Coaches Help to make basic skills fun for different age groups especially the boys

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Pernille

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Hi

I coach af family class. It is really fun and great exercise but not the least competitive. It is children (Boys and girls) age 6-12 with their parents and a relative large groupe (40 kids and 30 parents). We have 30 minutes warm up with fun games, acrobatics together etc. For the next hour the adults have their own fitness session while we coach the kids in gymnastics. We divide them in 4 age groups with 13 minutes on each station.

The stations are normally:
1: basic skills (rolls, cartwheels, handstands etc)
2: Tarzan circuit for conditioning. We create a really fun tarzan style circuit to give them strength. They climb ropes, different obstacles in the wall bars etc
3 and 4: different circuits with mini trampolines, air tracks etc where they practice easy saltos

My problem is to motivate them to learn the basic skills. We do not compete etc its all just for fun, exercise, strength and body awareness. But for many of them their basic skills are so poor that they cannot learn the saltos og hand spring they would like... we have really succeeded with making the conditioning Tarzan circuit highly popular and therefore also see great results. But many (especially the boys) find learning cartwheels, rolls and bridges boring and ‘Girl like’.

Does anybody have god suggestions for fun ways to do it we really have some kids where I think they could learn much more if they just crack the basic code
 
Yeah I have thought abort that @jamieintexas but unfortunatly we don’t have any available and none of us coaches are very god gymnasts... we are the only ones in the gym and our most advanced kids are actually the 6-7-8 year old girls while the 9-10-11 year old boys are all quite new og just quite poor. But they dont really tend to get motivated by looking at their younger sisters

I have thought about inviting some good boy gymnasts for inspiration once og twice but I very much welcome more ideas
 
You could show them some video for inspiration. Maybe a few different levels of gymnastics so that some are super impressive and some are a bit more relatable to them. You could even show them stuff that's not competitive gymnastics but builds on the same basics, like break dancing, street dance, circus acrobatics, free-running.

You could introduce a little bit of a competitive element, eg. handstand competitions or who can do the most successful cartwheels down a channel, or down the narrowest channel. Or you could implement some sort of awards system for improvement, where you get stickers or something for different levels of achievement.

Incorporating props might help too. Obviously props are often genuinely helpful in creating progression, eg. rolls down a wedge mat, cartwheel down a mat channel etc. but kids often also just like props. It's different stuff than what they have at home.

Also, bear in mind that even though in gymnastics terms these are basic skills they are a long way from being basic movement (like walking, running, jumping which are somewhat innate.) Is it possible that you aren't providing enough in the way of scaffolding and progressions for them to have success? It's very common for people to be dismissive of things as a form of deflection to protect their egos (especially boys.)
 
I know the essential aspects of gymnastic, it will help to attain flexibility, strength and very good for overall development of body. My cousin had joined gymnastic classes for a short time period but I can see the changes in her, so I am very inspired with Gymnastics skill. That's why I am motivating our kids to join Gymnastics.
 
This sounds like such an awesome class, but definitely challenging. I look forward to reading some of the responses.

I find that motivating boys or wild rec. kids in general, you need to use challenges, relays and contests. One drill that’s usually fun for all are dive forward rolls over foam blocks onto a cushy elevated surface or cheese/wedge mat. Of course they have to master some basics first. Then the kids can stack the blocks higher and higher. Even better if the blocks are stacked in a horseshoe shaped vault zone set up vertically, like a field goal post. Then have a challenging crawl or hopping return station.

Another fun drill is a back roll down soft cheese mats that are set up vertically, then the athlete leans back onto it to knock it over like a domino and follow through with a backward roll down the mat.

I would also try to work in a lot of squats to a panel mat, rolls back to a candlestick, then rolls forward to momentary support/donkey kicks on another panel mat. It could be part of a timed circuit/relay, like do 10 then run to the end of the floor walk up the wall to a handstand for 10 seconds, then run back to high five a partner to switch turns. I call the drill “deck squat to donkey kick”. I like that it helps with forward and backward rolling, press handstands and gets the strength necessary for flips and dive rolls. And it’s pretty safe and doesn’t require a lot of form corrections. Once they can do it well, then have them tuck their chin in the donkey kick and roll out of it, cueing them to “find their candlestick”.

Good luck!
 
I like a lot of the ideas mentioned above. I did coach boys rec for one year and I will admit, a lot of times they were just more interested in doing "cowabunga" jumps off the tumbltrak than ever really learning the skills to make a proper front handspring, etc. so I completely understand.

Candlestick roll downs mentioned I really like and also burpies can be incorporated as well either for a warm-up or a competition.

I have really started doing a lot more dive rolls this year in all my rec classes as sort of a stepping stone into tumbling. 1. Jumping over a barrel or blocks as mentioned above really adds an extra element of fun and also really enforces the need to jump and get your feet up. 2. Have them start further back and jump onto and down the wedge mat. 3. I usually do this on the tumbltrak but it will work on floor too. Hold a hula hoop out and the kids have to dive through it and onto a landing mat - the kids love this so much more than just plain dive rolls. 4. Yesterday, we did a dive roll competition and I have never seen such effort! I made a starting box with chalk and measured where their hands placed to see who could get the farthest and it was a real hit that I recommend! Although I had a class full of girls I can imagine the boys will also love the element of competition. Or have them try and beat their own mark from the previous turn so they can see their own progress. It may even spark the boys to pay attention more if they are getting beat by some of the girls.

You do need to remind them that although some of the things may seem boring they will pay off. For example, anytime I see someone slacking off on warm ups (jumps especially) I simply ask if they do hope to learn a front/back handspring. If so, they need to give their very best effort on all the drills and skills to get there. Nothing comes without work especially in gymnastics! But it is also that which makes it so rewarding. . sometimes they just need a little nudge and/or have it explained how some of the skills relate to what they do find fun.
 

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