WAG Shift Movement Facebook Post

[Dahlia]

What we missed a lot of time out on was up training. Usually this begins around mid-April and move ups start happening in June. Instead, after just a few weeks back, coaches are still trying to evaluate where the kids are at and make sure they train safely. The only move ups are girls who already had the next level skills prior to the closure. While my dd still can do all the skills she had before, she has no new skills because she hasn't had time to start training the progression towards them since the end of the last season.

I will add I have no issue with 2-3 weeks off for family vacations. I think that is healthy. We've taken a month off for vacation and dd bounced back quickly (it also worked out well that it was a season when she was repeating anyways). But 3 months is a whole new thing and it will effect some girls' progressions simply because they will run out of time to get new skills in time to compete them next season.

 

[coachmolly]

I used to work at a club that would have a 2 week break at the beginning of the summer- it usually started the last week of school when lots of kids missed due to outside activities anyway- and another one at the end of the summer. Some families tried to organize vacations around the breaks, many did not and would take another week mid-summer, and it worked out just fine. Kids were able to participate in all of their end of the year activities with no pressure not to miss gym, families could spend time together, kids could rest up for summer uptraining, and coaches could either rest up for the summer of uptraining/camps/craziness or unwind after it was over. It was a good situation for everyone and there was still plenty of progress over the summer. It wasn't a high level club, but the kids were good quality gymnasts who were happy and healthy. It also helped with coach morale.
I've also worked at a gym with a "no days off" mentality- for both kids and coaches. They did have a week off each year to clean the gym, but even then families were expected to be there to help. Lots of kids & coaches were tired and on edge. Lots of nagging overuse type injuries. Lots of gymnast turnover. Almost a "survival of the fittest" vibe with enough success to claim that it was all worth it because their program was working and the kids who couldn't handle it labeled as weak minded. I would not willingly put myself back in that type of environment again and, if I had a child in the sport, would not want that type of environment for him/her. It's just not worth it. Breaks are good. Letting your body rest is good. Enjoying other aspects of life is good. Hoping more coaches are starting to come around to that idea.

 

[JessSyd]

Watching elites posting comeback skills and new skills on Instagram has been amazing. Some look so much better already than they were looking before shutdown. For some, the break has definitely been good for both their minds and their bodies.

 

[JBS]

This is a great post... definitely not a huge eye opener to any truly good coach... but great post. I'll come back and expand on what we have been moving towards at our club over the past 5 years.

Totally forgot to expand on this... basically we move into a month of very limited impact after season is over. Almost all trampoline... tumbl trak... and rod floor. No full tumbling on the regular spring floor. No vault at all of 2 weeks... then we just move into limited drilling with no landings. Bars and beam go into basics for a while to work on technique.

We have done this with varying degrees of success... but it definitely does not affect their ability to tumble or vault negatively.

We use this time to work more on technique... air sense... and overall "learning". We talk and teach more during this time and do less.

By using this time to teach all of our gymnasts our simple systems... they then use the systems to teach themselves and the young kids on team during the rest of the year. For example... everyone learns that our twisting system is "bounce half". Full "bounce half" will turn into a 1.5 eventually. The kids all learn these simple things during this time each year and they carry them and use them for the rest of each season.

Coronavirus has definitely messed up our plan for this year... but typically this has worked well for us... it give the kids a change and a break without a break. We will be looking at reducing hours during this month in the future as well.

 

[JBS]

it usually started the last week of school when lots of kids missed due to outside activities anyway

Totally perfect time.

 

[sce]

But most of the gymnasts were still conditioning at home regularly, so it’s not really an accurate assessment. They weren’t completely off for 3 months.

I think the best models would still include strength and conditioning if there is a lengthier “time off”. Doing strength and conditioning is far different from the pounding of skills and routines.