A HUGE THANK YOU to TUMBL TRAK for supplying Gym Momentum Camp with Sliders and Their New Paralletts to all our staff, visiting coaches and participating gyms.
(Now could you send me fun things to play on at my lake house?)
My Journey and What I Learned from Gymnastics. Mr. Michael Outram
I had the please of doing a couple training camps with Mike in June of 2018. I was nervous about working with him about his strength, stamina and ability to communicate with the athletes. At the NO LIMITS Camp in Calgary Mike coached Beam. Immediately after that we headed down to Lethbridge Alberta to do a Boys Camp. Watching him break a skill down and explaining drills is a thing of beauty. He is a bit shaky when he walks but his confidence in the gym more than makes up for it. Give this man a cape and call him a superhero.
Tony
Steve David, MIKE OUTRAM, Wendy Bruce, Gary Issacs , Tony(me). Pegasus Gymnastics Camp
My life before my SCI (spinal cord injury).
I was a very active, outgoing person. I had been accepted into the Winnipeg ballet. I was a national diver, a gymnast, and a wrestler. I enjoyed base jumping, sky diving, parasailing, white-water rafting, deep sea fishing, rock climbing, cave exploring, hiking, boating, ATVing, bahaing on the sand dunes, kite boarding, and cliff diving. Adventure was my middle name.
I attended the Seneca College coaching program to get a coaching diploma in elite gymnastics. At 19, I took up trampoline with Dave Ross where I won provincial championships my first year. Second year I went onto place at National Championships. The following year, I placed in the Top 6. Then I started a long career of coaching elite gymnasts from men artistic, women artistic, to tumbling.
This was all taken away when I dismounted into a pit that was incorrectly designed.
I broke my neck, C 3 and C 4. I was totally paralysed from the neck down. Leaving Beaumont hospital in the US I was told that I would never walk again and although I could breathe on my own they said in 2 months I would be on a ventilator for the rest of my life. This isn’t all. Everything below the break would be compromised: bowels, bladders, lungs. The only things that were not compromised were my brain and my heart. But that wasn’t quite true either. I had a heart attack at some point when the accident happened because of the trauma and my heart murmur got worse.
Well, almost 8 years later and 4 years in out of hospital here I am.
I’m still doing therapy 4 to 5 days a week: from hydrotherapy, guided Pilates, bow bath, Graston, acupuncture, TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), whole body vibration TPN (trigger point needling), and chiropractor. I can walk, stand, and move. I am back to coaching.
What else? Well even with all the therapy, my sensation is very poor and spotty. I can feel hot and cold in my left hand only. I have spots that I can feel touch but I’m hyper sensitive to light touch which means when you brush against me or the wind blows, I go into spasm. I only sweat from the break up (C3 and C4), so from about my chin up. This means I can’t regulate my body temperature so I’m very susceptible to heat stroke. I need to drink lots of water to keep cool but my bladder doesn’t work well (doesn’t empty fully). When I feel like I have to pee it means now.
I have major nerve pain. Hands and feet are in constant nerve pain with burning sensation, pins and needles, and very poor feeling as well as spotty nerve pain. Like chasing a rabbit, it can jump anywhere sometimes: left forearm, right thigh, right side etc… But not all the time and for no real rhyme or reason.
What does it take to walk with no really sensation in my feet?
I have to visualize every step I take. I focus on how to walk so I will walk by you without acknowledging you. I’m not being rude. I’m focusing on every step. Plus my balance is poor so if I turn my head I will lose my balance because it is very poor. I would never pass a sobriety roadside test but that’s another story! (I also have a t-shirt that says I’m not drunk, I’m a quadriplegic for that reason exactly.) When you see me staggering at 8 am in the morning, you just need to say to those looking at you, “Mr. Mike needs to stop drinking this early in the morning” or “boy that was a wild party last night.”
When first relearning to walk I asked my physiatrist, “When you send me home who will tell me I can ride my bike?” Her response was, “your body will let you know.” That began the process of walking. I started with standing at the sink with my power wheelchair behind me. I would stand wedged between the sink and the wheelchair to brush my teeth. My nurse would ask if I had permission to stand and brush my teeth. I would always say “YEP.” It was all about liability. They didn’t want me to fall because it was a lot of paper work and it would set me back. To this day “Have you fallen?” is the first question all my doctors and community service people ask first. The answer is no.
