Coaches What was it like coaching your first meet ever?

[Aero]

My first meet ever will be Sunday, November 23rd. I'm really excited, but of course am a little nervous, too. This will be the first meet I've ever coached, and it will also be the girls first time competing. To ease my nerves, and simply because I'm curious, are there any of you who would like to share your first meet coaching experience? I'd love to hear from my fellow ChalkBucket coaching family!

 

[gymisforeveryone]

I don't actually remember, it's been so long!

That's so exciting! I would love to be there and see how your girls are doing! It's always very exciting to have a new generation of gymnasts and go to the first meet with them. What I always do is a practice meet with the group at the last practice before a meet. If you still have a practices left before the competition I would make it a practice meet with comp leotard, hair done, a march at the beginning and "awards" afterwards. That helps the gymnasts to get the feel and coaches to see what are the weak points (for example how to stand in line, how to carry your staff with you all the time and not lose it, when to put the warm ups on and off, how to cheer to the others...)

We also always have a competition talk before a competition with my girls. I talk about how I only want them to do their best, how it's just a practice for the next meet, how nobody gets angry if you fall or forget your routine etc. I also tell them not to care about scores but their performance. Those things are important to the kids to hear, it calms them down. Especially at the beginning of their career when they don't know what to expect. We also chat about things they are nervous and I also make them to tell me one thing they are confident. I also point out the importance of cheering for team mates and not talking bad things about other clubs and gymnasts i.e good sportmanship.

Good luck and have FUN! If you can videotape some routines I would love to see some (on the private coach forum if you don't want to share here).

 

[Aussie_coach]

If you have spent year competing yourself then you will find it is all quite natural and you know what to do.

 

[coachmolly]

You'll have fun! Try not to stress and just enjoy the experience. Your girls are likely to feed off of you and look to constantly, so try to stay calm for their sake. If you are rotating with another team other coaches tend to be very helpful and willing to answer any questions you might have, so don't be afraid to ask.
As for the girls, go over the basics with them and their parents. Be clear about how to be dressed on arrival, where to go and how to get there, what time to be there, and expectations while at the meet (for both kids and parents). It wouldn't hurt to have a practice "meet" several days prior with meet hair, timed warm-ups, saluting, timed beam routines with warnings, and teammates watching.
Most gyms have a system for timed warm-ups that they like to go by from meet to meet to help things run smoothly, so that might be something to think about. For example, our HC likes to just give each girl her 45 sec. beam warm-up to herself to do what she needs. Other gyms like to block the warm-up time and have girls do a set # of skills each time they are up (so turn #1 leap, jump, dismount; turn #2 mount, acro, turn; #3 whatever else needs to get done- whatever works for you). If your girls have different bar settings have them line up accordingly to save time. Make sure they know what needs to get done but not to go overboard and tire themselves out.
Give them a pep talk before about doing their best and having fun. And have fun yourself! Last season our first time coaches found the meet experience to be a fun one.

 

[Sari]

Must've been a couple years ago for me as well, wow!

Uhm, I do something similar as gymisforeveryone the practice before the actual meet. Well, no mock meet situation, we just run routines, but at the end, I sit with my girls and tell them that no matter how they score at the meet, I will be proud of them for trying the best they could that day. I go over meet etiquette with them.

At the actual meet, I try my best to keep the pressure to a minimum. When we're stretching, I sit them in a circle and talk to them in a friendly manner. I only correct major mistakes during event warm-up. No nit-picking. If they mess up on a routine, they get a high-five anyway and I cheer them up to the best of my abilities.
I've approached meets this way ever since I first started coaching. Seems to work well for my girls. I've witnessed another coach just bashing their gymnasts' beam routines right after the dismount. The poor kids were close to tears. So none of that from me!

 

[Redford]

I was a nervous wreck. Defenitly more nervous than my gymnasts.
It's tricky because once the competition starts, you are supposed to just stand there and watch and it's KILLING you!
But it's also a great experience, it's the day you all worked for, so don't worry to much about what you do and how you do. Just enjoy!

 

[raenndrops]

You'll have fun! Try not to stress and just enjoy the experience. Your girls are likely to feed off of you and look to constantly, so try to stay calm for their sake. If you are rotating with another team other coaches tend to be very helpful and willing to answer any questions you might have, so don't be afraid to ask.
As for the girls, go over the basics with them and their parents. Be clear about how to be dressed on arrival, where to go and how to get there, what time to be there, and expectations while at the meet (for both kids and parents). It wouldn't hurt to have a practice "meet" several days prior with meet hair, timed warm-ups, saluting, timed beam routines with warnings, and teammates watching.
Most gyms have a system for timed warm-ups that they like to go by from meet to meet to help things run smoothly, so that might be something to think about. For example, our HC likes to just give each girl her 45 sec. beam warm-up to herself to do what she needs. Other gyms like to block the warm-up time and have girls do a set # of skills each time they are up (so turn #1 leap, jump, dismount; turn #2 mount, acro, turn; #3 whatever else needs to get done- whatever works for you). If your girls have different bar settings have them line up accordingly to save time. Make sure they know what needs to get done but not to go overboard and tire themselves out.
Give them a pep talk before about doing their best and having fun. And have fun yourself! Last season our first time coaches found the meet experience to be a fun one.

