Anon Bronze team coaching help

[Anonymous (e425)]

I've been talking to my coach, and we decided to add a bronze team this year. We've haven't had a bronze team before simply because we haven't had enough coaches, but my coach/HC said if I wanted to I could start one. It would be for only this upcoming season, as Im planning on going to college after. The plan would be for the bronze girls to then move to either silver or to train with the pre team if they weren't ready.
All this to ask, what are you thoughts/tips for coaching bronze? I've only coached rec before so any help would be appreciated. I'll ask my HC these, but how do you all structure your practices? I would have two hour practices 2x a week. During practice what are you focusing on most? Routines, drills, skills, all that stuff. What are some extra things that make your gymnasts feel motivated? At this level how much emphasis do you put on scores? Seriously anything would be helpful! Thank you!

 

[raenndrops]

You can't really focus on routines until you know what skills they have.
After warming up, focus on basics, drills for skills, and strength/conditioning.

See what skills they have and work drills/progressions for the "next" skill. You could have side stations for independent drills or strength/conditioning at each event.

Would their floor routines be completely individualized (individual choreography, skills, and music), differentiated (same music or choice of 1-3 musics, but allow acro choices and dance choices based on each gymnast's strengths), or cookie-cutter (everyone does the same exact routine to the same music). That would affect when you start working on routines.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Given the specific situation I would be chatting to HC/Silver coach/pre team coach. You only have a year, then those athletes will move on to other groups - you want your athletes to be able to successfully transition to the next groups.

If the current pre team successfully feeds the silver team, then I would probably follow a lot of their program. Personally I would ask to shadow both groups to get a better understanding of how they operate.

 

[Anonymous (e425)]

You can't really focus on routines until you know what skills they have.
After warming up, focus on basics, drills for skills, and strength/conditioning.

See what skills they have and work drills/progressions for the "next" skill. You could have side stations for independent drills or strength/conditioning at each event.

Would their floor routines be completely individualized (individual choreography, skills, and music), differentiated (same music or choice of 1-3 musics, but allow acro choices and dance choices based on each gymnast's strengths), or cookie-cutter (everyone does the same exact routine to the same music). That would affect when you start working on routines.

You can't really focus on routines until you know what skills they have.
After warming up, focus on basics, drills for skills, and strength/conditioning.

See what skills they have and work drills/progressions for the "next" skill. You could have side stations for independent drills or strength/conditioning at each event.

Would their floor routines be completely individualized (individual choreography, skills, and music), differentiated (same music or choice of 1-3 musics, but allow acro choices and dance choices based on each gymnast's strengths), or cookie-cutter (everyone does the same exact routine to the same music). That would affect when you start working on routines.

Thanks for the tips! They would have the same music and general routine, but I would leave room for some small modifications/customizations.
They would likely all have pretty similar skill ranges, they would need to have (or at least very close to having it) their round off, cartwheel, forward/backward rolls, handstand, backbend and bridge kickover. Straight jump, dive roll, and flat back for vault. Strait jump, pivot turns, and close to a handstand for beam, and pullover and back hip circle on bars.
I'm also curious what other gyms have for conditioning amounts/requirements for this level, as my gym doesn't really have any set strength requirements for any levels.

 

[Anonymous (e425)]

Given the specific situation I would be chatting to HC/Silver coach/pre team coach. You only have a year, then those athletes will move on to other groups - you want your athletes to be able to successfully transition to the next groups.

If the current pre team successfully feeds the silver team, then I would probably follow a lot of their program. Personally I would ask to shadow both groups to get a better understanding of how they operate.

Yes I will definitely have more conversations with the other coaches! Pre team and silver train together, again due to low staffing. It usually takes a long time for pre team girls to move to silver (usually 2-3 years), which I think is probably because it's quite a bit of a jump, and I also think the coach might not be strict/organized enough, but I'm not really sure.
I do have a general idea of how the silver/pre team practices go, usually they have a 15 minute warm up + 15 minute stretch, and then they have roughly 30 mins for each event, they usually do two events for each practice. Then conditioning and/or sometimes a brief 3rd event. Would this be a good layout for bronze too? I think the gold/platinum/6/7s have the same layout, just more time. Also events usually consists of practicing skills, but very minimal drills, should I include more drills for bronze?

 

[raenndrops]

Yes I will definitely have more conversations with the other coaches! Pre team and silver train together, again due to low staffing. It usually takes a long time for pre team girls to move to silver (usually 2-3 years), which I think is probably because it's quite a bit of a jump, and I also think the coach might not be strict/organized enough, but I'm not really sure.
I do have a general idea of how the silver/pre team practices go, usually they have a 15 minute warm up + 15 minute stretch, and then they have roughly 30 mins for each event, they usually do two events for each practice. Then conditioning and/or sometimes a brief 3rd event. Would this be a good layout for bronze too? I think the gold/platinum/6/7s have the same layout, just more time. Also events usually consists of practicing skills, but very minimal drills, should I include more drills for bronze?

Drills lead to better form on skills, so I would suggest more drills, especially early on.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I'd ask if it's possible for 2.5 hours sessions
30 minutes warm up, stretch
30 minutes per apparatus with strength/conditioning/flex and shaping taking up first 10-15 minutes of each and included within stations.
That way they are getting a little apparatus time twice a week and the work is a little disguised

Hopefully @Coach Kate will pipe in here as I believe she was part of a very successful low hour xcel program.

 

[Coach Kate]

I'd ask if it's possible for 2.5 hours sessions
30 minutes warm up, stretch
30 minutes per apparatus with strength/conditioning/flex and shaping taking up first 10-15 minutes of each and included within stations.
That way they are getting a little apparatus time twice a week and the work is a little disguised

Hopefully @Coach Kate will pipe in here as I believe she was part of a very successful low hour xcel program.

Oh hi. I thought everyone else was doing a pretty nice job!

Yes, if you can get 2.5 hours that would be great, otherwise I think a nice work around would be to work conditioning into your bar rotation with drills and conditioning that help build skills.

My biggest advice would be to spend a little time planning every day so you know what you're doing. Know what mats you'll need for drills and have a plan for all your stations.

Come up with some little games and challenges that incentivize sticks and perfection. You can use partners or teams too. You don't need to a game/challenge every day, but sometimes it can be fun. Zqzq