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Supreme Saturday- What is it?

For all level 4 gymnasts or new gymnasts to team: Supreme Saturday is what it sounds like. It is a harder day for most girls, especially the ones who are used to fooling around. You start with 0 conditioning, and depending on behavior and gymnastics ability you work your way up. Some days you have barely any condition, some days we will spend an hour doing conditioning, or stay late because of conditioning. Some parents/ kids don’t like this because it is too harsh. We see it as a way for the team to work together to behave and perform well.

Conditioning

· Bad behavior in general ///+5 v-ups and +3 of each pushup

· Talking back to coach/// +5 pull ups and +5 chin ups

· Not paying attention/// +50 toe rises each foot

· Fooling around/// +5 box jumps to spotting block

· Level 6 and up- Non stuck beam landings ///+10 second hollow and arch hold

· Level 6 and up- Non stuck Bar landings/// +2 V-ups and +2 each pushups

· Level 6 and up- Non stuck OLD tumbling/// +2 pull ups and +2 chin ups

· Level 6 and up- Unpointed toes in flyaway/ layout vault/// +=10 second hollow and arch hold

· Level 5 and up- Incorrect flyaway form/// +5 laps

· Falling off beam during routine/// +8 hollow& arch rocks

· Falling on floor/// + 5 press handstands

· Insufficient split on beam or floor/// +1 rope climb Level 6 and up or TOPs- no legs in pike not straddle

· Forgotten/incorrect routine or skill/pose/// +1-minute spider walk

· Having to redo or start over a beam/floor/ condition pass more than 3 times due too bad form/// +5 headstands push to handstands against wall and +2 long hang pullovers

· Level 6 and up- not reaching cast handstand requirements/// +10 candlestick tuck jumps

· Running into vault more than once in a row/// 1 set of flutters in 15’s

SIDE NOTE FROM ME- This is what my gym does on Saturdays... What do coaches/fellow gymnasts think of this?
 
I do not like punishment for skill and routine related falls and errors.
I do not like conditioning being used as punishment.
I do NOT like conditioning being used as punishment for skill and routine relates falls and errors, especially if it's in no way useful to help with that particular problem.

I can literally feel the tense atmosphere in your gym.
 
Wanted to add: This is in no way meant to attack you, I just feel like this is a good way to punish those with problems with certain skills, establish a permanent fear of failure and make everyone hate conditioning. Imo, this will not help with lack of effort and discipline problems.
 
I do not like punishment for skill and routine related falls and errors.
I do not like conditioning being used as punishment.
I do NOT like conditioning being used as punishment for skill and routine relates falls and errors, especially if it's in no way useful to help with that particular problem.

I can literally feel the tense atmosphere in your gym.
Yep I would be looking for another gym.

The fact is conditioning should be a part of training, because it makes you stronger and better. If a skill is lacking and conditioning will help of course it should be done. Because it will make things better, not as punishment.

And there are many ways to improve team dynamics without being punitive.
 
Oh gosh- I would be so upset if our gym tried to initiate something like this. Have they always used conditioning as punishment and are just now trying to come up with guidelines or is the whole concept new? I just don't understand the psychology behind this method at all! Are you going to say anything?
 
Ridiculous. How are hollow & arch rocks going to rectify a problem with falling on a certain skill on beam? Or laps around the gym going to fix sloppy form on a flyaway? It's not.
If I have a kid really struggling with a skill, they will often go back to the previous step, and sometimes that is some type of conditioning, but it's a means to correct the issue at hand.
If a kid is really not focused in the gym, I ask them to take a walk to get water and sit and stretch until they are ready to focus because I'm worried they will get hurt.
If an ENTIRE group is not paying attention, I will switch everyone to stretching, conditioning, or drills and remind them how important it is to stay focused on the task at hand to avoid getting hurt. And if they are not able to focus on the assignment at the time, we will switch to something else for their safety (and my sanity, but I leave that out).
If there are issues with behavior in the gym, or if the girls are just in need of extra conditioning, there are ways to implement that in a more positive way.
 
Seems like a lot to keep track of.... I wouldn't like it as a coach would make me dread Saturday....focusing on negative
 
Wow. Who is sitting with a clipboard keeping track of everyone's "mistakes"? That sounds terrible. What a way to put emphasis on the negative all the time.
 
Conditioning as a punishment for mistakes is one of the reasons I left competitive gymnastics, my gym did this type of thing on a regular basis. This has led to me being very afraid of ever failing or making a mistake. We did not have a uniform x coditioning for x mistake list like your gym does though. I highly recommend looking for a new gym before this causes long term problems like it did for me.
 
This sounds like gym we left where wall sits were punishment for flyaway fears (just one example of many). Conditioning should be just that, conditioning. To make you stronger. Wall sits were never going to help my DD get her flyaway back and in fact served to make her want to quit altogether because she thought she wasn't "good enough." (at the age of 9) Not to mention the fact that excessive reps of these types of activities can lead to fatigue and then injury. Run in the opposite direction for your daughter's sake....... I will never stand for this again!!
 
