I decided to write this blog from a parent standpoint. A couple of weeks ago, my daughter’s gym opened up, and my wife and I decided to send her back to practice. I posted on Facebook a pic of her going back to practice like it was the first day of school(don’t act like I was the only one). As soon as the picture posted, I received a flood of text messages asking me why I was sending my daughter back and if I thought it was too early. In short, the answers to those questions were “we felt it was time” andddddd “don’t know,” but the real question and the topic of this blog is, how did we arrive at our decision. In this blog, I am not going to act like I have all the answers. How and when a person restarts life in the “new normal” is a personal decision and will be dictated mainly on household circumstances. In this blog, I am only going to talk about my thinking, so take it with a grain of salt. 

Before we get started, I want to send a shoutout to Triniti Montgomery for being selected GDN Apparel Student-Athlete for June. Triniti is a soon to be  Level 9 gymnast. To learn more about Triniti, and to watch some of her Level 8 performances visit HERE. 

Also, we would like to let you know about a new platform we are building. We are in the process of developing a platform for gymnasts to build their own personal recruiting profiles. If you are interested in learning more, please visit.  We are giving away 25 free profiles, so the sooner you sign up, the better chance you have to get a freebie profile. To learn more visit HERE.   Now, on with the show.   

The new way of doing things.

I called this blog “Back To The New Normal” because much of what is being asked of us to reduce the risk of contracting the Coronavirus are common sense. Growing up, we stayed using the term “give me my personal space.” I can’t count the number of times my momma told me “get up out my face with you smelling like outside and stop beggin,” I still have no idea what “smellin like outside” means. Little did I know she was training me to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks mom(sarcasm). In my opinion(no, I am not Dr. Fauci), this virus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Regardless of which side of the spectrum you fall on politically, one thing most can agree on is that this virus is whipping every government’s ass in the world. I am not talking about just the typical beatdown, I am talking about that Debo, you stole my bike kind of beatdown.

Since we really have no end game in sight, I think the next best step is to figure out how to go about life while operating under the constant threat of the Coronavirus. How do we work in a world where we are no longer top of the food chain. Okay, that was a little dramatic, but I have been dying to use a Walking Dead image, and this is my chance, so I took it. Moving forward, before gymnastics practice, my daughter needs to have her temp taken, take sanitizer with her to practice, and frequently washing her hands at practice. Once she gets home, she hops in the shower for a “just in case” cleansing before she resumes her day job as the resident couch potato. That’s our new reality, good, bad, or ugly. It is what we are stuck with for the time being if she wants to do gymnastics.  

Paralyzed By Fear

This pandemic has everyone shook and for a good reason, but the fear of the unknown is often worse than the reality of the situation itself. Don’t get me wrong, the risk and consequences of catching the Coronavirus are real, but what we had to do to mitigate that risk was beginning to make me feel paralyzed. My entire decision-making process revolved around how to avoid getting “tha Rona.” I realized that some of the choices I was making I wasn’t even leveraging the limited information I had about the virus to make those decisions. Even with my track team, we have families who are not planning on returning until they feel comfortable. But when you ask them what will make them feel comfortable, you get ………………….. This is not a typo, or me falling asleep while pressing the period key.   This is literally their response when you ask them the question.

The truth is, I can’t operate under those conditions. When deciding to go back to the gym, we asked two simple questions as parents. This first question was what has changed, and the second question is, “what can change enough for me to be comfortable.” Since the answer to both those questions was “nothing,” my wife and I each said….

Close the gap or widen the lead.

In truth, I am a competitor, that is one of the reasons why I got into coaching. The Coronavirus has created a unique opportunity for athletes on the lower end of the totem pole performance-wise to close the gap on their competitors. For athletes already on the top end, it creates an opportunity for those athletes to widen the gap.  Eventually, everyone will get back to competing. It will be a hard pill to swallow to watch your athlete take an ass whooping by an athlete they were beating pre-Corona (but you didn’t hear that from me).

Necessity is the mother of Innovation 

In closing, this is our new normal. As the earth warms, things that were once unknown are starting to creep up to the surface. As humans begin to build further out into unknown territories, we increase the risk of being exposed to these new things, some of which may be deadly. At the rate we are moving, it is just a matter of time before we run into Sasquatch. Our new normal will require both families and sports teams to become innovative in the way we approach training and development while still mitigating the risk of contracting diseases. It will be interesting to see how gymnastics competitions adapt post COVID-19. 

For those out there that still think it is too early to return, I understand entirely. As I said at the onset, returning to the New Normal should be utterly dependent on each household’s ability to handle the worst-case scenario. My only suggestion is that when you make your decision, don’t make your decision out of fear, make your decision with an expected outcome in mind.   At least, that is what we did.

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The post Back To The New Normal appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

Do Zoom Practice Sessions Really Work?

Welcome back parents to another installment of Gymnastics Dad. In this blog, I am going to answer the question do Zoom(virtual) practices really work, and should you pay for them? For those that don’t know what Zoom is. Zoom is a software used for video conferencing. Since this pandemic has taken off, Zoom has become the premier software for teachers. Zoom is the reason why most parents are going to end up in summer school with their child. Zoom must be the luckiest of the lucky as far as companies go. I mean damn, January 30th Zoom was just another tech company barely hanging on….90 days later this is the founder.

Before I get started, I want to send a big shoutout to all our frontline workers. You guys are the best people on the planet, bar none! GD Nation and I genuinely appreciate everything you have done and are continuing to do for us

I also want to take a moment to send a shoutout to Makayla Fernander. She is the GDN Apparel Athlete Spotlight for May. To learn more about Makayla, please visit here. 

If you want to learn more about how to get your gymnast selected for an athlete spotlight, visit www.gdswagshop.com. Now on to our regularly scheduled programming.

This is a topic I received from a reader because their coach is beginning to charge for virtual practice over Zoom. Her question was, “does the amount of training and the quality of training justify the cost.” She was apprehensive because she felt that since she paid $275.00 monthly when her daughter was going to the gym four times a week, four hours a day, but now the coach is charging $175.00 for three days a week and 2 hours a day. Initially, when she gave me the price tag, my first response was “hell-to-the-no” because, from a straight numbers standpoint, the math didn’t make cents( get it C-E-N-T-S).  After sitting back and weighing the pros vs. cons, I persuaded myself to go in the other direction. This was one of those situations that will be different depending on the family and training situations at home. Before I get started with why I changed my view on the question, Let’s set the mood “ole skool” rap appropriate for this blog.  “Yeah, All I wanna do is zoom-zoom-zoom-zoom and a boom-boom.”  

