WAG Training at other clubs

[SXS524]

So those of you who have seen my previous posts will know that I recently set up a development squad with the aim of competing "grade 14" next year (floor is similar to usa level 3 but no round off or back handspring, vault is simply a jump onto a block from a springboard, bars is basically chin ups and legs lifts, beam is similar to usa level 1/2, plus a "range & conditioning routine- main parts are bridge, all three splits and straddle lever on a bench) . The girls are 7 and training 3 hours a week. It's a first for the club as well as being the first squad I have been in charge of so a new experience for all!

In one of my previous posts I asked about trying to inspire the girls (being a rec club there's no-one who can do anything past a round off back handspring and girls that can are few and far between) and another poster suggested visiting a higher level club to observe/join in...

Well I was wondering whether that could be a good idea, for myself and the girls to visit another club for a day (or perhaps more?) 1) So the girls can see higher levels gymnasts and see their work ethic and 2) so I could get some ideas from more experienced coaches..

I was wondering how common it was for coaches to do this, particularly in the UK? Is it best to go to a gym slightly further away in the hope the clubs are less likely to be competing against each other? What's the best way to go about arranging a club visit?

Thanks

 

[COz]

Just wondering why you wouldn't just go by yourself?

From a parents perspective (and an inexperienced one at that) I'd imagine you might almost immediately lose some girls to other gyms as the parents might not have considered it before a visit and after a visit their daughters might say how wonderful the other hard working girls are. Visiting a non local gym wouldn't fix this, I'd just look closer if I suddenly realised there was a substantial difference in opportunity/training programs.

 

[Muddlethru]

For me, if this was presented for my 7 year old, I may just not let my kid go. But how about just showing them some videos. Gymnastike.com has a lot of "workout" videos showing college level gymnasts and Olympic gymnasts doing a typical workout at their gym as well as workouts in preparation for a large meet.

 

[coach1234]

I think it's a fab idea! Our club has quite high level gymnasts, girls compete at national challenge and we have boys in GB squad, one of the groups I coach are the tinys hoping to do grade 14 this year and next and they love training when the 'big girls' are in and love watching them, also I think it will be a good idea for you, if you have no experience then getting help from other more experienced coaches is a great idea, we have a young coach who goes to a 'big named club' every week for experience, I don't think you need to go somewhere where you won't be competing against them, in our county all the girls are best friends they love training together and then competing against each other as well, they can make friendships that will last their whole gym career

 

[SXS524]

Yikes mixed opinions. I have to say when a CB poster suggested it a little while back I had the same opinion as @COz, thinking that taking them to club with better opportunities and facilities would just mean I lost the girls to other clubs. Then again, I don't know how much of a risk it is. When the girls compete they compete at an amazing gym with great facilities, its too far for any of the girls to train at but, as far as I'm aware, we haven't lost any gymnasts to clubs with better facilities. The nearest elite clubs are at least a half an hours drive away from our club.
Thanks for the idea @4theloveofsports - I have shown the girls a video which did inspire them that session, but I wasn't sure if perhaps seeing gymnasts training in person would have more of an effect?
@coach1234 - sounds like you have a great friendly county sounds like we should come visit your gym you wouldn't happen to be in the south region would you ?! I wasn't sure how clubs would feel about having other club's gymnasts training with them.

 

[Muddlethru]

Thanks for the idea @4theloveofsports - I have shown the girls a video which did inspire them that session, but I wasn't sure if perhaps seeing gymnasts training in person would have more of an effect?.

I guess it would depend on the "viewing" conditions. In our former gym, chairs where parents could sit were actually in the gym. So, it provided for a more "personal" view. In our current gym, the viewing room is separated by glass and the configuration of the gym makes it impossible to get a good view of the girls practicing. I think 7 year olds need a more personal and involved experience. They have shorter attention spans. I however commend you for your dedication. How about taking them to a high level meet? They'd see the actual skills and it would be fun. It could be a hit or miss with watching practice. You don't know what they'll be practicing. They'll be doing just one skill at a time and maybe just be doing drills, which 7 year olds will not understand. And you can't expect 7 year olds, to sit through 3-4 hours of practice. I get bored watching my daughter practice and she is an L9. You on the other hand may benefit from visiting high level gyms for up training purposes.

