I totally agree with this approach! I like kids to feel like they are doing well, especially when they are only 5. What I try to do in my classes is to break things down a lot, or give them a couple different degrees of difficulty.
I will give the example of pullovers. In my gym, we have a lot...
I LOOOOOVE Swing Big because it explains a lot.
Also, YouTube is very helpful when you find the right channels. These are just a few...
- Bounce Gymnstics https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgyWZMwOZJWIuelkLbpcSNg
- Gymnast Crossing https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKXy3UIRE1qTQD--9dGiqAA
- Tony...
I struggle with this too for my gymnasts. Sometimes I feel like a kip is better than no kip at all but then other days I feel like they just need to do it right. What I try to do is have the kids who have bent arms on their kip have some kind of conditioning or drill (jump to front support...
Yes, Add-on is a great game! We always play that you have to remember all the skills in the correct order and then if you forget, you are out. Its still one of my favorite trampoline games!... too bad the gym I coach at only has a Tumbl Trak :(
Also, you can try seeing who can do the most back...
I recently came a situation similar to yours. I have a beginner class this summer and one of the girls was having a really hard time in my class. She would stand around until I was with her helping her and then when I did help her she was scared of everything or didn't understand even with tons...
I am not a huge breakfast person to begin with, but when I used to compete I would force myself to eat something (otherwise I would end up with a massive headache by the end of the meet). Usually I stuck to a small breakfast. For example a slice of peanut butter toast, yogurt, a banana, half of...
Okay, my coach had a couple of spotting rigs around the gym when I was in gymnastics. He had one in the bar area and could put the double mini at. We would do double (sometimes triple) backs or I think some of my teammates did full-ins with it too. We also had a diving board in the gym that...
So I coach in a gym where we don't follow USAG rules. Instead we go through a program that basically follows high school gymnastics rules for competition. Anyway, we recently had two sisters transfer from a more serious USAG program (they want less commitment). The younger girl is 6 and has...
As a coach, I have had to deal with tons of situations, but NEVER have I had a kid intentionally hit me. If any of the kids I coached, acted like that they would be sitting out. I would immediately go to your boss or whoever is in charge and inform them of the problem (but have your colleague be...
I know this is incredibly random, and her books are incredibly old, but I remember trying to remember a poem that I read in one of her books... I don't even know which one it was or who it was by (definitely some other author), but I remember reading and being so inspired by this poem that I...
At my gym we have no AC--we are a small non profit gym and cant afford that kind of thing. Its not too bad when its just hot, but when it gets really humid is when it gets miserable. The building used to be some kind of warehouse so we can open these big garage doors but that only helps if its...
Just a thought (no scientific evidence), the tea thing could be explained because some countries don't have good drinking water, therefore if you boil water and make tea, it gets rid of some of the bacteria....
As for the ice cubes... personally I like cold or at least cool water and our gym...
Do you have any sliders in your gym?? I love using them as a side station or during a conditioning circuit... here's a ton of different things with sliders. I haven't had a chance to try them all but they look fun!
A lot of kids come to me with front handsprings like this and it drives me nuts! So my favorite drill to help the gymnast get their hips open at the end is this:
put a spring board (can also use panel mat, but its slightly harder) in front of a octagon/rollie/whatever you call it and then the...
Here's a couple things that tend to work for my kids:
- Bunny hops everywhere! (floor, line, road beam, low beam, medium beam, high beam, high beam with road beam on it). Try to have them do a couple in a row with really good technique-- arms by ears, tight core, straight legs, feet together, on...
For my team girls, I told them that if everyone got two or more splits down by the end of the summer, I would bring in a treat. Since I made this deal, I have seen a lot of improvement from everybody and I might bring something in at the end of the summer if everyone gets even one split down...
Have you tried having them do a tight arch jump back into a pit mat? I usually use these while my kids are still trying to get the timing of the arm swing down, but most of them think its fun and makes it a little easier to jump hard when they do the actual skill.
Just a thought. Hope it helps!
One drill I do is I have my kids kick up to handstand against a wedge or a wall and then they do shoulder shrugs while in handstand so they feel what they actually have to do upside down.
Another drill I have used before but don't very often (due to the low number of springboards we have in the...