Partner Front Hip Circle Challenge

Olympia Gymnastics did it better! Been wanting to try this out for the longest time and we finally got around to it last Friday.

 This was my challenge to the girls after lunch break, to buddy up and see which pair could get it first. They were totally into it and it became a good team/partner building activity. It only works with cooperation and both partners staying tight and straight enough. Given more time, I think more could have gotten it; but we we had to get back to work and REAL practice!

Cutest thing you will see all weekend

Check out the team spirit/support and a 2 year-old's round-off backhandspring:

Gymnastics Center of Hershey, Pennsylvania: Character Counts

There are two stories at play in this post:  One is in regards to level 7 hopeful Renata- a gymnast who moved out here, briefly trained at another gym; and who eventually settled with us a few months ago.  The other story I'd like to relay is a shoutout to the Gymnastics Center of Hershey in Pennsylvania.

Our gym was at Lady Luck over the weekend.  Given we only had one level 7 entrant, I was not needed to work the session; so conveniently showed up at leisure to lend morale support.  I missed first rotation- vault (apparently it went well, as she scored a 9.325 and earned herself a 2nd place finish).

Renata had been struggling with bar giants.  For months.  She could do them well enough on strap bar.  But on the regular rail?  Fergetaboutit.

 Months wore down to weeks away from her first level 7 competition in Vegas.  Weeks wittled into days, and still no giants- perhaps 4-6 makes up until the last week before showtime.

She hit a couple of giants 7 days before the Lady Luck meet.  A couple more over the weekend.  Then the week of the meet, beginning last Monday and her final practice on Wednesday, she finally began making around 30% of her giants.

When I walked into the competition site Friday morning, she was on her 2nd rotation- bars, and did not miss a single giant attempt during warm-ups, as far as I noticed.

As she prepared for her competition routine, I was handed her cameraphone to film.  Since I also wanted to film her routine with my phone, I held both phones in both hands.  Renata being our only level 7, we shared the rotation with another team from the Gymnastics Center of Hershey.  One of their gymnasts noticed me holding both cameras and kindly offered to hold one of them and film.  I felt much obliged to her.

As Renata went through her bar routine, the girls from Hershey Pennsylvania were all cheering for her.  Such sportsmanship certainly isn't a rarity- but I was still impressed as they cheered pretty vigorously- as vigorously as many teams cheer for their own teammates.

Renata hit the best level 7 routine she's done thus far (even her low bar clear hip had some life) and nailed her one giant in the routine.  4th place with a 9.250 which isn't too shabby for someone who didn't have giants 8 days ago, let alone any consistency before the big day.

Success on vault and bars was followed by disaster on beam.  I'm glad I filmed it, because as emotionally embarrassing and painful as it may have seemed to Renata at the time with 3 falls, it really deserves a place of honor in her video scrapbook as a blooper hallmark when she fell on her mount.  Life should always be taken with humor; and Renata was able to laugh about it, later on in the day.

During the beam routine, the Hershey gymnasts invested themselves in Renata's performance, cheering very loudly their support.  It wasn't just a token gesture- they watched with interest from beginning to end.  They cheered for her by name.  They displayed the exact kind of sportsmanship and conduct that I wish to cultivate within my own gym.  It is not easy for many gymnasts to compete as a lone member of their team; and these gymnasts gave Renata the support she needed in the absence of her own teammates.  For that my coworkers, Renata, and myself are entirely grateful to the coaches and gymnasts of the Gymnastics Center of Hershey.  They are not only building strong athletes but building strong people of moral fiber and character.  My deepest admiration for their program.

Wonder Twins Unite!

This was pure coaching joy. 

These two mini-shots are sisters- twins, to be precise.  And they are in constant competition with one another...bickering....fighting....rooting for the other's defeat.

So last Saturday, I had it in mind for them to cheer for and not against their significant sisterly other.

 I told them they were both on the same team; and the challenge was that between the two of them, they had to make 10 back hip circles, combined, in 2 minutes without form breaks.

Now, as you can see from watching the video, I was not totally honest in regards to skill execution quality.  For me, it didn't matter.  They're 6 years old; and knowing their psychology, it would have served more harm than good to be Spartan-knitpicky.  They need the feeling of success.  Without telling them, I judged them each according to individual standards of ability in performing the skill (one is further along than the other).  Yes, I manipulated the battle space and inconsistently called out points and misses; and brought it all to a dramatic end- a race against the clock.  I was manipulative in the same spirit as we talk up the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus to little kids.

The focus here was more on teamwork and team spirit; on nurturing their bond and cultivating a sense of self and other accomplishment.

Sadly, I shut off the camera too soon and missed capturing their sisterly hug at the end.

The Power of Belief and Being Part of a Team

Via Proactive Coaching:

A man became lost while driving through the country. As he tried to read a map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. Seeing a farmhouse just down the road, the man walked over to ask for help.

“Clyde can get you out of the ditch,” the farmer said, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the haggard mule, and then looked back at the farmer, who just stood there nodding. “Yep, old Clyde can do the job.”

The man figured he had nothing to lose, so the two men and Clyde made their way back to the ditch.
After the farmer hitched the old mule to the car, he snapped the reins and shouted, “Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Clyde!” With very little effort, the lone mule pulled the car from the ditch.
The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all those other names before you called Clyde?”

The farmer smiled and said, “Old Clyde is almost completely blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he always gives his best.”

Taking Ownership and Responsibility for Your Own Gymnastics