A coach at the 2007 BC Fall Congress asked me a tough question, one I’ve been unable to answer in the past.
“What do you do when it comes time for the obese child to do “pullover” on a bar. And there is NO WAY the coach can physically heave them over.”
Well … we talked about a couple of ways to minimize hurt feelings.
But the honest answer is, “We should not require the very overweight to do pullover. Coaches need to come up with alternatives to that skill.”
We want overweight kids in our programs. Gymnastics is very, very good for them.
And the percentage of heavy kids, sadly, at least in North America, is still increasing:
About one-quarter of Canadians aged two to 17 are overweight or obese, and they are expected to live shorter lives than their parents, the Commons health committee warned Tuesday.
An all-party committee report titled Healthy Weight for Healthy Kids calls on the federal government to stop the trend toward increasing obesity levels among Canadian children by the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, and to decrease levels by at least 25 per cent by 2020. …
“It has been said that obesity outranks both smoking and drinking now in its effects on health and health costs,” said committee chair Rob Merrifield, a Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Yellowhead.
“For the first time in recorded history, today’s younger generation will live shorter lives than their parents. Yet parents, and this is, I believe, the most alarming statistic that we found, do not recognize the problem.”
cartoon – Mothers Have Inaccurate Perceptions Of Children’s Body Weight
Gymnastics Coaching.com 