WAG What are the Xcel Platinum Bars Requirements???

[brace_face555]

So last season I competed Gold for a second time, and I'm pretty hopeful that I will be able to go to Platinum this year.
I'm pretty close to having all my skills, most of my newer skills that I got for Platinum do need to be cleaned up a little, but I can do them pretty decently, I think. I hope. lol.
Anyway, the one notable trouble spot I have would be bars.
I competed a flyway last year, I have kips on both bars, and decent connection to casts and stuff so I just have one problem.
I don't have a clearhip. I have it on strap bar but when I get to the real bar I can't shift, plus it scares me for some reason.
Anyway, I also want to get a castaway flyaway (right now I'm just doing it from an undershoot and two swings) and really want to polish up my other skills so I feel like I don't have enough time to get a clearhip, let alone make it presentable.
I know I should have a clearhip since I would definitely need it in Diamond, but I've decided not to do/work the clearhip.
OK, so now I'll get to the point. So basically my coach says I can do an uprise instead of a clearhip. It wouldn't be in the place of the clearhip, I would do it on the high bar.
So my question is, just to double check, are you actually allowed to do a uprise instead of a clearhip? And also how would the rest of the routine look like? Like even if the uprise satisfies the letter requirement would I still need some sort of circling skill as well???
Pleasee help me guys!!

 

[Coach Kate]

Routine composition is up to your coach. If they are telling you to do an uprise, then I am sure they will also communicate what your full routine should be. Your coach is the one who should be determining what skills you are working. If one of my athletes said "I've decided not to work the clearhip", that would be a big conversation. I would say "the clear hip is a great skill for you to have if you want to continue in gymnastics. I know you're having a hard time, but let's keep working on it while we train the uprise and see how things go".

 

[brace_face555]

Routine composition is up to your coach. If they are telling you to do an uprise, then I am sure they will also communicate what your full routine should be. Your coach is the one who should be determining what skills you are working. If one of my athletes said "I've decided not to work the clearhip", that would be a big conversation. I would say "the clear hip is a great skill for you to have if you want to continue in gymnastics. I know you're having a hard time, but let's keep working on it while we train the uprise and see how things go".

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, we had a similar conversation to that. I'm training the clearhip but also practicing the uprise as well just incase. And at this point I'm leaning more towards competing the uprise. And also, to be honest, I know I shouldn't say this, but my coach is unreliable at times and has told us we could do a certain skill only for it to not meet the requirement and cost me deductions at competitions. I'll definitely ask my coach about what kind of routine I should do if I choose to do the uprise but I just wanted to get a couple other opinions/ideas from other people.
So if it were your gymnast, what kind of routine do you think would be ideal if I'm to include the uprise?

 

[Carly]

It looks like one of the special requirements is a 360 degree circling skill, so you would still need that if you don't do the clear hip.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

It looks like one of the special requirements is a 360 degree circling skill, so you would still need that if you don't do the clear hip.

Would a sole circle count for xcel?

 

[Coach Kate]

Would a sole circle count for xcel?

Yes. Could also do kip cast squat on uprise to back hip circle underwing tap swing flyaway

 

[wandrewsjr]

As others said, the circle in the Platinum bar special requirements doesn’t have to be a B(an A circle like a back or front hip fulfills the circle requirement) just need one B in the routine. An uprise or a flyaway with twist are the most common B’s I see in Platinum routines that don’t have a B circle.

The one issue with only having an A circle is that it is really hard to construct a Platinum routine with an A circle that doesn’t have a built in 0.3 extra/intermediate swing deduction, especially one that has uprise on high bar instead of kip.

 

[GymnastPotterhead]

that doesn’t have a built in 0.3 extra/intermediate swing deduction

This got me wondering - does doing 2 tap swings before a flyaway also have a extra swing deduction?

 

[Coach Kate]

This got me wondering - does doing 2 tap swings before a flyaway also have a extra swing deduction?

In platinum, yes

 

[GymnastPotterhead]

In platinum, yes

Oh okay thanks. So far we've been training high bar kip, castaway, long hang pullover, underswing, 2 tap swings, flyaway. Sounds like that has a deduction then. Maybe thats just for summer training and we have a different routine - not sure

 

[Coach Kate]

Oh okay thanks. So far we've been training high bar kip, castaway, long hang pullover, underswing, 2 tap swings, flyaway. Sounds like that has a deduction then. Maybe thats just for summer training and we have a different routine - not sure

I could be wrong too. I've been out of the game over a year now lol. Platinum is where they start deducting for extra swings and but I forget what counts as extra.

 

[Carly]

Unless they changed the rule recently, there is a deduction for extra swings in Platinum. I believe its one tap/counterswing-underswing allowed with a .3 deduction for more.

 

[grannyflips90]

As others said, the circle in the Platinum bar special requirements doesn’t have to be a B(an A circle like a back or front hip fulfills the circle requirement) just need one B in the routine. An uprise or a flyaway with twist are the most common B’s I see in Platinum routines that don’t have a B circle.

The one issue with only having an A circle is that it is really hard to construct a Platinum routine with an A circle that doesn’t have a built in 0.3 extra/intermediate swing deduction, especially one that has uprise on high bar instead of kip.

Yes you also need to be mindful of the cast requirement as a cast squat on won’t count for that and an uprise won’t either. By doing a clear hip you can meet the cast requirement with the cast before it or the angle coming out. If you do a backhip circle from a cast instead of an uprise you can meet the requirement with the cast going into it, but then you will have an extra swing deduction after. I think the below would work but you would need to make sure you’re casting high enough into the dismount:

Kip (connected to)
Squat on
Back uprise
Backhip circle
Underswing/counterswing
Kip (connected to)
Cast above horizontal
Flyaway

If you are iffy on the high bar cast and don’t want to add the extra random kip at the end, you could maybe do:

Kip (connected to)
Cast above horizontal
Backhip circle
Fronthip circle (connected to)
Squat on
Then high bar as described

Not sure how a fronthip after a backhip would be evaluated though, it may still be considered an extra swing, in which case you maybe ditch the fronthip and just do a backhip circle on low and high bar and take the deduction for the low bar pause after

 

[raenndrops]

This got me wondering - does doing 2 tap swings before a flyaway also have a extra swing deduction?

In Platinum, you can do ONE tap swing before the flyaway without the extra swing deduction.

 

[GymnastPotterhead]

In Platinum, you can do ONE tap swing before the flyaway without the extra swing deduction.

Thank you! I can now do a flyaway with one tap swing so thats great!

 

[raenndrops]

Oh okay thanks. So far we've been training high bar kip, castaway, long hang pullover, underswing, 2 tap swings, flyaway. Sounds like that has a deduction then. Maybe thats just for summer training and we have a different routine - not sure

That seems like a lot on the high bar. What does your low bar look like?
Our Platinums (the ones without a clear hip) mostly do kip, cast above horizontal, back hip circle, cast squat on, high bar kip (or uprise), back hip circle, cast away, flyaway (or flyaway 1/2).

 

[GymnastPotterhead]

That seems like a lot on the high bar. What does your low bar look like?
Our Platinums (the ones without a clear hip) mostly do kip, cast above horizontal, back hip circle, cast squat on, high bar kip (or uprise), back hip circle, cast away, flyaway (or flyaway 1/2).

Ah it was just summer training! Currently my routine is kip cast clearhip kip squat on kip cast underswing tap swing flyaway. Mayyyyy change the underswing tap swing to just kip castaway flyaway if I get it consistent.