It took about 4 months until I could stand for the whole time brushing my teeth without losing my balance. It was time to walk, even though I still needed assistance with eating. To begin to learn to walk, I would hold the bed for balance, then I would side step around the bed and back. I did this for 3 months. Then I would sit on my own, on the edge of the bed, take off one sock, then take two steps to walk to the closet, and then take two steps backwards. I had better articulation of my feet backwards. Why? Don’t know. But it worked. I would do this for every piece of clothing until I was ready for bed. Even though my left arm didn’t work at all and my right arm was poor, I figured keep trying until I figured out.
When are well we take for granted all the things that are part of our daily routine. After a spinal injury, I take none of these things for granted anymore. Everything I had learned in life I needed to relearn. Sometimes what I’ve relearned stays and sometimes it doesn’t. It might last for days or months. Sometimes it can even just be a few hours and I will have to relearn it again.
My nurses called me stubborn. I would like to think of it as determined.
I had a lot of nurses throughout my 9 month stay at Lynhurst. This was extremely long because most people where kicked out after several months but I had not plateaued. To this day I’m still improving. Just last month I had a change in my gate and in my reach pattern because my hip released and dropped into place by 1 ½ inches. You have to understand I have damaged L 2,3,4 and have a tear in L5 in my lower back as well as something going on in my S1. All this lower damage to my back isn’t from the initial injury. It is because I’m walking and I shouldn’t be walking. I’m glad my hip dropped because I was always telling my neuro physio I feel like I just want someone to pull my right leg down like traction (where they literally tie things on your ankles and stretch you). She was shocked that I’m still adapting and making changes.
I knew all about plateau from being a gymnastics coach.
I was originally told after two years my gains would be minimal. The first two years were the most important and my arms would be the last to come back. I figured that because the arm and hand had the most fine motor skills it was important to be functional and push hard.
My OT (occupational therapist) didn’t like me because she taught me how use utensils again by just stabbing my food but I wanted to be normal and use a fork the way I used to. So a good friend found some forks and spoons online that had big handles I could grab. This beat the adaptive utensils they wanted to strap on my hands. Then the OT was going to teach me how to get things out of the cupboards and fridge in my wheelchair. I told her no because I was not staying in the wheelchair. That I needed my arms back and they would take the longest, “so work on them!”
Now I can brush my teeth, comb my hair, shave with a straight razor, swim, run, split wood, cook all my own meals, live independently, unwrap all my parcels, and make jewelry. I chose not to go the dark place. I chose to be athlete and to train to be able to do the best I could on any given day.
I signed up for any and every research. I looked at this learning as free therapy. It was all about my mindset and choice and how I looked at things from the beginning. I remember leaving Michigan and the doctors saying you will NEVER walk and you will end up on a ventilator. I said to the doctor, “That doesn’t work for me.” I said to my parents, “I cannot live that way.”
What I Learned from Sport
Four years later I’m sent to Windsor to prepare to live on my own. If I can see something I can do it. Since I have poor sensation or spatial orientation I need to visualize what I want my body to do as I’m doing it. When I’m in therapy I visualize what action they want or the pathway the nerve impulse takes to make my fingers wiggle. When I’m in pain because they are increasing the range of motion that a limb has not been in for a long time, I focus on my breathing technique not to go into a spasm (freak out). When I am coaching I tell the kids to breathe and relax when stretching. I didn’t realize that this simple strategy we use all the time in gymnastics would create such a misunderstanding with my health care team. At the time they seemed to confuse my visualization and breathing with a mental health issue.
My physiotherapist was concerned because I didn’t make eye contact during our sessions. I would close my eyes or look out the window so I could focus and visualize. It took all my concentration. She thought I had social issues so on a Friday I got called to see mental health. Mental health peer support people drilled me on how I’m doing in therapy. I reply “fine.” This is right after my morning session. I’m exhausted.
Before lunch I’m called down to see the social worker. I’m drilled on how therapy is going again. I reply “fine.” The social worker informs me that they have concerns. She says that I don’t look at them. I tell her that I’m picturing what is supposed to be happening. She said that the physiotherapist is intimidated by me. I say “then she needs to go back to school and get more education.”
