Compulsories and Me

Dear USAG,

Shall I compare thee to the previous cycle? It may happen. A little bit. But you'll handle it.

In non-iambic pentameter, I bear unto you my grievances with Level 4 and Level 5. (Level 6, I'm pretty okay with. I support the motion to exchange the aerial for the front tuck on floor. We see eye-to-eye on that.)

Vault:

Grievance: Level 4 - handstand to flat back position on the mats

I am not convinced that a solid Level 4 vault means success in training a front handspring over the table. They are two different animals.

Proposal: Push the mat behind the table. Drop the table to its lowest setting. Perform handstand to flat back in this manner -- handstand on the table, pop to flat back on mat.

Achieving a handstand on the mats and doing the same on the table are visually, physically, and mentally different experiences. Expose the athletes to the feeling of blocking off the table, as well as overcoming anxiety about reaching out.

Uneven Bars:

Grievance: the front hip circle and the mill circle

I'm still new-ish to this game. Maybe there is inherent value in the front hip circle.

But the mill circle? Teaching undergrip when an athlete might return to it at Level 7 at the earliest, if at all? So many hours of my life spent teaching that skill only for it to vanish as soon as Level 5 arrives.

Just make it go away.

Proposal: An isolated, large cast.

I'm not opposed to the shoot-through. It's a good lead-in to the squat-on. It also helps the athlete learn how to lean their shoulders over the bar to counterbalance their body weight as they cast.

More casts early on!

Second proposal: Replace underswing dismount with a squat-on, jump down to the floor and stick.

I know. I know. The underswing plays a role in Level 5 and 6. It's just a modest proposal.

Balance Beam:

Grievance: the fish pose, and similar choreography

Okay, the fish pose is simple for Level 4. But by Level 5, I think we're ready to step up our game. We bemoan the lack of artistry in elite gymnastics these days, but look at what's mass produced at the lower levels.

Proposal: Bring back the kick turn of the old Level 5 routine (and the two split jumps in Level 6)

Sure, the kick turn wasn't essential. But it was pretty, and dance-like, and required control and flexibility while turning on the non-dominant foot.

I'm okay with the squat-turn's elimination, however. Some things don't wear well.

Floor Exercise:

Alas, we arrive at the biggest grievance of all:

GOD-AWFUL MUSIC.

Even for the most hardcore of us, compulsory gymnastics meets wear on the soul. They are repetitive. They are not exactly inspiring.

And music like this (the random rattlesnake noise is the highlight) and this don't help. At all.

Proposal: Around the world for centuries, and probably going back to when the cavemen drummed on their rocks, musical prodigies have composed lyrical, stunning pieces. Bach's not around to demand that we pay him royalties.

Let's tap in. Let's--dare I say it--teach the lowest levels to tell a story through a routine.

Sincerely,

La Em

As the World Spins

Let us reflect on Summer 2010.

Accomplishments:

• I've choreographed four floor routines so far. A slow pace, but I'm pleased with the quality.
• We all survived the team trip to the local water park.
• Amy broke a growth plate at gymnastics camp, Colleen her ankle when running to her cubby. They have since recovered.
• Our new squad of IGC girls is rocking: huge improvements in flexibility and basic skills. Back handsprings occurring on floor, tumble track, and trampoline. Solid attitudes and hard work.
• The Level 5's and 6's make Coach P. shake his head several times a practice.
• Though he did get involved in a deep discussion of sleep habits and debated the pronunciation of "vocabulary" with them today.
• Several of the girls are entering junior high school. Channeling Joseph Conrad: The horror, the horror!
• I've had a couple of gym-related items published! They're under my real name. Call me Hannah Montana.
• Angie Baby visited WOGA, home of Nastia Liukin. I hyperventilated vicariously through her.
• The jury's in: photo with Marta wins.

Not with a bang but a whimper

I would love for the Level 5's to finish their season just as gloriously.

They don't.

Kips still missed. Falls off beam. Errant vaults. Floor routines off the music. Coach P. claps supportively after their routines. I know he's not impressed.

Our last gymnast, Amy, salutes for beam. During the warm-up for bars, she lost a tooth. In the beam touch warm-up, she crashed on a jump and had a subsequent teary meltdown. She's fallen off beam every meet, always more than once. Lots of 6.0's.

But Amy's improved this season. She points her toes, flicks her wrists on floor, almost has her left leg split down. Her leaps hit a full split. She wants to be a real gymnast.

