The Drills for Coaches The Same Size as Our Athletes Thread!

[CoachGoofy]

You know how you watch those videos with all those great drills and an average-or-bigger dude coach and a teeny little 8 year old who basically needs to stay tight and ride the skill?

If you relate to those, I am happy for you.

I am not that coach. Those are not my athletes. And this is not that thread!

We've all had to get creative, either because of injury or because we just can't throw our 12 year old level 5 as easily as the 6 year old level 4 at the gym the next town over. Let's share.

For my taller girls just starting standing back tucks, they need to be able to jump onto a cheese mat that's sitting on a resi & back roll (so land on their backs on the cheese & then roll). They HAVE to go up to get to the cheese, & they HAVE to initiate rotation to get the roll goin'.

 

[JBS]

Awesome thread!

I have to point out one of our sponsors products here. We bought the Boulder from Norbert's. Love it. We bought the largest one...it is meant for gymnasts that are 5 ft. and taller. We purchased this because a local high school brings their cheer squad in on a regular basis. The Boulder has been vital in the squads development of back handsprings.

It works much better than octagons or pac-man style trainers as the Boulder really forces them to jump. If they don't jump...it doesn't tip over. Here is the video:

[video=youtube;2fkHGO7LHAY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fkHGO7LHAY[/video]

 

[CoachGoofy]

We have a boulder too & I was kind of against it at first, on principle (I don't know what principle, but there was one) and now I love it.

For heel drive:
I see coaches picking up their teeny little level 5s all tight as a board & all the tiny kid has to do is throw their feet up a bit, right? To get a feel for heel drive?

That isn't gunna happen.

We do front layouts off the double mini into a big stack of mats. Well, first we do handspring flatback stuff off the double mini. Then we do handspring (but stay tight so you block) & throw your feet so hard you land on them huzzah! off the double mini.

and THEN we do front layouts off the double mini. Good times. Much better vaults.

 

[BlairBob]

Yep, my friend pretty much tries to teach the handspring as a front layout blocking off your hands. Now, just building up to the front layout is what takes awhile.

 

[CoachGoofy]

I love having a trampoline.

Back drop pullover to stomach. Progress to backdrop pullover to stomach, but roll to back right before hitting the tramp. Keep going until you can do a full twist to the stomach before landing on it.

Now do it without a back drop in the middle. And land on your feet.

OH LOOK A FULL!

 

[coachmolly]

Any advice for teaching girls the same size as the coach flyaways? I attempted just flipping them around today, but they all decided to just go limp in my arms making it really difficult as well as exhausting and physically taxing for the coach. The HC suggested stopping them at horizontal and flipping them over my shoulder, but that doesn't sound much more pleasant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gymgurl]

I don't know if you have the luxury of a bar over the pit but what we do is we do lots into the pit then add a mat into the pit and then go to the actual bar set and put a crash mat and then when thats safe we do it on set with a little spot from the coach but not so much that its physically exhausting

 

[CoachGoofy]

What kind of mats do you have access to? I know one coach who uses a swinging skin the cat technique just to get them flipping...rolling them off your shoulder gets exhausting.

The last time I taught a flyaway to, well, anyone, we started with let go & flatback to resi. Then I put a cheese on there so that she hit the cheese & back rolled (since her feet were higher). And then I was spoiled rotten & got another coach to double-spot...which is not exactly helpful to you, probably...

 

[coachmolly]

We don't have a pit, so that eliminates that option. Though it would make this whole experience a heck of a lot easier! We do have a resi- about 12" thick and I've had the girls do tap swing-release-flat back onto that. I'm not sure if there is a cheese mat hiding someplace, but that might be an idea. I've seen that drill before, but I just worry that since the resi is so low it wouldn't be as effective. There is another coach who could theoretically help me double spot, but she seems pretty set on the toss 'em over your shoulder method.
Thanks so much for the quick response and great ideas!

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

dtrfliguria - YouTube

Perhaps a set up like this might be useful for drilling the skill. I really like some of the video's from this user, looks like they have to set up/pack up the gym and are rather innovative in finding ways to teach skills without the 'regular' training aids or the luxury of pits.

 

[coachmolly]

That's a really cool set-up! Unfortunately, we have no where near enough mats/spotting blocks to make something like that happen. By the time the equipment is set up we are left with the 12" resi type mat, a few 4" mats, a spotting block, and 1 panel mat.

 

[CoachGoofy]

Can you stack & make the resi ANY higher?

The glorified skin the cat method may work, ish, except it probably has steps beyond "swing. now do a skin the cat. Now let's let go later" and the product is technically a flyaway, but it takes forever to fix and make pretty.

 

[coachmolly]

I'm going to dig around today to see what I can find because I really love that idea. I think we might take a break from flyaway work today because my shoulder needs a break.

 

[ginnymac]

That was a great set up in that video!