I'm going crazy!!!

[shadow]

this is the situation...
our level 7's are going to a big meet in arizona in a couple of weeks and our head coach/owner wants the girls to work with him and only him for the next two weeks to get them ready. that is not a big deal to me, but what i do have problem with is that he's making me coach our level 4's and 5's together in one big group, which is 16 girls total. these girls are out of control. they have major attitudes and do not want to be at practice so nothing gets done. i spend all of practice times babysitting rather than getting any actual gymnastics done and they have 3 meets in a row starting with this weekend. i can't keep these kids under control by myself. i have conditioned them and told their parents about their behavior and laugh it off like it is nothing and they are just being kids, but this is beyond that. also, it is hard for me to focus on their routines with that many kids and with coaching two different levels at the same time. it's ridiculous that i have this many kids at one time for a whole practice!!!! the other coach and i have talked to the head coach/owner about this and he told us that basically it wasn't his problem.

so i guess my question is, does anyone know of ANYTHING that i can do with these girls that they could do together that would also help the two different routines? i need things for every event so anything would do wonders and preferably drills or so that would keep them busy.

sorry about the paragraph before... i need to rant^^

 

[gymdog]

Well...a 1:16 ratio is too many. Safety first...there is only so much you can do.

Get them in lines and separate them. 4 lines of 4, each in its own segment of the floor carpet. Don't segregate by level - put the most mature level 5 at the head of each line. Put down some cones or something if you need to mark it further and say "do not go out of your zone or you will sit out for five minutes". Then have them practice segments of the routine and all basics/dance, at this level they should be able to go up to their tumbling run even without using the diagonal.

On floor if they are also refining something more stationary then you can spread them out in lines and they can work on their jumps, etc while you come around and check them.

Beam: Similar thing, depending on how many beams you have. Don't put more than three kids on a beam - even that isn't ideal in my experience, two is better. So since you probably don't have between 6-8 beams then you will have to do rotations also using a line on a floor or mat space and low beams. Again assign the groups putting a more mature kid in each group, don't let them just choose or go around willy nilly. There will be a specific assignment at each station and they will rotate when you say to rotate. This isn't ideal because it is hard to work a full routine in. But, you aren't being given much to work with. If you can use some floor time everyone can find a line and do some whole routines, or you can use all beams (even low) and lines and have a rotation where everyone does one routine on each, then rotate. Depends on how much they need parts vs routines.

Bars - again groups are assigned. One group will have to do conditioning exercises while the other group warms up, because you will have to closely supervise all bar work. Do a timed warm up and then switch, other group warms up. That group goes back to conditioning/warm up exercises (maybe if you have a single bar, they can do something like kips/casts but no squat ons or tap swings or full routines without direct supervision, imo). First group does routine. Tell them the next kid should be ready to mount by the time the kid before dismounts. Make it a game and call it a factory. Thus you will probably have to break the L5s up by bar settings if they have different ones.

Vault: depends. do you need to set the L4 system up on your runway?

 

[pt coach]

We also tend to have large groups (15 in level 6 and 16 in 7/8 which are the levels I mostly work with and here are some strategies I use when I am by myself with a big group:

Beam: group warm up (we tend to have 5 beams, sometimes 6). I do three to a beam and do a beam complex 3 to a beam (generally kicks, leap drills, jumps turn drills, turns etc). Then I might have half the group on the beams doing a dance thru and then half on floor doing a routine on a line (space permitting). If I have a group with discipline issues I give zero downtime. I set up stations and we rotate thru and I call rotate. The 5-6 beams are for routines (alternating first halfs, second halfs, fulls). The I have a couple stations for arm thru routines, stations for jump drills, leap drills, maybe a floor beam for upgraded skills and we all start together. I say present and mount and the routines start and the drills go on for as long as the routine lasts and then we rotate together. The kids get pretty tired from this...This way everyone gets thru about 5-6 routines plus drills. I watch one beam for details and keep an eye on everyone else. We have the smallest gym ever but manage to squeeze in room for drills. This is of course a meet season workout...we do different things off season>

Floor: with compulsory groups we make lines and go across the floor maybe four or so at a time working each section. When we do routines they do the routine and then have a circuit to follow so again there is no down time.