In a nutshell

Let me say at the onset that I am a firm believer in Zoom meetings and not because I am a coach who does them. In truth, with my track team’s Zoom sessions, we don’t charge the parents for them. That is not to say coaches who do charge are in the wrong. I just don’t because, for me, coaching track and field is a past time and truly “voluntary.” Basically, I don’t view it as a business, but if I did, I’d “shonuff” would charge. I do pay for my daughter’s gymnastics practices over Zoom with no reservations. When moving from what we call “Brick and Mortar” training to virtual training, there isn’t going to be a one-to-one relationship in regards to cost. By design, the goal of technology is to increase efficiencies and value while reducing costs(Geek Talk). So it should be expected that there won’t be a one-to-one relationship when comparing pricing for Brick and Mortar and Virtual. If you look at Zoom Practice sessions from a value standpoint as opposed to a cost standpoint, then it may make more “cents” (I did it again). 

If you read and agree with my last blog, Stay Ready So You Don’t Have To Get Ready. Then you understand that it can be challenging for an athlete to maintain focus outside of the purview of the coach. This pandemic has created a situation where athletes have been left to their own devices in regards to staying motivated. Over the past couple months of having been apart of virtual practices, I have begun to see some added benefits that I initially didn’t consider in regards to virtual training.

Keeps consistency for the athletes

One of the most important aspects of training and development is consistency. The fastest way to get written off by a coach is to be inconsistent. Inconsistency applies to both being inconsistent with practice and inconsistent with focus. Inconsistency is one of the biggest killers of athlete potential. What this pandemic has created is fertile ground for the diseases of inconsistency and laziness to flourish. Having virtual practice establishes a way for an athlete to develop consistent training routines. When coaches establish a routine even if it is virtual, they are establishing consistency for the athletes. The routine helps to get athletes back in the mode of a standardized training regimen.  

Coaches still have influence.  

Can you relate to this? “I have been fussing and fussing at my athlete for the last couple of weeks, and it has had no effect. Then her coach does a zoom session, and now she is all involved.” Well, if you can relate, don’t feel bad. This is actually pretty common amongst all sports. Keep in mind to most of our children our role is mom and dad, not a coach. The term coach carries a special meaning with it. The term “coach” can strike fear in the soul of an athlete. Coaches have the ability to flex muscles that parents don’t have. In my last blog, Stay Ready So You Don’t Have To Get Ready, I talk about how many times a coach’s ability to teach a sport is not the overriding factor when determining a good coach. In many situations, a coach’s value is in their ability to motivate and bring out the best in an athlete. Even though I am a coach, it is difficult for me to garner the same reaction from my daughter that I do from my athletes in regards to training. To my athletes, I am Coach Mike, the monster, but to my daughter, I am “this dude.”

Can’t do as much but can focus on details

Want to keep laziness in check, get called out by your coach in a Zoom session. On Zoom, you don’t have to worry about who is around when you get chewed out because EVERYONE IS AROUND. One of the good things about Zoom meetings is that as a coach, you can see everything. My daughter has been called out many times for straight legs; it is ridiculous. Virtual session has allowed coaches to focus their view on one area instead of having to keep an eye on multiple events. 

Do you have other options

Lastly, the real question is, do you have another option to reliably get your athlete the training they need? If the answer to that question is “no,” then you need to pony up the money to get the training done correctly(assuming you have it to spare). If you haven’t been consistent with training your athlete thus far, then it is unrealistic that you will maintain the level of training provided in the virtual practice. I was asked why I decided to pay for my daughter’s virtual training seeing that I was a coach and understood general fitness and how to train young athletes. My answer was that after observing my daughter’s training session, I realized that they were doing a lot of sport-specific training that I wasn’t familiar with. At that point, I knew it would behoove me to pay for the training and make sure my daughter got the training she needed. With my daughter being in Level 9, I couldn’t afford to “muck this up.” So I had to know when to fold ’em.  Basically, my daughter’s coach had her doing all types of drills that I had no idea needed to be done.  As much money as this expensive ass sport has cost me over the years you think I am going to complain now over $150.00, sheeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiittttttttt!!! 

 

In Closing

In the words of the late great Kenny Rogers….

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The post Zoom Training Sessions And Do They Work? appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

Welcome back parents, it’s me, “dat dude,” Gymnastics Dad. Here we are the start of another gymnastics season.   A new season brings with it a roller coaster of emotions.  The highs and lows of a competition season can be difficult to manage, so I figured now would be a good time to give you some of the coping mechanisms that I use for dealing with competitions early in the season. Around this time is where parents start showing up to practice more, start asking questions about the status of the floor routine, and wondering/hoping/praying/begging that their gymnasts will be ready for the first meet.  The lead up to a competitive season is the time when a parent’s blood pressure starts to creep up with every slip of the beam, fall off the bars, or stumble on a pass. Coaches start holding “mandatory” mini-camps and parents start complaining about the additional expense given that the season is so close and wondering why the stuff covered in camp can’t be or wasn’t included in practice, tell me I am lying. To cope with all this stress, parents deploy several tactics, many of them requiring a frosty alcoholic beverage. Although I am a fan of the occasional “drank” now and then, this is not one of those moments. So here we go!

Know what your athletes can’t do.

The first coping skill to not blowing a gasket at the first meet is knowledge. Knowing what your athlete is struggling with will help to level-set your expectations. The worst thing you can do is go to a competition expecting to see a 2019 version of Mary Lou Retton or a mini version of Simone Biles and instead end up getting, let’s just say, not them. If your gymnast is anything like my child, then your conversation on the way home from practice goes a little something like this:

Me:  How was practice?

Daughter: Good, can I use your phone?
Me: Why?

Daughter: MaKayla is online with Roblox on her way home
Me: here(phone handed over), what did you work on today?

Daughter: Everything except <insert event here>

Me: Did you try anything new today, or did you practice your routines

Daughter: No

Me: no what?

Daughter: we kinda worked on routines but we mostly did skills

Me: Did the coaches say anything to you today

Daughter: They always say something(sarcasm)

Me: I know that…but did they give you any specific feedback?

Daughter: no, not really, they said just stuff…but <insert name here> kept hogging the beam

Me: Okay, don’t care about “such-and-such” hogging the beam especially given the fact there are 20 other ones you could use.  What exactly did the coaches say?

Daughter: Can’t remember, just stuff
Me: You know what little girl…

Daughter: Dadddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyy (getting frustrated at all the questions)  

Me: ………..what do you want for dinner

This conversation pretty much sums up everything I can get out of my child in regards to practice. If you are in a similar situation, then attending practices is the best thing you can do to help your sanity.  I am amazed when I see parents who never sat in on their athlete’s training but come to a competition and get pissed if it doesn’t meet their expectations. My daughter’s tuition is $300.00 per month, which is equivalent to a car note. Bruh, at that cost, gymnastics is no longer a recreational sport. Gymnastics is an investment at that point, and I want to know if my investment is paying off.

