T&T Starting a T&T team...suggestions anyone?

[JBS]

I will be starting a competitive T&T team at our club this summer. We will be starting as a low level team (Levels 1-7 at the highest). Does anyone have any suggestions? Can anyone tell me about the T&T program at their club...hours and such?

 

[CoachGoofy]

YAY ANOTHER T&T COACH.

Basics, basics, basics. Our shape jumps are a bit different from artistic & you want the up at the top-in the shape-out of the shape-press to be in their muscle memories before they even think about flipping. Getting a kid to kick out of a salto when they can't snap out of a jump, it just doesn't work.

Our T&T program, the high level team kids come 7h/week, the lower level team kids come 5h/week, and the preteam kids come 3h/week. We have classes for kids who cannot commit to team or who don't have the skills yet as well.

T&T is so much fun to coach.

 

[aerialriver]

I do T&T as an athlete and have also coached it. Please feel free to ask any specific questions you might have. Our gym offers both rec. and competitive. That is one thing to consider if you are going to offer it, a lot of gymnats, cheerleaders etc. love to come take the rec. classes but do not compete.

For team right now the highest number of hours we offer is about 7. We have from level 2 toddlers to level 10 adult, we have 2-3 coaches per class (classes are big) and groups are split according to age and ability. The lenght of the classes is typically 1.5 or 2 hours. To be on our competitive team you have to take at least 1 team class per week so you can get away with doing as little as 1.5 hours. With T&T most people can do a lot less hours and still have good results.

Other than that like CoachGoofy said read up on the basic shapes, they do differ from gymnastics, all of our saltos have kickouts (except already straight body saltos) and our baranis are more like a front tuck kickout to a straight body at 12 o clock half turn, I say this because gymnastics baranis are more like a roundoff with no hands and I struggled with that for a long time. Please feel free to ask anything else and good luck in your new venture!

 

[All Chalked Up]

Make sure the kids stay warm between turns if there's a large gap between turns. A lot of kids pulled muscles because they would wait so long between turns and their muscles got cold, hence injuries and pulled muscles. Our advanced-elite hours are, I believe, 8h/week though the elite trains a bit more frequently.

 

[JBS]

I officially started my T&T team. I have 3 gymnasts...but more interested. I'm hoping to be up to 6 kids by the end of the summer. We are having a blast.