… I just had the BEST parent-coach meeting that I ever went to, and I thought I’d share some of the things that this coach did. This was a coach talking to parents of L5/L6 girls fast-tracked (I use the term lightly – really it’s just girls identified to have the potential to go to Optionals in the next couple of years) who are 7-10 years old. We are all new to her team although not new to the gym.
She talked about her background. Now, I’ve had other coaches do this, but it always came off sort of braggy (e.g., “I was almost an elite gymnast”). This coach was very straight forward about her years of experience but also talked about why she coaches the levels she does and what she brings to it.
She complimented every single girl on the team during her talk. I don’t know if she planned this out, but she just worked it into the conversation. For example, she’d say something like “A is extremely flexible which is going to be great for her when we work on ….”
She made her expectations to the parents clear and gave specific examples from her experience. Most importantly she talked about what 8-10 year olds will not always share with their coach, even when they should. For example, she told a story of a girl who was normally a really hard worker who was just not doing her best. Finally she snapped “what is wrong with you today?” and the girl explained that her dog had died the night before. She said how girls will sometimes not talk about this because they don’t want their coach to think they are shirking, but the parent should email to help the conversation.
She talked about her own kids and family. Not too much, but enough so that I could related to her as a mother.
She talked about her goals for the team. She made it clear that if they give it their all, their scores should be in a certain range and showed a general roadmap of when they should be acquiring skills.
She talked about the need for balance in their lives and gave some specific examples of what will over tax a child vs. what will give a child a good time outside of the gym.
She talked at length about injuries and injury prevention. Even saying things like “if your child is limping at home, email me so that I watch them at the next practice.”
She talked about what we should expect as our children get older, both the good and the more difficult. She gave actual statistics about how many graduating seniors go on to 4-year colleges (not for gymnastics –just to study) and how girls who stay in the program stay out of trouble.
Most importantly, she actually asked us (as parents) what our goals were. That is, what do we hope our kids gets out of the hundreds of dollars a month we shell out. I just about fell out of my chair with shock.
I hope this is useful to coaches who plan talks with their new teams.
My personal tip #1 for all coaches = always escort your gymnasts to their parents at end of practice. Be available to chat and answer any questions at the end of each workout.
Darlene Fedyna of Gymtastics Gym Club (Calgary, Alberta) gained nearly 150 new nieces and nephews.
Earlier this month, Darlene Fedyna returned from working at Sikelela school near Dundee, South Africa. There, she taught 147 students in Kindergarten through Grade 7 who named her “Auntie Darlene” about movement, teamwork, and how to play sports.
The initiative, called Play-it-Forward, was possible through fundraising efforts at her gym in Calgary that raised about $6,500 — enough to buy basic sports equipment and T-shirts for the kids at the school. …
One of the rare-in-America nonprofit gymnastics clubs is currently seeking an Executive Director.
… The Executive Director reports directly to the Board of Directors, and is responsible for the organization’s consistent achievement of its mission and financial objectives. Oversee and Administer the day to day business activities of Gymnastics Olympica. Serve as the point of contact for all business relating to both recreational classes and competitive gym team. …
This is a full time position based in Van Nuys, California. Gymnastics Olympica offers a positive and flexible work environment, and health benefits.
Applications will be accepted until April 1, 2010. …
Sheri Struck, Gymnastics Olympica
Board of Directors
7735 Haskell Ave.
Van Nuys, CA 91406
email gymnasticsolympica AT gmail.com
With the recent success of Bridget Sloan, Coach Marvin Sharp has made a name for himself in the world of elite gymnastics. Marvin talks about how he got started in coaching gymnastics and why he ultimately decided to open his own gym.
Marvin is the Head Coach of Sharp’s Gymnastics in Indiana and the personal coach to 2008 Olympians Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek. Marvin has been coaching Bridget for 13 years and in October of 2009, he coached Bridget to an individual World All-Around title.
This new state-of-the-art facility is four times larger than our previous home and will provide participants with an incredible gymnastics experience. …
A good article from coaching legend Mas Watanabe on his GymSmarts Community blog:
The other day I was watching the workout of our level 5 and 7 teams during my break.
The level 5’s were working on vault and they were doing the front handspring drill. The drill was to develop good blocking action by using the under arm swing when they punch the board. I was impressed because the entire group was doing the same under arm swing and all the girls were reaching their hands to the table very quickly. Most of the girls were getting a quick turn over of the body from the board and getting a fairly good blocking action.
Of course their handspring vaults weren’t even close to perfect, but the consistent emphasis of good technique was very evident.
Then I looked over to the bars, there were level 7 girls doing back giants, but some of them were still working on their three-quarter giant.
Here too, I was very pleased to see that all the girls were trying to use a proper tap swing to make the giant. Some of their body positions were not good yet, but the tapping action was there. Also, the girls who were struggling with the three-quarter giant were also using the tapping action to kick stronger and lift the swing higher.
I could tell that they will eventually learn a good back giant if they continuously try that way.
Educating all the staff so they teach the specific technique on key skills is not so easy. Many of the younger coaches do not have much coaching experience. …
I’ve heard informally of quite a few cases. Some are mentioned on this thread:
Flipper missed 2.5 weeks of gym and school with H1N1. She had seemed to recover by the end of the first week, but was very sick again on Monday – and is still not at 100%. …
Girls wearing masks to prevent the H1N1 influenza virus are seen at the venue of the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Ise, Mie prefecture, central Japan September 11, 2009.
I was surprised and impressed to see a Google ad for a program in my area called The Little Gym®. (Not many gymnastics programs are using Google ads.)
The excellent website tells of 300 locations in 21 countries.
Click through if you might be interested.
In order to open a The Little Gym location, a candidate must have a net worth (assets minus liabilities) of at least $250,000. Additionally, the candidate must have $75,000 in liquid assets in order to be considered. …
