Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Seems to be "contagious" at our gym right now. So it made me wonder if there are certain types of gymnasts or certain coaching styles that seem to induce more mental blocks than others?
Depends on the situation. In 2012 right before the level change, I had a group of level 6s that all stopped vaulting. It started with one girl and it spread to the entire team. I think in one week, I had one girl do one vault at the time. This definitely wasn't an issue of doing skills they weren't ready for - as it was a FHS vault they have done for years at that point. None of the girls on the team ever injured themselves on that vault either. To this day, I don't know how it got to be such a bad issue but after spending a few weeks away from vault just working on runs and drills, it got a lot better and everyone vaulted again.
Yep and its a typical age for heading to optionals and higher skills.IMO mental blocks are most common around age 10 - that seems to be the age where most girls realize the possible consequences of the things they've been doing fearlessly for years going terribly wrong. It could be that certain teams/groups have a large concentration of gymnasts that age - for example, an entire level 6 team that are all 10 years old, so it seems like there's a correlation, but I really think it's an age thing.
I think much like coachp and gymtigermom, a combination of things.
Also basic red light, green light. Thing we tend not to notice the green lights, only the red ones we get stuck at.
As the kids start working new skills as a group there are certain things that are more likely to cause fear. Skills are getting harder.
Kids whose never had feet/hands leave the beam now doing higher skills. Airborne on bars and beam, is scary. And the skills are harder to land at first. When you are not used to boggling a dismount or a flip and end up on the floor when and how you shouldn't, its scary and how that is handled is huge.
We have a few kids at different places. One a fear of squat on yet does flyaways. A couple with BWO on beam. A few working through BHS on beam.
I will say from observation the one who was/is blocked the most, has the parent who is at practice all the time and concerned with being able to fix it. It seemed to take the longest to get over.
Again just my observation with kids in general and with our group.
Kind like when kids are little and they fall and they look to Mom or Dad, unsure. The parent that rushes in, oh honey are you hurt has a crying toddler. The parent who goes oh you fell, well get on up and try again. Kid moves on. I do think there is some of that at play.
I know my kid was struggling with one of her skills. Finally I sat her down and said. Honey it just doesn't matter when you get it. I know you will, I don't care when. Its OK, take the deduction. A deduction is just that a deduction, not life or death. I truly did not care and she needed to get we would all survive, her, her parents, her coaches. And she had her first meet, took the deduction and realized it wasn't the end of the world. Her stress level went way down. 4 weeks later she is landing her skill. Its not solid But the season is over. She is not stressing, for the moment its good.
Until the next thing. Because there will always be a next thing.
What got me wondering was, the other 2 girls on our team who developed issues are from our old gym as well. One is 14 and one is 10. Then I talked to 2 more of our former teammates who are at 2 other gyms, and they have developed back tumbling blocks recently too. They are 11 and 10. So it made me wonder if it was our OLD gym's method that made them more susceptible to mental blocks. It was a "chuck it" kind of place, so not a lot of drills or attention to detail, so maybe they didn't get a strong foundation in the shaping and timing of the back tumbling when they were originally learning.
The old gym? No. And if the coach is yelling at kids who baulk , run out the door..... That is why her fear is spreading.Thanks all, for the insight. YDD has a mental block on ROBH on floor and BHS on beam, but I know where it is coming from - our gym folded last summer, so we moved with some coaches and team mates to a new gym. It got bought out and YDD's beloved coach left in November. She had a great L5 season in the fall, then got moved up to L6, had to rush to get her floor and beam routines, did well at one meet, then blocked on her BHS on beam, which she'd had solid for months. New coach is a yeller, which YDD is not used to, so that made it worse, and the block travelled to floor. So lots of changes, new pressure, coaching style all play a role. Oh and she'll be 10 in June. Interestingly, I watch practice a lot LESS at this gym than I have before. She is not afraid to do new skills, and is working on her giants. The floor block is limiting her progression though and is the more frustrating part for her
What got me wondering was, the other 2 girls on our team who developed issues are from our old gym as well. One is 14 and one is 10. Then I talked to 2 more of our former teammates who are at 2 other gyms, and they have developed back tumbling blocks recently too. They are 11 and 10. So it made me wonder if it was our OLD gym's method that made them more susceptible to mental blocks. It was a "chuck it" kind of place, so not a lot of drills or attention to detail, so maybe they didn't get a strong foundation in the shaping and timing of the back tumbling when they were originally learning.
The old gym? No. And if the coach is yelling at kids who baulk , run out the door..... That is why her fear is spreading.