Coaches Twisting

[MissLisa]

Hi,
I've been coaching an 12 year old girl tumbling and a bit of womens gymnastics just in school holidays and occasional weekends since December (9 months now) as she visits where I am located during these times. Since I first met her she has taken up tumbling back where she lives. She has just started twisting and can do a layout half of a double mini but it is really messy and the technique isn't great (she is a diver as well and they use different technique again). My issue is whether or not I should try to correct this as I'm not her main coach and I haven't taught twisting myself really. I could do up to triple back layout twists when I was competing but I was a natural twister and don't ever remember being taught how to do it. Could anyone give me some tips on 1) how to coach this and 2) whether you think it is worth trying to change this particular gymnasts technique if she potentially is just going to be taught it another way else where.
Thanks in advance

 

[Gymsanity]

If you are not her main coach, and you don't have a LOT of experience teaching twisting, I wouldn't get involved. Twisting can be a tricky thing for many kids, and it's one of those things where 'too many chefs in the kitchen can ruin the stew.' Perhaps you could work with her on the rest of her tumbling, and let her other coaches work on the twisting part? Good luck, and cograts on your triple full.

 

[iwannacoach]

...... I wouldn't get involved. Twisting can be a tricky thing for many kids, and it's one of those things where 'too many chefs in the kitchen can ruin the stew.' Perhaps you could work with her on the rest of her tumbling, and let her other coaches work on the twisting part?

I feel the need for speed.........

You could spend your time working on an efficient round off and then move on to cleaning up her bhs, and then work on the ro-bhs-layout. Priority in your work sessions should go first to the round off, but always include the bhs and salto work. Shift the priority to the bhs when the round is as good as the two of you can get it, but always include a few minutes of focus on just the round off. Her salto work will get easier and she'll improve them every time her ro bhs gets better.

 

[MissLisa]

Thanks for your replies. The difficult thing where I am is the lack of equipment. No sprung floor, no tumble track, just a floor and double mini and tramps. She was doing them off the double mini. We ended up just working round off BHS on floor. Her round off isn't the best in and of itself but when she connects it to a BHS her technique changes for the better. I'm not going to have her for another couple of weeks so I'll leave it for now anyways. Due to our lack of equipment I'm not able to teach much past a sault anyways. Not to mention the kids only train tumble once a week for an hour which isn't enough to improve much or get stronger. Unfortunately it is not the main focus of the place to have really strong and skilled performers (they focus more of rec/ money making side of things) even though many coaches have voiced that if they want a strong performance troupe they need to be tougher and provide more opportunity for them to train. Ahhh well...

I had the experience of how adjusting the round off slightly improves the handspring and sault on Monday when I was training them. One of the other coaches suggested I made a tiny change to my round off to lengthen my BHS and suddenly my sault became so high! He told me I tumbled like I was on a sprung floor (which I wasn't) so needed to adjust my technique to account for the lack of spring. This really opened my eyes to making sure the basics are really good (more so than I currently do) with my gymnasts when I coach.