All Meets Are Not Created Equal

The second thing parents need to be aware of to survive their first meet is to understand that all competitions are not created equal. Regardless of the sports most early-season competitions are used to knock the rust off and to test new skills and techniques. After the first competition, you typically see a more defined focus by the coaches and the athletes. The reason for this is that it is challenging to simulate live competition in practice or even a mock meet. There is something about seeing someone in a different uniform than you that brings out that competitive spirit. It is not to say the first meet isn’t important but understand that part of the value of the first meet is to know where an athlete is, where they need work. Use the first meet as an opportunity to compete against someone other than their teammates and to grow.

Taking an “L” isn’t the end of the world

The two techniques I mentioned above are the main techniques I use to survive a meet. Unfortunately, there is a massive opportunity for your gymnast to catch a beatdown at the first meet. There are just too many factors that could affect the outcome of a competition. Also, let’s not forget about the infamous Susan, last name “wheredidyoucomefrom.” She is always that gymnast that comes out of nowhere like she is some type of superhero and lays the smackdown with a ridiculously good score, and parents are left wondering where in the “frazzle snickets” did she come from. You look her up on mymeetscores to see two rows of competition results from Xcel Bronze and her all-around for those two results are 30.3 and a 31.2. The truth is, taking a beatdown that the first meet is not the end of the world. It is a wakeup call for both coaches, parents, and athletes.   

Last but not least, if you decide none of these coping mechanisms are going to help you and you still are going to be stressed, then at least look good being stressed.  Please visit our swag shop at www.gdswagshop.com where we specialize in gymnastics spirit wear. We have something for everyone, and we remembered the hubby too. We will be giving away 12 shirts through the remainder of November and up until Christmas day, so please signup for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/gymnastic_dad and Facebook so you will be in the loop for our contests.

If you like reading ya boy’s stuff then show me some love and sign-up for my newsletter so these blogs can come right to your inbox.

Until next time, peace and soul…. 

The post Surviving the first meet. appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

“Hellooooo” my good people. In this blog, I am going to talk about my daughter’s first competition with the new gym and under new coaches.  If you haven’t read the blog called the Transition you should because it will get you up to speed with what’s been going on with my daughter’s gymnastic “career.” Here are the cliff notes, our old gym home of 7.5 years closed its door abruptly and we ended up moving to a gym in the same area.  Losing our gym home of 7+ years pretty much sucked but we seemed to have landed on solid ground with our new gym Stick It.

~The Practices~ 

So, we have been at our new gym Stick It for the last couple of months, and although there are similarities in training to our old gym, there are differences also.  You can tell strength training is a large part of Russian methodology in athletic development because we always do a lot of strength training, which is similar to our old gym.  Being a coach, I can appreciate programs that emphasize strength conditioning because I feel focusing on strength conditioning in youth sports creates a more holistic approach to the development of the athlete which is sorely missed in youth sports today.  I cringe when I hear parents talk about their kids working on “up skills” but at the expense of strength training.

One of the big things I like about our new gym is there seems to be a focus on athletes taking responsibility for their success and doing things on their own.  The kids document their practice in a notebook.  I am not exactly sure what they are writing because my daughter is terrible at explaining things, but it looks pretty cool watching them do a skill, and then run over and write something down in a notebook. From what I can piece together from my daughter’s incoherent gibberish is that they document how many reps of a given skill they successfully completed.  Some parents don’t like the fact that athletes have to learn how to be focused and work independently, but I love it!  Coaches coach, if your child needs constant oversight to stay on task,  a team may not be for you.

The training setup if similar to our old gym where the male coaches primarily work the vault and the bars and the female coaches work on the floor and the beam.  Our new coach, Coach Marina loves the beam, and I mean she loves the beam, did I say she loves the beam.  She told us as much so at our level meeting.  Literally, her words were, and I paraphrase “I love the beam, and your girls will learn to love it too,” well damn, okay!  Our girls work the beam “err-day.”  Getting better at the beam was right up my daughter’s alley because it is one of Triniti’s weakest events score-wise.

~First Meet ~ 

Our first meet was a competition called Jack Frost.  Even at our old gym we always did the Jack Frost competition for our first meet of the year of which I have no idea why.  Now, don’t get me wrong it is not a bad meet at all, I mean, parking sucks, but beyond that, it is a pretty good meet we just do it every year.  There was some urban legend that at one time the judges at the competition would give each gymnast an index card with a list detailing the deductions they had, but that perk was either “fake news”, or ended a while ago.  Jack Frost was smaller this year than years past, and I think that had a lot to do with another competition popped up on the scene this year.  I honestly think we do this meet every year because they must have a helluva coach’s reception.   Although the meet was small competition was still pretty solid.  Honestly, going into this competition my expectations were pretty high.  I wanted to win.  Heck, I always want to win.  I can’t understand why parents go into sports without an expectation of winning.  As a coach, I have a saying “People who say winning isn’t everything hasn’t ever won anything.”  Winning is addictive.  It makes the ride home smoother and at the After-A-Competition team meal the sweet tea taste just a tad sweeter with a win.

~9.275 Floor~

The warm-up with our new team was pretty standard.  I always joke that a gymnast warm-up is most other sports practice.  Gymnastics is the only sport I know of where the athletes do crunches as a warm-up.  Our first event was the floor.  Although, it is one of the more exciting events I am not a big fan of the floor because I think it is a pretty forgiving event.  Her score was pretty solid at a 9.275.  Not a high score but as long as we got in the nines, we lived to fight another day.  The vault and bars are traditionally Trininit’s money maker, so if we just “hold serve” on floor and beam we should be in pretty good shape.  So far so good!

~9.325 Bars~

Our next event was the uneven bars.  Triniti came out swinging on this event and turned in a pretty solid score of 9.325.  Man, we were sitting pretty at least I thought.  Solid score on Floor and Bars and the vault was next and traditionally Triniti’s strongest event.  That coupled with the fact that Coach Marina was the self-proclaimed beam whisperer I could already taste the extra sweet, sweet tea with “a lotta” ice.  Next event vault.

~8.800 Vault~

At the vault, the squad was dancing to another gymnast’s floor music.  They were acting like it was the fourth quarter of a football game with two minutes left, they were up by two touchdowns, the opposing team was out of time outs and had to march the whole field to score.  I guess they forgot about the new requirement for the Level 7 vault, the Yurchenko.  Remember the football analogy I used a few sentences ago, let’s just say by the time we left the vault we were the football equivalent to the team that got marched down the field, scored on, two-point conversion on, onside kicked on, scored on again, and then they hit the two-point conversion(again).  Just like that, we were down by a point with 30 seconds left.  Why did you have to take the blindfold off(bird box)!  Up next, the beam.

