Anon No ability to spot high level skill… should we be worried?

[Anonymous (5d91)]

The coaches at our gym are older and physically unable to or choose not spot high level 8,9, and 10 skills. I see videos of coach’s at our competiting gyms with younger and fitter male coaches who are doing much more advanced spotting and drills like helping girls flip ect. Or guiding them through their Paks on bars.

How important is a coaches physical ability to spot high level skills? And will not having coaching with this ability hold back a gymnasts progression especially if they have mental blocks and fears?

 

[Aussie_coach]

I hear what yiu are saying about your coaches being unwilling to spot. But the age of coaches, or whether they are male or female etc would not determine their spotting ability.

Spotting is important at various points of training, but some of th best coaches spot less. Gymnasts may become reliant on the spot, and their brains develop a connection between requiring their coach to stand there in order to be able to do the skill.

Where possible having gymnasts learn skills via progressions, drills and steps rather than being heavily reliant on a lot of spotting will usually bring forth better results.

A lot of heavy spotting will also take a toll on a coaches body regardless of age and strength levels. If we want to keep top coaches in the sport, less reliance on spotting is also important.

 

[Anonymous (1706)]

The proof is in the pudding. Are the gymnasts at your gym learning new skills safely? Are they competitive against other gyms? Keep in mind that in men’s gymnastics there isn’t much heavy spotting due to the athlete’s size and they learn their skills just fine.