Coaches Unmotivated Level 4's

[flipflopcrystal]

Honestly I just don't know what to do anymore.

Went through a fairly mediocre meet last Saturday (and I am being generous here) scoring an average of 7.5 on almost every event.

While thats not horrible, it's also something that must be improved on. I'm not sure if they're unmotivated or what it is...

So yesterday we had our last practice before our competition this weekend. All I told them is I'm looking for improved form and presentation. Not too much to ask. We go to bars and they are assigned to warm up two of each part and then do 5 routines. Instead of that they decide to be doing handstands in line and bouncing themselves on the cast trainer. Then vault is pretty much the same attitude, running drills falling down on the floor giggling and while waiting in line jumping into the pit and doing handsands on mats. Every 5 minutes I'm trying to get them to settle down and focus.

Now it gets worse...

We rotate to beam. Since we're not scheduled for beam I have to talk to the Optional coach to see which beams I can use so I ask them to line up. What ensues is SEVEN MINUTES of a group of girls playing patty cake, talking, and eventually wandering onto the middle of the floor doing all sorts of flips and cartwheels, pretty much in the way of other classes. SEVEN MINUTES of me staring at them in disbelief and the head coach also watching, them looking at us not seeming to care.

You might be saying get control of your group, but pretty much every day is like this. They need babysitting and I cant spend all my time disciplining while I need to be spotting and coaching and everything else. When I do discipline them its an all day event and it never transfers over to the next practice day. It's like a vicious cycle that never ends.

So now since they wasted 7 minutes of my time, I put them in a time out for 7 minutes. Then to top it off a parent comes storming to the door, mad at ME, for making her child sit in a time out.

I've had it. I don't know what to do for these kids anymore. Some of them try sometimes, but have issues that are holding them back (like flexibility, strength and form), then theres the ones who won't try or fix anything you ask them to (i have had a girl actually tell me shes not going to fix it), then theres the ones with some natural ability, but nover feel like putting the full effort in.

I'm not giving up on them but I have seriously had enough and not sure what to do anymore. And to top it off, some of the parents are not being very supportive of the behavioral issues. They are thinking I'm just making it all up! I have never had a group like this before and at this rate they will all be repeating the level which doesn't bode well for my sanity. :/

HELP! Anything...suggestions. Comforting words...anything!

 

[kayjaybe]

I am not a coach, just a parent, but wondering if you are giving them specific direction. I'm assuming these are young girls. You need to give them specific direction, not just something general about working on "form and presentation." For example, my dd had stutter steps on her vault run. Evidently the coaches often told her that she had stutter steps, but nobody ever told her HOW to fix it. She took a private lesson where the HC had her back up 3 inches. No more stutter steps. At the next practice, another coach was on vault and said "wow, no stutter steps!"

The young kids (and maybe even the older ones) don't know how to fix things. And sometimes they can't see or feel what they are doing wrong. They need specific direction.

Also, it seems like there is downtime while thye are in line. I've seen others here suggest giving line assignments to keep them busy. So, assign them to do handstands or situps or lunges or whatever in line. This will help keep them busy and also improve their skills & strength.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

"hi kids, new game today. everyone in a push up hold position. nice rounded shapes. eye contact with the floor. ears on your shoulders. great!" now wait...and wait...and wait...and wait...wait...and repeat when necessary.

 

[catou]

lol dunno!

Well, I think you need to show them who's the boss in the gym. If they can do whatever they want at home, they need to know it's not the case in the gym.

Here, we also do time out if necessary... So far, it only happened once this year. If parents disagree, tell them their child might get hurt if they don't stop fooling around. Gymnastics, even if it's done for fun, is still serious.

Don't be afraid of doing drills, tons of drills and form exercises. Our competition season start in decembre, and so far, we have not pratice any skill as it would be performed in competition, even if in 2 months, they have to be ready to compete! Get them involved, keep them active. Use circuits, with enough drills so they won't have to wait. When you explain it, ask them what you want to see (arms up, hiding the ears, squeezed but, etc). Do the move yourself so they know how it's supposed to look like.