~8.900 Beam~

At this point, I was just hoping to get a snow globe(1st through 3rd place).  I was already preparing to ask for extra sugar with my sweet tea.  I was pleasantly surprised with the beam routine.  Her score wasn’t the greatest, but I could see her confidence growing on beam.  She completed where back-walkover to back-handspring connection and based off her 70% success rate at practice that in itself was an accomplishment.

~36.300 All Around~

Overall, the first meet went well.  Triniti scored a 36.3 which earned her fourth place.  That score is on par with what she typically scores at the first meet.  The only “hmmm..” moment I had was on vault because I hadn’t seen a  score like that since her first meet ever, but I  had to factor in that the Yurchenko is a new vault for Level 7 so it will take some time to get a solid grasp of it.  What we did learn is in Level 7 presentation matters.  Doing a skill is not enough, a gymnast has to do the skill well and look graceful and confident doing it.  I know that gracefulness and confidence will come with age and maturity.  With the first meet down with new gym, so-far-so-good, but that was only the first meet.  We don’t compete again until February at Atlanta Centennial, so in the meantime, I will be blogging about other stuff related to gymnastics, and youth sports in general

~The Squad~

Overall the team aka “Tha Squad” did very well earning second place team.

I want to send a special shout out to my girl Kelly Bryd for supplying me with the vids for this blog.  She has always been a huge supporter of my blog and an even bigger supporter of the “Tha Squad”

If you like reading ya boy’s stuff show me some love and sign-up for my newsletter so these blogs can come right to your inbox.

Until next time, peace and soul….

The post The First Competition appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

Excuse me, but we interrupt the regularly scheduled blog for a public service announcement. We are on the lookout for a male species known as Dads. They were last seen at their daughter’s gymnastics competition. We are not sure of their whereabouts, but if you happen to stumble upon these elusive creatures, please have them report to their daughter’s next gymnastics practice. In this blog, I am going to write about the potential negative impact on a young athlete when there is a lack of fatherly support.

Before I get started look at this video.

Dads are like….

Yes, fellas, we are talking about practice. Not the competition, we are talking about practice (this is only funny if you watched the youtube video)

Since becoming involved in youth gymnastics, a disturbing trend I have witnessed is the lack of fatherly support while at gymnastics practice. Now don’t get me wrong there are plenty of fathers at the competitions which is great, but to be honest, only coming to competitions is too little too late. Think about it like this, gymnasts spend an upward of 20 hours at practice, but the typical competition is only 3 hours. Where do you think the bulk of the work and the ability to affect change is taking place? By the time a gymnast gets to the meet as the saying goes “it is what it is.” The result of the competition may be revealed at the meet, but the outcome was decided at the practices well before the competition. All competitors hope to win but in practice is where the expectation of winning is established. This is where parents play a critical role. The expectation of winning is established by hard work, commitment, focus, and dedication all qualities that are taught at home but reinforced by coaches.   Meaning, athletes can only expect to win a competition if they have trained to win in practice. Coaches teach skills and build upon the discipline established by the parents. Athletes can sense if a parent has a lack of commitment for a sport and more often it will come through in their focus and commitment at practice. As a coach, I have a requirement that for all athletes under the age of twelve, parents must be present at least some of the practices. I have always believed that athletes just seem to practice harder and are more focused if they know the prying eyes of a parent(especially dad) is around. By no means, this isn’t to discount or diminish mom’s value but if mom is the only person watching practice then most likely she is the only parent having the infamous “come to Jesus” conversation like “do you know what we sacrifice” on the ride home after a bad practice. You can quickly see how mom becomes the nagging parent and becomes the proverbial “broken record.” Thus, diminishing her influence to affect change.

In talking to fathers, a common theme as to why dads are not really involved with youth gymnastics fall into two areas. The first one is it is not manly enough, and for the second, it is a waste of time and money. Since gymnastics is viewed primarily as a “girls” sport, many fathers feel it is okay for them to take a back seat and let the mom handle it. Both these lines of reasoning are flawed. First, for the parents who say it is not manly enough. My fault, I didn’t know to support a child’s extracurricular activity was conditional based on how macho it was. For those who say it is a waste of time. Dude, real talk, have you looked at a typical youth football, soccer, volleyball, baseball player. Trust me, most of those athletes are definitely not the model of athletic prowess and fitness.  Unfortunately, outside of a few sports most sports put too much of an emphasis on winning to the detriment of the overall development of the athlete.  Having the opportunity to play any sport in college or the pros is a daunting task but at least being in a sport like gymnastics where there is a holistic approach to overall fitness gives an athlete the best chance of success. Want to test it? Pull all your kids in a room and see who can do the most push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches…..don’t worry, I’ll wait .

Regardless of the sport, conditioning is a critical aspect of success. The truth of the matter is gymnastics is not sexy enough for most fathers to care. Gymnastics doesn’t have the Little League World Series that gets shown on ESPN. Gymnastics doesn’t have the Friday Night Tykes a tv series about youth football. Gymnastics doesn’t have AAU basketball teams in which Nike and other shoe companies dump millions of dollars in the hopes of finding the next Lebron. What youth gymnastics has is little girls who train an upward of 20 plus hours a week and who will run circles around 95% of boys in their age conditioning wise. Gymnasts are more discipline than athletes in most team sports because they live in a world where the difference between winning and losing can be less than a tenth of a point.

Some dads used the flimsy argument of “I don’t have enough time” but that argument is so weak I didn’t bother to address it.  Very simply, if you can’t squeeze out a few minutes to watch your gymnast practice then it is not a matter of time it is a matter of priority.  Trust me, the NFL, NBA, MLB, Fortnite and Madden will still be there when you get back.

~The Investment~

Competition gymnastics is a considerable investment. Even now I pay my daughter’s gym fee bi-weekly because I just can’t handle the visual of forking out $300.00 a month for a youth sport and that doesn’t include booster club fees, can you say “Sheet sale fundraiser.” Below is an actual picture of me after making my monthly gymnastics payment.

Most competition gymnastics teams cost an upward of $300.00 plus a month during a competition season which is the equivalent to a car note. Most people paying a car note will do certain things to protect their investment. They ensure the oil is changed consistently, brakes changed, and tires rotated regularly. When the check engine light comes on they take the vehicle to the shop to get it serviced. Basically, they are trying to ensure a return on their investment. Those same principles should apply to a sport that is this financially intensive. Unless you just got it like that financially than “do you playa” but for most of us mere peasants, the prospect of sinking the equivalent to a car note into a sport monthly isn’t the most appealing thing unless we are seeking some sort of return on investment.

