Coaches Opinions on teaching twisting.

[peace.love.gymnast]

I would love to hear some other coach's opinions on this...

As a gymnast and in the gyms I've worked in, we have always taught fulls after the gymnast has a nice, solid layout on their own. My issue is that in the last 3 months I've gotten several students that came from another gym, & they've all told me they were learning fulls at their old gym. Well, this wouldn't be a problem for me except that they can't do their layouts on their own...actually not even close...more like a sloppy whip they've taught themselves on tramp or something. I just can't understand the logic behind allowing them to twist already.

 

[coachmolly]

Stick with layouts. Saying it's an important base skill would be an understatement. Trying to build upon a less than satisfactory layout will just end up in frustration for you and potential injuries and fear issues for the gymnast.
While not with twisting skills, I have given in to girls who asked to progress to a harder skill without perfecting the base skill first. It's just a pain!

 

[peace.love.gymnast]

Thank you. I refuse to give in because I know how important it is to build up skills the correct way. The girls involved & their parents, however, don't see it my way. Honestly, I think they just like being able to say they're working fulls.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Thank you. I refuse to give in because I know how important it is to build up skills the correct way. The girls involved & their parents, however, don't see it my way. Honestly, I think they just like being able to say they're working fulls.

Common situation I believe. Gymnasts from gym ‘A’ are taught to perfect elements before progressing and as a result tend to do well in competition. Gymnasts from gym ‘B’ love throwing all the higher skills which they 'will clean up later' for some reason they don't do as well at competitions.

Gymnasts from gym ‘B’ decide they will change to gym ‘A’ so they can score better. They struggle to realise the patience and perfection required by gym ‘A’ for said results. This results in problems with the gym as it can be to hard/late to change the mindset of the gymnast/parents.

Stick to your methods, hopefully they will come around. Make sure you praise and mention how their improved layouts have benefited their gymnastics skills when you get them up to standard. They obviously left the previous gym for some reason. If it was a performance reason, they can’t expect to train the same way and receive better results.

 

[gymdog]

They need a good layout first. Being unable to hold the shape in one piece in a layout is going to result in a full that risks knee, hip, and ankle injury. The gymnasts and parents should understand this.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Was their old coach a cheer coach?

A full is POSSIBLE without a strong layout -- but it's a really bad idea.

 

[gymdog]

Was their old coach a cheer coach?

A full is POSSIBLE without a strong layout -- but it's a really bad idea.

Those arabian pike down fulls that half almost off the ground. Blech. But that's from overspotting so much if you asked me. Compared to cheer, spotting for twisting is almost nonexistent among most gymnastics coaches. We might spot the takeoff or landing, but it would be considered silly to be on floor having a kid do roundoff, back handspring, and then you grab them and flip them while twisting them. We generally expect the kids to figure out how to flip and do the twist themselves (correcting technique and using drills the kids do, again, without "carry spotting" them over and over).

This I think comes partially from how expected privates are at a lot of cheer gyms. If you have people paying $60 an hour, then I guess you have to show them something.

 

[blantonnick]

Perhaps progress with a half twist first

 

[peace.love.gymnast]

1 of the girls was a gymnast at this particular gym, the other 2 took tumbling class there....they are cheerleaders for a local middle school. The strange thing is that the coach for the tumbling class is also part owner and the floor coach at the gym.

Thank you to everyone for your opinions

 

[CoachTodd]

I would love to hear some other coach's opinions on this...

As a gymnast and in the gyms I've worked in, we have always taught fulls after the gymnast has a nice, solid layout on their own. My issue is that in the last 3 months I've gotten several students that came from another gym, & they've all told me they were learning fulls at their old gym. Well, this wouldn't be a problem for me except that they can't do their layouts on their own...actually not even close...more like a sloppy whip they've taught themselves on tramp or something. I just can't understand the logic behind allowing them to twist already.

Welcome to my world. I get quite a few cheer tumblers that say "I was working fulls at <insert gym name here>" and they have a back tuck that is every bit of 3 feet off the ground.

 

[ACoach78]

I would love to hear some other coach's opinions on this...

As a gymnast and in the gyms I've worked in, we have always taught fulls after the gymnast has a nice, solid layout on their own. My issue is that in the last 3 months I've gotten several students that came from another gym, & they've all told me they were learning fulls at their old gym. Well, this wouldn't be a problem for me except that they can't do their layouts on their own...actually not even close...more like a sloppy whip they've taught themselves on tramp or something. I just can't understand the logic behind allowing them to twist already.

That's because there is no logic behind it. It simply makes little sense. Shouldn't we learn to walk before we try to run?

1 of the girls was a gymnast at this particular gym, the other 2 took tumbling class there....they are cheerleaders for a local middle school. The strange thing is that the coach for the tumbling class is also part owner and the floor coach at the gym.

Thank you to everyone for your opinions

Just because he's part owner and the floor coach doesn't exclude him from being an idiot. What are the qualifications for being a gym owner? Having $$$ to get a building, purchase some equipment, put up a sign, pay the operational expenses, and voila, you own a gymnastics facility! Hooray!

And, even if you're horrible, you'll get some folks - especially if you appease them by teaching crappy layouts and then allowing them to work on fulls. The kids might have a better chance of winning the lottery than actually getting a full, but because you're letting them think that they are getting ever so close to a full, they'll keep paying and coming back. Kids and parents are pretty clueless unless they have previous experience in the sport that was of a quality nature.

 

[CoachTodd]

I heard the most interesting thing while coaching my tumbling class last night. One of the girls is working her full and she has a strong layout.
I told her that her full was more like an arabian 1/2 since she basically twisted then flipped forward then finished the twist.
Her cheer buddy said, 'that's how the teach it at <gym x>. You jump up and do a 1/2 turn to your stomach and the coach catches you"
This just goes to show that some coaches either have no idea how to coach a full or they just like the pain of having 100 pound kids landing on them over and over again.

 

[gymdog]

I heard the most interesting thing while coaching my tumbling class last night. One of the girls is working her full and she has a strong layout.
I told her that her full was more like an arabian 1/2 since she basically twisted then flipped forward then finished the twist.
Her cheer buddy said, 'that's how the teach it at <gym x>. You jump up and do a 1/2 turn to your stomach and the coach catches you"
This just goes to show that some coaches either have no idea how to coach a full or they just like the pain of having 100 pound kids landing on them over and over again.

This is what I was talking about with the cheer spotting!!!! That's how they do it. It's not unusual. Now look at all the girls who CAN full but weren't optional gymnasts from an all star cheer team. Most are doing arabian pike down fulls.