WAG Can you teach tight?

[cbifoja]

I think the explanation is key. So many times, my DD has asked me what so-and-so means. For example, her coach was telling her that her split jump needed to be 180 degrees when she was still learning to count money! She would tell her to stop pulling her body in during her flyaway, but DD didn't know what that meant. She asked me what a pillar was because that was what she was supposed to be on the beam. Lots of things like that.....

Once you can figure out the right words to use, I think most gymmies can make the correction. Her coach kept getting frustrated because she said DD wouldn't make corrections. But once DD understood what she wanted, the corrections got made.

Just telling a kid to be tight, depending on their age, won't get tight done. Our littles practice being "soldiers" and I think that is a great tool to use for teaching tight to kids who are under 7.

 

[Seeker]

The other thing to consider in language barriers (in addition to what cbifoja posted above) is exactly that...a true language barrier due to coach not having English as a 1st language. None of our team coaches do and sometimes the littler girls really cannot understand them. Not so much the accent or anything (although sometimes that is the case), but more often it is the word choice (using pillar versus pencil, for example...all kids know what a pencil is, but few will know pillar).

DD is a bit older now and understands more, but there have been cases where she literally does not understand the corrections because she doesn't know what the words mean. Our coaches come from various backgrounds, none of which have English as a first language, so it can be challenging sometimes.