12/30/2013. As most people were getting ready for New Years Eve celebrations Gym Momentum Camp coach Jamie Donkin and I traveled to Bow, NH where we did a one day clinic at Granite State Gymnastics Center.
Although the clinic was geared toward OPTIONAL LEVEL gymnastics they had some pretty talented level 4 and 5s. This worked out great because we were able to show different stages of development. Where a drill starts and what skill, long term, it is for.
Having the two of us together was great because although we are very like minded, we do see things differently.
We covered:
Conditioning for Success
Basic Tumbling (this was a general basic tumbling workout covering basics for all events)
Twisting Drills
Double Salto Pass Drills
Then we divided into 2 groups for Bars and Beam.
On Bars I covered Casting and swinging. With one of the groups we did dismounts and lead up for Tkatchev and Shoposhnikova. I stressed the importance of the DOWN SWING as I was seeing many girls break shape to early. We used a few floor bar drills and the “Forester Bar” from Tumble Trak to show those shapes.
The other group covered a variety of in bar skills and lead ups. I think it is important for each gymnast to understand where each skill and drill leads. We broke down front hip circles, mill circles and seat circles so the girls could see the importance of each.
I was very impressed with the coaches attention to detail. Really wanting to see things done correctly. Not just “Throw and go” .
T.R.
(From Jamie) On Beam one of the main things we discussed for the younger group was landing stability for leaps and jumps. I wanted to help create strength in the ankles as well as confidence in the athlete for their landing position. I gave them a series of stretch jumps and landing positions to go over.
With the older group we focused a little more on full extension through legs for acro series as well as high lighting landing shapes unique to individual athletes for their strengths and/or weaknesses.
The group as a whole were great! They were very eager to learn and I was most pleased with the athletes asking questions ready to improve their own gymnastics. What I like about the coaches is that they were very thorough in trying to comprehend the new drills and techniques and were discussing when to sit down to create a cohesive front for applying these new drills within the gyms curriculum.
J.D.
At the end of the clinic we sat with the coaches and talked to them about becoming Failure Tolerant coaches and to take a systematic approach. Jamie and I covered a lot of ground. It would be impossible to cover it all every day. Get a plan. Stick to it.
Interested in having a Gym Momentum Clinic at your gym? Contact Me! We will shape the clinic around your needs. I have a number of coaches through out North America who can do the clinic.
I am often in Europe and available to do clinics there as well.
