Parents Usaigc copper 2

[Lidance78]

Hi! My daughter is 9 and we just switched from all star cheer to gymnastics. She is doing Usaigc copper 2 and so far it’s going well. My question is since she is so new team she doesn’t have the form down for turns, arm placement etc. Her tumbling skills are great since she has the experience from cheer. And she remembered basic bars from doing gymnastics for a brief time when she was younger. Does it take time to get it? I am trying to help her a little since I was a dancer but I really would like to keep it in the gym. Her beam routine just looks very messy. Arms all over the place, etc. We aren’t going to the Olympics and I am very reasonable lol but I would like her to at least understand the correct form. Her coach said she is doing great so far but I think she is also trying to encourage her and motivate her (something they didn’t do in cheer which is one of the reasons she left in my opinion and a very toxic environment ). Anyway, does anyone have any advice on what to do? And experience with usaigc in general? I want to encourage her and she is set on competing in March. Thank you!

 

[Dahlialover]

USAIGC is not a big organization, so not very many people will have advice specific to their system. If you took that out of the title, you’d get more responses.

As for having sloppy arms on beam, it’s the coaches job to help her tidy that up. Sometimes it takes going to a competition and getting a low score for a kid to decide that silly stuff like arm form is worth the bother. Some kids are not competitive and don’t care about deductions. These kids will get good at the parts of the sport they enjoy and ignore the rest. This attitude can limit their progress but I think those kids are happier people, so good for them!

When it comes to offering her help, I’d make sure that you only give her feedback if she is asking for it. That can be really hard for me. Like impossible hard. I do my best these days to ask my son if he is interested in my feedback before I offer it and to only provide one piece of advice at a time. Now that my kid has been doing gymnastics a year, there isn’t much for me to comment on. They do get a lot better over time. Good luck and remember that the goal is to have fun!

 

[katrid11]

Form for each skill takes time to learn. In USAG DP they start learning it in pre-team and continue to build on those early skills every year. Some girls get it quickly. Others take a lot of time to pick up the nuances.

Best thing that can work is having her do her dance moves and prep for skills while looking in a mirror (we also use video). IE - if she's going to do a split jump - she can look at her chest, arms, legs and make sure they look how they are supposed to. Do that repeatedly until her body learns the feeling of the right position. Then when she's in the wrong position her mind will tell her its 'off'. Perfect practice makes perfect --- if she practices sloppy arms, she will remember that feeling. If she practices tight arms, she will remember that instead... Competitions are always a bit stressful so the girl's mind goes to what it remembers.....

As for USAIGC vs USAG DP or XCEL - essentially my friend equates USAIGC to XCEL. Her daughters program is designed to allow for other things in her life (she does gymnastics, lacrosse, field hockey and volleyball). It is a great way to get in some gymnastics without making it the entire world.

As for competition, if the coach says she is ready, she is ready. MOST girls don't score their best on their very first competition.... expect to see scores rise over the course of a season.