Coaches Teaching tools wish list

[estamey21]

What tools do you wish you had at your disposal to help you be better at your job?

My question is open-ended:

* Tools can be large (e.g. a harness for teaching flyaways off the bar)
* Tools can be small (e.g. a phone app that tracks gymnasts progression)
* Tools can be rare/nonexistent (e.g. a robot that periodically reminds students to point their toes)

----

I'll start:

* Mirrors. I love using mirrors for teaching, but my gym does not have large mirrors.
* Real-time attendance app. Rec classes are chaotic at my gym. I want to be notified about who is in my class before it starts.
* A "diff" tracker. For those gyms with cameras, it would be nice to overlay images. For example, if a gymnast does the same pass three times, I want to review all three passes simultaneously (stacked or side-by-side). This technology exists, but I don't think it's common in gymnastics.

 

[JBS]

• 3,000 - 5,000 sq. ft. of additional space
• Larger parking lot
• 3 picnic tables
• Dry erase markers that aren’t dried out
• All of the random projects to be “done” that I don’t have time for
• A good assignment tracking app or software (anyone have one)

 

[estamey21]

Dry erase markers that aren’t dried out

Lol. The real tragedy is that no one figured out how to make everlasting dry erase markers .

@JBS , what would you do with the extra square footage?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Why picnic tables?

 

[Coach Kate]

* Tools can be rare/nonexistent (e.g. a robot that periodically reminds students to point their toes)

I mean, as an end of season gift, the Xcel golds I had last year gave me a build a bear that says "deduction" when you push her paw. Pretty close.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

• A good assignment tracking app or software (anyone have one)

What do you mean assignment tracking app? What would you want it to do?

.... and how much do you think you'd be willing to pay for it? (Ballpark is fine, I won't hold you to it)

 

[ProudGymnast]

Oh, new pens and markers. Stickers for our preteam/lower level's star chart. A massage gun, and a heat pack. A new spring floor to save all the poor girl's knees and ankles. And for an unreasonable one. A bar that has a number pad for you to punch in the setting, and it automatically switches. A vault like that would be nice too, if any inventor is reading this

 

[estamey21]

A bar that has a number pad for you to punch in the setting, and it automatically switches. A vault like that would be nice too, if any inventor is reading this

Haha OMG we need this!

 

[JPC13]

• 3,000 - 5,000 sq. ft. of additional space
• Larger parking lot
• 3 picnic tables
• Dry erase markers that aren’t dried out
• All of the random projects to be “done” that I don’t have time for
• A good assignment tracking app or software (anyone have one)

Send me your address and I'll send you some dry erase makers. I make dreams come true.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

*furiously taking notes for my next side project, which I may or may not ever start and will almost certainly never finish*

* A "diff" tracker. For those gyms with cameras, it would be nice to overlay images. For example, if a gymnast does the same pass three times, I want to review all three passes simultaneously (stacked or side-by-side). This technology exists, but I don't think it's common in gymnastics.

The big challenge would be getting the passes synchronized. If it's up to the coach to manually synchronize it, this could be done on less than $300 worth of hardware, and I'm pretty sure I could put together an app to do it in a week or two if I were to really dedicate myself to it.

But the ideal goal here would be for it to automatically sync up the passes for the overlay. Also definitely doable, but considerably more challenging, and might require a more powerful processor.

(just thinking out loud here)

 

[estamey21]

*furiously taking notes for my next side project, which I may or may not ever start and will almost certainly never finish*

LOL same

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

LOL same

Programmer or engineer?

 

[estamey21]

Programmer or engineer?

Software engineer, though not a good one

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Software engineer, though not a good one

Same! Spent awhile playing around with openCV in python for coaching applications, but never did anything formal/professional with it.

 

[estamey21]

The big challenge would be getting the passes synchronized.

This would probably involve computer vision software that detects similarities between clips. Would be very expensive to develop or license.

 

[estamey21]

Same! Spent awhile playing around with openCV in python for coaching applications, but never did anything formal/professional with it.

You read my mind

 

[JBS]

@JBS , what would you do with the extra square footage?

We need a staff room... a hub for the coaches to put their things... eat... see staff memos... etc. We just put our stuff by the wall somewhere and eat behind a mat or something somewhere. I eat at the table... the vault table.

We could use a second vault runway.

Bigger bathrooms or a couple more "family" bathrooms that anyone could use. Sometimes during peak hours both bathrooms have a line.

Some of the things I list are just overall "atmosphere" things that would make the gym more comfortable to all... especially the coaches.

Why picnic tables?

We don't have a staff room... so just a place where we could sit and go over stuff in the summer... eat too... someplace outside. I'm going to get them next spring.

 

[JBS]

What do you mean assignment tracking app? What would you want it to do?

.... and how much do you think you'd be willing to pay for it? (Ballpark is fine, I won't hold you to it)

I'm honestly not really sure what I would want it to do or what I would pay for it. I just didn't know if schools or other sports had something like this already.

 

[Aussie_coach]

We need a staff room... a hub for the coaches to put their things... eat... see staff memos... etc. We just put our stuff by the wall somewhere and eat behind a mat or something somewhere. I eat at the table... the vault table.

We could use a second vault runway.

Bigger bathrooms or a couple more "family" bathrooms that anyone could use. Sometimes during peak hours both bathrooms have a line.

Some of the things I list are just overall "atmosphere" things that would make the gym more comfortable to all... especially the coaches.



We don't have a staff room... so just a place where we could sit and go over stuff in the summer... eat too... someplace outside. I'm going to get them next spring.

Makes sense! I do have a staff room and in my waiting room I have lots and lots of tables and chairs where lids can do homework, parents can do work while kids are in classes, eat afternoon tea etc.

It definitely adds to the atmosphere of professionalism.

I don’t know how you function with only one Vault strip. That must make having multiple vault step ups fir different heights and timers etc very, very difficult.

 

[JBS]

I don’t know how you function with only one Vault strip. That must make having multiple vault step ups fir different heights and timers etc very, very difficult.

It's really not ideal... actually... it's a struggle.