Category: parents

Belgium has been training

… she and teammates Maellyse Brassart and Senna Deriks board together in an apartment building near the national team training center.

“Actually, we’re pretty lucky because we can still train at our gym, so that’s good.

Our whole senior team can still train in the hall. But after training we just go back and make our food and we don’t leave the building.” …

At 169 cm, Derwael is the tallest woman to win the World Uneven Bars title in more than three decades. She credits a part of her success to Belgian national team coaches Yves Kieffer and Marjorie Huels, who have worked with her for the past seven years.
“Without them I wouldn’t be standing here now,” she said. …

Determined Derwael biding her time before Tokyo

Click PLAY or watch her 2019 Gold on YouTube.

Communicating with parents about COVID-19

As I post more and more Gyms are opening, or getting ready to open.

Communicating with parents is critical.

I like how Bryon Hough is doing that messaging for Classic Gymnastics in Minnesota and Iowa.

Clean and clear on their website, as is the logo.

via Chalk Bucket forum

Gymnastics Clubs are reopening

So far, so good at Avant Coeur.

Every coach and every Gym has to decide what’s best for them.

Err on the side of caution. Start training slowly with an abundance of physical distancing. No spotting to start.

If it works, gradually increase training. Gradually increase the number of kids invited to restart.

If even one child or coach tests COVID-19 positive for any reason, your Gym will likely close again.

Much depends on the risk in your area. New Zealand clubs, for example, will be back to normal quickly. If you are in a hot zone, you’ll have to go more slowly.

GOOD LUCK. We’re cheering for you.

Many owners right now are worried about this scenario. There has to be enough revenue to keep the doors open.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

Gymnastics resumes in Italy

Some Italian gymnasts trained in quarantine during COVID-19.

But most clubs were allowed to open starting May 4th. 

Italy deems sports including Artistic Gymnastics, Golf and Tennis in the safest category allowing physical distancing most easily.

Team sports, including volleyball, have more physical contact.

 

 

U.S. Olympic Committee on reopening

As of April 28, 2020.

Here’s some advice on what to do when allowed to reopen sports facilities. It’s quite general, information for coaches of all Olympic sports.

USOPC Return to Training Considerations Post COVID-19 

Phase 3:

  • small groups allowed to train. But no general public access.
  • athletes, coaches, and staff have NO symptoms of COVID-19 (Appendix 2) in the past 14 days
  • anyone who had a case of documented COVID-19 infection needs a note from their doctor indicating they are cleared to participate in training
  • ideally participants should have 2 negative COVID-19 tests separated by 24 hours before resuming training
  • athletes record signs and symptoms (including temperature) on a paper or electronic log that is monitored by coaches or staff
  • athletes interviewed each time on arrival for symptoms
  • athletes should use their own equipment and avoid touching each other as much as possible
  • Use own water bottle, towel, personal hygiene products, etc.
  • Rigorous, frequent cleaning schedule/protocol of equipment with disinfectant before, during, and after training
  • cleaners wear appropriate personal protective equipment  (e.g., gloves, face mask, etc.) to prevent contact with contaminated surfaces and protect against toxicities associated with cleaning products
  • coaches maintain physical distance from athletes, as much as possible. No spotting, if possible.

Phase 4 would be return to normal training.

Download the entire document – USOPC Return to Training

 

 

My Gym is Online – Gymnastics conference

Lorraine Currie of Futures Gymnastics in Canada has organized an interesting event — an online Gymnastics Congress.

The theme …

Resilience 2020

Five days – May 11-15, 2020.

Cost is low:

$15 for any one stream: Business, Competitive, Recreational

$25 all access.

Proceeds going towards COVID-19 vaccine research at University of Pittsburgh and Sunnybrook Hospital.

Many big name presenters whom I’d love to hear.  This is a COVID-19 alternative for coaches who normally book themselves for one of the annual Congress events.

Details.

 

 

Laurie Hernandez on Maggie Haney

Laurie trained with Maggie Haney for 11 years.

Hernandez has never spoken publicly about the abuse allegations against Maggie Haney.

But in a lengthy Instagram post in response to Haney’s suspension, Hernandez, a member of the Final Five that won gold at the Rio Games in 2016, said that years of being yelled at and belittled had made her think she hated gymnastics.

“It wasn’t until mid 2018 I realized it was the people that made the experience bad, not the sport itself,” Hernandez wrote Thursday. …

USA Today

You can read Laurie’s statement on Instagram.

