WAG Mental block - take a break?

[gymnastca25]

Should my 10 year old level 7 take a break from gymnastics if she is having serious mental blocks across all events? Just wondering if a break would be best or if she should just keep trying to work through it.

 

[munchkin3]

Work through it.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I would not suggest taking a break as a way to deal with mental blocks. Breaks from gymmastics are actually a common cause of mental blocks.

 

[gymnastca25]

Ok, I am glad I asked. I had differing opinions form 2 coaches. One said to step away for a month. Other said absolutely not.

 

[strawberries]

In some ways both coaches are right. I think strategically "taking a break" from the skills that are causing mental stress, the way with a physical injury, you would take a break from the skills that cause physical stress on the injury. This is like an injury that needs time to heal...we just don't know how much time. But, also like a physical injury, it isn't usually helpful to take a break from the gym entirely. It is more important to condition other areas. A frequent happy outcome is developing strength and new skills in areas you might have otherwise ignored.

 

[duyetanh]

Wow... all 4 events...that's rough. I know when mine has a block the coaches go back to the basics...drill drill drill...but I don't know about all events. Maybe the same thing? Good luck!

 

[LizzieLac]

Agree with taking a break from skills that she has a block on or fear of. My DD, who has a really rough go of things with a traumatic type of injury. She developed a huge fear of doing giants and literally would get up on the pit bar and hang there. She could not make herself go. So, the coaches stopped asking her to go work them. They literally took the giant and training for the giant off the table. Until slowly but surely she was able to start baby giants and gradually work herself back up to giants. It took months, but she did it all on her own and overcame her fear when she was ready. I really think that is the key.

 

[LizzieLac]

Agree with taking a break from skills that she has a block on or fear of. My DD, who has a really rough go of things with a traumatic type of injury. She developed a huge fear of doing giants and literally would get up on the pit bar and hang there. She could not make herself go. So, the coaches stopped asking her to go work them. They literally took the giant and training for the giant off the table. Until slowly but surely she was able to start baby giants and gradually work herself back up to giants. It took months, but she did it all on her own and overcame her fear when she was ready. I really think that is the key.

 

[profmom]

The best practice as I understand it is to go back to early progressions for skills with which she can have success. It takes time, but if everyone is patient, it works. Reassure her that if she had the skill once, as long as she doesn't give up, she can get it back again.

 

[duyetanh]

The best practice as I understand it is to go back to early progressions for skills with which she can have success. It takes time, but if everyone is patient, it works. Reassure her that if she had the skill once, as long as she doesn't give up, she can get it back again.

This

 

[balancedmom]

My DD is in similar place. It is painful to watch. The coaches have backed off and she is not doing a lot of her skills but I am now thinking she may never do the skills given how much time it has been....hard to know the right answer. good luck to your DD!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

impossible to say, need more info, like what is causing the anxiety that is creating this.

 

[l.c.o]

When DD was blocked on beam flight skills (4 of them) this fall, they first tried to rush them back, as DD had been hoping for optionals this spring. It did not go well, and my DD was a wreck.

After a bit, coaches completely backed off the skills for a period of time (month or so?), then started working drills from scratch. It took awhile, but it really helped my DD. After about six months from the start of issues, DD is currently probably about 50-75% back (in that period of time she repeated a compulsory level and scored out of another), and one of the skills she's gotten back the quickest is ironically the one she was the most afraid of (round off) (fingers crossed!!!). They aren't pushing the last two items yet (two series, they're getting there) since she has time and why rush? So she's actually working some "other" more advanced skills while building confidence on those last two.

This has so far worked for her. I thank the stars every day that, so far, it's only been the one event. I'm truly hoping progress continues, but appreciate that it's not a given that it will.

I hope your DD finds her way back. I agree that a full break may make it worse, or at least it might for my DD. I'd worry that the fears would fester over time, and the loss of conditioning/flexibility might further affect her confidence/self esteem upon any return.

 

[flippingtogether]

My DD has struggled a lot, and we found some audio CDs/downloads that really, really help. They explain what is going on in her body to make her act the way she it is. She feels better now understanding it is all normal and overcome-able.

BUT progress will only be made over time if everyone is patient (not only coaches and parents, but also the gymnast can't be beating herself up over the blocks), there isn't pushing from anyone, and everyone understands it is absolutely ok for the gymnast to go back to where she is comfortable and start SLOWLY working back from there.

So if the approach is right, it is great to stay in the gym and to go all the way back to where the gymnast is comfortable and slowly work from there.

 

[hearts_and_stars]

We just worked through a serious mental block with my DD...I told her to not worry about the skill that was causing problems and to trust her coach to know how to get her through the block. For her, what I wanted her to do every day is find something small she could identify as progress on the problem event--even if it had nothing whatsoever to do with the skill that caused the block (thankfully for her it was only one event). Once she was able to mentally 'step back' from the skill, even though she was still working drills during practice, she was able to regain her focus and she now has a beautiful event and the confidence in knowing how to deal with a block should one ever come up again.