I have just returned from two really great USAIGC/IAIGC clinics in Europe. I conducted a clinic at Sutton Village Gymnastics in the UK and Gym Infinity International in Germany. Someone asked me what keeps in motivated in life. I answered, “I love teaching. I love gymnastics. They ability to work with coaches who are motivated to learn drives me in life.”
Both clinics focused on BUILDING A BETTER PLAN. From conditioning to skill selection and progressions. We are all faced with a limited amount of time we can spend in the gym. There are millions of things we would LIKE to do and hundreds of things we NEED to do. How do we get it all in? How do we make the best use of our time?
Each clinic started with a few words on PHILOSOPHY. Very rarely does anything good ever happen by mistake. Good gymnastics is based on intention. We finished each clinic with time to answer their specific questions.
STRENGTH- regardless of the amount of time you spend in the gym you need to spend time building the strength of the gymnast first. As their strength develops you then make that strength usable for a skill. Condition with a purpose and make sure the gymnasts know what they are conditioning for. Tell them what skills the strength exercises are for.
Condition for the 7 gymnastics movements.
- JUMPING
- PUSHING
- PULLING
- KIPPING
- CASTING
- HOLLOWING
- ARCHING
TUMBLING- The focus of the tumbling clinic was on getting your tumbling OFF BALANCE in the direction you want to go. If the gymnast is tumbling backwards they need to be off balance backwards. We broke down cartwheel step in for back tumbling showing how it leads into a good roundoff thereby setting upon a good back handspring. For front tumbling we started with front walkover step in showing how that leads to a powerful front handspring.
Progressing into flipping we did gainer drills to show how, for example, in order to take the power from back tumbling and take it UP, the gymnast needed to have a forward action.
Twisting- Sharing my philosophy on twisting- Teach the front twist first then relate the back twist to the front twist. We all know children who have mental blocks going backwards and can get a little crazy with their twisting. By giving them something forwards to relate it gives them another tool to use.
Uneven Bars- Beam, Floor and Vault share so many skills and drills that at times you need to work twice as hard to be 1/2 as good. There are 5 basic skills that every gymnast must master to be successful at bars.
5 Skills Every Gymnast Needs toHave on Bars
- Kip
- Cast
- Inbar skill (clear hip circle, toe handstand, stalder)
- Giant
- Fly Away
BIG THANKS TO TUMBL TRAK UK who was nice enough to send in some Sliders and Forster Bars for clinics.
Never pass up the opportunity to get your photo with Gymnastics Great Eberhard Gienger