Parents can fool themselves into saying “I just want her to learn discipline and teamwork,” but to be honest, there are much cheaper ways to accomplish those goals. By return on investment, I am not necessarily talking about a college scholarship (unless you got one handy), but I think it is fair to expect your gymnasts to show consistent growth in the sport. “I am not saying get the W, but heck at least begin advancing in the direction of winning.” I cannot have the expectation that my daughter will be the next Simone Biles, but it is fair for me to expect her to be the best gymnast she can be within her level of ability. Sitting in on practice doesn’t mean you are being a helicopter parent, those are two completely different things. Just as most fathers roam the typical sideline of a youth football, baseball practice chopping it up with other fathers about how their kid is the next Deion Sanders or Mike Trout all the while keeping a watchful eye on the number of reps their athlete is getting in practice. What they are doing is ensuring the money they spent on that pitching coach or passing league is being put to good use. I can’t tell you in my coaching career how many fathers I am approached by inquiring about speed training in the hopes it will help their child be more successful with their other “more popular” sport. I always politely decline with this advice. That pitching coach you have, fire him. That football, basketball camp you are going to signup for, stop. That summer league you are headed to, turn around. Buy your little dude some dumbells, pull-up bars, push-up bars, and a crunch mat and have at it. That will benefit you way more than whatever money-draining event you are going to next. Fortunately, for most gymnast conditioning is embedded in the program itself. The truth of the matter is, most of us don’t know enough about gymnastics to give any helpful training tips, but you can watch to make sure your athlete is being productive, and you are getting the value out of your investment.

~Be Cool With The Results~

Lastly, if you choose to blow me off then be cool with the results. I am always amazed after a gymnast has a poor performance in competition the dad who has barely attended practices is all up at arms because their baby didn’t do well. Whatever, dude, your child hasn’t been doing well in practice. That Full Turn she fell on, yup she been falling on them at practice for the last month. Those bent legs, guess what, her legs were bent at practice also. Her tumbling, “been broke” but you would have known all this if you would have shown up to practice. It is both unfair and unrealistic to expect coaches to be able to give you a breakdown of everything your athlete is weak in. Coaches are responsible for overseeing dozens of girls, but a parent is responsible for oversight of one child, their own. I know everyone is busy grinding away at life but make time to watch the growth in your gymnast, it is a beautiful thing and is a much better investment of your time and resources than most other youth sports except for track and swimming. I am going to write another blog soon about the difference between what I call auxiliary sports like football, baseball and basketball, and foundational sports like track, swimming and gymnastics and why foundational sports are much better at overall development than auxiliary sports.

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Until next time, we wish you peace and….

The post Where The Fathers At appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

“Hellooooo” gymnastics parents, it’s been a long time since I have blogged, but I have gotten busy with life, and there has been a lot of changes that have happened since I last blogged most of which none of you will care about.  The one change you may be interested in is how my family and I handled the closing of our old gym and the transition to our new gym.  I titled this blog The Transition because in October we found out that the gym my daughter has been at for the last 7.5 years was closing its doors.  It was pretty shady how the owner decided to do it but not to relive the experience let’s just say “it sucked” and keep it moving.  In this first of a series of blogs chronicling my daughter’s current season, I am going to talk about the emotions that go into a gym closing, researching gyms and finding a new gym and what the first day was like.

My Daughter

My daughter is named Triniti, and she is 9 years old and a Level 7 gymnasts. Triniti started gymnastics at 18 months with the Parents and Tots class.  We initially started her in gymnastics because we were trying to find a way to tire her little butt out, but after some time we realized she had some ability.  Eventually, she was selected for pre-team, and the rest is pretty much history.  I know you were probably expecting a fantastic story about how she was doing back handsprings at two years old and all that, but nope we were just trying to tire her little tail out!  She was blessed with some ability, and her hard-work coupled with great coaches has allowed her to be successful thus far.

The Research

After finding out our gym was closing the scramble was on to find a new gym.  In our area, we have three other gyms, and based on reputation alone only one of them was even close to a viable option.  I reached out to coaches who were friends of mine to get their opinion on our next move, and the majority recommended I take Triniti to a gym up north.  Understand, we live in a Georgia suburb that is south of Atlanta, and there seems to be a prevailing thought that all the good programs (regardless of the sport) exist up North.  Fortunately, my little coaching radar was able to sniff out BS.  I told my friends that I wasn’t sold that geographic location is a creditable deciding factor on whether a gym was good or not.  After talking with the coaches at Stick It and looking at their facility my wife and I was convinced that Stick It was the best move at least in the immediate future.  I knew it was going to be difficult to make an informed and unbiased decision on any gym because our feelings were still raw from what we had just gone through, so the logic was “when all else fails, go with what ya know.”

Stick It is around the corner from our old gym which is pretty convenient location wise. The coaches came from the same school of gymnastics as our old coaches which is a huge plus.  Heck, they even have similar names!  Our former coaches were named Coach Irinia, and Coach Sergey and our new coaches are Coach Marina and Coach Sergey.  What is crazy is that both Coach Sergeys were college roommates in Russia.  The quality of the facility is impeccable, and my wife made an excellent analysis.  She said that a person would only build this level quality of gym if their goal were to have a top tier program. Anyway, we seemed to have landed on a solid foundation from a coaching standpoint, but a quality program is defined by scores, so we have to wait for the season to play out.

The First Day

The Drive

Heading to the new gym on our first day was pretty intense emotions wise.  It was a Monday, and we had walked out the doors of our old gym for the last time on Friday, so the feelings were still pretty raw.  The dad part of me felt pain for my daughter and anger at the old owner because the emotional hurt my daughter was experiencing, but the coach in me understood that many times change can be good and should be embraced not feared.  I told my daughter repeatedly that she can’t be paralyzed by the fear of change.  In all honesty, there was also an unspoken giant elephant in the room that many other parents didn’t have to factor in.  Would my daughter experience the same success she was having with her old coaches?  The truth of the matter is that success is critical to keep any athlete interested in a sport.  Now, keep in mind success doesn’t necessarily mean beating your competition, it also means achieving and maintaining a certain level of quality.  Now, the coach in me also knows there is typically some drop off in performance when changing programs due to the fact that the athlete has to get comfortable with the new coaches, and that is why it was critically important that our new coaches had similar coaching styles and a training methodology to our old coaches.

The Door

The walk through the door of the new gym wasn’t as difficult as I expected.  Don’t get me wrong there was a  part of me that was sickened by the walk in because the moment I walked through the door, I fully understood the gravity of the situation.  It was over, the fantasy of Triniti starting and ending her pre-collegiate career with the same coaches was finito, finish, kaput.  Again, you lick your wounds and keep it moving.  Triniti didn’t seem impacted much, honestly because since our entire optional team moved to the same gym, it made the transition much more comfortable.  Basically, we had the same squad just with a better gym and new coaches.  As long as
she was happy, then I was okay.

