MAG Here we go again...

[Deleted member 10727]

DS9 (training L7) is balking on ROBHS again. His coach is visibly frustrated and wants my son to figure out WHY he keeps balking.
My son has balked on and off since he was L5, and he has no idea why, except to say it "doesn't feel right and my body won't go." He managed to force ROBHSBT on floor last season, but he really forced it.

The coach won't do private lessons with him, and won't allow others to work with him.

 

[sce]

Argh!!! I'm frustrated for you. I so don't get why the coach won't coach! It's the coaches job to work with an athlete to fix skills. It's not the athletes job to just figure out what is not working.

 

[profmom]

I'm so sorry to hear this. I know it's been a long road with this stuff.

 

[skschlag]

Oh man. So frustrating I feel so bad for your son. He has battled this for so long! IIRC, you have tried Doc ALi already?

Have you/Can you sit down witht he coach and chat about it?

 

[gymdog]

Get Doc Ali.

Will the coach allow him to come up with a plan for a series of progressions?

 

[Deleted member 10727]

I have talked to the coach many times. I did again today, and I asked him if he has a plan to help my son. Yesterday the coach was shouting, "GO! Just GO!" at my son, and he was really traumatized. That just made him freeze up and he regressed.
My husband has talked to the coach, I have talked to the coach, and the coach says he will do certain things and doesn't follow through more than a day. I realize this is my son's issue, but I don't feel the coach is giving him much in the way of individualized help through this. The coach is frustrated, even when he tells me he isn't.

Since the coach won't truly work with him, I asked if a specialized coach could come in to help my son, and the coach said no. He said it's the wrong time of year anyway (I disagree!).

We tried Doc Ali, and she did help a fraction, but cannot afford to keep up with it. Even at 1/2 hour, it's $90. How far are we supposed to go for this?

Every other event is coming along fine for L7, for him.

 

[bookworm]

At the risk of sounding obvious, this may not be the coach for your son...you say this has been an ongoing issue for quite some time and the coach refuses to help him through it or let others help him.....my question is, why do you stay with this guy? There's a disconnect somewhere and how nice and convenient for the coach to just wash his hand of it and "yell at him to Go!" ...because I'm sure your son hasn't thought of that.....change is never easy but sometimes is necessary.

We had a level 10 gymnast once who was blocking on every skill....to the point of not even able to do a cartwheel..our HC at the time just screamed at her and nothing improved....she was committed to a D1 program but at the rate she was going, that was going out the window....long story short, the family moved her to a different gym that nurtured her back and she currently competes multiple events for her college team.....and this never would have happened if she remained with her original coach....

 

[Deleted member 10727]

Oh, why we stay... I wish it were that easy to move. We moved here last year partly because it has a really great gym. The coach is most likely not the best fit for my DS9, but the coaches for my DS7 and DS11 are amazing. The other gyms in this area do not have the staff and typically don't do as well long-term. If we can get him past L7 at this gym, then he goes on to the optional coach, who my son respects a lot. I did talk to the coach and let him know that yelling at ds to 'just go' does the opposite of helping him. I suggested he make the ROBHS a non-issue for awhile.
I learned that my son is now ashamed. He was isolated to the tumble track to work on his ROBHS while the other boys had fun jumping into the pit. I have no problem discussing this stuff with the coach, but I do have a problem when he makes my son's mental block worse.

My DS is able to be coaxed into doing the skill with his old coach who moved.

A gym move might help my DS, but I suspect this has become a mental monster that needs to be addressed, no matter what gym he's at...

 

[sce]

A gym move might help my DS, but I suspect this has become a mental monster that needs to be addressed, no matter what gym he's at...

I agree, the coach has not helped him with the issue but the issue is bigger than a coaching one now. I hope the coach gets the message that his methods are making it worse though.

