Coaches comments

[flippin]

We have a coach that weekly lines the girls up in 3 lines, Line 1 are those who do well on the bars, line 2 the girls are ok, line 3 are the girls as he says he doesn't know what to say about. To me that's not motivating AT ALL. It ruins self confidence. They need the instruction and SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT. I don't get why he does.

He also likes to point who the top girls are....they all know. I don't get why he does this and I am about ready to confront him. My DD is on the top girls, but I still find this to be a harmful practice to girls that are ages 7-10 and ONLY level 4.

I would love to hear others comments.

 

[lilgymnast7]

I just don't understand when coaches do things like this. At my old gym this was done but using 2 lines. If you were put in the first line you were considered to be top of the class while if you were put in the second line you would be average. I was on the second line and let me tell you it was a terrible experience. The coach favored the advanced girls and he acted like we weren't there. The girls that were in the advanced line enjoyed it a lot because they felt like they were doing great but the truth is everyone in the second line just wanted to really go home. At my current gym the groups change all the time and sometimes more advanced girls are with me and it benefits me because they can give me advice and I can see what the skill looks like by watching them. Its nice to not be separated by skill abilities and if I were you talking to the parents of the girls not in the top group would be a good idea and see how they feel about it. Maybe one or two of you could just give the coach a heads up that the groups may not be the best idea . It is possible there is reasoning behind it and there is certainly more to consider, but to me a change should be made with this situation. Just and opinion

 

[flippin]

Thank you lilgymnast. Nice to hear from a gymnasts stand point besides my daughter. But let me clear up one thing, the girls are only call out and put in lines for what point I don't know, but they all practice together. It's a group of 11 -12 girls. I could see if he was separting them by skill, but he just puts them in these lines to show who is better. My DD is in the better group but that does not matter to me it's still wrong. I just don't get it.

Thanks and best wishes.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

I think that sounds awful.

 

[gymdog]

It's not something I would do and it's probably not an environment I would choose. But (this alone, I don't know what else goes along with it) isn't really one of the worse things I've heard in this sport. When coaches do this they're trying to motivate the girl. I prefer to use individually "you can't move on to x until you've done y." The fact is at L4 some of the girls are only going to make it so far physically, while some will have the body and muscle type that makes going farther in the sport possible. No point in going over the top to point that out. L4 is an introductory level, if some kids are too talented to be in the group then the coach should try to adjust the training groups accordingly, is my feeling. Otherwise, they're just in L4. They should be trained to their individual potential but there has to be some sense of perspective.

 

[Aussie_coach]

That is dreadful and totally inappropriate, the girls in line 3 will not improve but go backwards because their confidence and self belief are being so terribly squashed. It can also cause social problems among the girls, as they get older they create their own social heirachy around it, often with the better girls shunning the not so good ones.

I would definitely be making a complaint to the gym owner or head coach on this issue.

 

[peace.love.gymnast]

This kind of coaching is so absurd to me! As a coach, we are there to teach, encourage, and motivate children. I will never understand why some coaches feel this is a way to push gymnasts to be better. Personally, I think it only makes them feel less confident and rather defeated. Children need to hear what kind of corrections to make in order to improve, but they also need to hear encouraging words. I always coach with a positive attitude. If I tell a child to fix something on one of their turns, on the next turn I will tell them something positive about what they did. I would definitely have a talk with your DD's coach about the situation...maybe even the gym owner.

 

[gymnut1]

I think that is a mean thing to do. I often tell the kids who has done the best handstand in the group that day or whatever move we are on but I always make sure all the children know they have done something great that day. They are all good at different things.

 

[ginnymac]

I think that this is nuts! I'd probably not be able to keep quiet about it. And keep in mind that your dd may not always be in the top line. This is also teaching the top line that it is ok to treat others this way.

 

[momofthreegirls]

That sounds awful! It seems like it would be very demeaning and destroy the confidence of these little girls.

At our gym, they line up in "Tops" line, shortest to tallest, and the coach splits them into equal groups based on height. This makes sense to me, as it makes setting up stations and equipment much easier for the coaches.

I'm not a coach, but it seems like it would be helpful for girls who are struggling with a skill to be placed with a few girls who are proficient at the skill. Some kids learn visually, and that could help. Putting all of the "worst" kids together seems like an ineffective and hurtful strategy.

If they are all L4, they should be doing the same skills and drills, correct?

 

[I-Heart-Beam]

Wow, I thought the girls would be much older when I read the first paragraph. That's out of line IMO.

 

[CoachTodd]

That is dreadful and totally inappropriate, the girls in line 3 will not improve but go backwards because their confidence and self belief are being so terribly squashed. It can also cause social problems among the girls, as they get older they create their own social heirachy around it, often with the better girls shunning the not so good ones.

I would definitely be making a complaint to the gym owner or head coach on this issue.

I agree completely. At our gym we will take a girl that does a particular skill well and let her demonstrate the skill in front of her peers. I think this lets everyone know they can actually do the skill correctly since the girls they work out with in the same group can do it. This also seems to let us get nearly every kid in to demonstrate some skill or another. One may be stronger on the press work. One may have beautiful dance while anther is great on bars or presentation on beam and so forth.
I think pointing out the ones you think won't be any good is just plain wrong. I know a few girls that weren't given the time of day from other coaches who are now some of the best in the state at the skills the do.