With our big group we do try to have 2 coaches but if someone is out for the day I feel like I can handle the big groups on beam and floor and have a productive workout and that way they can double up on vault and bars.

I don't really coach bars and vault....

 

[shadow]

thank you for the suggestions!! i feel like anything new would help. i tried putting them into groups at practice yesterday and it was kind of a fail because they they would stop working when they thought i wasnt watching. unfortunately, our older level 5's are not really mature enough to be by themselves or i would have them lead some lines. i guess i'll just have to try different things to see what works and what doesnt.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

just bizarro...tell the owner you want a BIG FAT RAISE!

 

[shadow]

just bizarro...tell the owner you want a BIG FAT RAISE!

ya and he'll laugh in my face. for some reason its hard for him to pay me now.

 

[shadow]

i tried the suggestions last night at practice and it didnt work too well... i assigned groups and tried to put girls together that would talk less but there was still a lot of talking and playing around going on. i know that they are going to talk a bit because they are kids and i cant make them be quiet all the time, but it is getting to the point where they are not paying attention and following directs and they're going to get hurt. last night i told them what to do 5 TIMES and girl after girl was doing something different. i made sure that the directions were clear to follow.
we did A LOT of conditioning last night and i even had girls sit for the whole rotation!!! nothing seems to be working...

 

[gymnut29]

First talk to the owner or head coach about getting more help! Even if its just a rec coach that comes in to help you with stations. That many kids just isnt safe!

I would start the next practice with a sit down meeting. Tell the girls that while you want it to be fun gymnastics is dangerous and someone can get hurt. You wont allow that so if they are doing something unsafe or not listening they will sit out. Start with 5 min sitting out. And use a three strike rule. On your third sit out you leave the gym for the rest of practice. Or check with the owner and see what the policy is for this. Our team parents know that three strikes means out for practice and they sit in the lobby until the parents come to get them.

Since you have lots of meets coming up try running practice like a mock meet. General warm up then go around and and "compete" each event. Assign the girls groups of 3 or 4 and they have to write down one or two corrections for each of people in their group. After the mock meet is over, or after each event. Have the girls go back to their list of corrections and do each 5 times. When they are done they can come to your station to work up training skills.

I know its tought to have that many kids and you might not want to be the bad guy but its got to be a safe environment for the kids to be in so be strict. You can go back to having more fun once you get back to smaller groups for now, be hard and tough. I wouldnt be surprised if it just took kicking one kid out of the gym to settle the group down. (I hope it doesnt come to that).

Good luck!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

shadow...you need help fast. if you're being truthful, and i have no reason to believe that you are not, tell that owner respectfully to get his head out of his rear end and come up for air and get you help before a child gets hurt!

 

[shadow]

gymnut 29- i have done a mock meet sort of thing before and it worked, but it was with fewer kids. last year we talked to a girls parents about her behavior about about her attitude to other girls and coaches and she left. so of the problems left with her. yesterday our owner let her come back to the team and i havent had any problems but i realize that it was only her first practice. we already have a few girls that have to sit during rotations every practice and have talked to their parents about their behaviors at practice. we have come very close to asking them to leave but not yet

dunno- the owner doesnt want anymore help because it is another person he has to pay. we have 4 coaches, 3 per night and one of them is a high school girl... and she's leaving after this season for college so another coach and i will be working double. we are working on getting another more experienced coach in but the owner is fighting us because he doesnt want another person is the gym. also, we have told him what we think of him nicely and not so nicely and that his decisions are not very smart and parents have agreed. his excuse is that he's the boss and he can do whatever he wants. we are hoping he retires soon so we us other coaches cant take over the gym and make some changes....