Only One Minute

In Open Gym last week, we decided to complete 800 cartwheels in only one minute! As you can see, we've got some practicing to do.


Yes, I participated too!

This was a fun collaborative effort and everyone was involved. I walked around and had each kid whisper their numbers so they wouldn't feel as if they were competing.

ADHD/ADD vs. Gymnastics

As an advocate for children living a drug-free life the topic of ADHD/ADD hits close to home. I've heard many children say they are on medications for this "supposed" disorder. I don't think that the parents really understand the risks. The Innovative Educator has been a great resource for parents looking for the truth on ADHD/ADD.

Interestingly, these are symptoms found from webmd:

• fidgeting, squirming when seated
• getting up frequently to walk or run around
• running or climbing excessively when it's inappropriate (in teens this may appear as restlessness)
• having difficulty playing quietly or engaging in quiet leisure activities
• being always on the go
• often talking excessively

This describes EXACTLY the type of kids I want in the gym! 

Happy Holidays!

Perfecting the basics is one of the highest priorities for me as a coach. I spend 70% of my pre-teams' work-outs on conditioning & flexibility, which is closely monitored like a hawk. The rest of the time is on basics, footwork, arm positions, etc. It's hard at times to keep them motivated but they are a fun group and we come up with ways to work on our skills and stay focused.

One way we work footwork on beam is by doing zig-zag walks in 5th position. More than half of these girls walked into the gym with that silly pigeon toe and these are helping establish a good turnout. We zig-zag forwards and backwards. Another way of mixing it up is by adding a relevé to change the levels and we add tendu to 4th position, lunge, etc. I'll let one of them pick out a sequence of 3 or 4 and we'll work on that for a pass or two then give another teammate a chance to come up with a sequence. 

On our last practice for the year, they came up with something even better...

As a coach I'm holding back as much as I can to stick to these basics, get it right and not to rush skills. These little ones make it easy for me because they enjoy doing it as long as I make it seem like we are doing different things every day. We have lots of work to do in 2012, but we're ready to go and I'm hoping I'll keep coming up with more fun and effective ways to teach them how to use their bodies like a gymnast. 

Open Gym, not just for the kids!

It's a great time for me to play with the kids, experiment with props and stations. I find most of the greatest ideas from my kids or just seeing something from a different view. Open Gym at our gym can get quite messy, balls, noodles, mats and equipment everywhere! In this case, I saw a Theraband hanging on the balance beam and there goes the light-bulb switch.

At first I thought of using an incline, but then I thought of the tire tracks that the wheels could roll on. This also makes them keep super tight! Wish we had more spring boards and more Therabands so I could make them roll under all 3 of our high beams.

I also use Open Gym to test out new ideas. In this next drill, I wanted to add a little more for my tactile learners. Most of the time, I'll just have the kids make fists and call it a day. But I find that they'll usually just open their hands & lose that sense of keeping tight the whole time. I made pairs of different textures for them to fit in their hands.


The girls really likes doing the sponges, I'm thinking there's more to the average dish sponge than we thought.

Making Conditioning Fun!

More than half of the Pre-teams practice is strength and conditioning based gymnastics, yet we have so much fun. Earlier in the term, I made bingo cards for each of the girls. One for each event; vault, bars, beam, floor. I asked them to take it home and color them however they liked and bring them back. Then I laminated them and keep them for the girls. As I do my lesson plans, I make sure there is at least 1 or 2 sticker opportunities for our events for the day. They are totally motivated & for me its fun to see them working so hard to get conditioning with good form. I'm pretty tough on these little ones when it comes to good form for a couple weeks it seemed like we couldn't get it right!

Week 12 seemed to be the magic number when we started to get BINGO! 

I'm happy to see the girls getting so strong and excited about body shapes, conditioning and flexibility. It's easy for all of us to track our progress in a fun way. They are even starting to cheer each other on and show great sportsmanship by congratulating each other for good efforts. They are learning so much more than just gymnastics skills here in the gym and it is such a joy to be apart of it! 

Vault Progress

Here's a look at Margi's progress...

Building Confidence

With the new season comes new skills which often seems super scary at first. My goal as a coach is to follow skill progressions correctly to ease this fear, while promoting confidence in learning the skill. Each breakdown of skills is a chance for a gymnast to succeed.

Take our Level 4 vault, for example, which is a front handspring flat back off the vault table. This is a major step for the girls as it is the first time they will be going over the vault table in the Australian Gymnastics system. How are we as coaches to tell them to run as fast as you can towards this huge metal and leather thing and expect them not to be scared?! It's like telling them to run as fast as they can towards a truck without slowing down. One way I've been successful in breaking though the fear AND reinforce proper form is with this following lead--up drill. 

In the two videos, Margi and Asia have never gone over on the vault table before. When I recorded, they had about 5 tries each before. We are doing this drill off a mini-tramp to start off and gain confidence while keeping it easy on our ankles. They thought it was really cool!

Asia and Margi both had problems finding the correct body position (hollow) in the pre-flight and were always piked. This barrel makes it impossible for them to make the handstand with a pike. It also gives that little heel-drive at the end automatically. Most coaches say, "drive your heels" but this would promote an arched back which is opposite of what we want to happen. The heel drive should be just at the very last portion of the pre-flight. Don't even get me started on when I hear, "block" from a coach. It makes no sense to the kids, and really when the vault is done properly like they are, it automatically happens.

 One week later, we tried doing the vault as we will be competing. It was a happy day for all of us. Their confidence brought on by the barrel drill made it an easy transition AND they were done with good form. I think I was more excited than they were. After all, they have been going over the vault with the barrel for a week already so it wasn't such a big deal. :P

I was actually inspired for this lead-up drill from messing around in Open Gym with a cute little aspiring gymnast named Ruby. She had been at our Open Gym for almost 3 hrs at this point and is kind of tired. Her first 30 were with great form!

I hope Ruby decides to join our gym. :)