Gymnastics Coaching.com

Bar grip elastics

American Gymnast:

This video explains how girls should put on their pair of American Gymnast grips and answers one of the most common questions we receive about our grips – how to use our unique elastic band finger-locking system.

First, make sure you are putting your grips on the correct hand. For gymnastics grips with a Velcro strap, as you tighten the grips, you want to be pulling the strap in towards your body. For grips with a buckle strap, as you lay the palm of your hand down on top of the grips, you want the buckle to be on the outer most side of your hand.

Next, put your middle two fingers (i.e. ring finger and middle finger) into the finger holes of the grip. As you do this, make sure the elastic band is sticking out between your two middle fingers.

Next, twist the elastic band once and bring it down over and around the fingers and grips. Then, twist the band again and bring it back up over and around the fingers and top of the grips. Watch the video for a demonstration of this.

Now your fingers are locked securely in the finger holes and will not slip out while you are swinging on the bars. Once you do this a few times, you will quickly get the hang of it and it should only take a couple of seconds to put the elastic band into place. If you feel your fingers are secure enough in the holes without the elastic band, it is very simple to cut the elastic band out with a pair of fingernail clippers or scissors, being careful not to cut any stitching around the dowel area. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’ve always preferred a soft wool tie down from grip holes back to the wrist strap. But elastics seem to be the most popular safety tie-ons these days.

Brent Klaus – Roche

Score: 10.000

John Hancock U.S. Gymnastics Championships 1998

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Brent Klaus is today the man behind International Gymnastics Camp and the Professional Challenge.

Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate

Awesome trick biking. (Crashes are revealed at the end.)

Don’t bother to click PLAY — watch it on Red Bull instead.

http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js http://admin.brightcove.com/js/APIModules_all.jsbrightcove.createExperiences();

Red Bull uses crappy Brightcove for hosting their videos. Always a mistake.

Masters Gymnastics Survey

You are invited to participate in a research study of participation motivations and online media usage of masters gymnastics participants (Adult gymnasts). The study is being conducted by Andrea N. Eagleman, Ph.D., a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise at Massey University in New Zealand. …

SURVEY

It takes about 15min to complete.

(via Rec Gymnastics)

Céline van Gerner

The Hard Way To Success – Episode 9.

Entire episode will be online November 4.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Mom, I’m done with gymnastics

… When she was 11, she earned first place all-around for her level in the state, all ages. It was an incredible moment, and I started believing that maybe she was good enough to get a college scholarship.

Then the injuries started. She fractured the growth plate in one wrist, then the other. Later, there was an ankle fracture. After that, the fear crept in. The skills were getting harder, and the back handspring on the beam gave her anxiety. Her palms often had giant blisters from the bars. I asked her often if she still wanted to do gymnastics. She always said yes. …

We were driving home after a vacation in Virginia a few weeks ago when she told me: “Mom, I’m done with gymnastics.” Just like that. After almost eight years — about half her life — she was ready to trade in her leotard for a life outside the gym. She said the sport wasn’t as much fun anymore. She was tired of being afraid. …

It took me a few days to realize that the huge investment of time had made her who she was now. She’d had to be organized to get her homework done. She was meticulous, focused and strong. Gymnastics had done that.

She’d learned to take risks. She’d learned to fight fear. She’d learned perseverance in the face of disappointment. She’d learned to succeed at one of the toughest sports on earth. She’d learned to give it up on her terms.

Grief turned to relief. …

read more – Gymnast’s decision throws her mom off balance

Proactive Coaching – Mike Morgan

This past summer I attended two of three sessions with Mike Morgan from Proactive Coaching.

Avant Coeur Gymnastics:

3:00 pm – coaches
4:30 pm – athletes
6:00 pm – parents

Many of us loved the parents session. Mike — a music & football coach, parent of a gymnast — didn’t go easy on problem parents.

He pointed out that parents today are parenting differently than in the past:

#1 – 80% of communication is body language …
#2 – tone of voice
#3 – … words you use

Parents have changed, but kids haven‘t. Teens can be contrary, self-negative, argumentative.

Parents need deal with problems quickly and calmly. Practice your response to misbehavior.

“I love you too much to allow that behaviour.“

Mike emphasized that parents need to let go. They need to “release” their children to .…

… A. to the Game
… B. to the Team
… C. to the Coach

Part of parenting is to teach risk taking. Sport is a good place to learn how to put yourself on the line. How to win. And how to lose.

Far more dangerous for teens is experimenting with smoking, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc.

Parental RED FLAGS:

1. want to share in sporting credit
2. want to solve all their children’s problems
3. want to coach their son/daughter
4. yell at the officials
5. build excuses: refs, equipment, coaching, etc.
6. avoid the coach after competitions
7. parents more nervous than their children
8. slower getting over defeats than their children

Over-managed and stressed out parents result in over-managed and stressed out athletes.

Parents in distress or emotional need to give their children some space. Stay away from workout. Sit at the very top of the bleachers during competitions.

Interested in the good word on coaching?

LIKE Proactive Coaching on Facebook. They post several times a day.