Thea Grit

I made the following video for Thea last year, when she was hamstrung by a fracture in her foot.  This year, it was a stress fracture in her wrist that sidelined her for the level 9 season.

Here's hoping she remains injury-free and achieves her goal of competing level 10 this next year...

Happy 15^th Birthday, Thea!

Efficiency in Learning

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

 -Origins are unknown, but popularly ascribed to Maimonides, or as an ancient Chinese proverb 

When I was in college, most of the learning taking place in the gym happened not because of the technical expertise of Art and Yefim (head and assistant coach of the UCLA men's team); but because of the technical expertise of the gymnasts themselves.   Not to take anything deserved away from our coaches, but much of the coaching came from each of the gymnasts- to themselves and to their teammates.

More than half of my teammates were Olympians, world and national champions and team members.  They were on the cutting edge of technique, pushing the boundaries of the sport and performing skills that weren't around in Art's era (50s-60s) or Yefim's (60s-70s).  So they, as much as any technical coaching expert or biomechanist, had to have a discerning mind that could think and create new moves and explore uncharted territory.

Most of my own progress also happened because of my own initiative and self-coaching, as well as from the guidance and input from my teammates, when sought or needed.  I was my own best teacher and student.

My old mentor Al, head coach at Santa Monica Gymnastics Center, used to tell me about how the old Japanese coaches (when the Japanese men dominated the sport through the 60s and 70s) might have 70 gymnasts to manage.  The coaches were more stand-offish than hands-on.  They supervised, but much of the coaching was taking place amongst the gymnasts themselves.

Such self-reliance doesn't have to begin at adulthood.

One of the things we've been trying to do is teach the gymnasts to think for themselves; to not always wait around to be told what to do and be spoonfed every little detail of their practice.  When you have a 30:1 or 15:1 ratio of gymnasts to coaches, efficiency happens when you make each gymnast personally responsible for their own learning and that of their fellow teammates.  Rather than waiting for feedback for every single turn taken ("Watch me!", "Watch this!", "Was that good?"), the gymnast needs to cultivate the desire and the tools necessary to problem-solve and self-examine.  It is intellectual laziness to be overly reliant upon coaches to critique every turn. 

Once the gymnast is educated on technique and what the standard is on execution of the skill, it is critical self-thinking that will enrich and deepen that gymnast's understanding and experience.  The coach should be there as a guide, like a finger pointing to the moon, not to be mistaken for the moon itself; occasionally offering perspective and feedback, but only to help the athlete problem-solve without doing it for her.

As a coach, I'm also constantly learning from the experiences of my gymnasts.  I am as much a student of the sport as is the young gymnast.  When learning stops, so does growth.  So ends progress and evolution and innovation.

My primary martial arts teacher, Mark Mikita, once told me that he, as teacher, should be able to come back to me, as student, and I should be able to teach him something new about the art as it is filtered through my unique perspective, personal research, and experience.  It makes me better as a student-teacher; and he, too, improves as a teacher-student of the art.

She's Still Got It!

Chloe came in to regain her confidence on a layout full (she needs it back for a pep rally on Thursday).

She had tried it yesterday and lacked rotation.  So she came into the gym for a little brush up and after only a few turns, it was looking good again!

Good luck, Chloe!

On the Last Day of Summer Team Camp...

Teachable Moment Monday

Don't leave your grips lying around in the gym....or this might happen:

BGS is Impressed...

...with Amy Smith.

So too, it would appear, is McKayla Maroney:

And McKayla, as the meme goes, is not one who is easily impressed.  My thanks to Evan for giving me permission to photoshop the awesome photo above.

Coach Amy has definitely left her impression upon the hearts, minds, and gymnastics of the BGS girls team for the past year that she was here.

Last Friday was Coach Amy's last day at BGS as she embarks on the next chapter in her saga:

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Amy Smith has been named assistant women's gymnastics coach at the University of North Carolina announced Tar Heel head coach Derek Galvin.  Smith comes to Chapel Hill from UCLA, where she served on its coaching staff during the 2011-12 season.

