WAG How you deal with fear

[aerialriver]

Kind of a hijack of the punishment for fear thread in the parents forum. How do you as a coach deal with gymnasts fears? Or how does your coach deal with your fears as a gymnast?

It got me thinking because one of my coaches make me run obscene amounts of laps. One night I probably ran 500 over back fulls.

She finally told me the running was meant to clear my head not as a punishment. It gave me time to focus and personally I get very wound up.

When she would do this is was never in a harsh tone and it was a simple choice like do 3 more back layout then try the full if you don't succeed go run 50 Laos and come back.

I want to know what works for everyone else and what is perceived as punishment.

 

[MaryA]

I like what my DD's coach does (though DD may not). Specifically for beam... not sure if this relates to other events or not. They have different assignments based on what beam they do it on. If you have to do your BHS BHS series on low beam with mats, then that's fine, but you have to do 30 of them. If you can do it without mats, then only 20. Medium beam , 10. Etc. Girls who are ready to do their series on the high beam with no mats or spots may only have to do 3. As time passes, the number of reps required on the lower beams gets higher. I guess it could be seen as a punishment or a reward, but it means that the girls who need more reps on a particular skill get them and they also have good motivation to move up, because they're still working on their reps while other girls have moved on to other stuff... and sometimes have even gone home for the day.

 

[iwannacoach]

I totally endorse the ^^^^^^ method of using numbers because sooner, rather than later, a child gets convince that they are bored with the low beam and since they haven't missed their hands in over 1000 bhs reps.....

I also put a lot of effort into promoting an atmosphere of being able to do skills, and that "we do this every day" because they aren't a big deal, and it works because I make sure the kids are ready.

I also let them know that there will be instances of pain but they'll learn the skill and do it well enough to avoid all but the most unusual humpty dumpty moment.

Geez.... I'll even tell a kid who's begging for a chance to do a series that she's not quite ready. It reinforces the notion that part of my role as their coach is to protect themselves from their inexperience and greed.

I have another tool to fight fear. They get 10 seconds to do the skill, and if they don't then it's back to the previous step of the progression.