All-Star What Happened To The Basics?

[nicolee]

Wow. For a long time, I have put gymnastics on a pedestal for a long time and thought that EVERY coach was more concerned with beautiful technique than difficulty.

Compare an Olympic routine from 1985 and one from this year. Back then you had to be literally perfect. Now? You can win gold with a fall or with janky, twisted legs. It's not their fault, it's just the way sports often move through time. Technique is still important, and yes some coaches value it highly, but the scoresheet rewards difficulty.

 

[russmin]

Compare an Olympic routine from 1985 and one from this year. Back then you had to be literally perfect. Now? You can win gold with a fall or with janky, twisted legs. It's not their fault, it's just the way sports often move through time. Technique is still important, and yes some coaches value it highly, but the scoresheet rewards difficulty.

To be fair as skills get harder they get harder to execute. Much easier to have nice clean full than a triple. As a fan perhaps I'm the overwhelming minority but I like the risk reward of big skills of today's gymnastics. Makes a competition more exciting but the downside is that to keep up with difficult routines people compete things they have no mastery of resulting in a lot of injuries and falls

 

[nicolee]

To be fair as skills get harder they get harder to execute. Much easier to have nice clean full than a triple. As a fan perhaps I'm the overwhelming minority but I like the risk reward of big skills of today's gymnastics. Makes a competition more exciting but the downside is that to keep up with difficult routines people compete things they have no mastery of resulting in a lot of injuries and falls

Exactly. It's a trade-off – if you reward difficulty, then you run the risk of gross technique as people push to get those skills. But some say that if you reward technique and cleanliness more, then the sport doesn't grow and move with the times.

I actually think you're in the majority with gymnastics. Most fans love the big skills, and that's totally fine. It's just that my family has been involved with gymnastics for quite a while, and we hate the new style of routines. They are often less of a smooth, clean dance nowadays, and more of a bunch of skills with an occasional flourish of the hand. It comes down to what you prefer

 

[Helen uk uni cheer]

I love simple but clean routines but what I love even more is hard and clean routines with good technique especially in lower levels.
At one comp I saw a level 2 team who had a hard routine but their technique was amazing. the flyers held a heel stretch half twisted down to smush then half back up to prep it was so clean so you don't always have to sacrifice technique for difficulty

 

[russmin]

Exactly. It's a trade-off – if you reward difficulty, then you run the risk of gross technique as people push to get those skills. But some say that if you reward technique and cleanliness more, then the sport doesn't grow and move with the times.

I actually think you're in the majority with gymnastics. Most fans love the big skills, and that's totally fine. It's just that my family has been involved with gymnastics for quite a while, and we hate the new style of routines. They are often less of a smooth, clean dance nowadays, and more of a bunch of skills with an occasional flourish of the hand. It comes down to what you prefer

That is true, I think people who have been in gymnastics a while do have a nostalgia about the routines of yesteryear. I can appreciate both styles but to me it makes seeing someone who does really hard skills with exceptional technique even more impressive to me, I think it works much better with the men than the women in this case; like Kohei for example. The real tragedy of this system is the burnout. Having kids peak at 14 get injured and never make it back because the hurdle to to high to climb again. Cheer has less of this risk as its a team sport, your slightly jank double doesn't stand out as much against 15 other ones.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Exactly. It's a trade-off – if you reward difficulty, then you run the risk of gross technique as people push to get those skills. But some say that if you reward technique and cleanliness more, then the sport doesn't grow and move with the times.

I actually think you're in the majority with gymnastics. Most fans love the big skills, and that's totally fine. It's just that my family has been involved with gymnastics for quite a while, and we hate the new style of routines. They are often less of a smooth, clean dance nowadays, and more of a bunch of skills with an occasional flourish of the hand. It comes down to what you prefer

I've noticed that, watching both old and new floor routines.

 

[chyeeaaa69]

This thread is interesting to me being from Canada. At least at the gym I was coaching at last season we were constantly having conversations about setting a standard for jump/tumbling/stunting technique, and needing to fix our kids' technique now while we had such an insane amount of talent in the mini and youth program. Of course we were always talking about difficulty and wanting to be competitive, but we started to make a huge shift towards technique, and I know they're taking even more steps to do so this coming season.

 

[kristenthegreat]

Exactly. It's a trade-off – if you reward difficulty, then you run the risk of gross technique as people push to get those skills. But some say that if you reward technique and cleanliness more, then the sport doesn't grow and move with the times.

I actually think you're in the majority with gymnastics. Most fans love the big skills, and that's totally fine. It's just that my family has been involved with gymnastics for quite a while, and we hate the new style of routines. They are often less of a smooth, clean dance nowadays, and more of a bunch of skills with an occasional flourish of the hand. It comes down to what you prefer

Mustafina and her twisting...I swear to goodness it's my least favorite thing about her.

 

[WinstonsGirl]

It's everywhere. My team has gained a reputation of being clean, to the point that the head judge at our qualifier to Provincials (which they won!!) came up to me to tell me how happy the judges were to see a clean and tight routine. We will spend the first 2 weeks jumping into load, doing show and go's/rainbows back to load, and we'll do it till their feet are always together. It sucks and is super boring, but they then hit extensions and half ups/full ups super fast when we start them, so I'll take it.

 

[chyeeaaa69]

Mustafina and her twisting...I swear to goodness it's my least favorite thing about her.

Twisting's a tricky one. Some people, no matter how good their basics or how often you drill something, will never twist the way they should.

 

[nicolee]

Mustafina and her twisting...I swear to goodness it's my least favorite thing about her.

Oh man, I just cannot deal with it. Like I physically can't watch.

 

[gofriars610]

Oh man, I just cannot deal with it. Like I physically can't watch.

(Buzzfeed had this listed as a positive thing...no, Matt Stopera, this was not a compliment.)

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Flyer basic things that have been really noticeable lately:

BEFORE you make your sassy face or fiercely sing along to your music, make sure you HIT your body position.

Ex: If you're going scorp to scale or arabesque, FULLY AND COMPLETELY PULL the scorp before going out to scale or arabesque. Don't just barely Dorito it, take it out to scale and make a face like you just pulled the most amazing position on this planet.

Oh if you're pulling heel stretches, actually HIT your stretch. Don't just barely grab the TIP of your shoe RIGHT before you double. That's not a stretch.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Flyer thing:

BEFORE you make your sassy face, make sure you HIT your body position.

Ex: If you're going scorp to scale, PULL the scorp before going out to scale. Don't dorito it out to scale and make a face like you just pulled the most amazing position on this planet.

Hit your stretch. Don't just barely grab the TIP of your shoe RIGHT before you double.

Or lean forward, nearly falling out of your stunt, just to compensate for your lack of flexibility.

(Buzzfeed had this listed as a positive thing...no, Matt Stopera, this was not a compliment.)

Yikes.

 

[kristenthegreat]

Twisting's a tricky one. Some people, no matter how good their basics or how often you drill something, will never twist the way they should.

I think it bothers me twice as much because she's otherwise SUCH a graceful gymnast, and yet her twisting looks horrendous. Even Nastia who had some pretty long lines for a gymnast wasn't as bad at twisting.