That day I get fast-tracked to see a psychologist and a psychiatrist all before dinner, to only end up seeing a neuro psychiatrist Saturday morning at 9am. Now I didn’t know there was even such a thing!! So I GOOGLE it to find out there are only two in Ontario!! And I get to see him Saturday morning! He asks how I am doing. Again. I reply “fine.” Again. By this time I’m annoyed. I say “How would you feel if you lost everything you knew? In a second I lost my life as an active person and elite gymnastics coach traveling the world.”
He shared an example with me about his son playing hockey and his son asked the coach why the coach didn’t go on to play in the NHL. The coach said it was because he wasn’t good enough. I didn’t understand were he was going with the story. I reply, “I was good enough and it has all been taken away.” He closed with, “Were you this stubborn before the injury?”
I said, “I was told I would never walk and here I am standing in front of you now.” He wished me luck and left.
Never give up.
Believe what you believe in. It’s about choices. The biggest thing I learned is that everything I learned in sport works even when the worst possible thing happens. Give 100%. Keep on trying until you get it. Don’t quit. Trust in what you taught your body because it will come back. It’s about training pathways. Once it’s learned it’s in there somewhere. It’s about whether it can come back out.
So if a quadriplegic can do it, so can you. Don’t stop pushing yourself.
Right now, I’m working on relearning how to drive a boat and then I want to relearn how to drive a car.
Mike’s Secret to success? It isn’t how he eats!
TR
Cold Pizza For Breakfast
Sushi for dinner (Mike still has trouble using chop sticks)
Ice Cream Sandwiches for dessert
US men’s soccer team didn’t make the 2018 World Cup for this reason
I am staying at a hotel outside of Boston on the first day of GYM MOMENTUM CAMP. I enjoy watching the FIFA World Cup, I certainly had teams I was cheering for (Iceland early on, then Sweden and England. I apparently suck at this btw) and I was wondering what happened to Team USA? I spend a lot of time in Italy and EVERYONE there cantle you why they didn’t make it this year.
As I sipped my coffee I saw an editorial in USA Today on WHY Team USA didn’t make the World Cup. There are some pretty good points.
Source: US men’s soccer team didn’t make the 2018 World Cup for this reason
As soccer’s 2018 World Cup winds down, there is no American men’s team in the finals — or even the tournament. For all of America’s wealth and population, the U.S. men’s team was eliminated by … Panama. Adding insult to injury, Panama lost every game they played, including a 6-1 thrashing by England.
What happened? Why is our men’s soccer team so weak?
Pundits may place blame at the highest levels — the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, or the coach of the national team. But maybe the problem is not at the top. Maybe it’s at a local field, where kids practice in fancy uniforms under the eyes of anxious parents, hands-on coaches and vigilant referees. Kids stand in line kicking balls through cones, listening to lectures about technique and tactics.
They are not playing soccer, they´re practicing it. But soccer is a game. To learn the beautiful game, they need to play it.
Teams that win teach their kids differently
Around the world, kids play in mixed-age pickup games, un-coached, without parents, uniforms or shin guards. They play with different-sized balls, not on grass, but on hard, fast, small courts packed with kids, where real skill is required just to control the ball, and the basic skills of the game teach themselves.
The greatest player of all time, the Brazilian legend Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), learned to play soccer barefoot. The “Shoeless Ones” was the name of his first team. He had no cleats, cone drills, or heroic soccer parents carpooling to practices, games, and tournaments. His ball was a sock stuffed with rags.
In some of the countries that eliminated the U.S. from the World Cup, that same lack of equipment and organization at the grassroots results in the sort of creative and fast-paced game that American soccer has not produced.
(My cousins run a soccer team in their town in Italy. First time I went to see the boys play I noticed they didn’t have referees. They also didn’t have shin guards (or grass!). I asked about the shin guards. He said, they do not get them until they are 13 years old. This forces them to focus on how to handle the ball and control play. )
No Refs, No shin guards, No grass.
Are American kids learning to really play?
Many kids are left behind in a pay-to-play system that excludes huge swathes of America´s youth. Those who can pay find themselves in ever fancier uniforms, participating in ever-more-tightly organized practices. Our kids travel for hours, often across state lines, and even across the entire country in search of “outstanding” competition, sometimes spending more time traveling than playing. What skill are they learning?
