Coaches Ankle stretching-circles or no?

[kholla]

I have always included ankle circles in my stretching routine as a gymnast, and now as a coach. I sit on the floor with my right leg bent and resting over my left leg, hold onto my right foot with my left hand, and move it around in circles with my hand, first one direction and then the other, and same with the other foot. One of the senior coaches saw my gymnasts doing this today and told them that you don't want to move your ankles that way, and that you should only be moving your ankle forward and back (like pointing and flexing) because you don't want to teach your ankles to move sideways.
I did a quick Google search about stretching ankles, and circles were on all of the pages I looked at in part of an ankle stretching and strengthening routine. What are other people's thoughts on the subject?

 

[BlairBob]

It's pretty common in PT.

It's also part of the ankles series of GymnasticBodies. A gillion reps since joints do not have great bloodflow typically.

 

[Kiwi]

Ankle circles are good for strengthening the muscles in that area to support the ankle but you do them using those muscles, not moving them with your hands. You don't want to stretch your ankles without strengthening them.