WAG Ok Dunno, you'd better be right...

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Or I'm sending my parents to take it up with you!

We still have yet to keep everyone on the beam at one meet. Tomorrow is sectionals but they've already all qualified so we're going to try no beam warm up. I've sent the parents an email so they know what we're doing and told them not to tell the girls. Should I tell the girls anything before they go up? That this is to prove to them that the numbers they do in practice are more important than their warm up? Or just let it speak for itself?

Hoping for the best!
 
Good luck! Our coach went with no warm up beam routines in practice last night. They were startled at first but it was successful rotation.
 
Or I'm sending my parents to take it up with you!

We still have yet to keep everyone on the beam at one meet. Tomorrow is sectionals but they've already all qualified so we're going to try no beam warm up. I've sent the parents an email so they know what we're doing and told them not to tell the girls. Should I tell the girls anything before they go up? That this is to prove to them that the numbers they do in practice are more important than their warm up? Or just let it speak for itself?

Hoping for the best!

yes. that's what you tell them. keep them warming up on a floor line.
 
Warmups are part of every sport, for performance and safety.
 
We've been at this gym a few times this season so they know the beam. And I was going to have them do a routine on a line. We do cold sets in practice. Should I let them get up and walk the beam?
 
Let them feel the texture of the beam with their hands, look down the length of the beam from both ends to see what they'll reference for their horizon, and tell them it's just another routine. Now go work your floor line routines with absolute precision, because that's what you need to warm up.... not beam, just precision.

It really doesn't matter when you consider you can ask a child to get on a floor line to warm up a bhs and close their eyes after starting a bhs step-out, and time after time they hit the line somewhere between dead center to 1.5 inches of dead center...... with no visual reference what so ever from the point of losing sight of the wall until they land and pull to a lunge. How can you get any better than that?

Use the force Luke..... err Lucy.
 
No problem. When you get to the point of realizing that over the past year the kids have done between 1500 to 4000 reps on each skill, it seems like just a few more during warm ups is pointless. Considering some of the kids will have the "I hope I hit" attitude replacing the mental process they use to do a skill the right way, warm ups can sometimes mess with a kids head because they'll fall for lack of concentration on the right things.

Sure I'd have my kids warm up..... but not if they couldn't use the process as a way of letting off a bit of "beam steam" before going up.

Just wanted to add...... Having them close their eyes on a skill is something they work up to over a 3-4 minute span, and only if they say they're ok with it..... and I only use it to make them understand how well they can do the skill if they focus only on the skill and what it takes to make the skill happen.
 
Don't worry, I wasn't going to make them close their eyes, but thanks for the disclaimer. We may try it on a line on Monday.
 
Well, I was second guessing my decision, thinking maybe I should give them a real warm up but the other coach convinced me we had nothing to lose. And the results were the same as always. 3 out of 8 fell (2 on the cartwheel). It's always someone different falling. So it doesn't seem to matter what we do. I know it made them more nervous so at least they got practice working under pressure. We'll just keep up our numbers in practice and hope for the best at States in 3 weeks.
 
and now you explain to them that their "hit" ratio is the same as when they are allowed a warm up. this means that they are NOT working, or working towards "hitting" in practice. you now have identifiable proof.

the other coach was right. but now explain to your team that THEY have everything to lose if they can't get their training habits in line.

honestly, 3 out of 8 is pitiful. especially at that level. you must put more pressure on them in training. :)
 
Ok thanks. So what exactly is working toward hitting in practice? How many numbers of skills or routines should they be doing? Mental preparation too?
I agree 3 out of 8 is pitiful :(. I'm trying hard to break it.
 
and now you explain to them that their "hit" ratio is the same as when they are allowed a warm up. this means that they are NOT working, or working towards "hitting" in practice. you now have identifiable proof.

the other coach was right. but now explain to your team that THEY have everything to lose if they can't get their training habits in line.

honestly, 3 out of 8 is pitiful. especially at that level. you must put more pressure on them in training. :)

Liking the above and offering an idea of how to put pressure on them in practice.....

We've all heard your routines in competition reflect what you do in the gym. I like to add that your routines in practice are your state meet, period. If the kids practice diligently, their competition routines will be successful often enough that they expect to hit at meets.... unless they're above L7 and somebody's choosing the wrong skills.

I've had great success with a point system that allows the kids who concentrate a chance to trade quality for quantity. The way it works is I decide how many decent routines, like ten, should be done each day. Recognizing that that telling some kids flat out to do 10 routines before moving on can be too much for them to wrap their minds around, I tell them to earn 120 points using the following point scale.

Hit routines with no major balance errors and no falls = 15 points

Falling once............... minus 3 points

2nd fall...................... minus 4 additional points

3rd fall...................... minus 4 additional points

Major balance checks lose 2 points.

Broken connections lose 2 points

For instance a kid who falls once with 2 major checks will keep 11 of her 15 points, and the same routine with a 2nd fall will be worth 8 points, and the third fall puts the value to 4.

Sure I know that 8 really good routines will get them their 120 points, but it's rare to get that many points in 8 routines, so it almost always takes 9 - 12 routines to get up to 120. I also put a limit of 15 on the whole deal, because all I want is an incentive for them to make every movement their best.

The number of routines isn't nearly as important as the concentration that goes into them. Some folks may say six with at least 3 in a row being stuck, and others may say, "Well heck, the darn routine takes just over a minute so I'll have them do 15 and be done in 35-40 minutes." It's better to pick a low number and let the concept challenge them, and increase the numbers when you have a sense they can handle more.
 
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Thanks iwannacoach. We will definitely use that point system 3 weeks until states and we are going to work hard! Or at least I am, and hopefully they will too.
 
I'm not a coach, but DD's gym has a consistent zero fall ratio at meets (sure, the random girl will fall here and there, nobody's perfect, but the coaches and kids KNOW they will hit their routines at meets). Here's what they do (Disclaimer: I don't know how much time you devout to beam each day, or how many hours you have to work with each week. DD practices 4 hours per day x 5 days each week; all 4 rotations are done each day--usually 45 minutes on each event; 11 girls on the training team, split 6/5 between two events on each rotation):

10 first thirds of routine (up through BWO)
10 second thirds of routine (BWO through split leap/sissone)
10 third thirds of routine (split leap/sissone through dismount)
10 full routines
If they fall at any point, their 10 are reset and they have to start over (balance checks are tolerated, unless they're significant and abundant)

Once they've completed their 40, IF there is time left over, they get to work on up-training. DD rarely scores below a 9.0 on beam because she has the confidence that she's going to hit her routine since all she has to do in a meet is 1 (whereas she's doing 200 or so during the week at practice).
 
Wow, that's a great record to have. We practice 4 days a week for 3 hours. We usually do 3 events but always beam, usually for 30-45 minutes. How many beams do you have? We have 3 high beams and two low and 9-10 kids in a group. I'm not sure we'd have time for 40 so I think we'll skip right to routines but I can see how sticking that many in practice means they'll stay on at meets. What are they doing while they're waiting for a beam?
 

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