WAG New beginner gymnasts

[SXS524]

Since summers over and the new term has started there are now lots of new gymnasts at one of the clubs I coach at. Most of them had little or no gymnastics experience and were about 6, 7 or 8 years old. So my question.. what sort of things would would you work on for their first few sessions/term? It's a rec class that's just over an hour long. The reason I ask is that I feel a lot of the coaches (most of whom are teenagers) possibly rush the gymnasts and don't spend enough time on basics. Given the choice I would probably work on...
Floor- Forward rolls, Straight jumps, Tuck Jumps, Chassis, Walks, and possibly some basic preps for cartwheels/backward rolls
Bars- Chin ups, L hold, Front Support on Bars, supported upwards circle
Vault- Springboard preps, Straight jump to mat, Landing drills
Beam- Basic walks and balances

Does that sound too basic? Often the coaches at this gym would get the girls doing handstand forward rolls, cartwheels, round offs, full turn jumps, squat on vault (no drills), cast back hip circle on bars etc.

I really don't want to sound critical of the coaches as they're nice people and I enjoy working with them, it's just I would have thought it was better to spend time working the basics before moving onto more advanced moves?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Absolutely

Body tension too - I see loads of bendy bodies trying to do things. I am working on body tension with Small Boy as he is a floppy dolly and has now taken up trampolining.

We used to start each session with lines of shapes and strength exercises. It will pay off. Whats the point it doing handstand forward rolls if they can't support their own body weight ?

I found wedges helpful with rolls, and used to get them cartwheeling over blocks ( the narrow ones) and between them to try and keep them straight.


Good luck

 

[Flossyduck]

I feel caught a bit between the two approaches, but I'm only speaking from experience as a mum of a girl who started just before turning 7. Her class was made up of girls of 6,7 and 8 just like yours at that age they do come into the gym with lots of energy and wanting to feel as though gymnastics is exciting and cool. If they just spent the sessions doing your list they would probably have got bored and not felt as though they were actually getting anywhere. From my observation the drop out rate is pretty high and keeping their interest is key.

The rec class she attended did do shapes - dish, front support etc as part of warm up, they also did set lines immediately after warm-up - walks, kicks, hops, jumps, chassis etc, then progressed to forward roll to stand, forward roll to straddle, handstand, cartwheel and roundoff, still in lines. Obviously some of the girls couldn't do those when they had just started, but they followed the others and gave it a good go and I was very surprised how quickly they went from having a wonky forward roll and a two footed cartwheel, to something half decent and a reasonable handstand.

Then they moved on to individual equipment drills and they did circuits which included the chin ups, leg lifts, springboard preps and so on but also had a couple of spotted stations which were a bit more exciting - assisted pullover, heavily assisted forward roll on beam, run and somi into the pit.

We took our daughter out of that gym because we started to have concerns about the safety procedures and a number of alarming incidents in the next class up, when the girls had progressed a bit and were doing more difficult skills un-spotted. So I would agree with you that there was a tendency there to push too fast without adequate support or strength or experience and you can't skimp on basics. She was selected for squad at another gym and by-passed their rec classes, so I guess they hadn't done too much wrong and I have to say that watching the beginner rec class at her current gym she'd have hated it. It is very basic and very pedestrian and they never get to properly go on the equipment.

So just for that age group I would also give them a few chances to try a few other things, even if just 5 mins each session. It took my daughter (and many others) only four five or six weeks to move up to the next level, so she must have got her cartwheel, handstand, squat through vault and pull over in that time. They pick things up quickly at 6, 7 and 8.

 

[aileenmaryf]

Personally I like to set up multiple stations at events and teach both basics and some skills (I don't know how big of classes you have but my class size is usually about 5-6 kids so I either partner them up on stations or give them their own)... For example my beginner class today will do the following:

Warm-up: start with jumps on tumble track(forwards, backwards, sideways, tuck, straddle, pike, split) and then stretch.

Floor-(Before doing any stations I would explain the basics- lunge, landing positions, etc.) hula hoop w/kid doing jumps in it, another station with a kid practicing levers or teeter-totters (the up and down motion of the handstand with out the kick up), another station practicing forward rolls down an incline (with no hands stand up), maybe another with a kid doing leaps over a line practicing ending on one foot, and then one spotted station like cartwheels (sometimes I even take a panel mat and unfold it, then use chalk to draw hands and feet). so every time I go to floor I have one spotted station, and the rest are all pretty basic things they can do on their own

Vault- usually I have 3 stations: one practicing with just a spring board practicing jumping off and landing, one working donkey kicks (jump feet in air with legs together and hands on a block-can use tumble track or spring board), and the third doing a squat-ons onto a table vault or regular vault (depending on how big they are).

Bars- I do a lot of the same as you but I also work casting (for younger kids I call them mermaid kicks), glide swings(sometimes with a barrel/rollie pollie), and usually spot pullovers on a bar chin-height.

Beam- walks on bigger beams(forward/backward/sideways), jumping off the beams and landing positions, and also on small beams try straight and tuck jumps.

This way kids get to work skills that are a little bit more exciting, but then also still work on basic techniques. Hope this is helpful!

 

[SXS524]

Thanks for the replies everyone all very useful Great to have an insight on how other clubs run thier rec classes. But yes it's a hard one isn't it!? Obviously don't want the gymnasts getting bored by doing simple skills all the time but don't want them to skimp on basics. Iwannabemargo, that's funny you should say about supporting handstand forward rolls, the number of times I've seen coaches support girls doing them when the gymnasts clearly can't even hold a handstand! I admit I did it when I was beginning coaching but I try to avoid it now if I can- It's hard work as a coach trying to hold up a gymnast who can't hold their own weight !! Think I'll try and include some more strength and conditioning in the warm ups and
I like the idea of giving them a few mins per session to do harder stuff so they don't get bored
Thanks for the drills aileenmaryf - all very helpful!