Gymnastics - are some DCs incapable of doing the splits? (pic included)

[Wecandothisthing]

DD is nearly 7 and loves gymnastics. Although she's strong, she's definitely not as naturally bendy as alot of the other girls.
Both her father and myself are not very flexible, neither of us could ever touch our toes without bending our legs.

DD is desperate to learn the splits and has been practicing at home, but I'm wondering whether her genetics will mean no matter how hard she works, she won't manage it.

Any tips from those who are more experienced gymnastics parents than I am.

I've included pics of DD's current splits after lots of practice at home. They don't seem to spend much time stretching in class.

I'm no gymnast, but I would call that 'doing the splits'!

Both of those are very close, and no doubt if she keeps practising she'll get fully down into splits soon. I must admit I thought from your description that she'd be miles away!

I'm not minimizing her efforts. I'm very impressed with what she can do. It just seems quite a lot of the kids in her class can effortlessly slide down into splits. DD's really pushing herself in these pics and has been trying for ages.

Some children will be naturally more flexible, but that doesn't mean your DD can't do it if she continues to practice. Also, you don't know how much those other children practice or when they started.

She needs to stretch every day preferably a few times per day she'll get there!

My DD3 is 9 and would wet herself with joy if she could manage to get herself into that position! She's doing really well! Splits is just something that takes time and hard work.

Lougle.
Thank you for your comments. DD does very well with strength, but I thought that our genetics would hold her back overall as I know flexibility is very important in gymnastics.
DD's loving it at the moment, either way.

Her hips are not square so she needs to be careful but her box splits are better than my daughter’s

Some people can’t ever do the splits (especially box) due to the construction of their hips but my daughter found Lisa Howells methods of releasing fascial tension very effective.

Thanks AlexanderHamilton. I'll look up the Lisa Howells method.
She knows her hips need to be facing forward or "headlights forward" as she says, but can't seem to move them more forward. I'm nervous to try to manouver them into the right position as don't want to hurt her.

My daughter is a dancer rather than a gymnast so there may be some differences in technique.

Some kids are just a little impatient and try to get down too quickly thus the slightly squinty hips in picture 2. If you bring her back to kneeling position and hold her hips while she straightens her front leg going forward slowly it should help. She might not get down as far at first but will soon get there. Her box splits are really good though.

My daughter has danced competitively for 8 years. What we've found is that people tend to either be stronger in their core but have to work on flexibility or are naturally flexible and have to work on strength. Either way both will develop with practice.

Oh gosh! Please don't ask these children to do this! Their skeletons are still developing and you could do them damage.

Whether she will improve with practice will depend on whether what is stopping her is tension or compression. If it is tension - i.e muscular then stretching and practice will help. If it is compression - i.e anatomical - bone hitting bone in this pose then you can't change that. Some people because of the anatomy of their pelvis and bones will never be able to do the splits. This is true of adults - children under 8 don't have fully formed skeletons so maybe to get into these poses but as their skeleton develops they may find they no longer have the same flexibility. This is why certain countries and ballet schools are known to x-ray dancers and gymnasts to predict their future abilities.

There's two things at play here. The potential to continue to develop flexibility by sensible supervised stretching, and the maximum allowable by nature due to the joint construction.

Think of it as being like opening a door with stiff hinges. You can oil the hinges, but you can only open the door as far as the frame and the wall allows.

Once you reach the physical maximum, no amount of stretching will improve flexibility, and over-stretching can cause permanent damage, particularly to ligaments.

I am a level 3 gymnastics coach and have been trained in PNF stretchin so maybe I can give some thoughts
The good news is that almost everybody (with a very few exceptions )can learn to do the normal splits with enough effort.The box splits are more difficult but even so persistence pays off.The key to improvement is frequency and duration of stretching each stretch should be at least 30 seconds

It looks s to me as if she is sitting in a wide straddle rather than box splits- they all do this !!. stand her with both feet on a line, move them further and further apart until she can get on to her elbows and then her chest. The golden rule is that feet knees and hips have to be on the line all the time and she will need you to watch this.
When she is doin her forward splits , maybe put a sofa cushion or similar under her front heel and encourage to sit back into her split (she is leanin forward) and raise her arms or you hold them up.
PNF is a painless way of getting down the last little bit - it is like magic!! You should really speak to your ym about it and use it very sparingly Get her to kneel up on the floor with her back to you and her arms around your legs.take hold of her right leg raise it up and ask her to push downwards against your resistance as hard as she can(ie she is trying to close her legs) for a few seconds .You then have a few seconds window where a reflex is triggered and her flexibility will be increased. so raise her leg as far as she will let you and repeat. Get her down into her splits and you will see a difference .

Thanks Slimjemima.

I'm struggling to figure out the PNF manouver that you described. Do you have any links where I can see pictures or videos?

Thanks.