Category: safety

monitoring Growth & Development

Dave Tilley:

… regularly tracking growth from a young age, as well as monitoring other aspects to athletes (resting heart rate / heart rate variability, perceived fatigue, sleep, movement screening, etc), is essential for coaches or healthcare providers involved in youth sports. …

HOW TO TRACK GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN YOUTH ATHLETES

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – A quick and easy way to anticipate pubertal growth spurt is to ask kids if they’ve recently needed bigger shoes. Distal body parts grow first.

While not foolproof, it’s a useful first tool.

Jason Mortimer catches gymnast on Tap Swing

Yep. Coach was ready. You never know.

Tap swings (and backward uprise) are surprisingly dangerous, especially for kids who are really trying to get as high as they can.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

How Hikers can FALL More Safely

Based on how we teach children to fall, I put together a video for those hiking while carrying a heavy backpack.

Right now I’m off hiking a section of the Pacific Crest Trail in California. Trying not to fall. 😀

Absorb IMPACT FORCES over time and surface area. 

BEST strategy is to pull in your arms (dropping poles). Take the first impact landing on your backpack.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. 

active hip / trunk flexibility

Artistic Preparation expert Julia Spivak recommends this drill.

Encouraging the gymnast to press forward with the hips rather than simply ARCH.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.

safest Gymnastics LANDINGS

Dave Tilley presented to both WAG NCAA College coaches and judges before the 2022 season.

The goal is for judges to evaluate landings consistently — and promote the safest possible landings.

The biggest reason is due to the massive number of serious knee and ankle injuries that gymnasts deal with, particularly in the NCAA. When you look at research studies, leg injuries account for up to 54.1% – 70.2% of all injuries.

Based on a study looking at injuries in NCAA Women’s gymnastics from 2009-2014, leg injuries accounted for 50% of all injuries with the knee and ankle being the most common (19). In some studies, up to 52% of all gymnastics injuries occur during landings, with some researchers calling it the ‘riskiest exercise phase in gymnastics.” …

THE NEED TO CHANGE LANDING DEDUCTIONS IN NCAA GYMNASTICS FOR LESS KNEE AND ANKLE INJURIES

Click through for a deep dive into this very important topic.

Watch William Emard STICKING.

Good aerial awareness. Stong legs. Good technique. Fewer injuries on landings.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.

Dave Tilley’s LANDING training

I’d concur that the very BEST drill for landing facing forward is jumping down from a height to punch forward salto. It’s also my favourite drill for take-offs facing forward.

For strong gymnasts I’d include 10 drops to punch front — OR 5 sticks, whichever comes first. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Changing Gymnastics Culture – a review

Dave Tilley’s excellent book, more than 450 pages.

Something for every coach: sports medicine, injury prevention, conditioning, ethics, …

Dave was partly inspired to put his ideas together by the Nassar crimes. He sensed “outdated training methods and a toxic culture can foster abusive practices” in Gym … making it possible for a pedophile to go undetected for decades.

Coaches spent inordinate amounts of time with young children and parents place complete trust in them. Young athletes are taught that their dreams may depend on the approval of a famous trainer or coach. They are also programmed to believe that obeying orders given, without question, is the only path to achieve their dreams.

Together, these truths about certain areas of our sport, while not necessarily inherently malicious in nature, certainly open to the door to abuse and mistreatment of young athletes. …

I certainly recommend you download and check it out for yourself.

Dave’s made his book free. Click through to download.

The book is 3 PDFs.

In addition are two resources: Myofascial Release Checklist and a Splits Complex.

World Gymnastics caved on Russia & Belarus

Executive Committee (EC) decided at their 16-17 May meeting to lift all restrictions applicable to Russian and Belarusian athletes since February 2022, with immediate effect.

Personally, I would have voted against. Putin’s war has killed officially over 400,000 — but likely over a million.

Yes, you could argue other nations should be banned, as well. I’d like vote for those bans.

NOW ➙ what about Russia’s top down illegal use of performance enhancing drugs?

monitoring height in Gymnastics

Dr. Dave Tilley on monitoring for peak height velocity.

Dave’s been tracking 3 numbers for each of the growing kids:

• height
• seated height (torso length)
• wing span

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

At MINIMUM your gymnasts age 10-17 should have a place in the Gym where they pencil in their standing height on some regular basis. They should know when they are growing. There are implications for training load.

If you want to research this topic, get Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science, Gymnastics. (2013).

Here’s the Google Books preview.