Category: coach education

Gymnastics Education in Emerging Nations

This is a free online FIG presentation.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Favourite Gymnastics Progressions

This is a VIDEO I put together during the pandemic.

Some of my best coaching tips.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (44min)

Gymnastics in emerging nations

I’m a volunteer for IOC and FIG helping member countries who want to grow and improve their Gymnastics sports.

A NEW video looks at the challenges faced around the world. Facilities. Coaching. Local knowledge about the sports.

Parkour is one of the easiest disciplines to get started.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (42min)

mental health for COACHES

One legacy of the greatest of all time, is Simone normalizing gymnasts talking about their mental health.

Still little discussed is the importance of mental health for coaches.

It can be a very stressful job. But in 2023, most coaches want to hide any anxiety.

That should change.

TrueSport is offering an online event on the topic Nov. 6th.

Gymnastics in Nigeria 2023

by site editor Rick McCharles

Fast Forward

Uche Eke was the first gymnast to represent Nigeria at the Olympics.

He won’t be the last.

Uche is from Maryland, competed for Michigan. But he traveled to Nigeria twice a year from a young age and took part in domestic competitions.

Now retired, Nigeria is looking for the next Uche Eke. And the next Simone Biles. 😀

Following Worlds Antwerp I flew to Benin City, Nigeria to lead an FIG WAG / MAG Artistic Age Group Camp.

I’ve led many of these camps in developing nations around the world. Nigeria was the best organized, so far.

This is a group of coaches with mixed resources.  Training from 6 – 24 hours / week maximum. 

I wanted to challenge the top coaches while not intimidating those with few hours, limited set-up, take-down equipment. 

The 3-year-old Gym at Ogbemudia stadium is the best in the nation.

Click PLAY or watch get a glimpse on YouTube. Indoor drone footage. Very cool.

In fact, the main factor holding back Nigeria is lack of training facilities.

Entrepreneurs have not yet opened many private gyms in Nigeria the way they have in Egypt and other developing nations. 

Course Content

As many of the top coaches had done the Age Group Camp with me previously, I reviewed all sections having them practice on samples of the Physical, Technical, and Competition Routines.

A HUGE improvement from before the pandemic is having the Age Group PDF documents linked to YouTube.  All coaches were quickly comfortable finding and working with the FIG videos from the PDF.  

Next we looked at best practice introducing BASICS to beginners. The Age Group program offers everything you need from pre-competitive up to FIG Junior.

Fast Forward

Nigeria plans to compete at World Cup competitions in 2024.  

Their top male gymnasts are world class on Floor and Vault.

My thanks to Hardy Fink, the mastermind behind the FIG Age Group program in all disciplines.

This content is a terrific resource and FREE to every coach online.

Check out the FIG Age Group program. Download the PDFs in English, Français, or Español.

FIG eLearning platform – a review

As one of the authors of the Canadian WAG & MAG coach education online platform materials, I am impressed with what FIG has done with theirs.

It’s inevitable that eventually all our resources will be digital. Only a few of those printed.

Every organization is struggling with how BEST to move online.

FIG has challenges:  8 disciplines x 3 languages.

NEW is a requirement that all coaches in an FIG competition must get their Safeguarding Certificate by December 1, 2023.

The FIG is happy to announce that the Safeguarding Online Course is now available on the eLearning Platform. As approved by the Executive Committee in March 2023, the purpose of this course is to provide all coaches with a Safeguarding Certificate and therefore give them the tools they need to ensure a safe environment in Gymnastics.

This course is mandatory for all coaches registered in the FIG Coach – Sport Database, and the deadline to comply with this requirement is 1 December 2023. After this date, coaches who did not comply will see their registration pending until they obtain a Safeguarding Certificate.

via email

The guidelines are available here:

Step is to register for the FIG E-learning platform. Anyone can do this.

There is a LOT of free content in all disciplines for anyone who registers:

  • Age Group Development Program VIDEOS and ROUTINES
    • Safeguarding
    • Ethics
    • Anti-doping
    • Webinars
    • More …

Create NEW Account

Enter your email address and choose a password.

Step is to have your national Federation create a “Coach – Sport” profile in the FIG database for you.

Only those coaches who are planning to compete in an FIG sanctioned meet need their Federation to create a “Coach – Sport” profile in the FIG database, however.

“Championship Gymnastics” – Powerpoint slides

Dr. Gerald S. George is selling 180 slides from his excellent book.

GymnasticsGenius.com

GymnasticsGenius.com is the new app and website from Max Whitlock and coach Scott Hann.

Coach education.

14 day free trial available.

After that you have a choice of £149.99/year or £44.99/quarter.

Deal-breaker Behaviours in Coach Education

In Canada, coaches and clinicians will be removed from official Sports Canada course for these behaviours:

  • Uses language that is racist, sexist, or demeaning
  • Allows learners to use language that is racist, sexist, or demeaning

Via the GymCan National Coaching Certification Program requirements.

NEW Pommel Book by Miguel Costante 

Amazon for Kindle or Paperback:

The English translation has just been released. Miguel has coached in Canada for decades and is completely bilingual.

Miguel is widely recognized one of the best MAG age-group coaches.

He’s available as a consultant for any club worldwide.

Happily, Miguel also has a lot of FREE content on his site in both English & Spanish so you can check out his coaching philosophy first.

The NEW website is Evolve-Gymnastic.com (no S at the end of Gymnastic)