WAG Kids that hate to condition

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twisting007bigflip

Coach
Proud Parent
Was trying to post this in the coach forum, but for whatever reason it won't let me post there anymore.

Coaches and parents, how do you handle kids who hate conditioning?

Right now, I have only 1 kid that I coach giving me grief. She's an 11 year old level 3/4 missing only a kip to compete level 4. Wants to move up, wants to get her kip. Wants to do private lessons, but leaves the gym after class wanting to quit because she hates conditioning.

We do lots of "disguised" conditioning during event time, we do lots of conditioning games, contests, partner conditioning, I switch up the exercises all the time so they're never doing the same thing over and over...I make conditioning fun and NEVER use conditioning as a consequence....ever.

This kid hating to condition results in her cheating on some of it, and her not being able to get the skills she needs to move up. Her mother has been super helpful, honestly, and tells the kid to suck it up, assures her that it is helping her gymnastics, she's getting stronger, blah blah.....

I REALLY want to get this kid to like to condition. She's come so far and gymnastics has been a really GOOD thing for her - when she started in the rec program her mother had to drag her in the gym and out onto the floor. she had terrible anxiety, but we've helped her through it and she now is confident enough that she competes. And she competes well! This kid has come a LONG way emotionally (and physically) since she started and I just want to see her keep progressing.

I'm not having an issue with any of the other kids (24 kids level 3/4)...

Help?
 
Was trying to post this in the coach forum, but for whatever reason it won't let me post there anymore.

Coaches and parents, how do you handle kids who hate conditioning?

Right now, I have only 1 kid that I coach giving me grief. She's an 11 year old level 3/4 missing only a kip to compete level 4. Wants to move up, wants to get her kip. Wants to do private lessons, but leaves the gym after class wanting to quit because she hates conditioning.

We do lots of "disguised" conditioning during event time, we do lots of conditioning games, contests, partner conditioning, I switch up the exercises all the time so they're never doing the same thing over and over...I make conditioning fun and NEVER use conditioning as a consequence....ever.

This kid hating to condition results in her cheating on some of it, and her not being able to get the skills she needs to move up. Her mother has been super helpful, honestly, and tells the kid to suck it up, assures her that it is helping her gymnastics, she's getting stronger, blah blah.....

I REALLY want to get this kid to like to condition. She's come so far and gymnastics has been a really GOOD thing for her - when she started in the rec program her mother had to drag her in the gym and out onto the floor. she had terrible anxiety, but we've helped her through it and she now is confident enough that she competes. And she competes well! This kid has come a LONG way emotionally (and physically) since she started and I just want to see her keep progressing.

I'm not having an issue with any of the other kids (24 kids level 3/4)...

Help?


Shhhh....i used to do a lot of the same stuff....Shhhh....
 
2 of my 3 kids don't like conditioning at all. There have been times that they even suggest they might want to quit gymnastics because of conditioning. One of them considers trying out for swim team (the other 2 of my kids already did a year of swim team and didn't like it). I tell that one of my kids that I used to swim year round and once you get even a little good, the conditioning you have to do makes gymnastics conditioning look like a party. That I used to have to run stairs at the college coliseum, do pushups, sit ups, crab walks - all for 1+ hours several times per week. That usually makes her see how good she has it. ;) I have also pointed out to them that no matter what sport they do, conditioning will be a part of it and if they want to get better at their sport they will work their hardest during conditioning.

This speech will usually carry both kids for 2-3 weeks. And then I have to repeat it.:rolleyes:
 
This is interesting... All of my girls never really like to condition but they do it anyway... it's never to the point of wanting to quit. You said that you do lots of games and change it up. Does she not like it because it's not fun? or does she not like the idea of conditioning at all? Maybe you could trying talking to her and ask her what specific things she doesn't like about conditioning and then going from there. I'm not sure how you would handle this because I've never had too...
 
Sometimes kids need to be told bluntly that the kids that do the conditioning without cheating will likely surpass the kids that cheat. That to be competitive in any sport this is what it takes. That being said, I think the things that can be made into games or mini competitions make the pain of conditioning more tolerable. Since you are talking about an 11 year old and not a 7 year old, she is at an age that she can understand what it takes to progress.

I am not a coach, but I really try to tell it straight to my own children.
 
This is interesting... All of my girls never really like to condition but they do it anyway... it's never to the point of wanting to quit. You said that you do lots of games and change it up. Does she not like it because it's not fun? or does she not like the idea of conditioning at all? Maybe you could trying talking to her and ask her what specific things she doesn't like about conditioning and then going from there. I'm not sure how you would handle this because I've never had too...

She doesn't like the conditioning because it's hard and she doesn't like the way it makes her feel physically. She doesn't like to "feel the burn" and she hates feeling out of breath. I struggle to get this kid to push herself to failure, or even beyond her comfort zone for that matter.
 
Perhaps you can make it a personal challenge for her. Find out when it starts to burn or starts to get out of breath. Make that her starting point and mark it on a chart. Then ask her to do just one more beyond when it burns ect and mark that point. Hopefully she'll see that even pushing just one more really does make a difference and slowly but sure the number of times it takes to get to the point that it burns increases. Sometimes it feels like you are never getting any better but when you see it on paper you realize that wow 2 weeks ago I could only do 3 pull overs... now I can do 5...
 