For Bars, I agree... have them line up in order of bar settings. I would suggest having them try to go thru their entire bar routine... if they fall, go to the end of the line and let the next girl go. If a girl has done 2 complete routines, she gets out of the line so those that struggle can have a bit more time.
In all warm ups, they need to be quick about it. On floor (cross tumbling, teach them to go when the person on the other diagonal has gone 1/2 way... and tell them not to "back up" once they have made it half way).
I would do "practice meets" and "pressure sets" building up to it. Not REAL pressure, but TIME pressure. See how many people can cross tumble in one minute... this is where the 1/2 way comes into play.
The more experience they have, the easier it will be and they won't freak out at the meet when they have to warm up.

 

[Aero]

These are all fantastic ideas! I have had a practice meet day and it was quite an experience for them. There was noticeably more pressure and more hesitation and falling than normal. However, some of them performed better than they previously had, which shows me I have some girls who feed off of the energy positively, too.

@coachmolly | You are totally right about how they will feed off of my energy. I've seen it happen already in certain instances at practice, so I bet it will be magnified at meets. I just have to keep my cool, which I'm quite good at doing. I'm not too worried about that, but thank you for the reminder!

@Redford | During the practice meet we had, it was killing me just watching. I wanted to correct them, or reassure them after a fall or mistake, but I just had to sit there and watch. It was hard! Hahahaha!

@raenndrops | They do not have any bar settings because all of them are on the low rail for the duration of their routines, so no worries about that. However, I have never had them cross tumble before. I should definitely dedicate some time to it.

As far as meet etiquette, I don't know of all the little nuances and details. I was not a gymnast as a kid, so this is quite literally my first foray into this side of things. I know it will be fun and I'll be quite busy, but is there anything I should know about? Any little details that may be easy to forget or overlook? Also, how do warm ups work? Do they just practice the difficult pieces of their routine while they wait?

By the way, the first meet we're attending is quite low-key and friendly. It will be a good first experience I think!

 

[Short Balding Guy]

As far as meet etiquette, I don't know of all the little nuances and details. I was not a gymnast as a kid, so this is quite literally my first foray into this side of things. I know it will be fun and I'll be quite busy, but is there anything I should know about? Any little details that may be easy to forget or overlook? Also, how do warm ups work? Do they just practice the difficult pieces of their routine while they wait

Aero; Etiquette - Go to a meet and watch. On Meet weekend, I suggest going to the meet site a session earlier than your athletes and watch. Check in as a coach and you check with the Meet Director and w/permission you can come and watch the meet from the competition floor. Watch the general warm-up, watch the rotation/warm-up of 1st event, watch how the coaches position their athletes/bags, watch the pageantry of the gymnastics meet. Your general observations will stead you well as to some of the "Hows and Whens."

As to meet/event policy read the USA-G Rules and Policy for Xcel and your State Rules and Policy. They can be hard reading, but the upcoming event puts more importance to the documents. The rules are WAY to detailed to be in a forum post. At the meet if faced with an uncommon situation, ask Meet Director or judging panel.

In general for general warm-up at beginning of meet you go thru a thorough, but time efficient warm-up and stretch. Time usually permits for teams to go thru some line drills across the FX. Pre-event the athletes are given warm-up time (time varies per level). Watching a session or 2 of other like athletes can give you an indication of what others are doing. Select the "good" and apply them. Our coaches prepare a meet warm-up for events and use it in the gym pre-meet.

Aero - best to you and your athletes on Meet day.

 

[coachmolly]

Many of the little nuances come up when you are rotating with another team and need to share the equipment for warm-ups, mostly because each gym does things a little differently. Even then, at this level most of them are very helpful and happy to work with you and explain things you don't understand. So don't be afraid to ask! There is also a coaches meeting at the beginning of the session when the girls are stretching which will give you a run down for that particular meet. Sometimes it is very brief and full of jargon that might not be familiar to you, so don't be afraid to ask another coach or the person giving the meeting when it's over.
On your meet registration info, it might even tell you the meet format (Capitol Cup, Modified Capitol Cup, Traditional) and then you can look it up on the USAG page to have an idea of what to expect. Most of our meets have been Modified Capitol Cup at the Xcel level, but they were larger invitiationals. If this is a smaller local meet, things might be run differently. Details on meet format is on p. 58ish of the Rules and Policies document (https://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/Rules/Rules and Policies/2014_2015_w_rulespolicies.pdf). Even our HC who has coached for YEARS gets mixed up at Xcel meets because things can be a little different, so really, don't be afraid to ask.
Watch a session, or follow the lead of those around you. It's great to get started at a smaller, more low key meet.
You'll do great!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Oh man yea do yourself and everyone a favor and get someone to help you! . Beam warm up could be capital cup or modified. Ask questions !

 

[sevenatenine2]

Have you ever been to a low level meet before?

Gymnasts aren't allowed on the floor before general stretch. When general stretch starts, all the kids usually take a few laps running, arm swings, etc. Then, they find a spot on the floor to stretch. If there is no room on the floor, go to the vault runway or bar mat.

We do a kind of shorter stretch at meets. Not too short, but shorter than usual. You'll be called away for a coaches' meeting. If you're by yourself, appoint an older kid to lead while you are gone. Explain the importance of behavior at meets and how judges start forming their opinions during stretching so stretch your very best to impress them.

Disclaimer: I do not believe this to be true. However, I've told it to every group I've ever had.

While you're at the coaches meeting, ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.

I would probably call the meet director ahead of time, explain that this is your first meet, and ask for the format of the meet if not indicated. Also ask if there will be a march in, or if the kids will just be announced at their starting event and wave in introduction.

Beam is the only thing that can really be tricky, if they do the warmup, compete, warmup, compete, etc. Basically, two kids warm up, then the first kid competes, then the third kid warms up, then the second kid competes, then the fourth kid warms up, then the third kid competes, etc. It can be confusing, but it's really not, if that makes sense.