Posts

Being Team-mom and Team-dad

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As we are wrapping up another competition season from Youth team to Varsity it is a great time to self-reflect.  This is something we ask of our gymnasts on a daily basis as a means to improve and be self-aware, but I think as adults we need to be sure we are doing the same for them.  Collectively we must choose our words carefully to avoid being counter-productive, because we remember that these gymnasts are taking our voices and applying them in their own heads. Our Coaching staff is guided on selectively chosen corrections; "don't fall", "don't stick your head out", "your feet are flexed", etc. are all negative statements in which gymnasts are hearing nothing but negativity.  Instead we use like phrases "bend your knees", "butt down", "keep your chin down", "point your toes", something they can correct and apply without negative connotations.  The same must be applied by our parents and while parents are
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Training through Fear

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Gymnastics is a funny sport.  Like most sports your training time struggle is finding a balance of endurance training, strength training, mental training, and actual skill building.  It’s the vicious cycle of getting strong enough to do the skills, having enough endurance to maintain those skills, while making sure you are mentally prepared to attempt those skills and if any of those don’t align, there is a good chance that you will not be successful. One of the biggest obstacles we face as gymnastics coaches is helping the athlete that is afraid, let’s face it gymnastics is a scary sport and definitely not for the faint of heart.  Fear comes from all sorts of places, sometimes the athlete has been pushed too soon, sometimes it’s due to an injury that occurred or they have fear of a new skill, and every now and then fear just shows up for what seems like no reason at all, even in skills that the gymnast has done hundreds of times previously.     Personally my biggest struggle
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My expectations for you, the parents of a Tecumseh Gymnast

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Welcome to the Family.   Congratulations, you have a Tecumseh Gymnast...now what?  Whether your gymnast is one of our Pre-School Hotshots learning the ways of the gym or a team gymnast preparing for competition, your roles as gym parents are pretty much the same and my expectations of you; TGA Mom and TGA Dad, are pretty simple. #1.  Be their biggest Cheerleader.   The absolute best thing you can do as a parent of a gymnast is support them endlessly.  Relish in their good days where they get new skills, a personal best score or get to play a fun game at practice.  And support them in their bad days (because they will happen) and when they do they are going to need you to pick them back up, remind them how far they have come, remind them how much they love gymnastics, and how proud of them you are.  The last thing you should do is participate in any negative conversation, because when the dust settles and the emotions wear off the voice that they hear in their head is yours.  Don'
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