She hates the feeling of being out of breath... is she out of breath after a floor routine or after a vault?
 
I would just make sure she knows that conditioning has direct correlation to the schools she would like to get.
If anything, you may just have to let her be. At her age, she might see other girls start moving up and she stays back so maybe she would get motivated.

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HAHA!!! I didn't know you had my DD!!!!! She is 13 and absolutely HATES conditioning (to the point of tears many times).... For her (and probably most people) it's more of a mental thing than a physical thing. Therefore, her and I talk alot about mental toughness, and even got the 12 week program from USAG to complete this summer (she's still working on controlling the beast)...

Basically, my "spill" goes something like this: most people do not "LIKE" conditioning. However, it is a necessary part of any sport you decide to do. Therefore, the sooner you accept that it will be done every practice and just work hard to get through it, the better off you will be. You can and should learn to appreciate the conditioning as a way to gain the skills you want (and I have had her point out things she can do now that she couldn't last season, and even show her videos from last season). In essence, we have the "suck it up, buttercup" discussion....

Now that I sound like a horrible, mean, unloving mom, I will say that she has anxiety issues (along with learning disabilities), and we really have a good relationship. But I have sound that on some things, being very matter of fact with little "sympathy" is best. Conditioning is a non-negotiable in any sport, especially gymnastics. It keeps the kids safe...therefore, you do it and move on.
 
Are these gymnasts of the competitive type? In that case you could try to do physical tests serveral times a year. I give a certain score for a certain result. Categories that I test are for example: strengt, explosivity, flexibility,... In our gym we plan them three times a year and I noticed that some of the girls became very competitive when training to score better next test. I expect them to score better every time, and scores are age-related.

How do you disguise your conditioning, if I may ask? Could you give a few examples of what kind of exercises you do?
 
I cannot take credit for this... Got it from congress. My gymnasts all have a file folder with conditioning sheets in it with different skills listed for arms, core, and legs. I tell them which skill we're doing and we do it for 30 seconds. They then have to write down their number (I don't ask them to tell it or share it). They enjoy seeing the numbers increase and I have no complaining about conditioning anymore. The other thing we do is choreographed conditioning to a song. I make it up in advance and they enjoy that also and are usually tired by the end.
 
Some kids are just like this. Honestly, like many stages (and that's my constant refrain from tots to teens "it's a stage") it will either pass or it won't, but giving it too much attention will almost always backfire. Don't fight with her. Don't even think about it. I'm sure you've already advised her of the correlation about a million times, so I wouldn't advise you to even do that either. It sounds like she "knows" this but can't push past certain things or is in some kind of power struggle over this. I'd let it go, not change anything for her.

I know the feeling, but just breathe in and repeat "it's a stage." Give her the numbers, if you catch her not doing it tell her to do 10 more, and leave it at that. I never accuse the kids of cheating because half of them just lose track of what they doing anyway. If they finish suspiciously early, I tell them to do however more "until everyone else is finished". If they finish that too fast, I keep telling them to do more. And the rest of my conditioning is impossible to cheat on.

If she doesn't get the skill, that's a natural consequence. We need to let them have some level of independence. At some point she's going to realize that she needs to step it up, but that may take a year. It probably won't happen in time for her to be a level 4 if she's not close to a kip yet. She'll have to
 
Ok. I'm going to throw this out there, but conditioning bingo. She sets goals that she needs to do in conditioning (leg lifts, pull ups, rope climb, etc). It gets put on a bingo sheet. She meets the goals (small ones), she crosses off a box on the sheet. When she gets bingo, she gets a prize (extra time jumping on trampoline, etc). She fills up the whole sheet, she gets a big prize.

We did something similar for my DD, but I went out and bought a bunch of prizes that the coach could give when she got bingo. (Nail stickers, lip gloss, beanie babies, markers, etc). Some other moms bought prizes too, and the coach is using them for various things.

It just gets them used to the idea hat conditioning can be fun and rewarding, then you change the requirements for prizes, making it harder to get them, and eventually, you can do away with the prizes altogether.
 
Our JO team also does P90X and yoga videos together as a team WITH the coach! The "doing it together" atmosphere has made it a fun team building activity while getting in the conditioning.
 
I think that most kids do not love to condition but eventually end up with the maturity to understand that it is necessary in the sport. So in other words, I think she needs to suck it up, buttercup!
 
I would say that my DD (age 7) does not LOVE to condition, but she has come to understand it is a necessary thing for her. Last year (as an old level four age 6) she really didn't "get" why it was so important. This past winter, after moving to "new" level four and struggling with her kip, her coach finally told her flat out that while she has super strong legs, her upper body strength was holding her back on bars. That made a difference for her and she began pushing herself more on conditioning. And of course, it made a difference in bars. It really was such a direct link that I think something "clicked" in her brain and she realized just how important it was. For her, knowing that doing leg lifts for example enabled her to be able to do more "fun" stuff that she loved was the key.
 

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