What does your gym do with new skills learned at camp?

[Mo's Mom]

Hi Everyone,
My daughter just came back from a very successful week at the Karolyi gymnastics camp. While she was there she learned all of her level 6 skills and was working on some that are higher than that. She had competed level 5 last year, and her coaches were going to leave her there in spite of her achieving the "moving score" and doing pretty well in States at level 5 (she finished 5th in her age group). Now her coach, who attended camp with her, is willing to consider a move to level 6, which is good.

However, today, we received an email from the coach saying "what happens in camp, stays in camp." Unless she knows that the girls are confident in their new skills without spotting, she is not going to work on them. She says "I am not the big Hungarian who spotted your daughter at camp." If she feels confident that the girls can do the new skills, she will work on them at least once a week. I think that she will continue to work the level 6 stuff, but nothing else.

So, here's my question. Is this a common approach? Do girls go away to camp, learn new skills, then drop them until they return to camp the following year? I might have entered this with the wrong assumption (that the skills that they worked on at the camp would be further developed at the home gym), or her current gym is just unable to live up to the expectations by girls returning from gymnastics camp. This is the first year they have had any girls go away to camp, so there is no precedent.

Thanks for your input,
MJ

 

[d0nut_l0ver]

My coaches usually don't care what I get at camp. I mean, this will be my 4th year returning from camp and I'm HOPING they'll care this time because I got some pretty awesome skills. But I doubt they will.

But, the other 3 years, I'll tell them that I got something at camp and they'll tell me, "Okay, you got it at camp, now you'll get it here."

Just like what your daughter's coach said, my coach believes that, since the environment and coaches spotting me at camp are different, I am not allowed to attempt whatever skill I got at camp by myself until my coaches at my REGULAR gym believe that I am ready to do it by myself. Which is sort of sad, because I got my FHS vault by myself at camp and now I won't be able to do it at my regular gym for...well, probably for a long while.

I don't know if this is common, but I just wanted to let you know that that is how it works at my gym too.

 

[GymBee97]

I agree with the coach. A weeks time learning everything you need for L6 and do it so well your ready to uptrain?? I don't think so. You say They are working on L6 and perfecting the skills and she just left L5 so she is doing just what she needs. If the coach sees that she has the skills then the perfection of those skills comes next then maybe uptraining. I think too alot of coaches maybe holding back on the uptraining until they get the vinal word on the new levels and their requirements unless they are trying to get to L9 before the new levels come in place.

 

[SuperGirlmlm]

My coaches care, but when I return from camp, the HC asks me what I learned, and he was me do the skill with spotting/into the pit or whatever, and if he thinks I have the skill, I can work it.

 

[gymgal]

Yes, this is fairly common. Many camps are famous for letting the girls chuck skills before they are truly ready progression wise(and from what I have heard on CB and in real life, Karolyi's is one of these camps). I don't necessarily believe there is anything wrong with this, as long as it is done safely (usually they are heavily spotted), but I also agree with your dd's coaches, that just because they threw the skills in camp doesn't mean they are ready to truly train them in real practice.

DD went to camp the last 2 yrs and she learned a few new skills. Her coaches were even at the camp with her and they saw the new skills but when they got home, the skills were placed on the back burner. It bothered my dd the first year but a chat with her coaches and me calmed her. I view camp as a place where gymnasts can expand their comfort level and release some of their fears. Adrenaline that comes from having new coaches and new peer pressure works wonders sometimes. And when the girls are ready to truly train that skills in their own gym, they will be able to look back at their experiences and know they can do it...

 

[thefellowsmom]

Our coach HATES it when the girls go to camp and I think he forbids it beyond a certain level, but I have no confirmation of that. They let them chuck skills they aren't ready for and then they come back thinking they get to work those skills and then don't and get all upset. They also don't teach the skill with the progressions that our coaches would. He also says that if they are going to miss practice then they should go do something that has nothing to do with gym. They can do gym at the gym, go be a kid. I get it, I guess. The girls just love camp so much it is hard to say no. Some of our parents let the kids go and take the grief and others (like me) have determined it just isn't worth it.

With that said, I am taking her to a competitive team clinic with a very high caliber elite coach. I figure it is just two days and the benefit of the exposure to this type of coach and gymnasts as well as some of the non gym training they are doing are worth it. Not worried about the skills she will learn so much as the confidence boost and auxilary training she will get. It is my compromise, I guess.

She gets what she needs and her coach gets what he needs. Win win win...

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i agree with the coach.

 

[wallinbl]

Our coach HATES it when the girls go to camp and I think he forbids it beyond a certain level, but I have no confirmation of that.

Same here. The coaches feel bad habits are learned by doing it too quickly or without the proper drills/progressions. They claim those bad habits can stick around for years once they're formed.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Our gym goes to Woodward as a team, including the head coach and the owner/coach. The girls train once in the morning with the camp coaches and then once in the afternoon with the club coaches. The skills they learn are brought back to the gym.

 

[iwannacoach]

There have only been a few times I've had a kid come back with a new skill, and truely understood how to make that new skill work and fine tune it. Most of the time the new skill doesn't fit into my schedule and strategy for the immediate future. What good is a lay-out full to a child working toward level six for the near future.???

As another post indicated, most of these new skills are the result of the hype and energy surrounding the camp atmosphere. So while few kids come home with a new skill they can keep, most only come back with a glimmer and a dream of a new skill.

For most kids, if they bring anything back from camp, it's usually a mysterious skin disorder or laryngytis. Now that's a 50/50 win lose scenario. If you could get rid of the skin disorder, but keep just enough of the laryngytis to get them to think twice before speaking......

 

[gym law mom]

I have to agree with the coach. Sounds like your dd was introduced to her L6 skills since the coach mentions she was spotted most of the week. Doing skills while heavily spotted usually gets the gymnast excited, but not the coach. At this point your dd should be doing drills and progressions for those L6 skills so her technique is correct.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Same here. The coaches feel bad habits are learned by doing it too quickly or without the proper drills/progressions. They claim those bad habits can stick around for years once they're formed.

Same here. My girls went to camp with the attitude that it's sleep away camp that happens to offer gymnastics all day! They went more for the fun camp aspects and not for new skills. They worked on skills they already had.

 

[TexasRose]

My DD went to Karolyi's last week as well. She came home and told me she "got" her bhs on beam. Exciting right? No, not at all. She's a 7 yr old level 3 who doesn't even have a bhs on floor! Am I impressed that she can do a bhs with a heavy spot on beam? Nope. She's 35 lbs so she's pretty easy to throw around. I wish she had worked on more relevant skills honestly. But she had fun and that's what it's all about.