Coaches Individualized training

[BarCoach]

I've had compulsory groups for the past 4 years and for the most part they've all had to do the exact same thing at practice. Now they are getting a little older (9-12) and beginning optionals. I'd like to find a way to allow them to work on what they need to work on most, without having to waste their time on the things they do well and easily. How do I make that work?

 

[BarCoach]

That should read individualized training, instead of whatever that other word is.

 

[GymRays]

I've seen this done by having side station on an event be focused on things that benefit many skills ( a shape, a strength exercise, etc) then during their turns on the event the coach takes a "if you have this, then you are doing this" approach. So if you don't have your kip yet you are doing glide kip, drop kips, cast squat on..... If you have your kip then you are doing 3 kips in a row into something. I hope that made sense. Sometimes I have each girl doing something different if I can't break the groups up based on what skills they are working.

 

[BarCoach]

Makes sense. I can definitely do individual side stations. Thanks.

 

[Redford]

I have created an individual conditioning and basic skill technique sheet based on each gymnasts weaknesses for one of my older groups. Looks like that f.e.:

Leg lifts on stall bars: 5x O 10x O 10x O 20x O 20x O
Cartweel Step ins on low beam (without falls): 1x O 3x O 5x O 5x O 10x O

Repetitions vary per person. Also one girl might have 8 core exercises in there while another only has 3 or does the cartweels on a line, depending on what the girls are struggling with.
They have about 1:30h free time per week to work on it while I'm coaching another group and are supposed to be done with their sheet by the end of the month. If they absolutely can't do something they underline it for me so I can see where they're at and create next months sheet accordingly. You need very honest gymnasts for that.
I can't tell you whether it's working or not though, we're only one week into the second month and I'm still playing around with it.

 

[wh/gh]

Individualized workouts (usually involving checkoff sheets) take a bit of time to create but they're easy for the gymnasts to follow. And fun to check stuff off as you complete assignments. And the workouts still run cohesively if the type of skill is the same for the whole group. E.g. for beam, one day might be starting with line drills all together. Then the girls split off to do their assignments in whatever order they like. Maybe they all have stick drills with their old acro skill, trying new acro series, and leaps.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Are you working everything every day?

 

[coachmolly]

I'm navigating this same thing myself right now and have just used a lot of trial and error. I have thought about making a piece of paper/notecard for each girl on each event, but ultimately figured that would be too complicated with them getting lost, forgotten, confused, etc. Maybe later down the road we will give it a try. I do something similar to what WSCoachLY suggested.
Bars is somewhat easy for us- I base what each child does on the spotted station where I am on where they are currently. So while some kids might get stuck on routines or skills in the routine, the kids who have proven themselves proficient get to move on. Side stations (we usually only have 1 set of bars) are largely strength and body shapes, so they all do the same.
Beam I will usually give progressive assignments and how far they get depends on where they are with the skill. For example, they will have to make 5 of their acro skill (cw or hs) on a line, when that is complete, they can move to a low beam. They keep moving up until they get to a high beam (or wherever they get stuck). The kids who have the skill reliably work through it quickly and get to move on to the next thing (their 2nd acro skill) while the other girls get a little extra attention wherever they seem to be stuck or pulled aside for drills. I do something similar with jumps and turns, though they usually just start on a low or middle beam for these. Girls who quickly work through the skill in their routine (1/2 turn or tuck jump for example) are allowed to move on to the next step.
Floor they all essentially do the same leaps, turns, and jumps, so not much variety there. Just a mix of drills with the actual skill. When it comes to tumbling they are all over the place, so I will set up a drill station along with a spotted station that I change based on the girl- some are doing spotted standing bhs while others know to do unspotted ro-bhs when they get to me.
For conditioning or strength side stations, I have certain milestones set for them. When they reach that milestone, they get a sticker on a chart and get to move on to the next step. So once they have 5 unassisted leg lifts, they "get" to work for 10. Once they have a standing press hs against a mat they get to move to the floor. You have to carefully word it though so it feels like a big achievement rather than some kind of punishment for getting stronger .

 

[BarCoach]

Coachp- we don't get to each event every day, but that isn't as much of an issue. It is easy to ask them to work something individually on each station or turn. I was more referring to strength and flexibility. If I have a kid who is really strong but not as flexible should I let them replace extra conditioning turns with flex (when we're all working it)? And same goes for the really flexible, not as strong kid. We all condition at the beginning of workout and all stretch at the end, but could I/should I be giving a different assignment to the kids who need it?

 

[coachmolly]

Could you do your standard conditioning/flex together and then allow time for supplemental drills that would be catered to each child? Make sure each child knows what they need to work on when their regular conditioning or flexibility assignment is finished. So kids who struggle with flex know to go work oversplits and/or shoulder stretches while girls who struggle doing the set number of leg lifts know they have x number of v-ups and spotted leg lifts. This was the way a gym I competed for operated and it ensured all kids were getting the basics together but also allowed space for individual weaknesses to be addressed without calling anyone out (because almost everyone had supplemental drills/strength to do.

 

[BarCoach]

Yes, perfect! That was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you

 

[strawberries]

I like coachmolly's ideas about "rewarding" conditioning milestones w/ stickers, etc. After all, the only difference between difficult tricks and difficult (truthfully much more difficult) conditioning, is how impressive it is to the observer. If 10 half leg lifts receives the recognition a new twisting skill does, conditioning becomes much more hotly pursued. If you do individual goal sheets w/ dates, I like the idea of including individual conditioning and flexibility goals.

 

[BarCoach]

Very true, strawberries. Good idea.

 

[strawberries]

I can't stop laughing at "indivialized."

 

[BarCoach]

Haha yeah. Not sure how that happened. I felt kind of dumb and didn't know how to edit.

 

[JBS]

Give them assignments based on there needs on certain days...do basics on others. Or basics at the beginning and assignments after...something like that. Just write their assignments down on a piece of paper or on a board and have them do them.