Stuff Gymnastics Coaches Say

Who doesn't love a fun infograph?

Signs of a burnout gymnast

For a proud parent of an aspiring gymnast, the last thing you want is your daughter/son to feel any sort of pain. Be it physical or emotional stress, our lives are dedicated to protecting the most important people in our lives.

WARNING SIGNS

• Not enough sleep/sleeping every chance she can.
• Irritable. (watch out!)
• Not wanting to go to practice. Making excuses. 
• Talking about quitting. 
• Saying the coaches don't encourage her like they do the other kids
• Complaining about not having free time
• Increase of injuries
• Decreased appetite
• Lack of enthusiasm

But what happens next?

Not all cases are the same but here are some tips to help cope with whatever might be going on, gymnastics related or not. 

• Talk to them about rescheduling activities. Lower training hours, switching to a recreational program, etc. 
• Try to find out which activities they put in high priority. 
• Talk to their coach. Perhaps, he or she notices too and chances are they have dealt with this situation more than once before. 
• Come up with a game plan. GOALS to get out of this rut no matter what! What needs to happen, when, why and how?

Being forced to do a sport they just aren't into is much more damaging to a gymnast than retirement. Some say finishing what you started is something we need to instill in our children, I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Would you make him/her finish the season if he or she decided its time to hang up the grips?

Traits of High Achieving Athletes

Summer time is here and its time for another round of goal setting for the upcoming year. Not only will the gymnasts be working on physical goals but also emotional and mental goals. I've been pleasantly surprised by the large amounts of information for mental training and sports performance provided by the USA Gymnastics mental toughness trainer Dr. Ali. She has a great website, Head Games that offers many web camp sessions to help any athlete get over fears or to up their game.

Many of the tools used for mental toughness training I find very helpful in my daily matters. Especially, the deep breathing when I'm late for anything and it's out of my control! I'm hoping by teaching some of the techniques to my gymnasts they can use these tools not only in their gymnastics but also when stress gets high outside of the gym. Hoping they will know what to do to keep a cool head and push through tough times. 

I've found that many traits of highly achieving athletes have the same emotional competencies of successful business women, lawyers, doctors, artists, musicians and mothers. Let's take a look at some of the traits of highly achieving athletes:

• Self Awareness - These women know their strengths & limitations, they have a great perspective between their ideal & actual performance.

• Emotional Control - These women manage feelings & impulses to act, they can stay focused on the coal in the face of competing emotions. 
• Internal Motivation - These women love what they do (like gymnasts love the sport) versus fame, money and dreams of others. 
• Empathy - While being sensitive to others they are supportive of teammates, co-workers and colleagues. 
• Social Skills - These women are effective communicators that create bonds with others and share great value. 

I use the term women, because I feel that my girls are essentially that....little women who need the nurturing care through their gymnastics career and beyond.  

Birthday's & a HUGE announce ment!

My new obsession is designing gymnastics themed birthday parties. Ever since my friend had me do a few goodies for her daughter's 7th birthday, I've caught this bug that gives me something to do when I wake up every night at 3:00 am.

This is one of my latest designs that is available for customization via my etsy shop.

There are also plenty of other designs from other shops that are just as awesome. Check out some of these great ones too. 

Cool Zebra Theme 

Retro Boys Theme

Now on to the HUGE announcement:

My little Funky girl is getting ready to be a big sister! That's right, Coach Casie is expecting her 2nd baby. Perhaps this has something to do with my obsession with birthdays. I'm interested to hear any stories on how you've coached pregnant, especially spotting. I've made it through my first pregnancy coaching up to age 10 only, tweens and teenagers that are bigger than me post a challenge this time.

First Day Front Handsprings over Vault

I've been quite busy lately in the gym preparing a couple teams for the Singapore Open Championships in a couple of weeks. A few upgrades from Singapore Nationals in March and an in-house this past weekend, I'm excited to see my girls making great improvements.

One of my teams will not be competing and the girls have had quite a bit of fun working on new skills for the next season. Layout flyaways and giants on bars and front handsprings on my new found favorite event to coach, vault!

For the past month or so I've been practicing shaping from a Sweet Spot on floor and going over blocks. They love it and I like that they will do about 20 reps each in 15 mins. They tend to fix their shapes almost immediately after correction and they find the confidence to go over obstacles at a really high speed. I do some return station drills including; hollowed heel lifts, handstand shoulder shrugs & front support shoulder shrugs with some pre


I took them to vault over the table for the first time last week. Here's what came of it:


Less than 6 months for the next competition. Hopefully I can get these girls to soar!

What are your favorite drills for a front handspring vault?

Nadia in an Adidas?

Nadia in a red leotard, believed to be Podium training. It's strikingly similar to the Adidas Gymnastics Leotards of today. A true testament that a classic look never goes out of style.

Ice Baths: Why does my daughter want to do them?

It’s a known fact that immediately after an injury that ice is the answer. An Ice Pack applied to the area helps reduce pain and swelling, but have you ever tried an ice bath? Sounds chillingly unbearable if you ask me.

I once did a polar bear jump into freezing lake Minocqua back home in Wisconsin before I moved out to Asia. It is definitely something to try once....only once.

But if you’re a gym mom or dad, you might be wondering why the heck your son or daughter wants to fill a tub with ice and more important is it safe? According to Runner’s World, ice baths are a method of cryotherapy or “cold therapy.” Immersing your body in ice water constricts blood cells and creates a reduction in metabolic activity, which reduces inflammation and prevents the breakdown of tissues.

When you get out of chilly water, the tissues begin to warm up and your blood flows faster. This helps return the by products of cellular breakdown to the lymph system for efficient recycling by the body. So not only does a soak in an ice bath help prevent inflammation, but it also flushes harmful metabolic debris out of the muscles. Many athletes, especially gymnasts swear by these post-workout ice baths. Dotting their bodies with ice packs is an option, but full-on immersion in ice water is much more effective. They only need to be in the chilliness for 10 to 20 minutes.

Here’s a clip from one Stick It, one of the most popular gymnastics themed movies of my gymnasts. I think they get the idea here, really not thinking about the benefits.

I would love to hear it, have you ever done an ice-bath or would you ever do one?