Lvl3 Warm-up & Compete Practice

Front headsprings for connected front tumbling

The Day After the Worst Day Ever

1-16-2017

For 5 or our 6 who competed level 3 this past weekend, it was their first gymnastics meet; and it was hosted in a big venue.  The girls did amazing.  I was already proud of them before they even entered the competition hall because I know how hard they've been working, leading up to the meet.  So my expectations were grounded in reality; but I suppose for a couple of them, their expectations were...a little different than mine?  So we talked about their experiences and thoughts.  Most of it was positive; but one girl thought the judges just didn't like her- like they had a personal grudge against her, especially on beam (lol).  Another, I heard, had tears during awards because some of her teammates medaled and she did not (I posted a couple of great blogposts on the GW FB page, that should help any gymnast feeling this way).

Anyway, one of the things I shared with them was a poem by 11th grader Chanie Gorkin that went viral a couple of years ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/11760731/Hidden-meaning-behind-poem-will-brighten-your-day.html

Today was the absolute worst day ever
And don't try to convince me that
There's something good in every day
Because, when you take a closer look,
This world is a pretty evil place.
Even if
Some goodness does shine through once in a while
Satisfaction and happiness don't last.
And it's not true that
It's all in the mind and heart
Because
True happiness can be attained
Only if one's surroundings are good
It's not true that good exists
I'm sure you can agree that
The reality
Creates
My attitude
It's all beyond my control
And you'll never in a million years hear me say
Today was a very good day

After reading it, the kids described to me what the poem meant to them.  A couple of them said they liked it (this was after reading it forward- lol!).  One of them actually thought it was a positive poem, telling me the part about "My attitude is beyond my control" meant how she was feeling wasn't her fault- omg, rofl!

I started the video clip as they read it next, from bottom to top.






Almost 2 years ago, the older girls seemed to get a lot out of this poem, asking if they could keep their copy.

Handstand flatback drill

I got this idea originally from Swing Big:

Shape the Jump

Shocker and Revelation of the Day

The following was relayed to me by my coworker during our level 3 session at Lady Luck in Vegas:

Annabella, Taryn, and Danielle G.- first gymnastics meet ever- upon watching some of the other teams: "THESE GIRLS HAVE THE SAME ROUTINES AS US!"

New level 3s, folks. Still a little wet behind the ears; but a wee bit less so, after today.

Go Broadway!

Great moment at North SoCal State Championships last weekend:

I'm glad the judges here have not been afraid to award 10.00s if they feel it is deserved (I believe it was at 3rd prelim that another level 3 from Waller's Gym Jam scored a 10.00 on vault).  Congratulations to Alexis and her coaches at Broadway Gymnastics School!

SIRI the Time Keeper

Teaching quality glides

Jason Mortimer's latest video reminded me that I had filmed a few of the level 3's doing correct-incorrect glide shapes, recently:

Also like doing hanging hollow holds and swinging hollow holds.

The crunch hollow holds at 37 seconds in Jason's video is the exact way my primary teacher used to have us do them for warm-up- palms resting face up on the knees.  Periodically through the 2 minutes, he'd demand us to crunch up another inch higher.  Having hands face up on the thighs/knees helped us have a visual of how high we were crunching and maintaining position.

Trust the Process

So much work to do!  About 8 weeks left before their first meet.  They are making progress...

TGIF Conditioning Fun with the 3s

More See-Saws

Good drills:

Posted these on my other blog last month:

Building up a powerful, consistent run

At my old gym, counting steps was so ingrained in them, that they seemed to have to count their steps in EVERYTHING.  It can be a helpful tool, however, in building a consistent run and hurdle that does not slow down or balk.  Although I had never been taught to count steps myself, I remember being able to always build up my run to a crescendo and adjust my strides accordingly as I neared the springboard without slowing down (and on rare occasions, hurdle off of my bad leg if need be from being way off).  I heard that young kids, however, have not fully developed their depth perception (I'd love to know if anyone can verify this).

As coach "dunno" writes:

the basics. start the run with the same leg that they hurdle off of. and keep the number to 9/11/13 etc; running steps. yes, there are exceptions as i'm sure someone will point out. but these are the basics and they work consistently across the board with most kids and both boys and girls.

Teaching from odd number stepping to a hurdle makes sense when considering future vaults down the road- a hurdle will eventually lead into a yurchenko (step with the bad leg and skip up with the good).  So odd number of steps as opposed to even number (unless your intention really is to train your gymnasts to hurdle off of their dominant leg as the last step before the hurdle). 

Due to compulsory State Championships this weekend, we canceled team practices yesterday.  I offered a makeup practice today and one level 3 and two mini-shots came in.  Here's something I experimented with:

This idea came to me while driving to work; so I tested it out at the gym today.

My spacing was a bit off on the number placements; but it definitely helped encourage a longer stride (the lvl 3 gymnast shown is in between deer runs and sprinting) and getting consistent number of steps down (had the girls go up to 9 running steps, stepping first with the "bad" leg- i.e., the non-dominant leg that is used to push from one a hurdle into round off or front handspring).

The original idea was to take a permanent marker to some foam blocks (but I didn't think the gym would fully appreciate that) and set them up as markers; but then I remembered that we had these placement mats for preschool.

Something else I used to do (and should still do) at my old gym with the optionals was to have them front flip over the table.  Wade encouraged me to do this as opposed to having the girls do "run bys".  Why?  Because the tendency of a lot of kids is to slow down as they get closer to the hurdle line and veer off the runway.  With the front tuck (or layout) to avoid hitting the table, the vaulter maintains the acceleration all the way to the hurdle and punch.  No need to hurdle off course into the "gutter".  With a powerful punch, the gymnast should be able to clear the table at her table-height setting.

 

Leg cut/weight transfer drills

A couple of videos I apparently didn't create a blogpost for- from early August; but which did see the light of day from Swing Big!

Another one it doesn't look like I got around to uploading:

Related posts:
Level 3 weight transfer exercise
Hey look...ONE HAND!

Super Six

Quick and cute little video of my former Hot Shots:

It took less than half an hour to edit, using random footage off of my iPhone and one of the movie trailers in the free iMovie app.

Today's technology.....

Level 3 weight transfer exercise

I call this "4 corners of the universe", because we already have another exercise we call "around the world":

Any volunteers?

I thought I'd post this, due to the comical result.

I had seen this drill at Swing Big!  Although it's not one I have much interest in using, I asked my girls for a volunteer, wanting to experiment with how I might add a bit more to the drill.  Well....bless her heart for doing what I asked her to do and stay tight like a statue:

I think my idea wasn't bad; just needed a smaller fulcrum to tip her.

Wrists and Thumbs

Another post about thumbs...well, okay- mostly wrist shift on a couple of lower level skills:

Focus: Underswing

Ugh...a level 3 meet scheduled post-regular season.  So the 3s still have to spend some time on 3 routines.  This focus on the underswing dismount also allows me to work in the level 4 dismount at the same time. 

I also like:
-Two back hip circles in a row
-No cast back hip circle
-Candle lever holds

Fun Vault Return Station