Coaches Corner: Competition Season Is Here!

It's that time of year again (at least in New Zealand and Australia anyway!). After months and months of conditioning and working on new skills, we are finally ready to perform routines in front of the judges. Time to get out the club leotard again!

In New Zealand, we work on a 'steps' program rather than 'levels'. In Women's Artistic Gymnastics, there is step 1-10. Each step has an 'overs' and an 'unders' age-group category  each of which receives medals for first, second and third place. The teams can consist of up to five gymnasts from the same club, from either age category. Three scores from the four apparatuses contribute to the overall team score.

From Gymsports New Zealand

Steps 1-5 have set routines and choreographed floor routines, which makes comparisons easy for the judges. Step 6 has optional routines and is the first level where gymnasts are allowed to have unique floor routines, performed to their own choice in music. Overall, this system works well, especially after the introduction of the two age categories which helps to even the playing field. Steps 7-10 are regarded as 'senior levels' and these girls compete two days, day one for the all-around and team competition and day two for apparatus placings.

As a coach, all we can ask if that our athletes perform to the best of their ability. The idea of competitions is to show everyone how much they have progressed and have some fun doing it! Often athletes will remain at the same step for longer than a year, this helps them to be able to perfect their routines. Gymnasts from Step 5 upwards can be selected to compete at the National Championships for their region, the biggest annual competition held in NZ.

Article by Imogen Browne 
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Coaches Corner: Online Leotard Shopping!

There are many fantastic websites where you can order leotards both for competitions and training. If you live outside of the country where they are made, you often have to pay extra for postage. Bulk ordering for your club is recommended!

1/ GK Elite (USA)

Gk Elite is the obvious choice for leotards. They have a huge range of styles and sizes for both competition and training. They also supply other gym gear such as shorts, hand guards, tracksuits and wrist-supporters. Gymnasts such as Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas have their own line of leotards which they have designed themselves. Very cool! They are well-made, can put through the washing machine and are very comfortable to wear. Also watch out for the sales and 'value tanks' for something different.

Find their website here

One of Aly Raisman's tank leotards (photo credit: GK Elite)

2/ Milano Pro-sport (UK)

Milano also have a range of training and competition leotards. They are good quality and reasonably priced. British Olympians Becky Downie, Beth Tweddle Hannah Whelan, Imogen Cairns and Rebecca Tunney are featured throughout the catalouge.

Find their website here

British Gymnasts Becky Downie and Danusia Francis model some of Milano's styles (photo credit: Milano Pro-Sport

3/ Sylvia P Gymnastics Leotards (Australia)

Australian brand Sylvia P leotards offer short and long-sleeved leotards. They are happy to produce customised leotards for clubs (like GK). Their leotards are very classical and elegant.

Find their website here

An elegant Sylvia P competition leotard (photo credit: Sylvia P Gymnastics Leotards)

4/ Foxy Fitness Fashions (US)

For something different, why not try Foxy Fitness Fashions? Run by a gymnastics family, they produce fun training leotards for all ages. They are very reasonably priced and have some very cool designs.

Find their website here

Foxy Fitness Fashions leotards for all ages! (photo credit: Foxy Fitness Fashions)

Article by Imogen Browne (Follow me on Twitter at @IFlip4GymBlog)

Coaches Corner: Conditioning ideas from Mary Lee Tracy

Mary Lee Tracy who coaches at Cincinnati Gymnastics (Junior Champion Lexie Preissman and Amelia Hundley) posts some of the best coaching and conditioning videos on her YouTube channel, found here.

Mary-Lee with Amelia Hundley

Circuit training is a great way to build up endurance and teaches the gymnast to perform skills even when they are tired. It is also fun for the gymnasts participating!

Circuit training set-up, easily adapted for any gym conditions

Gymnasts can be conditioned to improve their body tension. This improves the overall look of their gymnastics on all apparatus. I like the use of leg weights in these drills to help build muscle.

Article by Imogen Browne (@Iflip4gymblog)

Coaches Corner: Coaching Is Not An Exact Science-It's An Art!

As a coach, there are two main types of feedback that you can give to your gymnasts- praise or criticism. Obviously, if a gymnast has made improvements and progress, positive feedback is appropriate. However, especially for older gymnasts who are already performing skills well, some structured criticism regarding technique will help them to perfect their skills.

Younger gymnasts require constant positive feedback to boost their confidence levels

How a coach handles each individual gymnast also depends upon the gymnast themselves. Talented gymnasts who learn new skills quickly will require critical feedback in order for them to polish the skills and perform them to the best of their ability. However, gymnasts which struggle to get certain skills will require much encouragement and positive feedback while they learn. Each gymnast is unique and should be coached in a way that works best for them. Coaching is not an exact science, it's an art!

It is easy for a coach to become quickly frustrated when gymnasts are not making the changes they ask for. It is important for the coach to remember that the gymnast is probably just as equally frustrated. At times like these, the coach should provide positive feedback as well as reminding the gymnast of what they need to fix. For example,

"That vault had lots of power, but you still need to think about leaning back on the beat-board".

"Cool, that's one of your better kips today, but remember to keep those legs close to the bar".

Article by Imogen Browne (@ImogenMireille)

Coaches Corner: Developing Tap Swings

A fundamental skill for Junior gymnasts is developing swinging techniques on both the low (glides) and high bars (tap swings). It is important that they become confident with simple moves like these in order for them to develop the strength and skills to progress with more difficult skills. One of the most difficult things to teach young gymnasts are fundamental body shapes that they must make while swinging. Conditioning of both the dish (hollow) and arch shape is necessary and must be repeated and reinforced with every training session.

The Youtube video below gives some excellent conditioning tips and drills that can be performed on the bars themselves.

Tap Swing Drills Video

Many young gymnasts find it difficult to find the correct swing rhythm, lack the strength or are too scared to go high. A slow progression through these drills should help gymnasts with any problems.

Article by Imogen Browne (@ImogenMireille)

Coaches Corner: Gymnastike's Technique Tuesdays

I have been a gymnastics coach for around 4 years and in my time I have coached both rec and competitive. An ex-gymnast myself, I have come to realise that coaching is an excellent way to stay involved in the sport. It can be challenging and frustrating some days, especially when the kids become tired. But then there are those moments when a kid learns a new skill or does really well in a competition, and you know all of that hard work has paid off. And it's the best feeling ever!

The hardest part for me is coming up with drills that will help with new skills and techniques such as; kips, powerful vaulting, roundolfs and flic-flacs (back handsprings). There are many useful resources on the gymternet which give coaches like me great ideas. An example are the 'Technique Tuesdays' which can be found at gymnastike. Highly trained coaches give advice on specific skills across a range of levels (eg. good handstand---> Tchatchev drills) and for both competitive and recreational gymnasts. I seriously recommend checking them out if you haven't already!

 http://www.gymnastike.org/page/Technique-Videos

I often find that the equipment used is quite high tech and expensive, but many drills are adaptable!

Article by Imogen Browne (@ImogenMireille)