Gymnastics Coaching.com

Take Flight Aerial Adventure

The day after Gym Momentum Camp 2014 Boston, Director Tony Retrosi took some of the coaches and kids up to his ropes course in Maine.

This was the toughest “element“.

Take Flight Aerial Adventure

That pic was posted by Cygnus Gymnastics. 🙂

Kim Jacob wins the Honda

A stunned Kim Jacob smiled brightly Monday night as she was presented the 40th annual Honda Cup as the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Athlete of the Year in Los Angeles during the live awards broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.

Jacob, the 2014 NCAA All-Around Champion and the Honda Award winner for the sport of gymnastics, was one of 12 women from 12 different sports under consideration for the prestigious accolade that honors the best collegiate NCAA Division I female athlete in the nation over the past academic year. …

Jacob is just the third gymnast in the history of the award to win the Honda Cup, following Missy Marlowe (Utah, 1993) and Courtney Kupets (Georgia, 2009). …

Roll Tide

lacking confidence = increased risk of injury

47 athletes training for Cirque du Soleil were studied:

… injury, emotional exhaustion, self-efficacy and fatigue were associated with an increase in injury risk (risk ratios between 1.8 and 2.8), but Conflicts/Pressure was not (risk ratio=0.8). Of the several specific psychological aspects that are considered risk factors for injury, low self-efficacy had the strongest relationship. …

British Journal of Sports Medicine – Psychological predictors of injuries in circus artists: an exploratory study

What’s “low self-efficacy“, the factor that correlated highest with injury?

GRETCHEN REYNOLDS in the New York Times explains:

Hoping to discern what traits separated the injury-prone from the impervious, Dr. Hallé and colleagues from McGill University in Montreal compared data from the athletes’ psychological questionnaires with their medical charts. What they found was that a person’s level of confidence could significantly affect his or her risk of sustaining an injury. …

What the Circus Can Teach Us About Sports Injuries

Lesson for coaches = coach for confidence. That means more successful progressions, more repetition and less spotting.

Dr. Hallé:

“Watch someone who is really good” at a task, whether it’s a twisting somersault from a trapeze platform or a 5K road race, and “notice each step that they take.”

… Every activity involves a series of discrete, manageable skills that you can practice individually, she said. “Succeeding at a portion of the task will show you that you have the capacity to succeed at the rest.” …

(via Stacy Clark)

back flip catching 2 footballs

University of Minnesota Gophers wide receiver Logan Hutton back flip and 2 ball catch.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via bleacherreport)

got to hand it to short people

Post by Melissa Joan Hart.

OK … Wow

Post by Acroarmy.

Sam Oldham – whip to triple back

//instagram.com/p/p4E7_DxhLO/embed/

kip drills

For Shawn Johnson a kip on Bars was her most difficult skill to learn.

Swing Big posted a summary of drills Kipping deconstructed, including the best of the best, those by JAO.

Start with Kipping Process Part I on YouTube. (VIDEO)

Next, check out more interesting drills posted by Joshua Ruby.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Swing Big editor Zari Goldmann is one of the best gymnastics coaching bloggers and author of a number of coaching booklets.

headspring for WAG?

Most boys train headspring at some point in their career.

Is it a good idea for girls?

Swing Big likes the drill:

… two ways of doing front headsprings, one off a mat and the second on the floor. I’m pretty sure I’ve never had my gymnasts do it on the floor. I just haven’t felt it necessary. By the time they have a good one off the mat generally their front handsprings on floor (or TT, or into the pit) are pretty good. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.