How much supervision is enough?

[new to the gym]

I have no experience at all with gymnastics other than my son now being on USAG team. During practices, there is one coach and they always set up stations. I notice that they are often doing things either incorrectly or with horrible form because no one is there correcting them. Is this the norm for team practices? We have never been to another gym, so I have nothing to compare to. Shouldn't someone always be there to correct form or how does it ever improve?

 

[skschlag]

my son frequently has 10-12 kiddos and 1 coach. He does set up stations, but somehow manages to monitor them. Sometimes I do notice my son doign things with bad form, but he usually only gets 1-2 turns that way before the coach jumps in. Last night, there were about 15 boys with the one coach.

Welcome to men's gymnastics!!!

 

[profmom]

It's very interesting to me how quickly the boys figure out how to notice when the coach is watching . . .

 

[skschlag]

My fav is when they *think* the coach isnt' watching, but he turns just in time to see.....love it!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

bad form is a normal part of progression in gymnastics. especially boys. and posts that start with "i have no experience in gymnastics at all" and are followed by "I notice that they are often doing things either incorrectly or with horrible form" have no credibility and are lost on me.

i'm not being rude, offensive or snarky. just stating a fact. and i have many posts that i read here to "compare to".

and welcome to chalkbucket.

 

[new to the gym]

No offense taken at all. I was so excited to find this site to finally start getting more information about the sport that my son has taken such a strong interest in. He has been in it for a couple years, however, so I do at least know when their toes are supposed to be pointed, legs together, knees not bent, etc. So I just wonder how the fine tuning of form comes in when they are running stations on their own. I come from a background of softball where we always had coaches running drills and correcting us immediately so it's just a foreign concept to me....not at all that I think it's wrong just not understanding how it works out in the end and wasn't sure if this is how it runs all over since we've always been at the same gym. Thanks for the input.

 

[CoachTodd]

My fav is when they *think* the coach isnt' watching, but he turns just in time to see.....love it!

I correct kids that appear to be behind me. It really messes with their heads .

 

[gymgal]

This used to drive me crazy when I saw dd doing a skill wrong. But then a coach explained it to me by comparing it to how kids learn to do other things: talk, read, swim. We don't correct everything all at once. We correct things one bit star time, otherwise its too much for the child to think about.

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[Mack_the_Ripper]

Sometimes fixing a skill just means you have to work it over and over until you get it. Hopefully the drills will be geared towards doing that. Obviously, a coach cannot be everywhere at once and that is just life. As long as the coach is making occasional corrections and is present and involved, I wouldn't fuss about stations. Stations are a useful way to keep everyone working without very many coaches, and bad form is going to happen...usually after a kid has been doing gymnastics for "several years" s/he knows if s/he has bad form, and then it's just up to the kid to fix it.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Sometimes the kids will be practicing with bad form. The key when coaching boys is never to let them stand still and have nothing to do. If you leave them idle to wait for turns you are asking for trouble.

The coach won't be everywhere at once, they will have the specific drills they are working with kids on and they will have other stations to keep the kids going and moving.

A good coach will take it all in and will be able to keep an eye on all the boys and keep the form pretty good even if they are not directly spotting that station. But that takes experience. You did not mention the ages of the coaches. A young coach can't do that. But they do need to start somewhere to become experienced coaches.

 

[BlairBob]

The biggest problem when dealing with large groups as you are is actual hands-on spotting when it is necessary. They just don't get as many turns when you have 12-15 boys than when you have 8 or so.

It's very doable for some events like when working circles. Pommel horse doesn't take a lot of spotting though it can when they are learning scissors.

Unfortunately, High Bar needs a lot of spotting in the earlier levels as does some tumbling. This can be diminished by using certain drills but in some cases you just get limited to only one pair of hands. How much spotting is necessary depends on which levels at times.

 

[skschlag]

I correct kids that appear to be behind me. It really messes with their heads .

I LOVE IT!!!!! D needs that He is the KING of half-way doing it when the coach isn't "watching"

 

[sophgymnast]

I guess it could depend on the coach to kid ratio as well. If there is the ratio is 1 coach to 1-12 kids, I think the coach could handle it. However, if there is more than 12 kids in a group, I think it would be necessary to have more than one coach. Like other posters had said, a coach can only be in one place at one time. But some coaches are a God at multitasking. So it depends on the coach too. Although, I don't have much experience from coaching, except from being a Coach In Training. I have 2 coaches, but only about 10 girls in the group including me. I have to admit, it is very nice to have 2 coaches.