How do I get my girls to care about their form!!!

[sm.jeansgymnatics]

We have been having a big problem with our level 3 & 4 pre-team girls this year. It doesn't seem to matter how many drills we do, or how much correcting, our girls just don't seem interested in fixing their form.

We do muscle isolation, kick drills, we correct bent arms, legs, un-pointed feet all the time, and they don't retain the information.

I hate giving out conditioning as punishment b/c I don't want them to associate conditioning with something negative, but I'm running out of options.

Any advice or suggestions on how to get my girls to care about "polishing" their gymnastics would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

If they are younger a sticker chart or some sort of reward system may work for them. For example have a list of skills that they need to perfect and they get a sticker for each 3-10 they do with nice form. After they get a number of stickers they get a prize. (You can buy a whole bunch of cool stuff for younger kids at the dollar store, or it could even be a bigger sticker of something that they like). If they are older or this doesn't work I would make them do the same skill over and over until you can tell they are trying to fix the form because even if they don't care they will eventually get bored of doing it over and over and work to fix it.
Also instead of thinking of a punishment, use something like: "We have a handstand contest at the end of class or play <insert game here> if you work hard to perfect your form.
Hope you figure something out!

 

[gymnastbeth]

A little friendly competition never hurt anyone . You can have form contests for pointed toes, straight legs, etc. To make sure that the form is good when you aren't having a contest, you could randomly give out prizes to the girl with the best form, such as letting her skip one conditioning that night. You can also do it for every event, tell the person who has the best form for the whole event will only have to do XX amount of conditioning, when everyone else has more. You could even give out little prizes instead of taking away conditioning sometimes.

 

[hakunamatata]

In addition to the other great ideas already posted, I would just make sure that you're continuing to give tons of praise for correct form ("LOVE those pointed toes," etc.) rather than focusing so much on punishing or critiquing. Critique is important, too, of course, but praise works best. Get excited about good form! If you're excited by it, they will probably be too, eventually, because they will follow your example. I don't know about you, but when I'm coaching and I see someone do something with great form, I get so excited that I jump up and down and run over to high-five them. Good form handstand contests are always fun Kick drills and stuff like that definitely work for the older kids, but for the littles it might be less effective because it's not the most fun and exciting thing in the world. Good luck!

 

[gymnastbeth]

In addition to the other great ideas already posted, I would just make sure that you're continuing to give tons of praise for correct form ("LOVE those pointed toes," etc.)

This is off topic, but that reminds me of something my coach was doing the other night. A friend of mine chucked an ugly double pike into the pit, and my coach just grimaced and said, "well, your big toe looked nice!". She had this new idea that she should only say positive statements... THAT didn't last too long!

 

[NGL780309]

Have you tried good old fashion bribes? I know it's not everyones favorite thing, but with kids that age it might be the best option. Eventually it'll become a habit. I'm not a coach, but I am a teacher k-4th and bribes work wonders for the little ones. You'd be surprised what my kids will do for a sticker.

I have a DD L4 who just turned 6 and bribes work with her. Her coach in the past has told her things like if she does her whole bar routine with her legs glued together she can pick which beam she gets when they rotate. She will sometimes pretend she's putting glue on her legs too. My DD seriously used to have the worst form ever. She still does sometimes, but the improvement amazes me.

DD was watching a youtube video of a girl today and she said, "OMG I can't take those bent knees!" I was cracking up because hers look just like that sometimes. Maybe take a camera and let them see what they look like.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

good luck with that. achieving the end is a process in perpetuity.

 

[ryantroop]

Praise for good deeds is important.

So often we get caught up in the "fix this fix that" that we forget that we haven't said a single positive thing to the poor kid all day. To further the slippery slope - any attention is still attention.

Also, training while watching big kids once in a while really... really really really helps.. because, when I grow up, I wanna be like that one!

Another thing that really helps, we stretch and warm up with good form. It's just something that's part of the process.. If it doesn't look good, it's not quite right. It also helps to focus more on my toes pointed than my splits hurt...

 

[Linsul]

Bog gave me a great idea a few months back: Hard worker stars. I use neon poster board for the stars and have my daughter decorate them with glitter glue and stick on gem thingies. I give out one after each workout, and it's not to the 'best' of the day, but the one who persevered and demonstrated care in their skills. I write them a message on the back and date it. They absolutely adore those things, words cannot describe. They are very young and very silly, but if I remind them I'm still looking for my star they snap to it!

 

[staceyb]

Video them, they may not realise what you are to get across by the whole straight legs and pointed toes, by showing them what you see and pointing the things out or getting them to point the things out, that needs fixing.

 

[loveablelilgymnast]

Well, i know my coach makes us do it over and over until we get OUR form right

 

[Coach.Simon]

If they're very young, say 5-7 years old, reminding them that how you're trying to teach it (with correct form) is how they go about it in the Olympics too. We've used this at our gym and it had profound effects on this age range (and usually hilariously so)