Of course some may obtain a college scholarship, which in men´s soccer might coverthe cost of books. An even tinier sliver may make it to the pro ranks. But any fan watching our men’s national team in action can recognize that the products of America’s “soccer industrial complex” lack the creativity and skill on the ball to be world-class.
This could be the solution
Just maybe, the keys to getting a U.S. men’s team to the World Cup and a child’s happiness are the same. Perhaps the quest for perfect equipment, perfect fields and perfect competition in an adult-driven system has prevented our kids from developing the skills, instincts and creativity to master the beautiful game.
To become a soccer-playing nation, we need to rethink how the game is learned and played at the grassroots level, even if it means not playing on grass at all. Because what we´re doing right now isn’t working. No wonder participation has declined by around 24% in recent years.
With soccer, less may be more. In the early years, forget the drills, equipment and travel. Let the kids play on the speedy blacktops, concrete and hard-packed dirt abundant across the fruited plain. Let younger kids learn by copying older kids. The simple supervision of a YMCA, parks and recreation program or local club is all the organization needed.
The same countries where kids first learn a “shoeless” game have carefully controlled systems at higher levels. But at the grassroots, their kids are playing. Ours are not. Their kids are winning. Ours are not.
The solution is simple. The cost- and time-savings are staggering. And the organization and infrastructure already exist. Let’s strip off the gear, throw out the expensive system and take soccer back to the creativity of the streets. Like Pele, let’s go “shoeless.”
Carlo Celli and Nathan Richardson are professors in the Bowling Green State University Department of World Languages and Culture and authors of the book “Shoeless Soccer: Fixing the System and Winning the World Cup.”
Science: You Get 150 Friends and 25 Places (So Choose Well) | Inc.com
Source: Science: You Get 150 Friends and 25 Places (So Choose Well) | Inc.com
Germans have the concept of the stammtisch. Greeks frequent their stegi. Brits are loyal to their local. Around the world, it seems, people have a tendency to form strong attachments to a neighborhood hang-out. Just how much are we creatures of habit when it comes to where we spend our time? A new study offers a surprising answer.
You’re not as adventurous as you think.
We all like to think of ourselves as adventurers out to sample all the amazing sights, sounds, and places the world has to offer. We travel. We try new restaurants. We keep on top of the hottest new bars in town. All this activity creates the impression that we go to lots of different places, but when a team of European researchers used cell phone data to trace the life paths of 40,000 people of all ages, they discovered a very different picture.
At first, the team followed 1,000 students and found that, actually, they each went to only 25 separate locations. The students might add a new place to their repertoire, but when they did an old place would fall out of favor. Surely, this must just be just campus-bound kids, the researchers thought, so they expanded their study to tens of thousands from all walks of life around the globe. The results were the same, surprising the researchers.
The data clearly showed that while we might join a new gym, discover a new favorite bar, or start frequenting a different park for lunch, we also then stop going somewhere else. In short, there appears to a be a hard limit to how many places we keep in the rotation at any given time.
“People are constantly balancing their curiosity and laziness. We want to explore new places but also want to exploit old ones that we like,” commented Andrea Baronchelli, a researcher in the Department of Mathematics at City, University of London and study co-author. “We found that this dynamic yields an unexpected result: We visit a constant, fixed number of places–and it’s not due to lack of time.”
You become who you know… and where you go.
This isn’t the first time that scientists have uncovered a built-in limit to the number of connections in our lives. Research has established “Dunbar’s number,” which is the maximum number of social relationships any person can maintain at a given time. In short, your brain can only handle having 150 friends at once.
Something similar seems to be going on with our ties to places as well as people (though the researchers caution more study is needed). The world may be your oyster, but your brain simply can’t keep a handle on more than 25 places at once.
So what’s the take away from this study beyond the fascination factor of knowing you likely have a hard stop on the number of places you go built into your psychology? The findings definitely help explain why my husband and I always find ourselves back at the same handful of restaurants despite constantly claiming to want to try new places, but it also puts greater pressure on all of us to choose our hangouts well.
Whether you ask interior designers, real estate agents, retail entrepreneurs, or basketball stars, the evidence is clear: location matters. A lot. Where we spend our time affects our mindset, our opportunities, our serendipitous encounters, and even our physical health. Just like your friends heavily impact who you become, so do your surroundings. Knowing you only get to split your life between a couple of dozen places means you really have to choose those places well.