 

[coach1234]

@coach1234 - sounds like you have a great friendly county sounds like we should come visit your gym you wouldn't happen to be in the south region would you ?! I wasn't sure how clubs would feel about having other club's gymnasts training with them.

We are in the south west and I know clubs around here are happy for club visits but I don't know about other clubs in the UK

 

[xrachx]

I know of other clubs coming to DDs club because they have more equipment and better facilities than other clubs locally. They train with their own coaches and sometimes share the area with whichever team is training at the time. It's normally at the weekends though when there's no rec classes on

 

[SXS524]

I guess it would depend on the "viewing" conditions. In our former gym, chairs where parents could sit were actually in the gym. So, it provided for a more "personal" view. In our current gym, the viewing room is separated by glass and the configuration of the gym makes it impossible to get a good view of the girls practicing. I think 7 year olds need a more personal and involved experience. They have shorter attention spans. I however commend you for your dedication. How about taking them to a high level meet? They'd see the actual skills and it would be fun. It could be a hit or miss with watching practice. You don't know what they'll be practicing. They'll be doing just one skill at a time and maybe just be doing drills, which 7 year olds will not understand. And you can't expect 7 year olds, to sit through 3-4 hours of practice. I get bored watching my daughter practice and she is an L9. You on the other hand may benefit from visiting high level gyms for up training purposes.

If we were only allowed to view a session, I probably wouldn't bother or only go by myself, as agreed, I think it would be too boring for the girls. Watching a higher level comp could be possible- would have to find a suitably local event.. could possible see the parents being more on board if the girls were actually doing gymnastics rather than just watching. The ideal situation would be if I could take the girls to join at a another club. would give me the chance to get ideas from other coaches, give the girls a chance to work in a better facility and perhaps give them a chance to see higher level gymnasts (if they were training at the same time).

 

[SXS524]

Thanks for all the responses-definitely food for thought!

Any coaches out there who have done this- either gone to another club by themselves to work with other coaches or taken a group of gymnasts to have a training day at another club? If so how was it? and how did you go about it?

 

[Frase]

In my (limited) experience other clubs have come to us either because we have facilities they don't or their club is out of use for say comps or repair or, more commonly, the head coaches are friends and the squads will occasionally train together at each others gyms.

This year so far dd's squad has trained at 2 different gyms - both
times they have slept over either in the gym or as a group with another gymmie.

Alternatively you may find that some clubs not too far from you
will hold camps over the summer which are open to other clubs - i know our club does.

Even if you don't want your girls to stay over or only do a couple of days it would be worth getting in
touch and asking. As well as being
a great opportunity for your gymnasts it would be good for you in building your contacts. I cld be wrong but there seems to be a bit of 'who you know' in gym(like most things really).

Finally, if you are somewhere
south then guildford spectrum is
always a good option for seeing some higher level stuff. They often have the British team championships (though not this year) which is amazing for little ones. They are however holding the voluntary championships later
in the year and although no
olympians at that level it's a good opportunity to see some pretty skilled girls and perhaps some future stars in the making.

 

[coach1234]

Thanks for all the responses-definitely food for thought!

Any coaches out there who have done this- either gone to another club by themselves to work with other coaches or taken a group of gymnasts to have a training day at another club? If so how was it? and how did you go about it?

Last summer one go the coaches from our club took a group of girls to a load of clubs in London area, they went to places like sapphire and train with gabby Jupp and teal grindle they are always talking about it even now they had an amazing time and are no where near the standered of those girls all they did was email or ring the club too see if they will allow it, okay the coach knew Steve the HC of sapphire so that help and like anything it's who you know but it's worth ringing the club to find out if they could help

 

[BlairBob]

On occasion when I was at Novato, the girls from Davis or Santa Rosa would come to our gym on Saturdays to all train together. The coaches all knew each other and Novato had a big pit with all the events into pit.

