Conditioning/Injured- On her own-LONG

[Petunia]

Well, my daughter injured her knee (most likely a fracture) and has been out for about 1 week with three more to go ( at least).
She's a level 6.
I'm trying to get ideas for what she can do for conditioning. I know..ask the coach. ....BUT...
the first day she came in with her brace on, she was on her own. I watched and she did some things here and there and then we left. Second day my husband spoke to her coach to see if she could maybe write down a list for my daughter so that as soon as she'd arrive at the gym, she'd know what to do. The coach said, a list wasn't needed, that my daughter knew what to do and that really she only needed to be there about 2hrs to condition then she could go home (vs. the 4 they train) O.K fair enough.

The next day I sit to watch what my daughter who turned 9 a week ago and "already knows" what to do...and really she does a little...then wanders..then does a little..then comes out for water....chats a little etc. etc
Now, maybe IT'S my daughter and she needs to be more focused..but no one is even paying any attention to what she is doing, her team is doing their thing, coaches are doing their thing and she's completely on her own.

SO...when she came out, I took out some paper and asked "Honey, do you know what you are supposed to be doing?" and she said "yes" so I said "tell me" and I started to write it down for her, handed it to her and she went inside and got to work...MUCH more focused. Except I looked at the list and it's stuff she could do at home and be done in 30 min.!

Anyway, I don't want to push it with the coach. I just want to leave it alone for now and just focus on the conditioning to get her through this. She now has the I gave her of what she needs to do but I'm wondering what else she COULD DO.

They train 20hrs a week (my daughter trains 16 just because I keep her home one of those days)
So instead of 4hrs a day, the coach said about 2hrs of conditioning should be enough but only gave her like 30 min. worth. I just want the transition to be a little easier for her when she's able to go back to her regular practice....but if I'm asking too much of my daughter by all means let me know!!

Here is what she told her:
chin ups- 2 sets of 10
rope climb - 3 times
sit ups-50
leg lifts-3 sets of 10
push ups-20
handstands - hold for 10 sec - 3 times
Presses

So I modified it a little but, it's pretty much the same thing ...I have no idea...is this o.k? Not good?
(she's not supposed to do bars, swing, jump, run, no impact)

10 min stretch
1- rope
25 sit ups/crunches
1- rope
25 sit ups
1- rope
25 sit ups
______________
10 leg lifts
1 handstand 10 sec hold
10 leg lifts
1 handstand 10 sec hold
10 lef lifts
1 handstand 10 sec hold
______________
10 dips (bars)
25 v sit ups
10 dips
25 v sit ups
10 dips
25 v sit ups
______________
Repeat ? or add on other things? I just don't know what!

5-10 min stretch
chin ups at home (bc I need to hold her legs steady other wise she's swining them all over place and doc said no rapid swinging of her legs)

TIA!!!

 

[mariposa]

Sorry that your DD is injured. Hope that she heals fast and that her recovery goes quickly and smoothly.

That said, I think that she is too young to be expected to know what to do and do it on her own. I have a 9 year old and she wouldn't be able to just condition by herself for 2 hours. She would not know what to do after awhile. She has been injured (nothing serious, but I erred on the side of caution and kept her out of full practice) twice and had to do just conditioning for a few weeks. Both times, she followed her team around on the rotations and coaches gave her stuff to do that was safe for her and she did that. There is always something she could do and that kept her feeling like she was part of the team as well, which is very important.

I would be upset with the situation you are describing, too. Hope the coach starts coaching her and helping her to stay strong during her recovery from her knee injury.

 

[coachmolly]

Asking a 9 year old to work independently with no form of structure whatsoever is just not okay. If you are paying for her to be in the gym those days, she should be getting attention from the coach. It's their job, not yours, to come up with a plan for your DD to help her through the injury and be prepared to come back strong when the doctor gives the okay.
As a coach, if I have an injured kid they rotate with the team. If something comes up they can't do, I offer an alternative. Sometimes it's on the same event the other girls are working, other times I need to send them elsewhere to complete the assignment. But they know exactly what to do and how many and to check back when they are finished for their next assignment.
It doesn't sound like the coaches are too willing to cooperate, but maybe you could ask once again. Let them know that your DD is struggling to find things to do for 2 hours and ask for a few suggestions. And show them your list to see if it's okay or if they have anything to change or add. You've done the work for them, they just need to revise to their liking, I don't see how they would have a problem with that. But you never know. Good luck to your DD with her recovery!

 

[cher062]

I would make an appointment with the coaches and the owner. Let them know what you want from the appointment. A list for a 9yo with an injury to do 2 hours worth of conditioning. Let them know that your DD is done with what she thinks she should do in 30 min. Ask your Dr who he/she is going to send you to for Physical therapy before you have this meeting and meet with them they can give you lots of good stretching exercises she can do at gym to add to that list.

When you meet with the owner and coach see if she really needs to be at the gym to do this and if they would give you a discount in the fee since she is only there 1/2 the time . You never know if you don't ask but I know the answer may be no discount.