I think that is terrible.

Your gym is putting a lot of focus on negative behaviours and mistakes. You know in any pursuit in life yiu get what you focus on, the more focus on problems and mistakes, the more problems and mistakes you will get.

It is also using conditioning as a punishment, conditioning is the most important aspect of gymnastics training. To have truly successful gymnasts we need kids who love conditioning and not hate it. If it is seen as a punishment, then it is seen as a negative thing to avoid.

Thirdly a lot of these behaviours are subjective. M who decides if the kids are fooling around of just having a little team bonding,laugh between activities, who decides if it is talking back or just asking questions. It is too easy for a coach to misinterpret and treat kids differently.

And one final factor that many adults like to overlook is that a lot of the behaviours listed are the coaches fault as much as the gymnasts. Coaches are punishing their gym asts for their own deficiencies. If gymnasts are falling, forgetting routines and not sticking landings as often it is a flaw in the way the child is being taught, so yiu are punishing them for your own mistakes. Kids who fool around often do so because they are bored, often the coach has made training sessions to repetitive, to easy, too difficult without a way to work up to it and so on.
 
What if instead count up stuck landings, made routines, etc and the coaches would have do conditioning with team on Saturday.
Or shoot for a certain total number for that day and take away 15 minutes of conditioning and play a game
 
Supreme Saturday- What is it?

For all level 4 gymnasts or new gymnasts to team: Supreme Saturday is what it sounds like. It is a harder day for most girls, especially the ones who are used to fooling around. You start with 0 conditioning, and depending on behavior and gymnastics ability you work your way up. Some days you have barely any condition, some days we will spend an hour doing conditioning, or stay late because of conditioning. Some parents/ kids don’t like this because it is too harsh. We see it as a way for the team to work together to behave and perform well.

Conditioning

· Bad behavior in general ///+5 v-ups and +3 of each pushup

· Talking back to coach/// +5 pull ups and +5 chin ups

· Not paying attention/// +50 toe rises each foot

· Fooling around/// +5 box jumps to spotting block

· Level 6 and up- Non stuck beam landings ///+10 second hollow and arch hold

· Level 6 and up- Non stuck Bar landings/// +2 V-ups and +2 each pushups

· Level 6 and up- Non stuck OLD tumbling/// +2 pull ups and +2 chin ups

· Level 6 and up- Unpointed toes in flyaway/ layout vault/// +=10 second hollow and arch hold

· Level 5 and up- Incorrect flyaway form/// +5 laps

· Falling off beam during routine/// +8 hollow& arch rocks

· Falling on floor/// + 5 press handstands

· Insufficient split on beam or floor/// +1 rope climb Level 6 and up or TOPs- no legs in pike not straddle

· Forgotten/incorrect routine or skill/pose/// +1-minute spider walk

· Having to redo or start over a beam/floor/ condition pass more than 3 times due too bad form/// +5 headstands push to handstands against wall and +2 long hang pullovers

· Level 6 and up- not reaching cast handstand requirements/// +10 candlestick tuck jumps

· Running into vault more than once in a row/// 1 set of flutters in 15’s

SIDE NOTE FROM ME- This is what my gym does on Saturdays... What do coaches/fellow gymnasts think of this?

Ummm....I think that my dd would be in the gym another 3 hours conditioning after practice, and that's with no behavioral issues.
It's called practice for a reason. They shouldn't be expected to stick everything every time in every practice at this point. It's early in the season and I think many kids still have some things they need to clean up Completely normal, shouldn't be punished for it.

Conditioning is a must, but IMO I think incentives for doing all of the things listed above would be more beneficial than making conditioning a punishment. Conditioning should be seen as a necessary part of the sport, not something used as punishment. My dd's gym has used conditioning as punishment before too, but not to this extreme. Still not a fan of it at our gym either, but this seems way over the top.
 
If I did this and somehow managed to keep track I am sure that attendance at Saturday training would be poor. Saturday is the day were kids can easily be doing so many other enjoyable things outside of gymnastics. Kids will eventually make a choice and punishment at gymnastics is unlike to win.
 
I'm a teacher so part of my job is tracking several items for each student across the day. However, my mind would explode it I were expected to keep track of all of this.

It's also stupid. What girls would want to train in such environment? One where every failed attempt equals some sort of punishment? What is the point? If they can't fail in practice, why have it? Just go to meets every day! Practice is supposed to be the place that it is safe to mess up so that you can fix it.

And what message does this send about conditioning? My DD loves conditioning so this wouldn't motivate her one bit. She is already one the best conditioned athletes in her gym and she takes pride in it so this would just allow her more time to shine. But conditioning is a necessary part, as we all know, not a punishment.

Again, it's stupid.
 

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