WAG Performing skills to exhaustion

[mimi]

Coaches, what are your thoughts on performing the same skill over and over again until a gymnast "gets it"? How long/how many times do you make a child try something over and over? Our hc has a habit of making kids stay on apparatus/perform skills until they do one that he thinks is good, then they move on. Thing is, sometimes the kids are on said apparatus for a long time--sometimes an entire 45 minute rotation. Does it become pointless after a while, or is it a way to break them down to push themselves through the exhaustion? Thoughts?

 

[aerialriver]

It's pointeless and dangerous

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using ChalkBucket mobile app

 

[gymunicorn]

dangerous, it really depends on the skill though.. Give corrections on every turn

 

[flipperdad]

On a slightly different question. Any thoughts on how many bar routines should be done during the warm up at the meet? It seemed that they did one after another to the point where the last two bar routines looked tired. The first few looked great but nothing left for competition. How many do you normally do during warmups?

 

[Quadqueen]

On a slightly different question. Any thoughts on how many bar routines should be done during the warm up at the meet? It seemed that they did one after another to the point where the last two bar routines looked tired. The first few looked great but nothing left for competition. How many do you normally do during warmups?

not sure on your DD's level, but warmups are timed, based on level, and generally pretty short...I've only ever seen my DD do maybe 2 routines in warmup?

 

[flipperdad]

Level 7. Not the usual bar coach. 5 girls at the meet and they did the entire routine 5 times and my daughter looked tired on those giants

 

[catou]

In training, I would stop a gymnast when I see that she is getting tired. When she starts doing mistakes she doesn't usually do, forms starts to get worst...) It's not useful as the gymnast usually won't be performing better anyway and can get frustrated. The risk of injuries is higher also.

In competition, we have only 1 minute of warm-up/girl/event. So it's usually, 2 bar routines, and about each of the skills on the other apparatus twice.

 

[Seeker]

I think that is too much...don't want to do your best work in the warm-up.

Level 7. Not the usual bar coach. 5 girls at the meet and they did the entire routine 5 times and my daughter looked tired on those giants

 

[Aussie_coach]

Very very bad idea. If the kid is just practicing it wrong over and over then they are getting very good at doing it wrong.

the art of good coaching is also,knowing when to walk away from a skill for the day.

 

[cazoon]

We have a rule that you can only warm up two of every skill on beam. Even if you fall on one of them, it will stress you out to repeat it so many times. We also do only two bar routines and if there is extra time we have to the option of doing an extra low bar half.

 

[kimskids]

Is it just instinctive that a good coach knows how far to push a gymnast to challenge them but not break them down? This is interesting to me and something I've wondered. It seems we all want our kids pushed to excel but not to the point of tears or at least not on a regular basis. Would love to hear some more thoughts on this.....

 

[Natasha]

Is it just instinctive that a good coach knows how far to push a gymnast to challenge them but not break them down? This is interesting to me and something I've wondered. It seems we all want our kids pushed to excel but not to the point of tears or at least not on a regular basis. Would love to hear some more thoughts on this.....

I think the really good coaches have a relationship with the gymnast so that they know how hard to push, when to push, when to back off. Some of this comes from listening to the gymnasts and understanding where they are coming from. And realizing that line is different for each kid as each one has a different personality. So, one kid may be told to stay at beam until she does her series while everyone else moves to next event where another gymnast may be told to work she can only work on the floor beam until she no longer hesitates and a third gymnast may be spotted until she feels comfortable.
Of course, sometimes they will get it wrong and it will backfire. But, the "rule" at our gym is that they are coaching kids first, gymnasts second. About a month ago we did have an instance where the coach's "instinct" was off for my dd, and it backfired- resulting in much frustration and tears. The next day they had a new game plan and everything was good again.

 

[Flipomaniak]

My coach seems to change his mind. One day he says it's not about numbers, but about quality. Another day he insists on numbers numbers numbers! When he thinks like this he thinks if you do it over and over again it will click and you will get it. Even if you're doing it wrong over and over... Then he changes his mind again and wants less numbers.... lol