So get out there and make sure your portfolio of places is as exciting, inspiring, and joyful as it could be.
Everything Is IMPOSSIBLE Until Someone Does It.
I am in the middle of “Congress/ conference season” or as my children say, “Dad’s North American Tour.” I had the pleasure of working the Louisiana USAG State clinic with AL Fong and Beth Gardner. I Love teaching. Teaching gymnasts and teaching coaches. The coaches in Louisiana came ready to learn. Al, Beth and myself each commented how great it was to have such a receptive audience. Thank You goes out to Daniel Kelly for organizing such a great event.
Currently I am in Orlando at USAIGC/IAIGC World Championships. There are teams here from The United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, India, Bermuda, as well as from across the USA. I can not say enough great things about this program and event. It is back to basics to the the reason why so many people got involved in gymnastics in the first place. Competing for the love of the sport. It is a great break from the all the problems within USAG at the moment.
Bob “Duke” Nelligan, former University of Maryland coach, is in charge of the training gym. I am working at the table in the competition gym. We both write down notes while we work for our in-depth conversations in our breaks. We are slowly coming up with a plan to fix all the problems in the world. While talking about gymnastics Education he said, “If you are not active in your education and doing something BEYOND going to congress over the summer then by September you are 6 months behind and by Christmas you are a year behind.”
We are in a dynamic sport. There is no such thing as staying where you are at.
You need to plan for your education the same way you plan for practice. What do you want to accomplish? What can you do to improve your weak spot? What can you SHARE with those around you? I have always enjoyed going to Regional and National Congresses. The lectures are often well thought our and very valuable. Attending camps and clinics is that next step where you can watch and/or participate with a wide variety of gymnasts. It gives you the ability to think around problems and learn from others who have faced similar problems.
Duke and I had a conversation about the Migration period, also called Dark Ages or Early Middle Ages, the early medieval period of western European history when there was no Roman (or Holy Roman) emperor in the West. The period was marked by frequent warfare and a virtual disappearance of urban life. There was a great loss of technology during this period. Our fear is that GYMNASTICS will face a dark ages.
Because of the current climate of fear within the gymnastics community many new coaches with energy and ideas are NOT getting involved and many experienced coaches are getting out of the sport early. The question we both had for each other is:
“Has equipment and technology replaced good teaching and coach practices?”
and
“do we rely on this technology instead of progressions?”
The mechanical demands of a double back has not changed yet you are barely competitive without one at Level 9 or USAIGC/ IAIGC remier. Through great training devices like trampoline, foam pits and Tumbl Trak the double back can be performed many more times with less risk. BUT- are coaches getting away from solid progressions? Are they just having athletes do double backs into the pit until they figure it out?
When you have a team that is struggling at vault- do you go back and strengthen their ankles and work in their run or do you try to invent a springier vaulting board?
I had a pretty good Vaulting group a few years ago. We had 3 girls medal on Vault at National Championships. One with a Handspring Front Pike 1/2, One with a Yurchenko 1 1/2, and one with a Yurchenko 1/1. I stepped away from actively coaching for a few years and when I went back into the gym the vaulters were a little weaker than I had hoped. The current Vault coach told me it was because we didn’t have a loose foam pit to vault into. Only a solid foam pit.
Wow- I wish I had known that what I had done wasn’t possible.
EVERYTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL SOMEONE DOES IT.
Have a great week.
Beware of YOUTUBE Experts.
Beware of YOUTUBE Experts.
One of my college professors once said, “there is a big difference between having studied the biology and behavior of tigers in the library and coming face to face with a tiger in the wild.” Right now there are many “Experts” on Youtube. Anyone with an iPhone and a YouTube account can pass themselves off as an expert.
When I started coaching and I wanted to increase my knowledge I sought out other coaches with experience and a proven track record. What I noticed was that few of these coaches ever wanted to be the smartest person in the room. They were constantly looking to increase their knowledge base. I value education and every day I try to learn something. Something that is going to make my gym better. Something that is going to make me a better coach, something that is going to make me a better person.
I know I am getting old and I accept that. Maybe that is why I am distrustful of a “YouTube” education. I believe that to be an expert you need to have taught something more than once. You need to have failed and recovered. You need to get your hands dirty. When I am out on the road doing clinics and consulting I do not want to be a wide eyed idealist convinced I have all the answers or a perfect plan. I cannot talk about what it takes to coach an athlete through the Olympics because I have never done that. I want to learn from those around me. I want people to learn from my failures as well as my successes.
