GALTSs = Great on Attitude – Low on Talent

GAHTs = Great on Attitude – High on Talent

details on Sport Coaching Brain

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On the venue:

“I think that the colours in the stadium are depressing. We see the Olympics as a celebration so I don’t like the black background. I also think the lights aren’t bright enough. In China, we train with brighter lighting. The girls also found the apparatus very hard as they are not used to the new French apparatus being used here.”

What’s the Mandarin translation of “sour grapes”?

China and Russia — right now — both wish they’d stayed home like Romania and U.S.A.

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… Do some research and decide what skills are important for at least one year ahead—but preferably 2 years or more. …

… what skill is Brenna preparing for in the near future?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Leave your answer on Ask Al Fong – Dragon Gymnastics.

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One of the signs of a very well coached team is an effective, well-planned and executed team warm-up. …

… while “winning” warm-ups does not result in any medals, it can be a satisfying start to a meet. …

Winning Open Warm-ups for Gymnasts and Gymnastics Coaches

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… The Russian women’s delegation has summoned two “Anastasias” to this competition for these very reasons. First-year senior Olympic hopefuls Anastasia Grishina and Anastasia Sidorova are both expected to challenge for spots on this summer’s Russian Olympic team, but both will do so without any world championship experience because they just became eligible for senior competition on January 1st. The solution? Throw them into January’s Olympic Test Event in the very city in which the Olympic Games will be held, on a podium, alongside numerous Olympic-caliber gymnasts fighting for Olympic berths, and in front of international judges – and see how they handle it. Worse case scenario: they flounder a bit but gain tremendous experience. Best case scenario: they win medals at the competition and boost their reputations and confidence prior to the Olympic season. …

… I was quite surprised to see Marta not take advantage of this huge opportunity for gymnasts like Kyla Ross and Sarah Finnegan. Ross in particular is fully capable of representing the USA in London this summer and will no doubt be right in the Olympic mix. There’s no question, though, that her lack of experience and the risk that comes with throwing a first year senior into the Olympic Games will become a part of the discussion. …

Marta normally wants assurance that new National Team members will “score well” with international judges.

I couldn’t agree more. It was a big mistake for USA to opt out of the meet this time around.

Andy linked to this routine. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Read Andy’s full post – American Gymnast – Who Marta Should Have Sent To The Olympic Test Event…

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… athletes will have only four days off for Christmas and two at the New Year in a schedule that takes them right up to the crucial test event …

Guardian – London Olympics countdown: 32 weeks to go

Leave a comment if your athletes are taking fewer than 4 days off.

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STEPHEN J. DUBNER:

You know the bromide: “a winner never quits, and a quitter never wins.”

To which Freakonomics Radio says … Are you sure? Sometimes quitting is strategic, and sometimes it can be your best possible plan.

… To help us understand quitting, we look at a couple of key economic concepts in this episode: sunk cost and opportunity cost.

Sunk cost is about the past – it’s the time or money or sweat equity you’ve put into a job or relationship or a project, and which makes quitting hard.

Opportunity cost is about the future. It means that for every hour or dollar you spend on one thing, you’re giving up the opportunity to spend that hour or dollar on something else – something that might make your life better. …

Athletes — they use baseball players in their research — often stay in the sport too long.

In our context we’ve seen over and over again how much more successful gymnasts are when they move to other acrobatic sports. A friend today told me about his daughter — she quit gym and 3 months later was at the National Diving Championships.

Today she’s on an NCAA diving scholarship.

Here’s the link to that podcast – New Freakonomics Radio Podcast: “The Upside of Quitting”

… Don’t let your kids quit too soon. But equally important, help them transition at the optimum time. Artistic Gymnastics is still a youth sport, especially for women.

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Briley Casanova is a 2 time National Team Member, a future Michigan gymnast and a member of WOGA’s elite team. Briley trains with Laurent Landi’s group at the WOGA Plano …

7:45 or 8:00-11:45 AM- “We do team conditioning after we warm up until about 9:00, then normally my coaches split up our team into 2 groups and 1 group goes to bars and 1 group goes to beam …

3:30-6:30 PM- “Afternoon practice. We usually repeat bars and beam and finish things we might not have finished in the morning. We also try to finish at least one more event that night, either tumbling or vault.”

I’m sure that’s a simplification, but it’s still interesting to see so much emphasis on just 2 of the 4 apparatus.

Bekah’s “Get a Grip” – A Day in the Life of WOGA Elite Briley Casanova

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… With lofty goals comes the need for a more detailed training plan. Time constraints placed on most coaches, and the need for efficiency when dealing with the masses rather than a few select individuals, dictates that meticulous periodization IS NOT reasonable for all levels of gymnastics.

Would it be effective to hone a periodization plan for each athlete? Absolutely.

Is it practical? Absolutely not. …

read more – The Gymnastics Coach

He credits Bompa, Sands and Nassar as important influences on his approach to planning. And uses Jordyn as an example.

Though John’s site is fairly new, there’s already a lot of free text content linked via the videos page in the right hand navigation column.

Click PLAY or watch an intro to his DVDs on YouTube.

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A new report has found Queensland gymnastics and trampoline clubs need to improve safety for sport participants. …

… the risk of contact with all possible hard surfaces was controlled in only 8 per cent of facilities.

… nine recommendations to boost safety at clubs

New report aims to boost safety in Queensland gymnastics clubs

It’s now been over 2yrs since the death of adult recreational gymnast Michelle Maitland who hit her head on concrete at Townsville Gymnastics. Nothing can bring her back. But this report — released the day before what would have been Michelle’s birthday — might help prevent future catastrophic injury.

My friend Mike Outram survived after hitting his head on concrete.

Surely the very first thing coaches must do in any facility is make sure it’s impossible to hit concrete or steel. Long term, we need modify all foam pits to suspended systems, the best being the Jim Walker design.

Here are the 9 recommendations:

1. Gymnastics Australia should review the level of training, assistance and monitoring provided to clubs to implement the Club 10 program. This review should include the methods of monitoring compliance with, and implementation of, the program.

2. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, Sport and Recreation Services and Gymnastics Queensland should research how to link improved safety outcomes in the sport of gymnastics with the funding and non-financial support provided by SRS.

3. Gymnastics Australia should review their GA lesson plan template, in consultation with its members, with the view to developing a lesson plan template that includes coach positioning and key safety controls. Consideration should be given to sample lesson plans for each apparatus and level.

4. Gymnastics Australia should conduct a training needs analysis and ensure that access to coach accreditation and professional development courses is available.

5. Gymnastics Australia should research and develop methods to assist gymnastics clubs to conduct risk assessments, specifically in the use of gymnastics apparatus.

6. Gymnastics Australia should review the Club 10 equipment maintenance policies and procedures with a view to achieving greater compliance with Club 10 documenting processes.

7. Gymnastics Australia should research and develop methods to assist gymnastics clubs in managing the risk of manual task injuries in gymnastics coaches.

8. Gymnastics Australia should review coach knowledge on spotting and provide additional guidance and training where required.

9. Gymnastics Australia should research the viability of a simple method to document skill progression of gymnasts, including any injuries suffered. This may vary for high level, competitive gymnasts and low level or recreational gymnasts.

Download the entire 25 page report. (PDF)

This report needs be circulated to sports governing bodies worldwide. Leave a comment if you have ideas on how to make that happen. I’ll send it to some FIG committee members and Gymnastics Canada.

Update: As commenters have pointed out, an improvement to this report would be to better specify exactly what parts of the gym need be “padded”. In the past I’ve narrowed it down to pits and trampoline devices. But it should be broader than that.

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