WAG OCD? as in obsessive compulsive dissorder

[1canadiangymmom]

has anyone's dd's gone through this? DD has been making 2 steps forward and 1 step back with her beam acro series for months now, got it connected BHS-BW on a high beam with a mat under, but not stacked up to the beam, then out of no where, she can not make herself go. Says she is not scared, her body just won't do it. The only thing that works is her counting slowly, 1-2-3, then go. But... if she feels she counted too fast, or too slow or her prep wasn't right or the fan blew wrong , she has to start again. sometimes it is 3 or 4 times etc. before she will go, and now she has started doing it with her standing back tucks on the floor beam as well. Any suggestions how to get her through this or over this? I am thinking this is a really bad habit to start, as I can see it progressing.

 

[kayjaybe]

I wouldn't call that OCD. I've seen many of the girls that have blocks on skills perform these little rituals to try to get themselves to go for the skill.

I don't think there is anything you can do to help her. She will work through it.....or she won't. My dd has been struggling with all backward skills on beam for 4 years. She continues to progress (can now do a BHS-BHS flight series....when she goes for it), but every step forward with backward beam skills she takes 3 steps back.

Give her time. Let her and her coaches work through it.

 

[Tuppy]

My daughter wiggles her toes. Some girls wiggle their fingers or swing their arms back and forth. I'm not sure it looks polished, but I'm not sure it's an issue. I see it on half the girls. I don't know if it's a problem but it seems common.

 

[Vivianflips]

I used to have to tap the end of the beam with my foot before I would do a cartwheel, a weird habit but it made me go for it. I'm pretty sure I would've gotten past doing that if I'd stayed in competitive gymnastics. Good luck to your daughter on working through her block on her series!

 

[MILgymFAM]

My DD went through rituals in gym on every event, such as tapping her toe repeatedly before a beam bwo (lots of deductions for that last year- she'd tap up to twelve times!), making sure the corner floor tape was flattened before cross-tumbling, or chalking up a certain way on bars. It would make coaches mad because she couldn't stop herself from doing it.

I thought she was having real, actual psychological problems because of how ritualistic she'd gotten. She was also superstitious and anxious. If certain things didn't go right, the whole day/meet would be blown.

All of those issue have disappeared now, luckily. They went away with the pressure of competing. The stars no longer need to align for her to do her skills. She's less scared and anxious, and has no rituals or lucky talismans at all.

I know that's not helpful for someone competing, but it tells me that as your DD becomes more comfortable with her skills the rituals might slowly fade away.

 

[Splash123]

I have always had rituals on all events since I reached a higher level.

On beam I had to tap the top of my foot on the end of the beam before I would do my dismount. I also used to rock onto tiptoes then back flat before I would do my series. Another one was the mats having to be lined up so the beam was down the middle of the mat

On floor there is a piece of dance I did in every routine in the corner before my first tumble.

Had to start my run in the same way every time on vault. And I was slightly OCD about the alignment of the vault to the springboard.

Bars was probably the worst from my coaches point of view. I had a very specific way to chalk up before routines. And I did a weird thing I can't even explain with my hands every time I hit a handstand on bars

 

[1canadiangymmom]

I get that rituals are ok, but my concern is her having to do the rituals over and over before she goes. A 3 second pause before your acro series, not that big of a deal, but having to do it six times - what the heck. What would the judge even do?

 

[triplethreat+1]

Speaking from family experience of ocd, if you are not seeing any signs outside of gym then it's not.
It does sound like you're on that classic gymmiecoaster all the experienced folk talk about!

 

[ayyyrial]

I've seen a lot of gymnasts have rituals like this in the gym, and it isn't necessarily an indication of OCD. At the higher levels, gymnastics is scary sport with a small margin of error...a lot of rituals come up because you want to feel like you have control over the situation. Everything really does need to feel right to do, for example, a BHS-BHS on the high beam - because if everything ISN'T right, you will fall or maybe even get hurt. For example, the way your feet and hips are in line on the beam need to be the same every time, the way you jump, etc. Sometimes, we start attributing things to that "feeling right" that really have nothing to do with the skill. Some of this is fine - like counting to three before you go is a pretty well-known technique. But if it gets to be too intrusive to the point where it's deductions, that's a problem.

I suspect that as she gets more confident with these skills over time she will need the ritual less and less. If she is going through a growth spurt, it may be a way to convince herself that it "feels right" even when it doesn't because her body is changing. I've noticed in gymnastics and figure skating, around age 11-13 girls start to realize in a deeper way that the things they are doing are dangerous, and practice becomes much more psychologically stressful as you have to start working through confidence in your skills in a different way.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Time. Time will help this.

 

[coachmolly]

If it's not happening outside of the gym, it's not cause for concern as a psychological problem. It doesn't sound like this is even occurring on other skills in the gym. Lots of gymnasts- athletes in general- have little ritualistic acts they do before certain skills.
There could be an underlying fear there that needs to be addressed through the usual methods- moving it down to a low beam and working her way back up, mats under the beam, etc. or is something that will just work itself out with time.
Years ago I had a teammate who could not do a ro-bhs-bhs pass when the coach called it such. But when the coach told her to do a "ro-bhs-and then another" could it just fine. Eventually she worked herself out of it.

 

[flipsandgrips15]

As others have stated, these types of rituals are pretty common with gymnasts. I currently have a gymnast training a back handspring on beam & has to rock up & down on her toes several times before she'll go. I also had a younger gymnast that had to count to three 4 or 5 times before she would do a back handspring on the floor. Neither of these girls have ever fallen on these skills I just think it's their way of feeling in control when they're nervous. I keep pushing them & encouraging them no matter what...& sometimes will make an agreement to spot them if they'll agree to do the next one w/o such a lengthy ritual. This usually works. I get their teammates to encourage them as well.

 

[emorymom]

High level athletics brings out the superstitions.

 

[twocurlygirlz]

I've seen a lot of gymnasts have rituals like this in the gym, and it isn't necessarily an indication of OCD. At the higher levels, gymnastics is scary sport with a small margin of error...a lot of rituals come up because you want to feel like you have control over the situation. Everything really does need to feel right to do, for example, a BHS-BHS on the high beam - because if everything ISN'T right, you will fall or maybe even get hurt. For example, the way your feet and hips are in line on the beam need to be the same every time, the way you jump, etc. Sometimes, we start attributing things to that "feeling right" that really have nothing to do with the skill. Some of this is fine - like counting to three before you go is a pretty well-known technique. But if it gets to be too intrusive to the point where it's deductions, that's a problem.

I suspect that as she gets more confident with these skills over time she will need the ritual less and less. If she is going through a growth spurt, it may be a way to convince herself that it "feels right" even when it doesn't because her body is changing. I've noticed in gymnastics and figure skating, around age 11-13 girls start to realize in a deeper way that the things they are doing are dangerous, and practice becomes much more psychologically stressful as you have to start working through confidence in your skills in a different way.

phenomenal explanation- can I add that most gymmies I know seem to very ritualistic in general....lucky leos, specific water bottles, I love how you have framed it though with regard to gaining control over what little you can in a sport that becomes increasingly more challenging and dangerous with success.