CoachMeg
Coach
- Oct 17, 2014
- 288
- 712
Just out of curiosity, coaches: what do your practices look like a month out from a meet? Usually our competitions are only a weekend or two apart so doing lots of routines and individual skills are what makes up the majority of our practices. However, right now we have the longest break between meets: 1 month. And it's going to be our biggest meet of the season (besides State) as far as competition goes and the arena size.
So my question is, how do you keep your gymnasts motivated to perfect skills and work on routines for a straight month? (FYI I coach only Beam and Floor for Compulsory levels). We've dedicated a lot of the past 2 weeks to up-training which has kept them motivated and excited; however, our next meet is against some stiff competition (37 teams have committed to going). My worry is that if we continue up training their actual level skills will not be as sharp looking, but I also don't want them to get bored with doing lots of routines.
For example, 95% of my level 4s now have back walkovers on beam and four of them are working back-handsprings on medium beam. They've also been working back-tucks and front-tucks. My level 3s have been working cartwheels on beam and double back-handpsrings on floor. And my level 5s have been working back-handsprings and round-offs on beam and layouts on floor. They are all super excited about it and ask everyday if they can work on them.
The other day I told them it was a routine practice and they all groaned. (Usually 10 no fall beam routines and 5 of each tumbling pass on floor and 10 of each dance element). None of them were excited to go back to their own level skills and some of them slopped through the workout (which led to lots of conditioning). So basically, how do you get them motivated to work on routines and skills for a month? What is your workout structure a month out until a meet?
So my question is, how do you keep your gymnasts motivated to perfect skills and work on routines for a straight month? (FYI I coach only Beam and Floor for Compulsory levels). We've dedicated a lot of the past 2 weeks to up-training which has kept them motivated and excited; however, our next meet is against some stiff competition (37 teams have committed to going). My worry is that if we continue up training their actual level skills will not be as sharp looking, but I also don't want them to get bored with doing lots of routines.
For example, 95% of my level 4s now have back walkovers on beam and four of them are working back-handsprings on medium beam. They've also been working back-tucks and front-tucks. My level 3s have been working cartwheels on beam and double back-handpsrings on floor. And my level 5s have been working back-handsprings and round-offs on beam and layouts on floor. They are all super excited about it and ask everyday if they can work on them.
The other day I told them it was a routine practice and they all groaned. (Usually 10 no fall beam routines and 5 of each tumbling pass on floor and 10 of each dance element). None of them were excited to go back to their own level skills and some of them slopped through the workout (which led to lots of conditioning). So basically, how do you get them motivated to work on routines and skills for a month? What is your workout structure a month out until a meet?