The First Day

Overall the first day was interesting.  The first couple practices as expected was chaotic.  Not to show my age but if you grew up watching Romper Room then imagine that.  Literally, kids were flipping off the walls, floors, beams, and bars.  At one point I thought a voice was going to come out of nowhere and say “I see Mikey and Johnny and Triniti.”  Some parents had concerns about the size of the group which was fair, but I told them that the new gym had just acquired approximately 40 new gymnasts and they would need some time to adjust.  As a coach, I can’t imagine how I would handle a sudden influx of roughly 40 new athletes.  Overall the first couple days although chaotic were pretty solid, you could tell it was a “feeling out” and evaluation period.  The athletes, parents, and coaches heads were spinning but after a few days order was restored.

The parents who had been there before us was kinda standoffish which was to be expected.  After all, many of them viewed us as intruders.  I think the global concern for everyone was how was this going to work with so many girls.  The funny thing is that although the parents seemed to have a certain level of anxiety over the change the athletes adjusted quickly.  Athletes just want friends, teams, banners, and medals.  I think parents in this situation get into the weeds wondering how was this going to affect their individual child.  Would their child still be viewed in the same light, and given the same opportunities that was in place before the additional athletes ,and those feelings caused parents to go into their own corners.

Overall, the move to the new gym appears to be working.  I think everyone at the moment is in a holding pattern waiting for the season to play out.  There will obviously be differences between organizations, but I think overall there were enough similarities for the girls to have adapted pretty quickly.  Parents are parents, some will hate us for intruding on their space, and some will embrace the change.  Either way, if my baby is happy and the growth continues then, this might turn out to be a good move. 

Stay Tuned next week as a new blog will chronicle Triniti’s first meet.     

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As a Booster Club president depending on the time of the year or the outcome of the last meet, I am often inundated with complaints from parents.  These complaints range from issues related to training to issues related to how the gym is running.  Most parent concerns across youth sports usually go unresolved for a variety of reasons.  In this blog, I am going to identify some of the primary reasons why parents issues go unresolved and hopefully provide some guidance on how to seek resolutions moving forward.

At the advice of a friend I am going to break this blog into two parts which will hopefully allow for “better digestion of the material,” her words not mine.  Part one will revolve around classifying different types of issues, and part two will revolve around why problems aren’t getting resolved and how to get them fixed moving forward.  Don’t skip to section two without reading part one because it will essentially be like watching season two of the Game Of Thrones without knowing what happened to Ned Stark. 

Most issues from parents can be dropped into four buckets.  These buckets are education, communication, expectations and the last is personality.  The first step to resolving an issue is to identify which bucket the matter belongs.  Identifying the bucket allows both coaches and parents to take the default resolution steps that apply to that bucket to begin to resolve the issue.

The education bucket. 

Issues in this bucket are typically the easiest to resolve because ideally the more a parent gets educated regarding the sport, the more these issues begin to fix themselves. An excellent example of a problem that is always in this bucket especially with new parents is scoring.  “How did my child get that score?” Parents are programmed to see their children’s potential because they factor in those yucky things called emotions which causes them to view situations subjectively instead of objectively.  On the other hand coaches and judges are trained to see the reality of the situation.  Every time my daughter is practicing one of her routines I think it is perfect until the coach walks over shaking their head and throwing their hands in the air.  As I have become more seasoned and informed as a gymnastics parent, I can identify many of the technical flaws that went unnoticed when I was still a rookie gymnastics parent. As parents become more educated regarding the sport, the issues in this bucket tend to resolve themselves.  If you are questioning is your problem is education related, ask yourself if your issue can be resolved if you had more data at your disposal. If the answer to that is yes, then most likely your issue is an education issue. Unfortunately, it is often incumbent on the parent to educate themselves to a certain extent.  Coaches can often fill in the gaps in knowledge for parents, but it is unreasonable to ask them to teach you the whole world of gymnastics.

The communication bucket. 

Issues in this bucket can be somewhat difficult to resolve because the first step in addressing these issues is to identify what side the problem is on.  Are the coaches not communicating correctly with parents or are the issues related to parents not processing the information they are receiving successfully.  What makes matters worse for issues in this bucket is often what needs to be said will often be looked at as politically incorrect.  Imagine needing to tell a parent that their kid is a complete disruption in practice, they don’t listen, and they are overall having a negative impact on the team.  How can you say that in a way that parents don’t get offended, you can’t?  What coaches end up saying is “Miss <fill in the blank> your gymnast needs to listen and mature.”  The parent walks away thinking that everything is fine with their behavior because the issues will resolve itself as the child gets older.    Or imagine needing to tell a parent that the reason why their child isn’t meeting their expectations performance wise is that their child’s weight is an issue.  What coaches want to say is “look, until your child starts eating better and loses some of that weight this gymnastics thing ain’t happening,” but parents aren’t trying to hear that.  In this situation what coaches mistakenly end up saying is phrases like “your child needs to get stronger.” which parents blowoff as something that should be addressed by the coaches.  What coaches should say and what would be exponentially more helpful to the parent would be something like this.  “Miss <insert parent name here> no training in the world can overcome a lousy diet.” Unfortunately in situations like this, although there is communication the information that is being passed is not as effective as it should be because it is filtered to preserve the parent’s feelings.  The below video albeit funny is a great example of what coaches go through when trying to communicate the reality of a situation with a parent regarding their child.  

The expectation bucket. 

If you have read any of my previous blogs you know it is critically important to ensure the coach, parent and athlete have the same level of expectations for the athlete’s future.  Issues related to this bucket is often easy to identify but hard to resolve because they typically require parents to make tough choices.  For example, if a parent looks at gymnastics as strictly something to do to keep their child from being a couch potato then getting with a coach who values winning and competition will not be a good fit.  On the flip side if you look at gymnastics as an investment in your child’s future and her coach has the “I want everybody to have fun” mentality, then that also will not be a good fit.  Finding the right situation for your gymnast is critical to resolving these type of issues and vital to their success overall.  The reason why addressing problems in this bucket is challenging to solve because it usually involves parents having to find another gym because people don’t change situations do.

The bucket is personality. 

Last,  this bucket is easy to resolve.  Get over yourselves parents.  If you don’t like a coach, then leave and go to another gym.  Just as it is unreasonable for a coach to ask you to change how you are as a parent, it is also unreasonable for you to expect a coach to change for you.  The way you decide to parent in your household is entirely up to you but don’t expect coaches to follow suit.

