UPDATE:
Good news.
In California, coaches were not standing in for Compulsory J.O. Bars, fearing deduction, even if they didn’t spot their gymnast.
Beginners are at risk of slipping off backwards, while trying to get as high a swing as possible in competition.
But check out what JBS, founder of the Chalk Bucket forum, found after researching the issue:
Page 163…section VIII…#4 of the JO Compulsory Program book used to read:
Coach standing between the bars or next to the beam throughout exercise 0.10
Now it reads:
Coach standing next to the beam throughout exercise 0.10
read more on Chalk Bucket…
JBS links to the relevant update in the 2005-2013 WOMEN’S JR. OLYMPIC COMPULSORY BOOK ERRATA.
So, … J.O. coaches CAN stand-in for their kids on Bars in compulsories. Without deduction. You may want to photocopy that update document and take it with you to the competition if you want to stand in.
Note also:
118 L5/6 V A. General: Add 12. There is NO deduction for coach standing between the board and the vault table.
You’re still not allowed to stand in for Beam or Floor.
____ see original post below:
Jeremy Waters, California Sports Center, San Jose, CA:
Open Letter to USA Gymnastics
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of coaching my girls at the NorCal Level 6 State Championships. While I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend — as I almost always enjoy meet weekends — there was one moment that I will be reliving in my nightmares for weeks to come. A girl from another gym peeled off the bar in the back of a tap swing, and landed directly on her head. The meet was interrupted, the girl was carried out on a stretcher and taken to the emergency room. Fortunately, she turned out to be fine …
Under current USAG rules, points are deducted if the coach stands between the bars ready to catch the gymnast during a routine. And while coaches are permitted to step in for a singe skill or brief sequence, this is so nebulously defined that most coaches, to avoid that deduction, simply stand back for the whole routine.
This is not an acceptable situation. Such dangerous and preventable crashes should never be allowed to occur. For the safety of all female gymnasts in the US, I urge you to rewrite the spotting regulations on bars to encourage or even require coaches to stand close to or under the bars during a routine. …
If you’ve an opinion on that, leave a comment on Jeremy’s Facebook page.
11 comments ↓
Good call. Its a requirement for Boys to stand next to event and ready to spot (granted boys are way more wild to), why should it not apply for girls, makes sense..
Good call.. I hope they do something
Thanks for spreading this, Rick! The more people USAG hears from on this matter, the better.
How do you peel of in the back of the tap? Isnt that the regrasp point??
I prefer they not spot at all. The coach should be far away from the apparatus. Attention on the gymnast.
Stuff is safer in a pit, too…but we still do real sets, no?
Um, yea, right… the coach should be as far away as possible… preferably not even in the same gym… they can communicate with the gymnast via Skype.
Please read the following post…
http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/womens-artistic-gymnastics-wag/38825-open-letter-usag-regarding-bars-spotting-regulations-4.html#post211235
Thanks,
JBS
Thanks for the update; I missed that rule change when it came around!
That said, I still think more should be done to ENCOURAGE coaches to stand under the bars during a routine.
So coaches are worried about losing points…so they won’t spot? It would be nice if USAG changed the rule but in the meantime, and in case they never do, why not write an open letter to coaches instructing them on what matters in life.
Whether an athlete is ill-prepared or prone to peel on the counterswing (the height of which has been lowered), if a coach is truly concerned about that athlete, wouldn’t they stand there whether there was a .1 deduction or not? Every coach must make the decision how they want to negotiate the code while keeping their athletes as safe a possible.
I’m also not sure what a 90 lb female coach is going to do to catch a 100 lb gymnast if she comes off the bar on a counterswing. That would be risking two injured persons in the case of a fluke slip of the grip or change of body position, which can happen to even the most proficient bar swinger.
Lee: She absorbs the blow, gets bruised, (instead of the athlete breaking an arm or neck) and both her medical needs and the child’s are covered by USAG, provided it was a USAG sanctioned meet. Then, as a show of appreciation and thanks, the parents of that child lavish praise on her for saving their child’s life and will be dedicated to her forever, the gym owner rewards her monetarily for being a competent coach, the team learns a valuable lesson in safety and preparedness, and everyone is better off.
That’s what a 90 lb female coach could do. Ideally, anyway.
FYI: This rule is in effect for my girls not just at meets, but every day in practice. They don’t do tap swings without me standing in unless we’ve set up the wedges behind/under them, or they go on the pit bar.
I don’t encourage high counterswings – in fact it may be one of the last things I look for in a tap swing.
I much prefer a well-timed tap after good shape and a nice lift through the front of the swing.
It has never seemed to keep the kids from learning giants or uprises. I will say though that I have seen a lot more peeling from kids wearing grips that probably should not be.
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