Today she wobbles wildly, but saves herself. She lands her cartwheel and I clap in delight. Just the dismount left -- and she makes it!

8.15. I high-five her. She grins with one tooth missing.

Meet Season, Round Two

I don't know what to expect this first meet. The girls seem prepared. They're looking the way they probably should have last year: all their skills, though a bit choppy around the edges. It's just a small meet in November and none of the big teams are here.

But you never know.

For once, all of our gymnasts have the same session, and between the 4's, 5's, and 6's, we've taken up just about a whole squad. The first event: beam. I like seeing the girls start on this event, but unfortunately that means they'll end on bars. Nothing like ending your meet with a 4.0.

Kathryn's first up on beam. She's calmed her tendency to flail every part of her body as she jumps, or kicks, or walks. At practice, her mind's everywhere. But now her eyes stay on the beam. She moves calmly. Nails her cartwheel. Dismounts.

9.3.

Brittany next: 9.2. Jamie: 9.0. Alejandra later, for the Level 4 contingent: 9.25.

Is this my team??

..

Bars, of course, reminds me that much remains to improve. Jamie pulls off the team's highest for the day, a 7.95, with a messy routine. Several girls miss their long hang kips. A few errant squat-ons. But only Kasey, with her lack of kips, falls into the 4.0 club this meet.

We're rising.

From Level 4 to Level 5: Please Mind the Gap

What's with the plunge in scores from one level to another? Of course, if you're prepared, then chances are your scores won't be affected.

The differences:

Vault:
Level 4:
handstand, fall to flat back on a large mat

Level 5:
front handspring over the vault table (as my dear friend Danielle knows from experience, the transition to front handsprings is not always easy!)

Bars:
Level 4:
-the entire routine takes place on the low bar
-features the much-loathed mill circle
-no kips

Level 5:
-two kips
-half of the routine takes place on the high bar
-requires swinging
-no more mill circle!

Beam:
Here the differences aren't so vast. The choreography and skills are quite similar, with Level 5 requiring a cartwheel and higher standards for the skills brought over from the Level 4 routine.

Floor:
Level 4:
-the routine moves up and down in a straight line
-small amounts of dance
-roundoff back handspring

Level 5:
-the routine moves all around the floor
-much more choreography
-front handspring
-roundoff two back handsprings

Some gyms start their teams at Level 5. Based on the leaps between the two levels, I can see the rationale.

And regardless,

A typical practice:

“Handstand forward rolls,” I say. In this skill, a gymnast kicks one leg, arms raised above her head. Keeping her body in a straight line, she steps forward and places her hands on the floor, feet rising behind her and meeting over her head in a handstand. She holds the handstand for a moment—arms and legs straight, stomach sucked in, toes pointed—before tipping forward onto her rounded back and rolling up to stand.


Kelsey and Natalie nod and step forward. Brittany sits on the side, icing an ankle. Tia and Kathryn fix their hair in the mirror that runs along the wall next to the floor. Jamie makes faces at them. I can’t see Maya, most likely because she’s crawling under a mat. “Handstand forward roll!” I say more loudly.

Nothing.

“Jamie, Tia, and Kathryn!”

They stumble to attention. Tia mimes zipping her lips from singing along with Kanye on the radio. Jamie puts her arms up, steps forward, then stops. “What are we doing?”

“Handstand forward roll. For the third time.”

“Wait, what?” For the first time, I see Kasey standing all the way in the back.

“Handstand—Maya, get out of the there!”

Maya rolls out from under a mat. “Sorry!” she says. “What are we doing?”

“Handstand forward roll!” Brittany says from behind me. “She said it like a hundred times!”

“Sorry,” Maya says. She isn’t.

“Thank you, Brittany,” I say.

--

Both then and now, I look to see who burns the way I did. The way I still do. The good teams burn. Girls, coaches, parents. Maybe too much, the parents; at some meets, the parents burst into raucous shouts and clapping akin to college football games. Some of my old coaches and friends coach at those gyms now.

Kelsey burns, so much so that she cries “I can’t do it!” as tears run down. Same as Brittany, who at ten already has growth plate troubles and weak ankles. Natalie burns, but in a positive way; she is always either smiling or taking her turn. I’m not sure about Jamie. She’s talented but her drive comes and goes. Maya knows she's the best in the gym. That seems to be enough for her. Tia, who at 4’4” has difficulty generating any kind of power despite how fast she runs, has become tenacious lately. She wants it. Kathryn and Kasey? I’m not sure. I see it sometimes. Other times I can’t see anything.