Now that we have knocked out how to classify issues and the different type of buckets issues belong in.  In the next blog, I am going to break down why parents issues don’t typically get resolved and how to go about getting them addressed in the future.

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As this gymnastics season draws to a close, this is the typical time when parents begin to look for other programs for their athletes for a variety of reasons.  Also, based on the outcome of the season this is the time where parents start to question if gymnastics is a viable sport for their athlete. Being a coach I have seen time after time parents leave teams hoping to move into a better situation only to find out that is not the case.  Unfortunately, most parents opt to live with their wrong decision and the only person that genuinely ends up negatively impacted by a parent’s misguided decision is the athlete. In this blog, I am going to break down the potential pitfalls of leaving your current situation in the hopes of finding a greener pasture.  If you are indeed in a bad position, then this blog is by no means meant to be a deterrent to you bettering your and your athlete’s circumstances but many times what is perceived to be a bad situation, in reality, is just a lack of understanding, communication or expectations.

If you are the parent, who is questioning whether gymnastics is the right sport for your child based on how competitive they are currently.  Speaking from a coach and parent viewpoint this youth sports thing is a wild rollercoaster ride through the world of complete excitement and utter disappointment.  Those parents who survive to the end are the ones who get neither too high with successes and too low with failures. From my experience coaching, those athletes who are on top at the beginning are not always the same athletes on top at the end.  Now, I am not going to sell you on the whole gymnastics is an excellent way to teach team sportsmanship, discipline, and commitment because to be honest there are much cheaper ways to instill those qualities, but I will say this.  Gymnastics is what I call a foundational sport, meaning the skills you learn in gymnastics apply to every other secondary sport like baseball, football, soccer, basketball, etc.  There are only a few sports that fall into the foundational sports category, and those are track, swimming and of course gymnastics.  As a track coach, some of my best athletes have had a gymnastics background.  What that means for you as a parent is keeping your gymnast in gymnastics will only help her in other sports down the line, so there is no need to cut bait right now. 

Own responsibility

The price of greatness is responsibility Winston Churchhill

Before abandoning a sport or a program, I like to tell parents to make sure they have done everything in their power to ensure their athlete has the best opportunity to be successful.  Everyone wants to win on game day, but the real question is has that athlete, parent, and coach done what is necessary to be able to reasonably expect the athlete to be successful in competition.  In project management, there is a term called the triple constraints which refer to the relationship between the limitations of quality, schedule, and budget of a project.  For projects as one constraint changes, the other two must adjust to accommodate the change.  Similar constraints apply to gymnastics.  For an athlete to be successful the athlete, parent and coach must all be playing from the same sheet of music.  If one is off, then the others must adjust to maintain consistency but only within reason.  Parents often have a difficult time owning responsibility for their actions.  The truth of the matter is parents are the athletes first coaches.  They are the first people who instill discipline, focus, commitment and follow-through in children.  Coaches don’t introduce these qualities in athletes they merely build upon the foundation that was already laid.  If there is no foundation laid then coaches don’t have anything to build upon.   Many parents have a hard time accepting this responsibility, but these qualities are not qualities specific only to sports, but these are the qualities that define a productive member of society.

Just because it glitters doesn’t always mean it’s gold.

Do not embrace everything gold that shines like gold  Alain De Lille

Every gym has its problems.  In some gyms, the ownership sucks, in some the booster club sucks, while in others the parents suck but as long as the coaches don’t suck then there is always hope.  In sports, the quality of coaching should still be the overriding factor.  Parents need to ensure when changing gyms they aren’t swapping one set of problems for another.  I have seen athletes leave our gym for another program that is perceived to be better just to end up in a worse situation.    Everything that glitters isn’t always gold.  Before jumping ship, properly research the gym you are going to.  If your current coaches have a history of developing athletes, then I would advise you to stay “put.”  Finding skilled coaches is difficult.  Finding qualified coaches who are nice is next to impossible.  My daughter’s coaches are Russian, and if you have ever had Russian coaches, then you know where I am going.  Russians who have English as a second language struggle with what I consider the fluff words.  The words that make what they are saying to you not so brutal.  Being trained by coaches from Russia is not for the faint of heart.  Being direct and not an eloquent speaker doesn’t make someone a bad coach just as someone being kind to your athlete doesn’t make them a good coach, know the difference.

Good coach vs. a good recruiter

Know the difference between a good coach and a good recruiter.  Many times parents look at other teams that are doing well and mistakenly believe it is the coaching.  What I always tell parents is to not only to study the team’s current stats but also to study their stats historically and research their gymnast individually.  Many coaches are recruiters and have the great ability to recruit gymnasts that were developed at lesser-known gyms by offering “perks” outside of the quality of training.  Any good coach should have a resume of athletes they have developed over time.  Good coaches have a history of developing athletes, not overnight sensations.   Often I hear parents “ooh and ahh” about other gyms, but when I research those gyms, I realize most of their gymnasts were developed at different gyms during their foundational years.  It is easy for a coach to put his or her stamp on an already established product, but any coach worth their salt enjoys the challenge of building their athletes from the ground up.

Sometimes it takes time.

  Not all athletes develop the same or at the same pace.  Athlete’s bodies mature faster than others, and their ability to process information also grows more quickly than others.  An athlete being able to get their body to handle the instructions that are given to it has nothing to do with maturity it merely is a matter of biology.  If you look at world-class athletes across all sports, their bodies can process information much faster than the typical person.  When a gymnast is in the air, and something goes wrong that gymnast’s body has fractions of seconds to process the information necessary that will allow them to bail safely.  The ability of the brain to handle information and send it to the right destination quickly takes time to develop.   Some athletes are born with it, but for most, it is merely a waiting game.

Some athletes are born competitive while for other athletes it takes time to develop.   In coaching, I have had runners that seem to come out the womb understanding the emotional difference between winning and losing while others will take an “L” in a heartbeat and think nothing of it.  Learning to be successful and developing the desire to win for many takes time.  This skill parents can “fast track” by putting their athletes with coaches where athletic success is an expectation.  Keep in mind success doesn’t always mean winning but for something to be called competition, there has to be a winner and loser.

If you are reading this blog, then my guess is it is safe to say that at some point you have attended a gymnastics competition.  If you have, then you have heard parents yell “Go, Kayla,” “Let’s do this Gabby” or in my case “you got this Triniti.”  Parent’s yell all these things while the athletes are in the middle of competing.  Being able to block out all the noise and focus is a skill that athletes have to develop.  For example, I can call my daughters name several times during a competition, and she will ignore me completely, but many gymnasts brains haven’t developed the ability to block out the external noise yet. In most situations, this is not a bad thing especially for the younger gymnast, but it is a waiting game for parents.