It seems that today’s experts tend to be judgmental bystanders. Many of your YouTube experts sit comfortably behind their computers lending advice, putting out videos of the way they may have done something ONE TIME with ONE gymnast.
– They are happy to tell you how you need to coach your level 10.
– What the best drill is for a Jaeger or Yurchenko.
– What you need to do give you a winning program.
The famous bullfighter Domingo Ortega used to joke about how so-called experts sit comfortably in the stands while the only one who truly knows the situation is the one who steps into the ring to face the bull.
Why would you want advice from someone who hasn’t done it before or doesn’t have a great deal of experience?
A couple weeks ago I needed to a fix a broken valve spring on my plow truck. Having never done anything this complicated I had my iPad propped up on the engine and I followed the YouTube video step by step. Everything seemed ok. But the truck ran really rough. I called a friend who works in a garage and he sent me to another video. This one showed another step and now my truck ran much better.
LESSON- I should have called my friend who works in the garage first. Gotten his advice before I tried.
As I was researching VALVE ADJUSTMENT videos for my truck- VALVE REPLACEMENT SURGERY camp up. Oh dear god!
DO YOU REALLY WANT A DOCTOR WHO LEARNED TO DO THIS SURGERY ON YOUTUBE?!
Of course not!
DO YOU WANT A SURGEON WHO HAS ONLY DONE THIS SURGERY ONCE OR TWICE?
No, you want someone with experience.
As a coach, you need to be hungry to learn. You need to work for that knowledge. You cannot just sit behind your computer and look at videos and think that you are getting an education. There are so many camps, congresses, clinics and conferences out there.
Get off your ass and go find one.
If one isn’t available- HOST ONE. I can think of a dozen REAL experts who would be happy to run a clinic in your gym for you and the clubs near you. If this is not practical, find a coach with experience and ask them if you can visit.
Become a critical thinker and skeptical of YouTube experts. – When you see a video, look at that persons credentials. There are certain some great thinkers out there and you can find some good drills but if your entire educational plan is largely based on watching YouTube videos, you are probably not going to be as successful as you want. When I post videos I try to post quality material. I have experience, I’ve made mistakes, I try really hard to have a good foundation and then find drills that work for that particular gymnast. But even that is lacking.
Tumbl Trak Clinic at Twisters Gym Washington
Tony
ASK GYM MOMENTUM- Gifts for Graduating Seniors
“I judge my success not by competitions won but my how many graduation and wedding invitations I receive” Tony Retrosi
Hi Tony, I have been to many of your sessions at congress in the past. Thank you for all the wonderful information you share!Last year one thing that stuck with me is you said you base your success on how many graduations and weddings you get invited toI thought that was a great way to look at it. A lot of my original gymnasts are graduating and they are inviting me to their graduations. This is wonderful, and I am lucky! Can I ask how you handle giving gifts? I am having a hard time trying to decide what is fair and affordable for kids that meant so much to me and I to them, and they spent many years in my gym. Thanks again for all your great posts, sharing, ideas, and congress lectures! I hope to continue to learn from you for many years to come. Have a great day! Thanks again!
The only thing that is constant in the gym is change. Kids come and kids leave. Every child you work with today is going to leave. They may quit. They may go to a different gym. They, hopefully, will graduate and go off to college.
My goal is that during their time in my gym, I have impacted their life in a positive way. Don’t mistake my overall goal as a lack of competitiveness. I want/ need to be good at what I do. I do not want to be “just average”. That goes for the gymnast that are graduating. I do not want them to be average or basic.
Every gymnast I coached (and my own two children) receive on graduation the book, “Oh the Places you’ll Go” by Dr Seuss. I take a great deal of time and care in the inscriptions I write. I want to recount our highest highs and our lessons learned.
I’ve written a few blogs on my gyms blog for graduating seniors . As well as for my daughter on her graduation from college and my son on his high school graduation.
The young ladies and men who work at my gyms through college I take out for a nice dinner. The Head and The Heart
Here is some advice I would give graduating seniors today. This falls under the “keep it short and sweet” category I wrote about the other day.