We also use wow stickers. They get a sticker when they do something very well, show great improvement, or behaved better during the class. These are a big hit. There's no garanty they'll get one. At the end of each rotation, we ask them to show us one the drills we worked on, the others watch. They aren't allowed to do the skill as long as their starting position is not perfect. They also aren't allowed to go sit back as long as we haven't seen a perfect finish position. And you should see the difference when they know other people are watching.

Finally, at the end of each session, they have a star sticker for different aspects as attitude, effort, making corrections, form, etc. Gold is excellent, silver is ok, and red is needs to be corrected. Each kids have to show their stickers to their parent at the end of each session. This way, they know what the situation is in the gym.

I'd say it's working pretty well. We have 10 girls, one of them has an attention deficit disorder. Still, it's necessary to repeat... a lot

 

[iwannacoach]

Start out a practice with nothing but strength, fleibility, and drills for good form. Keep it up until they ask you "when will it be time for normal stuff". Tell them you'll answer that question while they do dunno's push up drill.....and every time one of them breaks out of position, start your answer over again. They basically need to hear that they will earn their time on the equipment, and if they don't use that time well you can always go back to conditioning, flexibility, and........

It sounds like they need lots of it!

 

[dmytv]

Sounds like too much waiting in line. May I suggest the idea of using stations instead. Basicly have as many stations you need so that only 2 are at each station. Example 10 girls, 5 stations- Beam example(level3/4): 1- beam would be u watching with full routines,2-floor line practicing cartwheels, 3- wall for press handstands, 4 -floor bar and mat for handstand dismount, 5- pushups, holds or some kind of conditioning. Each event and routine can be broken down into stations you say switch after a few min. and they go to the next station. Nobody will have time to bounce around. lol

 

[Aussie_coach]

Very few kids are naturally internally motivated at level 4 and are prepared to work hard for the sake of working hard. Many kids this age don't even equate effort in training with great results. This is a lesson that takes time and adult guidance to learn. Your gymnasts need to be taught how to train, they won't just naturally know how to do it.

Kids need it pointed out to them that their hard work will end in good results. If you see a child working hard on pointing her toes, tell the group "wow, the judges will love Sarah's toes, you know for every time you point your toes you will get 0.1 high than the kid that forgets". Use lots of meaningful praise, when they present well, tell them they look like a gymnasts, when they have straight knee's, tell them now they have Olympic knee's. They will begin to associate the effort with the competition results but also with the idea that they are capable of doing more.

Kids rank fun as their number one priority, kids need to enjoy their gymnastics. Do little competitions and challenges, have their own world records chart when they do conditioning and have them try to set the best record for the team, reward them for finishing the skills well with favorite things like trampoline time or a game. Eg if they all complete their full conditioning you will play add ons on the trampoline before they go home.

I just can't emphasis enough how important praise is. If kids see themselves as good gymnasts they often become good gymnasts, if they see themselves as no good they often get worse. How they see themselves will be a direct result of the things you say to them. If you are constantly telling them they are lazy or not trying hard, they will follow suit by being lazy and not working hard. If you allow them to think they are good gymnasts they will start to see themselves as real gymnasts.

You can't neglect discipline, kids not only do kids need rules and boundaries but they want them. When the rules are not clear the kids feel a strong need to test the boundaries and see how far they can push things. If there are clear rules and boundaries then they feel safe and secure, they trust and respect you and can get down to some hard work.

It is also essential that training is engaging and exciting. Of course they will go flip on the floor if you do the same thing every time. Use lots of creative drills, add in little extra's like competitions to see who can remember the names of various obscure skills, keep training active busy and moving the whole time no give them time to get bored.

 

[arhitt01]

Aussie Coach nailed it.