When to spot---or not? - Page 2

LemonLime · 07-22-2007, 09:30 PM

I'm no coach, but my dd is going into L10 and is never spotted on beam, floor or vault. She is sometimes spotted on shapes on bars. Everyone is taught this way. I don't know which is preferable, but the girls do well and there isn't a lot of fear in the gym. They do do endless repetitions on basics, on floor, on floor beam, on rod, on tumble trak, yadda yadda yadda, before they move up to the "real" skill, but there is no spotting really of any sort.

TDiver · 07-23-2007, 12:09 AM

Lemonlime,
I was just wondering if even though the coaches do not spot your daughter, do they stand there at all on skills? I was just curious because at level 10 you are doing some pretty big skills, and especially on release moves on bars I have rarely not seen a coach stand there.

Gymlawmom,
I could understand if the coach did not want them to get dependent on a spot for a skill, but standing there for the first few tries, or at least the first try should be done. I was also scared to do the series on the beam when I was younger and wanted a spot also.

My coaches have always been pretty good about the spotting thing. We get spotted when first learning skills, and all of the levle 10s (there were eleven of us) got spotted or a coach stood there on release moves on bars. For beam all they usually did was stand beside the beam for the mental factor. And floor double backs were spotted and for twisting my coach just stood there. For vault it would be to stand at the back of it for yurchenkos and learning new things. But after a little while we would just do vault with no spotting at all.

-Tori

**hammy** · 07-23-2007, 04:34 PM

A trick for yurchankos:
Lots and lots and lots onto a stack of mats or a whale mat/resi mat. Then, so them on the horse a little lower and slowly raise the horse....sorry table (i'm old school for most of vault). I personally don't like the idea of putting the mat on top of the table for vault because it allows for the extra mental cushion so to say when learning the skill.

Personally I loved during yurchankos, and they're not too difficult to learn. I found them to be more fun the Tsuks. A yurchanko is really all about the roundoff and the preflight, and I don't think that it should really be a vault that is feared. That's just my personal opinion on the skill, and I've had a few teammates that didn't care for them--it all depends on the gymnast.

gym law mom · 07-23-2007, 04:56 PM

Thanks to all for your thoughts and advice. To generally answer a few posters, yes I think coach ego is playing a role in this. Also the normal training schedule for a L8 has been rushed this year due to going to an out of state meet in Feb., coach illness and some meet all our kids are supposed to do in 2 weeks. No, these girls will not compete anything L8---coach did talk about doing some L7 stuff, but they haven't heard anything about that for a couple of weeks. Their season doesn't start til Jan.

Where is the coach normally while the girls are doing their "assignments?" I've seen him sitting on a mat clear across the gym or perched on the vault. He rarely stands close to them(bars might be the exception). When my daughter had her private for vault, he sat on a balance beam about 10' away from where she was vaulting and gave hand signal corrections. This coach also coaches L5 and L6 and is much more hands on with them as is the other compulsory coach---its a huge change to start doing skills and see your coach wander away and sit down and chat with other gymnasts/coaches.

Hammy, my daughter would have no problem with the yurchenko if she was still doing it on a lower vault table---she doesn't even need the mat. Their problem is hitting on the front of the vault and then hitting their feet on the back and being totally out of control.

As for asking for a spot, I've discussed that and she feels that would be scarier than the actual skill. Said if she balks then the coach will just yell and scream even more. We did ask the coach about his approach to getting these skills and he said he "hates being mean and nasty, but thats the only way to get them past their fear." Right now, she wants to just hang it all up---this gym and the sport.

**audra** · 07-23-2007, 08:26 PM

Have you tried to talk to the coach at all, or is there any other coach in the gym you could talk to about this, it would be such a shame if she was to give something she loves because of fear.

As everyone else has said coaching philosophies are all different and sometimes coaches push too hard not realizing they are actually breaking the gymnast down and not instill the confidence that is needed to complete the skills. so many times we want them to do it on their own and be proud of their own accomplishments. Although from what you said that is not what this coach is doing, they just want done because they said to do it.

Good Luck and keep us posted on your daughters progress- I hope she sticks with it and gets through the fear.

LemonLime · 07-24-2007, 07:53 PM


Quote:
Originally Posted by TDiver Lemonlime, I was just wondering if even though the coaches do not spot your daughter, do they stand there at all on skills? I was just curious because at level 10 you are doing some pretty big skills, and especially on release moves on bars I have rarely not seen a coach stand there. -Tori

No, they do not stand there at all, although for shapes on bars they are there. For instance, they did stand there on the shootover at the beginning to spot to hand. For single-rail releases, the gymnasts do drills for a long time, then go to the pit bar - no spot.

No one stands there at all on fx or beam or vault. They don't do a skill on the real apparatus, however, unless they have done it for many months on matted drill stations.

**hammy** · 07-24-2007, 08:09 PM

Personally, I beg to differ with the coach's method of "getting the gymnasts over fear." However, that's where coach's preference and what not comes into play. Personally, when dealing with fear (depending on the gymnast) i like to take baby steps and encourage each improvement.

**JBS** · 07-24-2007, 08:12 PM


Quote:
Originally Posted by TDiver Lemonlime, I was just wondering if even though the coaches do not spot your daughter, do they stand there at all on skills? I was just curious because at level 10 you are doing some pretty big skills, and especially on release moves on bars I have rarely not seen a coach stand there.

Our 10's rarely have a coach standing in on their release moves. For the first couple maybe. If they are throwing their skills on the real bars, they have already done months of drills (many spotted) leading up to it. For release moves, they are taught to fall correctly. If they miss the bar, they are still perfectly safe.

gym law mom · 07-24-2007, 08:57 PM

Hammy, I'd like to bring you here to coach for a week or so. All the yelling accomplishes is having 2 girls in tears at just about every practice---mine won't cry in the gym, so she just pulls away/puts up a wall. He has 5 new girls on this team and only 1 is doing the series by herself and she came to the gym a year ago able to do it then had a 8mo backslide until she finally came around to doing it again.

She came home last night totally defeated. Said she had been "kicked off vault." Asked why and she said the coach said her vaults were "scary to watch." She was not told what she was doing wrong(she thinks buckling her knees on the board) and then was told to go do extra strength. Asked her where the coach was while they were vaulting and she said sitting over on a pile of mats. Then she and another girl had to do 15 rope climbs because they wouldn't do their series on regular beam. The other girl was crying the whole time she was climbing the rope. Great---now punishment for not doing a skill correctly.

**Geoffrey Taucer** · 07-24-2007, 10:17 PM


Quote:
Originally Posted by gym law mom Hammy, I'd like to bring you here to coach for a week or so. All the yelling accomplishes is having 2 girls in tears at just about every practice---mine won't cry in the gym, so she just pulls away/puts up a wall. He has 5 new girls on this team and only 1 is doing the series by herself and she came to the gym a year ago able to do it then had a 8mo backslide until she finally came around to doing it again. She came home last night totally defeated. Said she had been "kicked off vault." Asked why and she said the coach said her vaults were "scary to watch." She was not told what she was doing wrong(she thinks buckling her knees on the board) and then was told to go do extra strength. Asked her where the coach was while they were vaulting and she said sitting over on a pile of mats. Then she and another girl had to do 15 rope climbs because they wouldn't do their series on regular beam. The other girl was crying the whole time she was climbing the rope. Great---now punishment for not doing a skill correctly.

The refusal to spot I understood, but this sounds way overboard, and this is the sort of thing that would start me looking for a new gym if it were my kid.