 

[krc]

Will your son do a standing BHS, or a standing back tuck? Sometimes fast twitch kids (or fast learners) can get scared or lost when the body is operating faster than their brain can keep up. Try backing up to the last stable progression and doing it "slower." Have DS concentrate on the skill shapes - even if the skills have insufficient power to complete properly (ie land low.) I have found that most balking is due to the feeling of being "out of control." By dialing back the power, DS may be able to find his comfort zone - and then begin to add power and speed back in. However he will probably need to be coaxed through this process in a non-judgmental and non-threatening manner, which doesn't sound like it will happen with this coach. :-(

Good Luck!

 

[profmom]

It may be time to do something drastic like put your foot down and say he's doing 6 again next year and push the gym to move him into the L6 group with the other coach. I still say this sounds like textbook vestibular trouble, but the coaching strategy is adding a whole layer of additional trouble onto that problem.

 

[Deleted member 10727]

Will your son do a standing BHS, or a standing back tuck? Sometimes fast twitch kids (or fast learners) can get scared or lost when the body is operating faster than their brain can keep up. Try backing up to the last stable progression and doing it "slower." Have DS concentrate on the skill shapes - even if the skills have insufficient power to complete properly (ie land low.) I have found that most balking is due to the feeling of being "out of control." By dialing back the power, DS may be able to find his comfort zone - and then begin to add power and speed back in. However he will probably need to be coaxed through this process in a non-judgmental and non-threatening manner, which doesn't sound like it will happen with this coach. :-(

Good Luck!

Yes, he can do standing BHS and standing BTs, but the day the coach yelled at him to Just Go he stopped being able to do even that. He was incredibly traumatized. I talked him through it and he was able to do standing ones again, and can sometimes do the transitional ROBHS.
He is a very fast twitch kid and I do believe this is his issue. He flies through Magyars, but the ROBHS feels 'weird' to him

As far as the coach, he makes the boys team decisions and he stated if my son repeats L6, he will stay with his L7 group. Since that discussion, he says my son will go L7. I asked some advice about that from a couple of other coaches and they feel my son should go L7 too, even if floor is a wash.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

DS9 (training L7) is balking on ROBHS again. His coach is visibly frustrated and wants my son to figure out WHY he keeps balking.
My son has balked on and off since he was L5, and he has no idea why, except to say it "doesn't feel right and my body won't go." He managed to force ROBHSBT on floor last season, but he really forced it.

The coach won't do private lessons with him, and won't allow others to work with him.

v-e-s-t-i-b-u-l-a-r. vestibular. send it to the coach in a Valentine with hearts and lipstick smudges on it. just don't put your name. just the word. you'll see him go on his phone (that's what they do now, right?) and look it up.

 

[Deleted member 10727]

I am not so sure. He's an older guy.

 

[Deleted member 10727]

It may have started out as Vestibular (and still is probably the main issue), but it has become a mental block affecting his self-confidence, which in turn affects how he attacks skills in the gym.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

It may have started out as Vestibular (and still is probably the main issue), but it has become a mental block affecting his self-confidence, which in turn affects how he attacks skills in the gym.

excommunicating/ostracizing your son from the team/group is WRONG and must stop.

 

[sce]

I wish Dunno could just call this little boys coach and straighten him out. So don't like to see a little boy's spirit being broken.

 

[Deleted member 10727]

excommunicating/ostracizing your son from the team/group is WRONG and must stop.

When I asked my son what we should talk to the coach about (he's back next week) regarding this situation, this was the first thing he said. "I don't want to be separated from the group. It felt like a punishment."
And I do think it was a form of punishment and meant to cause shame, whether realized or not.

@dunno, I'll pass the coach's number your way.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I wish Dunno could just call this little boys coach and straighten him out. So don't like to see a little boy's spirit being broken.

for all of you, there is a ton of **** you can throw at a male gymnast. ostracizing from a group is not one of those things you can do.

for female athletes, you can never intimate to them that their body size might have something to do with their progress.

both of these are unacceptable. yet, here we are.