CoachMeg
Coach
Just a question for other coaches or parents of gymnasts with fear issues.
I have a new level 3 (8 years old) with loads of potential. But suddenly she had developed a fear for her back-handspring: both standing and connected to a round-off. She was doing it all summer and early fall, and then one week she started not going for it when we would tumble. She would just do a round-off and stop when we were corner tumbling and I would have to get on her case about going. Like I said, it was totally out of the blue. Then one day about 4 weeks ago, she was going for her round-off back handspring and bailed mid-way through and pretty much rebounded out of her round-off and landed on her back and then did a back-roll out of it. She was fine, but it completely freaked her out. Before she left I made her do 2 more with spot before she left the floor so that she wouldn't end on a bad note. She did them with spot with no complaints.
Well fast-forward to today and she still will not go for it by herself. Not even on trampoline or into our in-ground resi-pit. She's perfectly capable and when she does do it, it's gorgeous. It's unfortunate because her VERY first meet two weekends ago she scored 9.4 bars, 9.45 beam, 9.3 vault....and then had to scratch floor.
She's a very competitive kid and after the meet she even said how she wanted to be in the AA. However, she still refuses to go. When we're at floor she just cries and won't even attempt it. I do not yell at her or ever threaten conditioning or anything like that...she cries because she's disappointed in herself and you can tell she really wants to do it. I can tell she's scared because she starts fidgeting and her face gets pale at just the mention of back-handsprings. The problem is HC has told me he does not want me spotting her...he thinks that if I spot her because she's scared then it will travel to other events and she'll develop fears elsewhere too. I don't necessarily agree with his approach...I think spotting her through this could give her more confidence. BUT, unfortunately I'm not the HC.
Soon....thoughts on how to combat this DURING meet season without spotting? I can give her endless drills but I really just don't know how much that will help her. When she does it, it's gorgeous. The problem is that she just has to commit to it. I'm going to have to pull her from floor again this weekend and it saddens me because her other events look phenomenal.
Any advice?
I have a new level 3 (8 years old) with loads of potential. But suddenly she had developed a fear for her back-handspring: both standing and connected to a round-off. She was doing it all summer and early fall, and then one week she started not going for it when we would tumble. She would just do a round-off and stop when we were corner tumbling and I would have to get on her case about going. Like I said, it was totally out of the blue. Then one day about 4 weeks ago, she was going for her round-off back handspring and bailed mid-way through and pretty much rebounded out of her round-off and landed on her back and then did a back-roll out of it. She was fine, but it completely freaked her out. Before she left I made her do 2 more with spot before she left the floor so that she wouldn't end on a bad note. She did them with spot with no complaints.
Well fast-forward to today and she still will not go for it by herself. Not even on trampoline or into our in-ground resi-pit. She's perfectly capable and when she does do it, it's gorgeous. It's unfortunate because her VERY first meet two weekends ago she scored 9.4 bars, 9.45 beam, 9.3 vault....and then had to scratch floor.
She's a very competitive kid and after the meet she even said how she wanted to be in the AA. However, she still refuses to go. When we're at floor she just cries and won't even attempt it. I do not yell at her or ever threaten conditioning or anything like that...she cries because she's disappointed in herself and you can tell she really wants to do it. I can tell she's scared because she starts fidgeting and her face gets pale at just the mention of back-handsprings. The problem is HC has told me he does not want me spotting her...he thinks that if I spot her because she's scared then it will travel to other events and she'll develop fears elsewhere too. I don't necessarily agree with his approach...I think spotting her through this could give her more confidence. BUT, unfortunately I'm not the HC.
Soon....thoughts on how to combat this DURING meet season without spotting? I can give her endless drills but I really just don't know how much that will help her. When she does it, it's gorgeous. The problem is that she just has to commit to it. I'm going to have to pull her from floor again this weekend and it saddens me because her other events look phenomenal.
Any advice?