Do coaches need actual gymnastics experience?

[dancengym]

Do you agree/disagree that a coach must have actual gymnastics experience or must have been able to perform a skill well in order to teach it? Why or why not?

I know there are coaches that have not even reached the level they are currently coaching. So, what level do you think a coach must have reached minimally to effectively coach?

I ask partly because I wonder how a coach can breakdown a skill if they don't even know how to do it? I also ask partly to find out how one can tell a good coach from a not so good coach.

There might have already been threads on this subject. If so, you can direct me to the thread and I can read up. Thanks.

 

[coachmolly]

There are plenty of coaches out there, even at the elite level, who were either never a gymnast personally or did not reach the elite level. On the flip side, being a world class athlete does not necessarily make you a world class coach. Just because you are great at something doesn't mean you are qualified to teach it. I didn't even know the gymnastics background of some of the coaches I had, what made me confident in their abilities was the way they coached, the quality of gymnastics they consistently produced, and the happiness of the girls on their team.
Coaches learn to breakdown skills through experience. Sometimes that comes from personal experience in the gym, other times it comes more indirectly- through watching other coaches in action and just watching tons of gymnastics. Personal experience as an athlete, I would guess, would have its benefits when working with the mental aspects of gymnastics and give the coach a better understanding of what the athlete is going through, but it doesn't automatically make them a better technical coach.
I typically only coach level 6 and below, but I also know from experience that I am capable of offering corrections for skills I never could quite master if necessary. How? From watching other coaches in action, from reading articles and watching videos produced by reputable coaches, and by watching an unimaginable amount of gymnastics at a variety of levels. Would I be a better coach if I had reached a higher level in the sport? Maybe, but there are no guarantees.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

it's easier if you were a former gymnast. at the high end, most were with few exceptions.

 

[triptwister]

You are asking a question that pertains to professionalism. And I would love to oblige. Again and again, a subject that begs for professionlism comes up. And the answers are always subjective in this country. Opinions. Cheerleading. Hearsay. Gossip. Or just plain wishy washy barn yard banter.

At the present time dancengym, all you need to be a coach is a professional membership card that you can buy if you pass a background check and you also need to pass a safety certification that takes one day of your time. After that, you are good to go.

For more information please see http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/chalk-bucket/30652-athletes-children.html

 

[bogwoppit]

Trip will you give it up, before this thread is closed too. The OP did not ask about professionalism. Stick to the topic or your posts will be deleted.

 

[dancengym]

it's easier if you were a former gymnast. at the high end, most were with few exceptions.

That is what I suspected Dunno.

 

[Linsul]

I agree with Coachmolly and dunno. It can make it easier, it's not an absolute. Like many professions. A heart surgeon doesn't need to have a heart attack to be great at unclogging arteries, lawyers don't need to be sued regularly to help clients, etc.

 

[triptwister]

In this country a big guy can start out in high school lifting girls over his head to perform cheerleading stunts and next thing you know he is being invited to local gymnastics schools where he is begged to help spot gymnastics skills. He may never do a gymnastics stunt in his life. Yet he becomes a gymnastics coach by applying for a professional membership card and takes a safety certification test.

In America a cheerleader can get away with this and there is no way to know whether a coach is any good unless you hear about it by word of mouth or base it on reputation. There is no institution in place in this country to designate, regulate, measure, or state the expertise or level of a coach.

No experience in gymnastics is required in America to be a coach at any level. If you are apt enough and trusted enough then you may find yourself spotting and helping gymnasts in a gymnastics program even though you don't know much. This fact means and proves that you don't need to do gymnastics in order to teach it. And by all appearances, the public will perceive you as being competent from the very first day. No records are kept. No resume on your behalf is made available unless the program you work for volunteers to publish one.

In my opinion, it is a great advantage to have been a gymnast before you coach gymnastics. However, the disadvantage of not having been a gymnast can be overcome with talent and practice, focus, and sensitivity to the physics involved. In the end, unless research is performed, we have no way to assess whether being a gymnast makes a better coach. In the end, both types of coaches appear to be equally competent.

 

[tumblerK]

The coach I had for level 6-7 was in a little bit of gymnastics when she was younger, but ended up choosing to do dance instead because the dance program in her area was better than the gymnastics program. She started out coaching preschool classes and worked her way up to head coach. I give her major credit for getting me, a 5'3'' senior in high school who was dealing with shin splints; cheerleading; competition cheerleading; 4 college credit classes; boyfriend drama; 2 mental blocks; and my main coach leaving without any notice, to be able to compete level 7 for one meet and even place 3rd on floor. Not just any coach would have been able to do that.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

In this country a big guy can start out in high school lifting girls over his head to perform cheerleading stunts and next thing you know he is being invited to local gymnastics schools where he is begged to help spot gymnastics skills. He may never do a gymnastics stunt in his life. Yet he becomes a gymnastics coach by applying for a professional membership card and takes a safety certification test.

In America a cheerleader can get away with this and there is no way to know whether a coach is any good unless you hear about it by word of mouth or base it on reputation. There is no institution in place in this country to designate, regulate, measure, or state the expertise or level of a coach.

No experience in gymnastics is required in America to be a coach at any level. If you are apt enough and trusted enough then you may find yourself spotting and helping gymnasts in a gymnastics program even though you don't know much. This fact means and proves that you don't need to do gymnastics in order to teach it. And by all appearances, the public will perceive you as being competent from the very first day. No records are kept. No resume on your behalf is made available unless the program you work for volunteers to publish one.

