Welcome to Competitive Gymnastics!

It is gymnastics season for our gym. We are a Winter/Spring club. An exciting time of new leotards, warm-ups, and new gymnasts talking about what the first meet will be like. Our first meet happens to be our own meet, not at home however, at a swim resort a state away. The Great Wolf Lodge is home to a 100,000 square foot water park, and the entire resort is kid centric, family friendly galore. The memories the kids leave with after staying for the night, competing, and hanging out are priceless. Soon however, the Lodge meet will be behind us, and the excitement often turns into a mission for a lot of parents. This blog is dedicated to the new parents of this amazing sport we call competitive gymnastics. This is your first lesson.

·         The first year is a learning year.

·         Your child does not understand deductions, or the complexity of scoring that is inherent to this sport. The coaches will not be discussing scores with the gymnasts during or after the meet. Neither should you.  The focus for first year gymnasts should be improvement. Hopefully, by the end of season, you will see dramatic improvement in the scores. Help your child maintain their love of the sport by focusing on small improvements and goals.

·         Let’s talk about scoring. The gymnasts will perform the same routines, to exactly the same music (on floor), each and every meet until they move up to the next level. The routines are judged by the book-- meaning each movement, each element or skill is worth a certain amount of points totaling 10.00. All gymnasts start out with a 10.00 and Judges take a deduction each time a gymnast under executes, misses, or adds an element or skill. The final score will reflect these deductions.

·         Etiquette for gymnastics spectators. While not quite “tennis polite” it is definitely not a soccer game. Parents and fans should clap, however loud screams, or whistling is a no-no. Imagine standing on a four inch wide beam getting ready to do a handstand and have a whistle rock through the gym. This is a safety concern folks. Loud noises can startle a gymnast and lead to falls. Parents are also not allowed on the competition floor for any reason. Talking to your gymnast while they are out on the floor, gesturing for them to come over (so you can fix a ponytail gone awry) again, not allowed. These are safety measures (imagine the distractions and potential concerns) designed to keep your child safe. Your coach is a USA gymnastics professional member, and carries a card with a specific code of conduct (behavioral expectations) for meets. They are also very knowledgeable in fixing ponytails gone wrong.

·         There is no flash photography allowed at a meet. Again, this is a safety measure. The flash can temporarily blind and disorient a gymnast. This poses a big problem when upside down mid air.

·          Performance: Your child will likely receive feedback in the moment or shortly thereafter from their coaches on how they performed. They should not hear a play by play from you on how they messed up. Your job is to praise and be proud of their accomplishments.

·         Your child is going to generally improve every month. The caveat to this statement is this: this sport is a building sport. Each practice builds on the previous one. Attendance for visible improvement is extremely connected. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a parent whose child missed practice all the time complain about lack of progress. Yes, effort plus time equal skill. If your child is also doing soccer/band/French great! Please adjust your expectations accordingly.

·         I have to address the music. I mentioned earlier your child will compete the same routine each meet for the duration of her level. Along with this information comes this warning~ you will hear the floor music about 90 times each meet. This little jingle will haunt you (not in a good way). You may even dream about it. I’m sorry.

Welcome to season, let’s have a great year!

Risk in Youth Sports

I was watching my 12 year old gymnast size son get pummeled repeatedly this morning at his basketball game. It made me wonder how many kids get injured in this sport. Turns out quite a few, as it made the number one spot on Loyola's:  "Top Ten Sports for Injuries in Kids." Now, my son prefers it this way, rough and tumble, slammed and sliding across the gym floor; bring it on. I realized it's not the sport, but the contact that causes injuries, and Chase-- although tossed a few times like a rag-doll-- knows how to fall to minimize injury.

Gymnastics was not even in the top ten. This did not surprise me. As a long time coach in the sport of gymnastics I can only count a handful of "bad enough" injuries to send kids to the hospital. Why does gymnastics get such a bad rap when in fact at the recreational level it is pretty tame? The answer lies with the few injuries from accelerated height, rotation and speed, that were severe enough to make the headlines. Our gym has never sustained an injury like this, in fact most gyms will never see an injury of this nature. Still, parents should inquire about the credentials of the instructors teaching any classes with flipping.

