Every club needs a video like this to explain how Gymnastics can be trained safely after COVID-19 reopening.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Every club needs a video like this to explain how Gymnastics can be trained safely after COVID-19 reopening.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Scott M Reid interviewed many MG Elite gymnasts and their parents regarding their complaints about coaches Maggie Haney and Victoria Levine:
Parents were not allowed in the gym at MG Elite and Haney warned gymnasts not to complain to their parents about her coaching methods, according to six parents and documents related to the USA Gymnastics investigation. …
Girls who were unable or reluctant to perform skills or displeased Haney in training or competition were screamed at, berated and ridiculed, according to six parents and documents. A mistake could lead to Haney telling a gymnast she was lazy, fat, uncoachable or disrespectful, according to interviews and documents.
Haney and Levine regularly called gymnasts retarded or said they should be in the “retarded group,” according to parents.
“They used ‘retarded’ all the time,” a parent said. …
Sometimes Haney got physical. Haney pulled gymnasts by their hair off the balance beam or out of foam pits, according to five parents. When a gymnast fell on bars during a photo shoot for a leotard company, an enraged Haney pulled the girl by her hair to her feet, according to the gymnast’s mother. …
related:
GymCastic – Emotional Abuse: The Maggie Haney Eight Year Ban
The Skating Lesson – Maggie Haney’s Coaching Methods
… 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. …
Click PLAY or watch her 2019 Gold on YouTube.
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
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.
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.

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:
Phase 4 would be return to normal training.
Download the entire document – USOPC Return to Training

Lorraine Currie of Futures Gymnastics in Canada has organized an interesting event — an online Gymnastics Congress.
The theme …
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.
IMHO – Inbars should be valued same as Stalder, Endo.
It’s not a skill we should be encouraging.
Growing up in western Canada we never called piked Endo or piked Stalder ‘Inbars‘.
Most often we called them stooped Stalder, stooped Endo.
Sometimes Stalder piked, Endo piked.
The WAG Code currently calls them Clear Pike Circles. That’s better than Inbars, in my opinion.
These swings are a problem for WAG in 2020 for several reasons:
They aren’t a problem for MAG and haven’t been since the men’s Code devalued to same as regular Stalder / Endo. We no longer see them in MAG competition.
But there was fugly era when MANY male gymnasts competed them for difficulty. Very few men had the genetic limb length and physical ability to do them well. It was painful to watch.
I coached only one who trained them, Davide Bardana. He’s also the best I can recall.
Kyle Shewfelt, years later at the same club, competed them as cleanly as any male gymnast of the day.
Click PLAY or watch Kyle on YouTube. Pirouette angle deductions weren’t as important in that Code as they are today.
Florida Gators were killing it in 2020. Undefeated in the SEC.
Jenny Rowland – NCAA Coach of the Year
A huge bounce back after not qualifying for 2019 Nationals.
But rather than being bitter about the COVID-19 season being cut short, they send thanks to everyone flattening the curve, reducing deaths and bringing back the economy as quickly as safely possible.
Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.