Buckeye’s reopening after COVID-19

David Holcomb has been planning how to safely reopen Buckeye Gymnastics (Gabby’s former gym) — and the plan has evolved over time based on government recommendations in Ohio.

The club hopes to start opening mid-May or shortly after.

Only one parent or non-participating individual will be allowed to enter the building with their child.

Parents and staff are required to wear masks as per Buckeye Gymnastics policy. Gymnasts are not required to wear masks but are welcome to do so.

Webcam viewing will allow parents to watch from home, at work or in their cars.

The number of children in class will be reduced: school-age classes will be 6:1 max and pre-school 4:1 max. Buckeye will not offer classes for preschoolers age 4 and younger for now.

No Open Gym or Birthday Parties for the foreseeable future.

No hands-on spotting for at least the first month. We will then reevaluate.

We will stagger class start and end times to insure time for the students to get in and out of the gym safely, to provide time to wipe down the equipment between each class and for teachers to thoroughly wash their hands.

There will be touchless temperature checks for all staff members.

The communal drinking fountains will be closed. We plan to remove them and replace them with sinks to provide more opportunities for washing hands.

Open David’s April 28th letter to Staff and Families for details. (Word doc)

Thanks for sharing this, Dave. 

If your club needs help with reopening, I’d recommend consultant Frank Sahlein and his company 3rd Level Consulting.

For example, your revised release form will need a new paragraph talking about the risk of contracting a virus or other disease while at the Gym.

Maggie Haney suspended 8 years

Former U.S. Olympic and national team coach Maggie Haney was suspended by USA Gymnastics on Wednesday for eight years for verbal and emotional abuse …

The suspension comes nearly four years after Hernandez first filed a complaint against Haney with a top USA Gymnastics official (Rhonda Faehn) …

Haney is expected to appeal the decision. …

Hernandez and McCusker joined at least a half-dozen families in filing complaints against Haney with USA Gymnastics. …

Click through for details.

related – Assistant coach Victoria Levine is on interim suspension and is currently under investigation.

Gymnastics training in Sweden during COVID-19

Sweden has, unlike many other countries, not imposed any lockdown, with most measures being voluntary. …

Most schools and Universities are closed, but not Primary schools.

The Swedish government has tried to focus efforts on encouraging the right behaviour and creating social norms rather than mandatory restrictions. And voluntary has worked in many cases.

Most public sports competitions were postponed, but Gymnastics Clubs could continue training if they wished.

One Gym decided to close for 10 days to get organized. Then reopen only for competitive WAG and TeamGym.  (Each Gym made their own decision. Some decided to close voluntarily.)

Anton @GymSwedeAnto:

On the WAG side, we have a pretty strict hygiene regimen the gymnasts and coaches all follow. We’ve begun washing our hands like it is our religion:

-When we come into the training hall
-Before line-up at the start of training
-After warm-up
-After each rotation (sometimes 3 or 4 apparatus)
-After break
-After stretch before going home

We also have rotating shifts amongst the coaching and office staff cleaning the gym for three hours every weekday. This includes sanitizing mats after each use in training and during the cleaning shift, mopping floors, and using disinfectant wipes to clean non-pourous training surfaces.

The gymnasts often help out with disinfecting the mats they used during training.

We’ve also taken to using the plastic sides of our mats instead of the soft sides, as well as laying panel mats over our closed-foam pits to diminish the chance of infection transmission on surfaces that are not easily disinfected.

As seen in the photo, we have marked out 2 meter distances on our floor and all over our training hall …

We’ve also set up five chalk stations at bars to keep distance there as well. …

As far as actual gymnastics, the girls are training skills they are comfortable with, a lot of drills and progressions, and a lot of basics.

Coaches have been asked not to spot gymnasts until we get clearance from an assortment of government authorities allowing us to do so. It absolutely does make things interesting; not being able to spot the gymnasts and keep them that extra level of safe.

One of my biggest challenges right now is keeping up motivation. With no competitions or training camps for the foreseeable future and no timeline for them to return, the gymnasts sometimes wonder what they are training for. It isn’t easy, but we are making it work …

We’ve had zero transmissions or infection …

Leave a comment if you have any questions for Anton.

Update – Another Swedish club closed for 14 days.

Reopened with one class at a time, no parents allowed inside the building (1 parent allowed if the child is younger than 5).

  • First 5 minutes is to wash hands, etc.
  • Cleaning between sessions.
  • No hugs, high fives or spotting.
  • No food in the building.