5 RULES ON GRADUATION
- Do not ADD to the population
- Do not SUBTRACT from the population
- Do not show up on the TV News, Newspaper or social media doing something stupid
- Do not get thrown in jail
- If you wind up in jail, establish dominance early.
ASK GYM MOMENTUM- Getting My Business To Grow
This weeks question comes from a coach and club owner who was looking for advice on how get their club to grow.
Before I gave advice from my perspective I wanted to reach out to other business professionals. I reached out to Stacey Hylen, A business coach from Montreal. Stacey has two daughter’s in gymnastics and has been involved in the sport as a board member.
Do you have a Question for GYM MOMENTUM? Don’t be afraid to ASK!
TOO MANY RULES
If you have been to GYM MOMENTUM CAMP or worked at my gyms you know you only have to follow 5 simple rules to keep me happy.
I used to have a pretty extensive handbook at my gym hat every year got longer and longer. It covered every rule , every teaching idea, everything. Although everyone was responsible for the information, few if any actually read the handbook.
General Motors has a 2 word dress policy. It used to be 10 pages. Now it’s just two words. (Why should ours be any longer?) It is more than just about the dress codes. It’s about leadership and common sense. The dress code, in case that’s all you want out of this article: “Dress appropriately.”
As a nation, we don’t like bureaucracy. We like the idea of a two-word policy, and the idea that people can apply common sense to interpret it. Besides, if you have a simpler rule, but different managers interpret it differently, it’s likely not the end of the world.
Nick Ruddock & Tony Retrosi Podcast
In the Podcast I did last week with Nick Ruddock I spoke about how I want to empower my staff . I cannot empower them if I micromanage their every move. I cannot dictate what they wear. As a survivor of catholic school, no one wanted to wear the uniform. We wanted to be individuals.
As a gym owner, are they required to wear a STAFF shirt? yes.
Do I care what color, what day? NOPE.
As far as their pants or shorts. Dress Appropriately.
There are some common sense “rules” that we need to talk about every once and a while. Do I want you to wear your staff shirt in town? At the Beach? At the Park, etc? YES
Do I want you to wear in in a BAR? No. I will gladly give you a shirt from a competitors gym for your drinking nights.
My 5 Rules. These go for every employee AND team gymnast.
• BE ON TIME. I consider ON TIME 15 minutes before you are scheduled to work
• DO NOT SIT DOWN IN THE GYM. Energy is contagious. You will catch positive or negative energy from those around you. It’s hard to be high energy from you ass.
• NO CELL PHONES IN THE GYM. Cell phones are everything from a stop watch to a video camera. BUT when you use it- it still looks like you are checking a message instead of paying attention to your group. I make exceptions often (kids are home alone, waiting for a call back from Dr.) but I do not like this to be a habit. If you are videoing- use the gym IPad. Without even getting into Safesport policy, it simply looks more professional to see you and a gymnast looking at a video on the gyms iPad than on your personal device.
• DO NOT COME TO ME WITH A PROBLEM WITHOUT A POTENTIAL SOLUTION. If you have a problem, give it some thought before you come to me, your coach or supervisor. If you don’t, that is just whining. The POTENTIAL solution may not work but at least I know you’ve given it some thought.
• EVERYONE LEAVE WITH A SMILE. Sometimes it’s fake it until the end of the day. This goes back to rule #2. Energy is contagious. If you (as a gymnast or coach) is having a bad day. Deal with it. Put on a smile and power through. You can make it until the end. Then crank up the radio in your car and scream if you need to.
It may be a North American problem but we drown ourselves in words. Why give a correction in 5 words when we can give it in 5 paragraphs. It’s as if coaches got paid by the word. When we overload the gymnasts with information we crush their creativity AND they probably stopped listening 2 minutes ago. (speaking of which- have you even read this far? I am impressed) .
Keep it short and simple. With your gymnasts and coaches- If a correction is necessary, give it to them with out going into a speech.
– Tighten your legs.
– Push through your right arm.
– Please where more appropriate shorts tomorrow.
It’s simple. NOW GO AND HAVE A GREAT DAY.
Tony
Yurchenko Drills Shared by Gerson Ramirez
Last summer I had the opportunity to work with Gerson at the Camp Centroamericano in Guatemala. I really enjoyed the time together. He was nice enough to share these drills with us.