 Many tears were shed by the girls team during her final moments on Friday.  It was pretty tough to say goodbye.

Good luck Coach Amy!  This fellow Bruin will miss you as well!

"Wanna tumble? Well...there's just a slight twist..."

I was sooo looking forward to this workshop, counting down the days...

Morgan's never twisted her back saltos before....until today.

We started out on trampoline.  After doing some layouts, I had her try a simple method that Coach Wade taught me.  It is so simple, you don't even have to tell the gymnast to twist- the technique does the turn/twist for you, whether you're trying to twist or not.

It's a simple beginning way to introduce twisting right away without going through all the lumbering drill steps and prep work, commonly used.

 I told her not to try and twist but to simply set and pull the arms the way I showed her (tight onto her left thigh), similar to how she'd pull the arms down on a regular layout (hands onto both thighs). 

I missed filming Morgan's first attempt, but her body turned in the air.  She crumpled to the trampoline, surprised and delighted and shouted, "IT WORKS!"

 She did some more; then we took it over to the tumbletrak.  First 1/2 "twist" attempt:

This one could qualify for a blooper reel:

I'm so grateful I had the foresight to put that cheese mat there for her to tack on an impromptu backward roll at the end.

She looked to me like she could easily pull around a full twist- not next month...not next week....not 20 turns of prep later...but within the next turn.  Because she was getting enough airtime, all she needed to do was stay tight and "stay in" (the twist).  As if reading my mind, she does the following on the next turn (which was going to be her last 1/2-turn before I was going to have her try a full-twist):

So we then did a sequence of layout, 1/2, and full. 

Great job, Morgan!

First Attempt

Sunday workshop...

And they got better after that!

 Also stepping it up another notch on her overshoot from the last time we worked it:  Getting it done from a cast handstand!

World's Most Beautiful Back Drop

This clip was taken August 5, 2011. 

A great example.

The World's Most Beautiful Straddle Jump

Coach Amy described this to me as the most beautiful straddle jump in the world. So I had to check it out for myself....

The film clip was taken on July 27, 2012

The Joy of Summer Gymnastics

Joy from Hawaiian Island Twisters with her new BGS friends

Summer is a challenging time when dedicated gymnasts in a year-round sport try to take advantage of the extra time off from school to uptrain their skills while simultaneously juggling in time for family vacations and outings. 

BGS has had an inordinate number of visiting, out-of-state gymnasts train with us.  We currently have a level 9/10 (Tashi) from Cleveland who is out here visiting her grandmother for 3 weeks.  We had a Canadian level 7.  We had two Texan girls work out one day; their father had been a MAG judge at Olympic Trials up in San Jose.  A couple of visiting compulsory gymnasts I did not get to work with; and we had the pleasure of getting to know Joy from Hawaii, shown in the above photo and sent to me by her dad (what a down-to-earth, good-hearted family!).  Her dad writes,

When we came back to Hawaii, her coach at Hawaiian Island Twisters told us that Joy really improved in her giants.  When we asked Joy about this, she told us she improved "because of coach Michael's hollow and tapping drills". 
 
Next month we'll be going to Vegas to watch the Kelloggs Tour of Gymnastics Champions and Joy will train at Desert Gymnastics for a couple of sessions.

Attached are some pics of Joy and her BGS friends.  We'll likely visit family in LA sometime next year, so Joy will be sure to train at BGS again. 

We should be acquiring one or two new optional gymnasts moving out here soon (and also see the return of former BGS teammate, Seana, who's moving back here this month).

America's New Golden Girl

"She's...energetic; she's caring, she's compassionate...you know, if I didn't know her, I'd want to meet her."

-Natalie Hawkins (Gabby's mom)

Gabby Douglas of the United States competes on the uneven bars Thursday during the women's gymnastics individual all-around final. Douglas won gold, joining Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin as the only Americans to win the sport's most prestigious event.

Ronald Martinez / GETTY IMAGES

America take note: Your new golden girl! Hoping young kids all across America are watching and wanting to become the next generation of "flying squirrels".

The Back Tuck

Getting it Done!

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Congratulations to the Fierce Five- Go Team USA!