There are two classes that require extra close attention. Parkour and Trampoline.

Parkour, or free running involves using the physical environment as your springboard. Partakers vault, flip, and climb/jump over, under and off of anything and everything (cars, stairs, buildings etc.). Gyms are now offering classes in this "sport." For this class, and for trampoline, a USA Gymnastics Safety Certified instructor is a must. Both these classes are appealing to non-gymnasts who have little air awareness and even less upper body strength. A certified coach will know how to safely progress students in a systematic manner. The coach should also have excellent spotting skills. Potential red flags to watch out for:

• Students that are all doing the same thing instead of a progression, (or staged level) of the same skill. 

• Students that look out of control in the air
  
• Landings in positions that look or are contorted (landing sideways, falling off the mats). Most landings should strive for feet first.
  
• Teen or Junior coaches teaching these more advanced classes

Think twice about that home trampoline for Christmas. Trampolines are not toys. Most are used improperly in the home setting. Some homeowner policies require extra coverage for trampolines. A few parents have shared with me that they were canceled after submitting a claim due to a trampoline injury. One parent was successfully sued by a neighbor, when the neighbors child broke her arm on their trampoline ($30,000.00). Best to leave the safe jumping to the experts.

The great benefit kids receive from participating in a sport outweigh the small amount of risk. Parents can minimize their child's risk by becoming informed and educated about the activity their child chooses.

All of Top Flyte's senior staff are USA Gymnastics Safety Certified.

Thankful Times

Hi everyone,

I've been falling down on the job lately, victim to this crazy time of year we call the holidays. I was hoping to carve out some time to write about what this time of year reminds me of personally.

November and December bring family, friends and warm thoughts of good times we had during the year. It's a reflective time for a lot of us.This time of year reminds me how very lucky I have been to have such a wonderful business. A business that has afforded me the luxury of raising my kids at my side, or running around the gym, (so sorry Linda, [business partner])! A business that has taught, and still teaches me so much about life, relationships, loyalty, integrity, partnership, and leadership. 

It's not just gymnastics, and I know I have written before about the kind of legacy our business wants to leave with children; it's the relationships we have forged between coaches, gymnasts, and parents over the last 25 years. The parents we have been so privileged to serve, and know through the years that are now our friends. The staff that have become like our family.The former gymnasts who grow up and become staff. One of these staff members even met his wife in the gym, both were coaches (that was some summer!).

I am so thankful for the opportunities having a gymnastics school gives me to grow as a person, parent, teacher, business person, and student of life. While I have much to be thankful for, the most important thing to me right now, where I am in my life is relationships. So cheers to those past, present, and future relationships through Top Flyte. May the friendships you and your child make through this sport this coming year be as enriching as mine have been and continue to be!

Word from the Top: Gymnastics: An investment, who knew?

Word from the Top: Gymnastics: An investment, who knew?

Who are you again?

Not my usual post about gymnastics, however, this topic is near and dear to me in the world of business.

The thing is, we learn to compete at a very young age. Children compete for their parents attention, at school we compete for grades, sports, etc. I love competition, clearly, as a coach I believe in the healthy attributes competition can give an individual: drive, courage, and determination. Somewhere though, as we grow as people, and begin to work in a professional setting, competition can become counter productive.This is especially true when used incorrectly. Competing for advantage in the work place creates a sense of "me against you." Teams  and trust erode.

Who are we anyway to think we have something more important than someone else to contribute? So what if we've done this or that, won this or that, obtained this or that degree/s? So what.

When I was a young coach (many years ago!), and a student in school to become a licensed physical therapist assistant, I had this experience. One of my gymnasts jumped off the high beam and hyper-extended her knee upon landing. It looked bad, and being an almost new grad I was eager to inform her Dad what I thought had occurred, and use some newly learned technical terms to explain the injury. He was such a cool gym parent. He smiled, nodded, and as he scooped up his sobbing child, he thanked me and left. She returned a few weeks later no worse for the wear. Later that year, during my clinical internship at  major hospital, I was introduced to the Chief of Physiatry. Imagine my utter shock and instant humbling, when the chief was none other than my gym parent. That experience taught me everything I ever needed to know about superiority (or lack thereof).
In retrospect, he listened, and honestly respected my opinion. Me, the young, student of physical therapy. Everyone contributes, everyone has value, no one person is better than another. No amount of education or experience gives someone the green light to act superior.