Did the Dr give you any time line as to when she would be able to add things in?

 

[my4buffaloes]

To give you an example of how it worked at our gym might help. My dd hurt her ankle so for about a week she couldn't tumble on floor or vault. During floor she worked on other parts of floor. During vault she conditioned. She asked the coach what she should do, was given 1 task, finished that task and went back to the coach for more. This went on for the 30 minutes the group was vaulting. I am pretty sure the coach set it up like this, not my daughter. It worked very well. Just because she was injured doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to be coached during the time in the gym. Good luck!

 

[gym law mom]

She certainly deserves some attention from the coach for conditioning. I honestly don't think it would take her 2 hours to do the conditioning though since she's restricted to upper body work only. Some coaches don't like an injured gymnast around the others---they feel the one conditioning may distract the ones practicing or the others give too much thought to the injury. I'm not saying that is right, just repeating what we were told when my gymmie hurt her knee at age 10 and was banished to a corner of the gym to condition. At the gym we were at, injuries were seen as a sign of weakness and anyone who was injured was pushed aside.

You could ask the coach if she could rotate with her team for 1/2 practice and do her conditioning while the others are doing skills. He might even think of other conditioning drills for her to do while she was actually with the team.

Hope she heals quickly!!! Do ask the doctor to be specific when he lets her increase her gymnastics---helps everyone in the long run.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Asking a 9 year old to work independently with no form of structure whatsoever is just not okay. If you are paying for her to be in the gym those days, she should be getting attention from the coach. It's their job, not yours, to come up with a plan for your DD to help her through the injury and be prepared to come back strong when the doctor gives the okay.
As a coach, if I have an injured kid they rotate with the team. If something comes up they can't do, I offer an alternative. Sometimes it's on the same event the other girls are working, other times I need to send them elsewhere to complete the assignment. But they know exactly what to do and how many and to check back when they are finished for their next assignment.
It doesn't sound like the coaches are too willing to cooperate, but maybe you could ask once again. Let them know that your DD is struggling to find things to do for 2 hours and ask for a few suggestions. And show them your list to see if it's okay or if they have anything to change or add. You've done the work for them, they just need to revise to their liking, I don't see how they would have a problem with that. But you never know. Good luck to your DD with her recovery!

true dat! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^preach!

 

[kimskids]

I have a 9 year old as well and don't think she could condition for 2 hours with no guidance. She injured her ankle in the fall and originally her coach wanted her to attend practice and do what she could. This lasted a few days before her coach called me and said that she was having a hard time keeping my munchkin from doing things she should not be doing and that her ankle was swollen like an egg! I ended up keeping her home for a week to let it heal. While she was at the gym she did normal rotations with her team but when they were doing something she could not do she would work on something nearby. Such as if they were working on bars she would do some conditioning on bars such as leg lifts, etc. This would have worked well if my daughter would not have kept doing stuff she shouldn't! LOL! Good luck to you and your daughter!

 

[BlairBob]

10s HS holds. That is lame. I would expect any L6 of mine to be able to do 45s-90s. 10s is for those L2's or 3's unless they are free handstands and not on the wall. Allow her to rest in between, about 45-60s or do another exercise and come back to the HS.

Regardless, I'd like to see about 2-5 minutes of HS volume and about 10-15 presses. Throw in about 1m each of Hang and Sitting L and straddle-L.

Just because one leg isn't working doesn't the mean other shouldn't. Have her do 1 leg squats, holding something if necessary. There is an interesting phenomenon called BILATERAL TRANSFER. Basically the non active leg can benefit by training the other leg.

To make things simple and efficient for my girls on bars, I would simply have them do a rope climb, then a set of hanging leg lifts, then a set of dips. 3 or 5 rounds.

Leave all the situps for after the leg lifts, especially if you want her to progress towards the more advanced versions of hanging leg lifts.

2x10 pullups sounds a bit light to me. 3 rope climbs doesn't mean much to me if they are using their legs but their sets and reps of pullups or rope climbs would depend on their pull strength ability.

She should probably do some hollow and arch rocks. Or you can have do this set towards the end.
Hollow hold 30s or 5-10 hollow rocks, 3 v-ups, roll through superman/arch do 3 more v-ups. Repeat 2-3 times on each side. Hollow hold can be adjusted to 20 or 15s if need be. Or Roll to superman and do 3 arch-ups or rocks.

 

[gymgal]

As the others have said, our gym has the girls rotate with their teams as much as possible. If an injury restricts the rotation too much, then the girl is sent to another station and returns when they rotate again. My dd has been injured twice where she was out 8 (wrist fracture) and 4 (ankle) wks. She stayed in the gym for all her hours per week. The coaches always found things for her to do for the entire practice and usually she stayed with the group. Now, she wasn't always happy about it and it did get boring. The HC said she didn't have to come the entire time, but dd wanted to stay and be with her team. In the end, it really made her stronger and forced her to work on the basics, which helped improve her skills overall (beam and floor basics when she had the arm cast and bar basics with the leg boot)