely in her first year of level 9. Well at practice and warmups anyway. Does anyone have advice to help her compete the same way she practices? She is not typically a high scorer, mid 30's. But she is pretty consistent on all events. This year though she warm ups really well and then messes up during competition. I am so proud of where she is and where she is heading but coach and I know she is so capable of more. Last weekend she had 6 falls, that's crazy. Potentially 3 full points.
One more meet Friday then if she doesn't make states she will get much needed brake until April.
I posted a video of her warmups and competition.Level 9 3rd meet - YouTube

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you do NOT perform for the judges. we perform for the audience. maybe that's her problem.

 

[NewtoGym]

Ok, silly question, but why do her coaches allow her to wear shorts in warmup? Our coaches do not allow shorts for the whole competition season - even practice! Wonder if she is more comfortable with them on? Or maybe it is just a coincidence?

 

[dmytv]

your dd looks like she has lost before she has gone. Has she ever heard the term fake it til you make it? Seems she needs to believe to achive.

 

[mylittlemiss]

To me it seems like she's possibly lacking the confidence needed to pull off a tighter routine. Perhaps some visualization exercises might help. Also, some sort of positive mantras, whatever works for her, be it a scripture, quote, one she makes up for herself. I also agree with dunno about performing for the audience. Good luck at qualifying for states!!

 

[2gymmies]

We do something, I think they call them pressure sets, where the girls are in the middle of their regular assignment and the coach stops the group and picks a kid to do a salute routine - if the girl hits that routine, it takes 1 number off the assignment for the group. Or they do a pressure set with the whole group, if they all hit then they are done with routines for the day. Maybe its the confidence to hit under pressure that is lacking so if the coach creates some artificial pressure then she can learn to respond to it more positively. That being said, level 9 is hard especially when you are not even starting out of a 10. Hang in there, keep working hard, and be tight because every tenth counts and she is close to qualifying! Don't you wish we could buy some confidence at the store?!

 

[iwannacoach]

I think the matter of performance works like this. It's darned fun to get on a piece of apparatus and show off whatever you have that'll draw a gawk or compliment. You train to keep those skills sharp, and to surround them with support skills to compose an entire routine.

Your dd's highlights in warm-ups were.......

Beam........her bhs series was well centered and in good rhythm, a great full turn, and a nice split leap-back tuck combination that if connected in rhythm would be pretty good.

Vault........Pretty good warm up vault. The coach spotting her to the extent he did is odd, and I'm drawn to to suspect this was "the good vault" that's balanced out by it's evil cousin "the bad vault".

Bars........Nice giants, and a double back dismount that looked good.

So what's happening to her when it comes time to make it count........

Beam........ After watching what seems to be her primary beam coach stand in for her layout dismount, but defers to the head coach who then spots her layout full, I can't help but "cringe" at what's in store. It's difficult enough to keep all your balance beam marbles from rolling out of control all over the place, but to have an "iffy" dismount whispering in your ear through the entire routine is like having your hands tied together in a tickle match..... it just makes it that much harder to do what you're able to do. The dismount she did at the end of her routine kinda surprised me when it went as bad as it did, but then again not so much because kids that do layout fulls usually have the round off layout down cold and don't need nor want a spot as they warm up for the full.

Vault........ It looks like the evil cousin took over as she came to the spring board, and sent her into a pre-flght that was too high to make the vault do much better than what she did. It could be a freak occurrence caused by adrenalin, or the result of an inconsistent round-off caused by trying harder to hit a good vault.

Bars......... The fall while standing up on the low bar, no big deal. The fall on her dismount is a different story. You posted two or three weeks back that she'd just stuck her bhs series for the first time in a while. In the same post there's a note......."Bars was going great until she forgot (yes forgot) to let go for dismount". I wouldn't think much if it were an isolated incident and the only mistake made all season long, or just within a two meet span, but it becomes worthy of mention when seen within the over all context. The bottom line is this dismount can be performed with unsound mechanics and look good, but it won't be consistent.

I've watched you're child's videos when you've posted links to them. I think I've seen all of those available spanning her optional years. She has obvious ability to learn some pretty neat stuff, but it just seems she's learning the hard way without enough attention to detail to bring the skills to a consistency she's capable of.

I think highly of your daughters ability, and admire your desire to help her by looking for answers and solutions. I think the best path for you is one that looks at what's happening at meets with respect to performances of all the athlete's, and let the path end at the gym, because that's where the answer can best be found. There's a saying in the gymnastics community (of coaches) that goes like this...."you compete what you train".

I wish you and your daughter the best of luck and fortune. Let me know if there's any thing i can help with.

 

[sportyfam5]

We do something, I think they call them pressure sets, where the girls are in the middle of their regular assignment and the coach stops the group and picks a kid to do a salute routine - if the girl hits that routine, it takes 1 number off the assignment for the group. Or they do a pressure set with the whole group, if they all hit then they are done with routines for the day. Maybe its the confidence to hit under pressure that is lacking so if the coach creates some artificial pressure then she can learn to respond to it more positively. That being said, level 9 is hard especially when you are not even starting out of a 10. Hang in there, keep working hard, and be tight because every tenth counts and she is close to qualifying! Don't you wish we could buy some confidence at the store?!

Thanks. What store? because I haven't found it yet. Lol. Coach has changed practices to be run more like a meet mostly because of my dd I think. It has helped for sure on beam. I know she'll get there I guess I was hoping for some magic secret. I like your idea though because it helps team building too.

 

[sportyfam5]

your dd looks like she has lost before she has gone. Has she ever heard the term fake it til you make it? Seems she needs to believe to achive.

Coach complains if same thing with her. That's what we are hoping to help.atne that's just who she is. She seems happy enough to be doing what she is doing.

 

[ac7179]

What level was she last year? What percentage of skills are new for her this year? I don't think she looks unable to perform any of them (I didn't see the heavy spot on vault warmips), but she looks to me as a kid who has added a lot of new skills and gets passed one just to worry about the next one. Repetition is the best thing to help that kind of confidence issue!

 

[wallflower]

I think confidence is the key to performing well at meets. I think confidence comes with competing skills that you are 100% ready to compete, not just skills you can do. I can only speak from watching the videos, but she doesn't seem 100% there on all her skills.

 

[sportyfam5]

I think confidence is the key to performing well at meets. I think confidence comes with competing skills that you are 100% ready to compete, not just skills you can do. I can only speak from watching the videos, but she doesn't seem 100% there on all her skills.

Yes I would agree. She never seems confident even when she is confident of skills. Thanks for advice.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Coach complains if same thing with her. That's what we are hoping to help.atne that's just who she is. She seems happy enough to be doing what she is doing.

then tell him to STOP spotting so much. it affects confidence.