In today's work setting, much like in gymnastics, it is all about the team. Learning to "team think" takes practice. Learning to eliminate hierarchical thinking and acting in a work setting takes a strong leader. Teaching our children the lesson to value their peers, teammates, and later co-workers is important. Consider everyone we interact with a teacher of something.

Teaching humility is priceless.

That Physician retired a couple of years ago. I had the opportunity to work with him again before he retired. I thanked him for my lesson. He just shook his head and smiled.

The Power of Positive

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. The gym has launched a new structure for programs and price, and marketing is underway to get the word out. On the home front, the West kid-lets are running their mother ragged with their constant extracurricular activity. I'm not complaining, (I love my life) but whew! I am tired. Today I literally tried to open my front door by pointing my car keys at the lock and clicking..not once, but twice.

During this super busy week I heard a great story about a work group who went from having a large amount of injuries and attendance issues to almost none. The difference was a new manager, and some changes in the work environment that resulted in a huge positive pay off for the organization. According to the workers, the atmosphere went from punitive to positive. Workers were given a voice, and listened to. Positivity, it would appear, pays.

I reflected on this story today as I was coaching the level four girls. These super cute kids are still relatively new to routines, repetition and repeated correction. I tried very hard to balance the verbal and tactile corrections needed to teach and perform the skill, with praise for honest effort and, the willingness to keep repeating the skill over and over until it was correct. I used a ton of positive reinforcement to drive my lesson. I noticed that whenever I acknowledged a gymnast, they would light up. That smile would last for a long time, and the work that followed was fast and furious with few corrections needed. The power of positive.

On the flip side (since this is a gymnastic blog after all), negative words can have far reaching, and not easily repairable damage; sometimes long term. Damage to relationships, self esteem, and trust. Unkind or hurtful words once spoken even if retracted immediately, leave a mark. Coaches need to be mindful of the words they choose when making corrections for skill work. Positives will go a long way for building foundational trust and relationships.

With coaching this is not hard to do. With life: work and home relationships, sometimes we forget how sharp our tongue can be. The co-worker who hums all day long, the employee who always has an issue. The constant need to accomplish more work with less resources. The temptation is to go to the place where you demand, direct and expect. Without any thanks because, after all, that is the what the job requires right? Results? Sure. Long term success with your employees, co-workers, family, and gymnasts. Good luck.

I choose positive.

Having fun in the gym

The gymnastics business is crazy stuff. Fun but crazy. Where else can you go to work and get paid to jump around on trampolines, tell young gymnasts that if they climb to the top of the rope, a little monkey may come out from the ceiling and ask for a peanut; and find yourself racing around the spring floor like a bear, bug, snake and whatever else you can think of to capture the attention and imagination of your charges. So much fun to be had!

Most people that own a gym or coach professionally have a tremendous passion for two things:

• Kids
• Gymnastics

The fun and games of early lessons need to continue through the competitive years for longevity. The sport becomes difficult, and few gymnasts make it past level seven. Sad. To change this, successful coaches and programs manage to keep it fun. Kids need to be allowed to debrief from the intense skill building competitive gymnastics requires. Built in games disguise speed, strength, and agility training.

I learned this lesson early from my husband. He has a way of making each lesson a game, a mini competition, a challenge, a dare, even a bribe! "I'll give you a quarter if you can cast to a handstand" -you cannot imagine what kids will do for a quarter! Once, he bet a competitive team gymnast: "I will kiss a pig if you can do that move." Guess what? He kissed a pig, in the gym with much fanfare. Compliments of a pig owner who happily supplied the poor victim for the kiss. We have pictures. The kids loved this!  Guess what again? His teams always placed in the top three at State championships. Fun, did not take away from skill.

If you have a child in gym, and they are interested in competition, look for signs the kids on team are happy and having fun. Training is hard work, however, a skilled coach will use drills and games in their training techniques. The kids should look like they enjoy being in the gym. If you do not see this, find a new gym. Save the survival of the fittest routine for the military, or reality TV. Childhood is brief; I say let the kids have fun!