New Coach

[GymnastRaeRae87]

I have recently started as gymnastics coach for ages 3-6. Brief background on my gymnastics life: been a gymnast for 13 years so I know a lot about the sport but am new to coaching.

Can I have some help/ideas on how to have interesting and captivating lesson plans for the gymnasts but ones that also teach them the skills they need to learn? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ryantroop]

Really, coaching is just as much personality as it is understanding the skills and progressions behind them.

If they are pre-team groups, you know what they will be required to do. Find ways to make it fun to lead up to your ultimate goal. Focus on building strength, flexibility, and keeping it fun and just challenging enough to make them try harder each time, but not too hard that it is out of reach.

If it is recreational, it's all about having a good time, safely, and learning spacial awareness while getting a good work out. Have fun, congratulate the small things, and make games out of conditioning/basics.

It's up to you how you present it all.. ask the coaches in your gym how they do it, as well, and learn from their experiences. Observe some of their classes and see how they manage their groups, etc...

Good luck! Have fun

Ryan

 

[gymmouse24]

I agree with everything posted above, and wanted to add a few things I do with my kids.
One is the tightrope. Get them on the beam (with mats under, of course) and have them walk across it. Tell them it's a tightrope and have everyone pick things that are under it, like sharks, bugs, etc. It teaches them what they need to know, but they're more worried about staying on if they think something's going to "get them" if they fall.
Another I do is use the whole floor space provided. So many times I've found coaches and teachers using a very small space, but if you're in a large area, USE THE FLOOR. For conditioning, we do skips forward, chaise side, butt kicks back, high knees side. Patterns work great for kids that age, so anything that is able to be turned into a pattern will be remembered easier.

 

[ejgymmom]

My daughter is 5, so would fit into your age group. She is very distracted by things, likes to twirl around and not pay attention most of the time. She's had 4 or 5 different coaches as she's progressed over the last couple of years and the best coach she's had was her very first one when she was 3 1/2 years old. This lady was awesome. She was loud and fun, while still being strict enough to keep these preschoolers on track. She made sure that they always had something to do and setup lots of obstacle type courses with various stations. When my kid has to wait her turn for something she'll end up finding something else that's more interesting and will lose her place in line and forget what she's supposed to be doing. Her pre-team coach now is pretty awesome as well. She's not necessarily as loud or fun, but she's very structured and a tad on the strict side, which is honestly what my daughter needs. And she still needs setups with various stations so that she's always busy.

So those are a few suggestions if you end up with kids who have short attention spans...and well, most 3-6 year olds do. Good luck!

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

I have recently started as gymnastics coach for ages 3-6. Brief background on my gymnastics life: been a gymnast for 13 years so I know a lot about the sport but am new to coaching.

I just wanted to say Congrats!