In my opinion, it is a great advantage to have been a gymnast before you coach gymnastics. However, the disadvantage of not having been a gymnast can be overcome with talent and practice, focus, and sensitivity to the physics involved. In the end, unless research is performed, we have no way to assess whether being a gymnast makes a better coach. In the end, both types of coaches appear to be equally competent.

geez trip...you're going off the reservation again. the fact is, and this includes across the pond also, our industry has mostly been 'incestual' if you will. this is true since before WE were born.

i can't at the present moment recall anyone that coaches that was NOT a gymnast but DID have a gymnastics connection to someone in it. like don peters/muriel grossfeld. dick mulvihill/betty stewart. bela/marta.

you are denigrating my/our profession for what reason? are you pissed off about something??


edited: sorry, forgot my good friend jeff wood. he is an exception. but he did play on a ncaa national championship football team and has a degree in physical education from florida. and jeff has always been a student of the sport and surrounds himself with very good gymnastics people.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

This thread is about whether or not you have to be a former gymnast to be a good coach.

It is not about professionalism, coaches' education, or any of that other stuff which has recently been debated in other threads. Any off-topic posts will be deleted.


Anyway.


I know some fantastic coaches who were never gymnasts. In fact, at least two of the best coaches I've worked with weren't. All you need to become a good coach is enough of a love of the sport to want to learn, and a certain willingness to be willing to swallow your pride and admit when you don't know everything. Asking questions is, for many people, much harder than it should be.

That said, having done the skills certainly does help. It's one thing to understand the mechanics of a skill, but it's a different thing entirely to understand what goes through the mind of the gymnast as they do it.

 

[triptwister]

I hope this thread is not locked bogwoppit due to me answering dunno. It is not my intention.

you are denigrating my/our profession for what reason? are you *censored*- off about something?

I can't tell whether you are affirming or repudiating my post, dunno.

The time is coming and has come to make something out of our merits as coaches, dunno. We can't hold up our heads because we have no official identity. You are no better than any other coach in America if this is based on word of mouth and reputation. Do you not see tumblerK commending her coach and putting her above your level? A public citizen would think that they are getting something better than you dunno based on word of mouth and reputation according to tumblerK's cheerleading remarks about her coach. If we had a professional gymnastics institution ranking and licensing our coaches then you would be ranked at the top and officially designated as such.

Whether you need to be a gymnast would not be open to discussion if it was properly researched and a blueprint for accreditation was developed for this type of candidate. We need research and proof and a method. We need a bureau to sanction this and stand behind it. Sorry bogwoppit but we need professionalism like you have in your country. But I want it to be even better than Canada. I want our professionalism to be the best in the world.

 

[Coacharella]

I agree with Taucer completely. With a big enough passion and lov e for a sport, you can still learn as an adult how to break skills down and coach. Asking questions always proves helpful, especially when you have colleagues who are willing to help teach you.
Gymnastics background will be an asset forsure. But as coachmolly mentioned, not every great gymnast will be as great a coach!

 

[gymdog]

I'm sure you can, although all the coaches I've had and know personally were former gymnasts. It seems pretty rare for it to be otherwise. That's different than it not being possible. But in general it seems like an odd little world to break into solely as a coach, I don't know. maybe if you crossed over from another sport where you were working with youth, or something.

 

[gymgurl]

Ok i personally think that they need some gymnastics experience as we have a coach in our gym who has not had any gymnastics experience but coaches and coaches really terribly. Any kid coming out of her classes has sloppy technique or just doesn't do the skill right so i think you need at least some experience.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Of course a coach does not need any gymnastics experience themselves. Some of the best coaches I have known have never been gymnasts and its one of the reasons that they are such good coaches.

They have had to learn and analyze everything and they can't fall into the trap that many ex gymnasts fall into who teach things because it is how they were taught.

 

[coachinkal]

I have been coaching now for 5 years and joined after my children had been doing gymnastics for several years.

I did not do gymnastics as a child. I did about 3 months of adult gym when they ran classes at my gym. I learned things like pullovers and backhip circles, handstand flatbacks, roundoffs, and anything else we were tempted to want to know how to do.

I was trained to coach gymnastics by another coach, and this training was for a year before I went on my own. I have always had the guidance of several other experienced coaches who were always present to ask questions. I am also required to attend biannual coaching courses as required by our Federation.

I am now coaching level 5, 6 and 7.

I will admit it has been a huge learning curve. This site has been extremely useful not only to help coach new skills but to also solve some of the other issues around coaching (social, communication, discipline, difficult parents, injury... the list goes on).

U-tube also now has a huge range of video footage to teach how to coach skills, using pre drills and raising form issues. There are also other websites like 'Drills and Skills' which are very useful.

I think if I had done gymnastics as a child I may have found teaching some skills slightly easier. I think certain attributes help to be a good coach: having an eye for detail, being able to analyse the skill, being creative in designing drills, having good lesson plans, having good communication skills, being able to motivate gymnasts.

My gymnasts have always won medals at competition, so I must be doing something right.

 

[triptwister]

"I was trained to coach gymnastics by another coach..."
"This site has been extremely useful..."
"U-tube also now has a huge range of video footage to teach how to coach skills"

What's wrong with this picture?

 

[gymjourneymom]

My DD's coaches who actually were gymnast at one time are MUCH more understanding of her fear issues than the coach that was never a gymnast. Just something I've personally witnessed.

 

[dancengym]

Like many professions. A heart surgeon doesn't need to have a heart attack to be great at unclogging arteries, lawyers don't need to be sued regularly to help clients, etc.

The correlation in this comparison is highly flawed as obtaining a skill to perform surgery is learned from practice, education and experience, not from getting a heart attack. No skill is learned from getting a heart attack except understanding of how it feels to have a heart attack.