It was pretty awesome, especially as Davis had a few L10's compared to Novato's group of mostly L8's and 2 9's that were actually out of HS. Can't remember what Santa Rosa brought down but there was a lot of girls there those days.

This not uncommon for some gyms to do, especially if they know each other well or one gym is bigger and has a pit.

 

[Aero]

@BlairBob | Did you notice a clear difference in the training habits of the regular girls on Saturdays when the other gyms came to visit compared to their normal training days? Did they perform better, worse, or the same? I know that sometimes athletes can train harder when around friends/competitors, or can become shy and intimidated and train worse, as well as being unaffected and train with the same quality. I'd be interested to know how the interactions between the gymnasts were, as well as between the coaches. What was the atmosphere like? This is something I've considered for when I have a bigger network and a more established team in the future (I'm a newbie to competitive coaching).

 

[raenndrops]

On occasion when I was at Novato, the girls from Davis or Santa Rosa would come to our gym on Saturdays to all train together. The coaches all knew each other and Novato had a big pit with all the events into pit.

It was pretty awesome, especially as Davis had a few L10's compared to Novato's group of mostly L8's and 2 9's that were actually out of HS. Can't remember what Santa Rosa brought down but there was a lot of girls there those days.

This not uncommon for some gyms to do, especially if they know each other well or one gym is bigger and has a pit.

It is also not uncommon for a YMCA team to go to a bigger gym and train a couple times a month... if the YMCA team is one of 4 in a city and NONE of them has even a SPRING floor, let alone a pit (NOT my gym... but one in my district... their L5+ go to a "local to them" well-known gym occasionally to train.

 

[BlairBob]

I know our HC and the coaches from Davis were friends from their UCD days. Our girls and their girls and the Santa Rosa girls all seemed to get along. If anything most of our optionals were more around that 6-8th grade age so they looked up to the older L10's. One went to Boise and did well, Amy Glass was her name. Our HC and the Davis coaches seemed to get along pretty chummy with Darcy and her coaches so it all worked out and was a great time.

If anything I was a bit more concerned with the Santa Rosa girls since they tended to throw more things but I think it's also because they were going into pit and so it was time to push themselves while they had the facility to do it.

They pretty much performed the same. Most of our girls had pretty good work ethics by the time they were in L6 since that Saturday was L6 and up. Maybe we had a few L4's or 5's I was watching over because of Open Gym. Our L6/7's were still at that age they very respectful. We had one L8 that was a wild child but other than being wild, she was a good kid. Sometimes Ashley used to sass me a bit but she was just a sarcastic 11-12yo that wasn't really disrespectul.

Our only headaches tended to be in the L5 group with the girls that were preteen. I think that is the age and level of experience that they are starting to get ego's especially if they know they are good but have only been competing for a few years. Some of this was probably more so because of Marin parents. Crazy mom or split parents.

So I think we just lucked out as our girls were all a pretty good group. I know sometimes they didn't like one compulsory coach or butted heads with another. I think that was more of the preteen/teen girls butting heads with female coaches as they never were a problem with me or the HC ( which of course they liked me for the most part except when when we were stern ).

I did coach at one gym and a lot of our girls from compulsory to optionals had a lot more respect issues and I think this was because these girls had gone through a lot of coaching changes in the past 2 years. 3-5 different coaches...that's rough.

 

[munchkin3]

Our gym goes to other facilities sometimes because of the pit. We don't have one.

 

[emilykatherine]

My gym goes to a place that just got a new gym every couple of weeks, it's fun we even went today! It lets us train different vaults and other skills. And it's about an hour away so non of us would even think about switching gyms

 

[Hayleigh]

My coach takes us to a slightly bigger gym, with a high bar pit, uneven bars over a pit and 1 competition beam to dismount in a pit and the tumble track to the pit. As at our club only the high bar ,tumble track and air track go to the pit. We do this team trip 2 weeks before each West Country league match and before nationals/regionals and occasionally levels. We have never had a problem with people leaving having seen the other gym, because we regularly compete there and our coach books the gym for 4/5 hours on a Sunday afternoon or Monday night, which means we are in the gym alone and no other clubs are training so we can just use whatever equipment we want as and when we need to.