Happy coaching moments

[Fishbulb]

Falcon's story reminded me of my favorite little boy ever. He was about four, and his name was Craig. He was always so nice and sweet, but sometimes he just didn't want to do anything. His excuse was he was too "itchy." Too itchy for gymnastics.

Well, before I left the gym to move out of state, I let all of my parents know I was leaving. So on my last day, Craig and his folks gave me a card that he had made. And his dad told me that Craig told all his little friends at school that "Coach Emily is the prettiest girl in school!" That absolutely made my day/week/year.

[SwissMiss528]

Ah, happy coaching moments...of course, when someone learns a new skill, usually I say something like "Ohhhhhhhhhh...!!!!!" and they get all excited. Then I make them do it again haha....but specifically, a very happy coaching time for me was last spring when I had my kids do several weeks of sports-acro (we do several branches of gymnastics on occasion, just for fun). They were pretty bad at it, but they had so much fun trying to balance with one another. It brought them closer together and we all had some pretty big laughs.

I also look back on just a month or two ago, I was giving a private lesson to a 6 year old boy (level 3), and we were going over his back handspring. He can do it with a "phantom" spot, but on one of them he landed kinda sloppy, and (purposely) fell forward, flat on his stomach (we were on a thick crash mat). I rolled my eyes and smiled. "OK OK OK...very funny. Come on, do it again." I said, meaning do the back handspring again. He stood up with a twinkle in his eye, and deliberately flopped facedown on the mat again.Then he got up and said "Well, you said do it again!" then we both busted up. He's only 6 but he's REALLY SMART, so I treat him more like a 9 year old lol

[bittersweetchaos]

I teach a beginning tramp and tumbling class, in hopes to form these kids into the only tramp and tumbling team in the gym. The kids in the class came in with literally no experience and were terrified to do back handsprings. After about two months, they were doing back handsprings (with a spot, of course) carelessly.
Something clicked in their minds, and within a month they all had back handsprings and back tucks by themselves. One learned how to do a barani in one class and has since moved on to double tucks. He begs me to let him do standing tucks on the floor (by himself) every class.

My favorite class, by far. They are some talented kids. The parents are awesome as well.

[thailek]

I have a VERY recent one.

This past week, I introduced toe-shoots to HB for four of my gymnasts (one senior, one sophomore and two freshmen).

After working on them all week, they wanted to try it themselves with me standing there to see if they could catch the bar on their own. All four caught the bar on their own, and three of them kipped out of their toe-shoots! They were so excited! The fourth caught, but in a dead-hang. She was so excited to catch it by herself that she didn't care if she kipped out of it or not. It was awesome.

Also, a freshman was working a barani off the beam. She had been diving into it instead of getting lift into it. I told her to push harder through her toe, and she did. She landed a BEAUTIFUL barani, stuck cold. Her next one, I told her to do the exact same thing as before. She over-twisted her barani and ended up doing a front layout 1/1 (with spot), and landed it. She was so afraid that I would be mad at her for doing the wrong skill, but I was STOKED. It was clean and well executed!

I am so happy for all of my girls. They are doing so well!

[Fishbulb]

Congrats you guys! Cam, I'm interested in how you instructed your girls on the toe-shoots. This is one thing I always just goofed around with, and never even got CLOSE.

[Gymmie]

Hahahahaha I love to do totally unexpected skills that are of course more advanced!!!! Glad to hear these happy moments because I love my coaches and they deserve some bright moments as all you gym coaches out there do!!!

[SwissMiss528]

Last week I was really pleased because it was time for my team girls' 10 minute break, and three of them didn't want to break! They wanted to keep working on their beam skills and conditioning. I was like OF COURSE you can stay...stay all night, for heaven's sake! lol

[fuzi]

SwissMiss528, I totally understand that feeling.

When I got to the gym to coach yesterday, 3 of the girls training L5 were running around the waiting area like maniacs instead of waiting quietly for their group to start. After a minute of "you know better than that," I told them they better go climb rope so they stay out of trouble. They all shouted, "Yes!" and then asked if they could do some leg-lifts and chin-up pullovers as well.

I might not have taught them a lesson, but I love that they love conditioning. I know it won't last forever, so while they want to do extra, I encourage it.

[SwissMiss528]

They love conditioning?! AWESOME. You're right, it won't last forever....lol! Ya once in a great while one of my girls wants to do a little more conditioning....we have charts for each girl, showing how many reps they did the previous time. They're required to at least match their former amount, and if possible, 'up' it. That day the girls wanted to stay on the beam, one of my older girls wanted to keep doing her arch-overs....she ended up doing 30 more than her previous amount of arch-overs. I was like YEEEEUUUHHH!! lol

[numblemon]

Originally Posted by Fishbulb

Congrats you guys! Cam, I'm interested in how you instructed your girls on the toe-shoots. This is one thing I always just goofed around with, and never even got CLOSE.

pssst I got some drills for you if you're interested. You can start the drills as early as Level 4/5 if you like. They are fun and safe!