Preschool training

[just4fun]

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! My daughter plays gymnastics frequently at home, I think she may get a mat for the holidays. She lines up all of her stuffed animals (her students) and shows them how to do 'gymnastics'. She has taken possession of my 'yoga' ball and does front and back flips (or walkovers?) on them. I do not want to discourage her, because she is just starting to get her confidence back (long story, major life change), but all this flipping around the house obviously poses safety risks! I do not feel qualified to 'spot her'. She is just starting to go down from standing into a backbend, and I am afraid she will hit her head on the hardwood. Any adivce of mat buying? Thanks for all the help.

[JBS]

A regular panel mat would be fine. I have attached a picture of one below. Panel mats are mats that fold and unfold. Check with your club first to see if they have any mats for sale for the holidays.

Things to consider:

Size: 4'x8' or 4'x12'
Thickness: 1 3/8" or 2 1/2"
Firmness: Regular or Mushy
Color: Solid or Rainbow
Velcro: None, Ends, or all 4 Sides
Type of Vinyl: Standard or Heavy Duty

Remember that the mats can connect with the velcro, so you could always start with an 8 foot mat and buy another one in the future for a total of 16 feet. If you would like to connect the mats side by side, then make sure you get velcro on all 4 sides.

Standard panel mats are 1 3/8" thick, thicker mats are available for additional safety. Remember, the thickness of the mat will not matter if a child is not supervised. If you land on your head you will get hurt with either thickness.

Some companies sell mats that are softer (preschool mats). Most people prefer the standard mats.

Heavy duty vinyl is the kind of vinyl on school mats, the old tan and blue ones. This is much more expensive.

Make sure you check the shipping deals.

Here are some links:

http://www.resilite.com/ - Basic mats for home, check their Christmas mats.
http://www.mancinomats.com/gymnastics/index.xhtml - Basic home mats, check their holiday promos.
http://www.supply.powaygymnastics.com/folding_mats.php - the AAI dealer by us, AAI is top of the line Olympic quality equipment.
http://www.unitedathletic.com/TumblingMats.html - the maker of the mat pictured below

Now that I have said all that, we sell Resilite mats at our club during the holidays. It is a quality mat for the price.

If you need any help beyond that, call Tony at the Poway Gymnastics link above and tell him Justin from Gyminny Kids sent you. He can help you out with whatever you need. We buy most of our club equipment from him.

[just4fun]

WOW - thanks for all the information. I had no idea so much was involved! Thanks for the links, you dramatically reduced my shopping time.

[Megley]

We have a 4 x 8 by x 1 3/4 inch folding mat that works great. It has velcro on the ends to attach more mats, which we are considering since we are getting DD an 8 foot low beam for Christmas. JBS gave you some great links. Definitely check with your gym as ours is selling them for Christmas and it sounds like this is pretty common. You definitely don't want your DD doing back bends on the hardwood floor!

[JBS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by just4fun WOW - thanks for all the information. I had no idea so much was involved! Thanks for the links, you dramatically reduced my shopping time.

I overkilled the subject a little. If I were to buy my daughter a mat I would buy the basic 4'x8'x1 3/8" with velcro on the ends. I would spend the extra money for a rainbow mat because there are lots of different games and drills you can do with the color separations. The yellow gets dirty easily if you plan on using it outside.

[gymbabisMom]

OUr coach nearly always orders a couple of these at holiday times for customers. I think the colorful ones are just more fun. Also the rainbow ones we have at the gym are a lot lighter weight than the blue ones, easier to move around.

[just4fun]

Thanks for all the advice - I will definately check out the gym! Does anyone have any advice on the following - My dtr will not do a front flip (i am not sure that is the correct term) on the bars! (she is 5)Or a back flip without help. She will hang upside down but refuses to flip all the way over. She doesn't appear afraid, she just refuses to do it! I have only asked her once why and she sort of clammed up (after saying it hurt her legs) so I haven't pushed for an answer. She will flip over on the rings but will not even try on the bars. Any advice or similar experiences with something would be appreciated. Thanks.

[gracefulone]

I coach and I've had girls who had the similar problem. They said it was too hard or they just didn't feel like it. Here's how I helped them get over it: Firstly, I would have the other girls in the class work at other stations so the girls wouldn't feel embarassed or more nervous in front of their friends. (I'm not sure if this is an issue, but I mentioned it anyway) Then I let the girls get more comfortable with just hanging upside down by themselves. After that, I had them either do a forward roll dismount( front hip circles) or cast to underswing dismount( back hip circles) . Then they have always let me spot them after that. Then they realiz that it isn't scary and can't wait to try it by themselves. I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but maybe it will help, anyway.

[just4fun]

I guess I never really thought about the embarrasment issue - I will just continue to encourage her to try hard and have fun. She said (later tonight) it hurt her pubic bone area in the center when she did them before, but she really has only done the back pullovers this year, she won't do the front one. Maybe she was positioned wrong at the gym she used to go to and she has a fear of it hurting again. The coach just mentioned that it seems to be the only thing she isn't willing to try. I am sure if she does do it, this coaching staff will be able to figure out if she is doing it in the right position, if there is one. I wish she played hockey - I know much more about that! Thanks.

[JBS]

We have this problem with pullovers and forward rolls over the bar all the time. We have a pad on the most of our smaller bars that the coaches can use if a child says it hurts. It's small enough to fit in between there hands (about a foot long). If they aren't using it the coaches just slide it off to the side.

You can use anything to make this. Some old foam or an old piece of carpet wrapped around the bar and taped works great. We use foam pipe insulation (like plumbers use) from Hope Depot and wrap it in athletic tape so the kids can't pick at it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by just4fun I wish she played hockey - I know much more about that! Thanks.

Hockey rocks...the basketball court in our park had a lip on it, so in the winter they would fill it with water. When it got cold we would have our hockey rink. We had a pond by our house that we played on too.