Mary Lee Tracy shows a difficult conditioning and coordination drill on balance beam – Jumping rope!
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==== UPDATE: Some coaches feel this kind of drill is dangerous. (See the comments.) Certainly they could be for very inexperienced kids.
But today at camp I assessed a summer camp group of various ability levels. All handled skipping assignments easily. The youngest did them on the low beam.
No problem.
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Yeah, I don’t mean to sound like an ass, but seriously? I understand there has to be a first time seeing something for everyone, but seriously? I can give Mary Lee Tracy credit for obviously being more “successful” than me in terms of having a longer resume and more accomplished athletes, but seriously?
If “jumping rope on the beam” isn’t one of the first things you think of when you start considering approaches to coaching beam, then you probably should go coach checkers.
“You” meaning a general plural “you,” and not a specific singular “you.”
I don’t get why you have Just Another Opinion issue with this. I’ve never heard of using jumping rope on beam to help with jumps and leaps. I think it’s innovative and a good idea. Good for Mary Lee!
Two things Katrina:
“Let’s jump rope on the beam” is about as obvious as “let’s see if doing a leg-lift will help us with a kip.” But then, considering some gyms don’t do leg-lifts, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that people overlook obviously helpful steps…
Secondly, (and I could be wrong, which is why I call myself Just Another Opinion) everything that can be done with the rope can be done without the rope, and once the rope is gone, the arms can go somewhere where they’d actually go on beam. The wrist-action seems altogether worthless for beam (if you’re going to condition the wrists, as you should, then do wrist conditioning). So basically this boils down to “jumping on the beam helps you get better at jumping on the beam.” Which, again, not being a beam coach, still seems like a pretty obvious piece of advice.
The childish side of me thinks youre just upset you didnt make a video first, but if I were to make a post solely on that foundation – that would be childish.
Instead, I will directly answer your posts – one: she is using an activity that is common and comfortable to show athletes how they can accomplish a goal without feeling overly anxious. It is, in its foundation, a teaching method that is incredibly similar to all of gymnastics progressions. Don’t be a hater simply because it’s simple to you. Not everyone has had the wonderful, plethora, of experiences you seem to have. This was a new bit to me, as well – though Im more of a boys coach and uneven bar/vault coach.
Second, the reason some gyms don’t use leg-lifts/V-ups as a conditioning system to improve kips specifically is because *gasp for emphasis* not all coaches are the same! And not all coaches are competitive coaches! And not all coaches have all the answers!
Many of us lowly high school coaches, and budding club coaches, have not had the obvious elite level coaching experience you bring to the table. Please, instead of putting us down, enlighten us and make us better coaches. Otherwise, Ill just push aside your posts as “just another opinion.”
And we all know what we say about opinions – if I wan’t your opinion, Ill give it to you.
Ryan
I’m not knocking things because they’re simple Ryan. If you re-read those posts carefully, you’ll notice that my criticism was twofold, the second part being that jumping rope on the beam is actually unnecessarily complicated. That is, it’s adding a second and unnecessary motion which just complicates the primary motion you’re attempting to focus on. I prefer doing drills and so forth that are supremely broken down and isolated, which means if you want to get better at jumping on the beam, find the most efficient and productive way to isolate those movements. Adding a rope, while the girls are certainly talented enough to do that, is just giving them one more thing to think about that isn’t directing their attention to the muscle groups they’re working.
As for all coaches not being the same, no worries. I totally understand that, which is why we have these blogs to serve the function of spreading and sharing ideas. However, there probably should be some fairly universal training methods as well. I hope to god you work handstands, cartwheels, etc. and that if someone put out a video which basically said “handstands are good” you wouldn’t be surprisingly informed by it. (Maybe HOW one does a handstand could be informative, but merely THAT one should do handstands shouldn’t enlighten you).
I also never claimed to have any such experience or credentials, but your sarcasm is duly noted.
As for hating, I wasn’t hating anything. I was just saying that I thought this was fairly obvious. And, as much of a jerk as I guess it makes me to say it, I’ll say it: if you’ve walked into your gym every day, seen a jump rope, seen a beam, and never thought to maybe consider putting the two together (even if you ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it), then I stand by my original comment that you aren’t giving your coaching a great deal of thought.
Which is fine, not everyone has to. Not everyone has the same goals. But if we’re reading these blogs, I assume it’s because we want to be better coaches. I know I do. Which is why I put my thoughts out there for discussion. You’re criticisms of my thoughts are welcome. I can learn from those, too.
But ultimately Ryan, this isn’t math. Everything everyone says or does comes down to being just an opinion. So if you don’t want to see other people’s opinions, don’t read blogs.
If what I’ve said offends you, my apologies. I don’t want to make gymnastics enemies. What I want is to engage in lively discussions about the best and most effective ways to coach the best and most effective gymnastics possible.
*your, not you’re. I am ashamed.
Personally, I never thought of it. Many of my jump/leg conditioning comes from use. Like I said before, I do like how this takes a fairly common and “safe” activity and puts it as the primary focus instead of “oh my god I have to stay on the beam and jump up and down?!”
I love learning from others. I love helping others learn. You need to remember what a lot of these videos are aimed at – people who either do not have the developmental background that other more experienced athletes turned coaches have had, or people who need a little eye opener to remind them that simple things, natural and “play” activity, tend to be the best activities for teaching.
