Recreational T&T Classes...Advice?

[JBS]

We started our T&T program about five months ago. We currently have 2 gymnasts on the team. This low number is not due to lack of interest, but lack of staff. I have not allowed new gymnasts to join as I have had to combine them with other teams at times. Now we are ready to start the growing process.

We currently have:

• 7'x14' String Bed (just purchased)
• 6'x12' Poly bed
• Palmer Spring Floor
• 40' Tumble Track
• 2 Mini Tramps
• Full WAG & MAG Equip

What I would like to do is work on growing the rec. side of this program. The team will grow itself...I have several WAG kids that are looking to switch over now that we have a string bed.

So my questions....

Tell me about your recreational T&T classes?...time length?...lesson plans?

In my overly simplistic mind...I'm just going to put together a flyer, take some registrations, and get them bouncing. What am I missing?

 

[BlairBob]

If you have any artistic gymnasts who just aren't really into AA or would prefer lighter training hours, I would talk to them about it. When I see boys or girls who love to tumble and bounce but revile apparatus, I think about steering them to TnT. This is also a good option for artistic gymnastics who are thinking about retiring because they don't want to do more hours or because they are burned out repeating a level or are not advancing. I like 90m T&T classes, but you can create 60m beginner TnT classes for beginners and opt to have 90m for intermediate/advanced. If you get some fairly advanced kids who want more time for advanced training you could push it out to 2h. So you would hold one class. Beginners would leave after 60m, Intermediate after 90, and Advanced after 105 or 120. Or end 5m before the half/hour to faciliate changes and breaks. At first, I would only have the 90m option and keep the 105/120 for the future if demand allows for it. General lesson Plan means both tramp and tumbling during each session. For 60m: 10m WU 10m HS work 20m tramp/mini 20m tumbling90m: go back to tumble or track for 20m, condition for 10m For Adv gymnasts, delay conditioning during that 10m to work on something like standing backs, punch fronts, aerial drills. Then hit 1 more event+10m conditioning. Preferably offer 2d/week. We used to offer the int/adv class twice during the week and there was a beginner/intermediate class on saturday mornings. Switching between events allows them to rest and hit it fresher. If you do a 90m class, only I would do tramp/mini and tumbling with more time per event. Work basics as WU such can be done without having to pull out wedges or mats. You can set up cartwheel/RO drills as side stations since more than likely you'll either be spotting passes or BHS on a wedge during tumbling besides any other drills that don't have to be spotted (BHS on barrels or into a pit, etc). Tumbl-trak can be done instead of floor and I like to WU on TT having them do WU drills on their return like inchworm walks, lunges, long jumps, HS rolls, CW, etc.

 

[CoachGoofy]

Rec T&T can be a blast.

I like to get them bouncing on something and tumbling in some capacity every class (we train T&T with the assumption that everyone will be able to join team, so we want them able to do stuff on everything).

We have the same sorts of trampolines as you do...each is a station, I use end decks as stations and like to set up handstand work, general conditioning, back rolls/pullover drills on mats as side stations.


Don't underestimate the use of the TT as a training tool for big trampoline. You can get a whole class practicing jumps at once. I like doing basics like that so they can all get moving at once.

Line drills on floor have their place (or roundoff circuits. Oh my gosh do I love my roundoff circuits), but we don't use them anywhere near as much as in artistic. They can learn up through level 5 tumbling on a spring floor.

Sticking contests (or circuits on floor with a run and jump and do a thing into a mat) with mini tramps are remarkably fun and useful.

We have 1 hr, 90 min, and 120 min classes in the beginner-level 4/5 range, and then 180min is team.

And I have more drills than I thought possible a few years ago....beginning with "this is how we jump off 2 feet" and going from there.

 

[aerialriver]

All of our rec. classes are 1 hour, Jr. team is 1.5 hours and team is 2, levels 8 and up have one day where it is 3.

The rec. classes run 6 days a week because they are so popular some run twice a day! They are all in the evenings. We also have a special Tumble tot class for preschoolers to do T&T.

In the beginning or with any new student we teach all the basics, tuck jumps, pike and straddle, seat drops, freezing and sticking. And when they have it down we start teaching the USAG routines. They like it and even if they don't compete not they might in the future and it is good to know the routines. We usually have 5-10 minuets of conditioning at the end of class for the hour long class.

 

[coachmolly]

I worked at a primarily T&T gym for 3 years and the classes were a huge hit, much more so than the girls artistic classes. Classes ranged from levels 2-4, pre-team was level 5, and team started at level 6 (though there was an option of starting to compete at level 5). Level 2 came for 75 minutes, levels 3 & 4 for 90 minutes (some 2x week), and level 5 for 2 hrs (2x/week). The time was a little long for level 3s, but the others worked pretty well. Though I think an hour for beginner (our level 2) would have been fine.
For all groups we started with running and stretching, and for level 4 & 5 we spent a few minutes following stretching to work on only handstands. Here are the basic plans we followed for levels 2-4. We had a set skill sheet on each event for the kids and had skill testing every few months.
Level 2/Beginner: 15 min. warm-up, 25 minutes floor- used the regular spring floor most of the time because it had more space. We did lots of circuits with rolls, handstands, cartwheels- very similar to floor in girls beginning classes. 25 minutes tramp/tumbl track. Worked lots on trampoline safety and basics, good body positions, and the basics- shapes seat drops, doggy drops. 10 minutes conditioning and conditioning disguised as games.
Level 3/Advanced-Beginner: 15 min warm-up, then some combination of tumbling, trampoline, and double mini depending on what was available that day. We still worked lots on cartwheels and handstands, more emphasis on round offs, improving existing skills using circuits. Tramp we worked on basic jumps expecting improved form as well as seat drops, swivel hips, and combinations. For DM we just worked at introducing the concept of mounting and doing the correct number of jumps, finishing with a stick. Eventually we would changed straight jumps to harder skills.
Level 4- Intermediate: 15 min warm-up, 5-10 minutes focusing on handstands with lots of hands on spotting. Tumbling (30 minutes)- can still get away with spring floor for most of it. Started with lines of basics- variations of cartwheels and round offs, handstands, handstand forward rolls. Then stations with lots of round off drills and back handsprings- introducing shapes, drills, spotted bhs. Most kids left level 4 with a standing bhs and pretty solid round offs. Tramp (30 minutes)- Expect basics with good form, solid connections, introduce belly drops, back-drops, front and back tucks (spotted). DM (30 minutes)- more work on basic mounters, connections, and sticks, Introduce front tuck dismounts (with spot). 15 minutes conditioning at the end. We usually did tumbling and either tramp or DM each week, but some weeks we would spend the entire time on 1 event or do both tramp and DM.