A long time member of the board asked me to post this anonymously.
"My daughter is a level 8 gymnast just starting the 6th grade. She's having a twisting block on floor and it's causing a lot of frustration. As early as a year ago, she was comfortably landing 3/2. Then she lost it....followed by losing her full, and now even her half is sporadic. In addition, she's been working three different coaches over the past year, all of whom take a different approach to handling her fears. Sometimes they give her space, sometimes they encourage, sometimes they get angry, sometimes they send her off the floor or out of the gym. Her regular coach is leaving for vacation tomorrow and has told all coaches that my daughter is to do no twisting until she returns.
Her coach and team spent the summer working through Doc Alli's Athlete Warrior as part of their training. My daughter finds it somewhat hard to follow along and feels self conscious that she doesn't know several of the words used during the exercises. Since her teammates are all older/high school students, she feels left behind. She doesn't want to ask over and over what all of these words mean and as a result, she hasn't really bought in to the program. Predictably, she hasn't had any success overcoming this block.
Her coach has asked me to consider doing some mental training with her at home so that she won't feel stupid or like she can't keep up. When I asked my daughter, she was agreeable to working at home but insistent that we not use the material she is using at the gym.
I guess I'm looking for some input from various sources as far as the best way to accomplish this while not interfering with her coach's authority. And also, is there a better program that the Athlete Warrior? I was looking specifically at the Head Games workbook but wasn't sure if it was written on a level she could understand better. Or should I just plan on going slow and having to define a lot of the words?
I want to respect the relationship my gymnast has with her coach as well as honor the coach's request. Obviously I want to do the best thing that will help my daughter but worry about meddling in the wrong way. So I'm looking for any advice as far as approach and materials. Thank you in advance."
"My daughter is a level 8 gymnast just starting the 6th grade. She's having a twisting block on floor and it's causing a lot of frustration. As early as a year ago, she was comfortably landing 3/2. Then she lost it....followed by losing her full, and now even her half is sporadic. In addition, she's been working three different coaches over the past year, all of whom take a different approach to handling her fears. Sometimes they give her space, sometimes they encourage, sometimes they get angry, sometimes they send her off the floor or out of the gym. Her regular coach is leaving for vacation tomorrow and has told all coaches that my daughter is to do no twisting until she returns.
Her coach and team spent the summer working through Doc Alli's Athlete Warrior as part of their training. My daughter finds it somewhat hard to follow along and feels self conscious that she doesn't know several of the words used during the exercises. Since her teammates are all older/high school students, she feels left behind. She doesn't want to ask over and over what all of these words mean and as a result, she hasn't really bought in to the program. Predictably, she hasn't had any success overcoming this block.
Her coach has asked me to consider doing some mental training with her at home so that she won't feel stupid or like she can't keep up. When I asked my daughter, she was agreeable to working at home but insistent that we not use the material she is using at the gym.
I guess I'm looking for some input from various sources as far as the best way to accomplish this while not interfering with her coach's authority. And also, is there a better program that the Athlete Warrior? I was looking specifically at the Head Games workbook but wasn't sure if it was written on a level she could understand better. Or should I just plan on going slow and having to define a lot of the words?
I want to respect the relationship my gymnast has with her coach as well as honor the coach's request. Obviously I want to do the best thing that will help my daughter but worry about meddling in the wrong way. So I'm looking for any advice as far as approach and materials. Thank you in advance."