When I first say this my initial reaction was “good god, I cant imagine 2-3 girls having to do this together” when I think about my gym size and how many girls I have. As I looked at it closer, though, I really do think that it takes away from the difficulty in jumping by making it as close to a comfortable activity as possible. Much like giants start as backward rolls, I can see this as a lead in to teaching jumps quickly and effectively in a limited time environment. I have had a few girls in the past that couldnt jump for the life of them, and I think this may have helped them overcome their fears. I wouldn’t discount it simply because it seems mundane or because it adds “unnecessary” activity. We use jump ropes for endurance and toning – why not multi-task?
Lastly, I felt you were being overly critical and somewhat demeaning. Simply because I never thought of using a jump rope on beam I am a bad coach? No – I just didn’t think of it. The two were never near each other, and never seemed plausible or even connected. Does this make me a bad coach, and give reason for me to reconsider my coaching style or choices? Absolutely not! I have been very successful in teaching many skils to many gymnasts. If I got down on myself every time I saw a drill or teaching method that made my job easier I would have stopped coaching years ago – instead I adapt and implement, and store for later use.
I do appreciate yours, and other’s, opinion(s). It’s part of being a good coach, and a good person. I simply felt like pointing out that some of us are still learning, and sometimes need a good refresher on the simple answer is usually the best.
We’ve never made our girls jump rope on beam, although we’ve made them do jumping jacks facing sideways. :]
Fair enough. My apologies.
Separating issues: I am undecided whether jumping rope on the beam is helpful or not. My issue was solely that I didn’t think this lived up to the same level that the other gymnastics minute pieces have, in that I felt like it was beam-thinking 101. Akin to thinking that a 2-inch beam or a tightrope might help improve balance (If we want them to be stable on 4 inches, why not train them on a wire, so that the 4 inches seems roomy, etc. Whether it would work or not isn’t the point; the point is that seems like the first place your mind should go when it starts asking itself to think of ways to make your girls better at beam). I feel comfortable saying it’s probably not a waste of time, and probably not harmful. But is it the most effective, I am not persuaded.
Now, if you think that the gymnastics minute videos should be basic 101 gymnastics, so be it. Maybe they should. I did not think that was their purpose. I thought, by featuring elite coaches, they were aimed at something else. If all they wanted were gymnastics 101 pieces, it seems like they could ask a wide variety of very successful JO gyms to produce them.
As far as multi-tasking: I think multi-tasking can, if done improperly, be the death of your gymnastics. Trying to condition multiple areas at once is begging for one area to slack, ultimately making exercising it worthless if it’s just going to be crappy. Condition a shape, and when the shape is gorgeous and wonderfully strong, then it’s safe to add movement. Trying to condition multiple things at once with movement will result in poor conditioning (you’ll get “work” done, surely. She’ll be tired, and sweat a lot. But nothing good will have been accomplished). This likely isn’t the case with jumping rope, it’s not that major of a motion, and for that reason, as I’ve said, I’m not really opposed to it. I subscribe to a philosophy that one should isolate the focus on individual pieces, and when the pieces are gorgeous, put them together.
And I never said you, specifically, were a bad coach.
And I, myself, for the record, was never a gymnast.
And with that response, I am willing to agree. It has its uses, and CAN be a method of teaching – but it probably won’t work for everyone. I agree that skills need to be broken down into components. Sometimes I think I over-do it, and many times I question whether I break them down correctly. I am constantly refining my approach to teaching, based on age of gymnast and coordination of the gymnast.
I think this particular drill would do wonders for older gymnasts, especially those who already know how to push through their ankles. For younger gymnasts, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Good post!
Exactly! My club coach when I took gymnastics didn’t use leg lifts. The gym I took at didn’t have a competative team. It does now but that’s because it’s grown a lot
I have used this drill as a warm-up drill. Jumping rope on the floor and running and doing stairs can get boring so I’ve found it a great way to keep kids interested in their cardio warm-up. They get very competitive about who can do more jumps in a row, and I find on days I assign jumping rope on floor as a warm-up many of them will do it on the beam instead.
I use the jump rope on beam, and its a great warm up/ strength activity for th legs & ankles, plus it really does help the girls get into the necessary focus for beam.
It helps develop coordination as well, and its HARD- definitly not for you beginner level athlete.
edit: definitely not for your beginner level athlete
We used jump roping on the beam when I did gymnastics, too. One warning to coaches — it’s easy for a gymnast to wipe out on it. We had one girl miss a foot and break her arm, and lots of near misses, until my coaches scrapped the idea.
I think it may be a Tammy Biggs idea — a lot of gyms in my area seemed to do it after she did a few coaches’ clinics.
It’s the first “Gymnastics minute” where I see a coach thank or great the athlete that does the demonstration. All the other coaches seem to take the athlete as a robot or something. MLT looks so nice, that might be why she had the success she got with her gymnasts. A little like Liang Chow looks to me…
1. I\’ve seen this before at a lot of gyms. I\’m sure somehow came up with it or saw it at congress and has spread.
2. the kids find it fun but really we\’re just looking for a fun drill to focus on being aware up there on the beam.
3. it\’s nothing spectacular as REAL conditioning but it\’s a good warmup and coordination skill. I\’ve seen the girls sometimes do it without rope just visualize using the rope as well.
it doesn’t seem all that dangerous to me- no more dangerous than a standing arabian or front aerial or something like that. gymnastics is supposed to be fun, after all- if I were a gymnast, I would think it would be cool to try jumping rope on the beam
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