Coaches When 2 athletes get injured

[sofm]

Hi im a newer coach 16 years old, ive been coaching for a year now. Ok here's the story. Yesterday I was coaching power. I was spotting level 2, round off STOP back hand springs. I have them stop before their back hand Springs so that my arms are in the right position for spotting them. The station right next to the one I was spotting was pretty close, and i noticed my athletes were almost hitting eachother. This is when i told my gymnast who i was spotting to wait to do her round off, I then turned to my side to talk to the girl at the station next to us. I told her to step closer to her station so she doesnt get hit. As I was talking to her, the gymnast I told to wait continued to do her backhandspring. As she was in mid air i tried to catch her so she wouldn't fall on her head. I was too late she bonked her head and started crying. I felt soo bad. I still do. She had got an ice pack and came back out later to do more but i felt really bad. Thats not the only thing that happened that day. Later when i was at conditioning, i was spotting a girl climbing a rope when one of my gymnasts started to scream and cry, i had no idea what happened because i had to watch the girl climbing the rope. I the saw the gymnast thumb bleeding so i run to get tissus to stop in. Later i found out she squished her finger under a 3 pound weight. Im now really scared i will get fired. I love coaching and i love the kids. I never want any of them to get hurt. Im a gymnast myself and i know how it feels getting hurt when a coach is there. Im scared another kid will get hurt. Has anyone else had this happen?

 

[NowPointYourToes]

Hey!! Don't worry honestly! I'm a general/rec manager and I understand that kids get hurt. If you need help I would recommend reaching out to whoever you need to, but if today was just an odd day then no biggie!

I was helping out another coach during our BHS clinic and I noticed one girl was not jumping into her BHS so I was doing all the work. I told her we were going to just "fall and straight jump back". I spotted her through the first few during the "fall". So I said okay so it yourself. She went right into a BHS and landed on her head I was flabbergasted because she didn't follow instructions. I told the gym owner about it because the mom was pissed. I stopped helping in that class because "it wasn't my job and I was being nice". The gym owner told the mom she wasn't listening and didn't follow instructions.. you get hurt when that happens.

The kid getting her finger off crushed by a weight sounds like they weren't listening and got hurt.. you were doing the right thing by watching the girl climbing! I had an instructor not tell us a girl fell off the ropes with no mat under it. he wasn't watching them and not being safe. I only found out because the mom called.

You are fine! Sorry you had a bad day. If you may need to set strong rules during rope climbs, or a side station to do, or just sit there.

 

[HopefulGymnast]

You are still very young and dont have years of experience yet. You will gain more experience if you keep coaching. It'll likely make you feel more comfortable with things, over time you'll learn when something was "kids just get hurt sometimes" or "I maybe could have handled this better". Sounds like this time it was just "kids get hurt sometimes". I do wonder how many coaches on how many gymnasts they have. Because when you're supervising rope climbing, you can't supervise other kids, and I don't think anybody should expect that of you. That's just how it works, I think we would have another coach or assistant supervising the other kids in that case.
All in all: basically I agree with the other commenter.

One small tip maybe for the future: especially when working with young kids, sometimes it can help to make them repeat what you told them. Then you know they were listening, they understood, and they remembered. This is specifically something that's you could use if there's ever a safety issue. (e.g. "don't touch the left set of uneven bars because its broken. Can you repeat for me what you're not supposed to do?")

 

[Aussie_coach]

What is the procedure that you are required to follow if a gymnast is hurt?

Whenever a gymnast is hurt in your lessons, it’s important to let someone know, be it the head coach, gym owner, 1st aid officer. At your age, it’s not appropriate to make decisions about how to deal with an injury yourself and it’s essential that they are evaluated.

Your gym need to be safe if any injuries, in car or further repercussions.

What is the procedure
For filling out an incident report?

Were parents notified? I hat is the procedure for letting parents know. Parents must be informed of any heat injury, o matter how minor or any bleeding.