Another good article on USolympicteam.com
I’ve seen gymnastics coaches who love to take the credit when a gymnast does something right:
“WE did a fantastic Tkachev.”
But are quick to blame the athlete when something goes wrong.
In general, coaches of female gymnasts are too controlling. They try to continue coaching 13-year-olds they same way they coached the girls at age-9.
That’s not the best or most efficient strategy. As gymnasts get older, they must make more and more of the decisions. We are preparing them for life, as well as gymnastics.
Not only do we have to “let go” of control. But each athlete is individual. Some 13-year-olds can make good decisions for themselves and are self-motivated. Some 15-year-olds want you to yell at them for “motivation”.
Reuters – China Daily
Five Tips
You can start teaching your athlete to be self-reliant with simple ideas that can be done in practice, such as:
Don’t over analyze—if they can remember three things that you tell them to do—that is amazing. Have them describe what happened, instead of you telling them what happened. If they didn’t like what happened ask them what they would do differently—don’t accept “I dunnoâ€. Design practices so that you don’t do the same skill over and over again (block practice) but make it random … mix it up … the variability makes the athlete think much like they would in a game. Stop workouts and ask them questions. How did it feel or I noticed this happened, why do you think that is? Don’t give constant feedback—tell them what the purpose of the workout is—let them work on it. Let them experiment and give constructive feedback after 5, 10 or 15 tries. If you do it every time, they learn to rely on you and not on themselves. …
read the rest of this article By Catherine Sellers- USOC Coaching – DEVELOPING A SELF-RELIANT ATHLETE
Gymnastics Coaching.com 