Look, I must admit before I was the head coach and owner of my track club I was a parent, then became an assistant coach on another track club.  I wasn’t happy with the quality of training, so I branched out and started my team.  Therefore, I sincerely empathize with people in bad situations.  Keep in mind my goal isn’t to discourage you from leaving a bad situation but to hopefully give you a different viewpoint for evaluating your case.  Being a parent of an athlete in a competitive youth sport like gymnastics is extraordinarily challenging, and often it may seem hopeless but stay the course.  If you do have good coaches, who care and are qualified then ride with them through the storm.  Always remember this, if gymnastics was easy it would be called football(shade) B-)

The post Staying The Course appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

The summer of 2017 I took my daughter to the 1st annual Brown Girls Do Gymnastics Conference.  At the start let me say, I had a great experience.  I learned a lot as a parent but what I enjoyed and appreciated the most was the experiences and lessons my daughter received from former collegiate athletes that looked like her.  Although I didn’t attend the second day(major bummer) due to prior obligations, in this blog I will talk about my experiences from the first day.

Based on a diversity study performed by USAG in 2007 the population of African American girls in gymnastics was 6.6 percent.  Although I think that number has grown since Gabby Douglas, and Simone Biles became Olympic Champions, I still think the percentage is tiny.  Needless to say outside of my daughter’s gym there are not many girls who look like her on the circuit.   When a parent notified me of this conference, I viewed it as a perfect opportunity to get my daughter exposed to experiences that she would be able to file away mentally and look back on for support down the line.

The first couple hours was mainly meet and greet.  During that time the gymnast spent time creating leotards for a future HBCU gymnastics team.  They also spent time participating in a “who’s who” in gymnastics contest.  It was funny to see that outside of  Sophina DeJesus these girls didn’t know anyone!  Although, I can’t talk because outside of Dominique Dawes I knew very little.  I was also surprised to realize that there were no HBCUs that offered gymnastics as a sport.  One of the former gymnasts explained that she was in the process of presenting proposals to several HBCU in the hopes of changing that dynamic.

The next couple hours were spent listening to former college gymnasts tell their stories about life as a college gymnast. They talked about injuries, education, and life after gymnastics.  They described what life was like being a college gymnast and the day to day grind that comes with being a collegiate athlete.  They described juggling classes, practice and how important it is to maintain a social life.

In regards to pre-collegiate gymnastics, my impression from all the gymnasts is that their biggest regret was sacrificing being a teenager in high school.  They impressed upon the gymnast the importance of experiencing the fun that comes with being a teenager.  Missing a practice periodically to see a high-school football game or just hang out with friends won’t be the determining factor in earning or not earning a college scholarship.    They help put in perspective what gymnastics in college was designed to do.  Doing gymnastics collegiately albeit fun is merely a way to help pay for a college education.  

One of the gymnasts described her struggle managing both the nursing program and gymnastics.  She explained how she was told several times that doing both gymnastics and the nursing program would be too complicated.  She talked about how through all her struggles she relied on a poem given to her by her grandfather called “It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Albert Guest.”

We heard from another gymnast that had been severely injured in college and could not compete anymore.  She explained the emotional struggle of having to deal with life after gymnastics. She told the girls that she had to learn that gymnastics was not her whole existence but just a part of who she was.  This train of thought resonated with me because any gymnast is a pass, a flip or a tumble away from injury so parent’s need to ensure we keep the role that gymnastic plays in the overall scheme of things in perspective when dealing with our gymnasts.

While the gymnast went to train, the parents got an opportunity to talk with a dad of a collegiate gymnast.  The information he provided was invaluable.  He spoke of the value of dads involvement with their kids’ gymnastics.  He said when gymnasts look up in the stands they are looking for dad because daughters view their dads as a security blanket when there is insecurity around her.  His statement resonated with me because as a coach I think it is imperative for parents to understand their lane when it comes to youth sports. 

When athletes screw up, they typically know they screwed up.  They are told by their coaches they screwed up, they are told by their teammates about the screw-up, and their score is typically indicative of the screw-up.  Getting in the car and reiterating what has already been said by three other groups serves no other purpose than to make the parents feel better(but I digress). The dad also talked about fathers having to swallow their pride when it comes to dealing with college coaches.  Keep in mind when your child enters college they are considered an adult.  Although, a gymnast may be daddy’s little girl, to a college coach who livelihood is dependent on winning they are adults and treated accordingly.  

Honestly, my daughter didn’t enjoy the conference to any great extent, but that was fine.  The goal wasn’t necessarily her enjoyment but her exposure.  I am trying to lay the foundation for her future and exposure to people who have already been there is a great learning opportunity.  She was eight, and I am sure she would have much more preferred being at home creating slime or watching youtube.  Although she may not have enjoyed it as much as I would have liked in the long run when things get rough, I will be able to say to her “you have met several ladies that look like you and they made it so you can make it to.”  

The gymnastic drills they had the girls doing was okay.  It was difficult for my daughter to commit and embrace the training because she was accustomed to being trained by a few select coaches her whole life.

Overall, it was a great conference, and I look forward to attending there this year.   My only regret is that I didn’t participate on Sunday because that is when an African American gymnastics judge was speaking, and it would have been interesting to get her insight on the current standing of the sport and the politics that exist with gymnastics from a judge’s perspective.   

In my opinion, Brown Girls Do Gymnastics and similar organizations are critical for African American gymnast to participate in.  Learning from other people who have already “been there and done that” helps to reduce the learning curve for future gymnasts if leveraged correctly.

To learn more about Brown Girls Do Gymnastics visit : browngirlsdogymnastics.com

The post My Experience at the 1st Annual Brown Girls Do Gymnastics Conference appeared first on Gymnastics Dad.

As you might have guessed, I am a gymnastics dad.  My daughter has been doing gymnastics for the last 6.5 years and is currently a level 6 gymnast.  My wife and I introduced her into gymnastics at the age of 18 months with the traditional Mommy and Me class.  Our thinking was gymnastics would be a good way to tire her out.   Little did we know she would soon grow to love the sport and soon we were progressing to the ever stressful, time and money consuming world of competitive gymnastics.  

As my daughter grew more rooted in the sport of gymnastics, I became more involved with the inner workings of gymnastics and the politics associated with it.   The more I learned and grew engaged with being a gymnastics parent the more I became intrigued with the similarities it had to other sports especially track and field.  Being the Head Coach and owner of a youth track team made me uniquely well versed in the world of youth sports and the parents in all their various flavors that exist within it.

I started this blog for several reasons, but the primary goal is that I believe my coaching background puts me in the unique position to provide parents with the insight needed to see into coaches minds and help parents figure out the “do’s and do not” of navigating the coaching terrain.  It also allows me the opportunity to be the voice for coaches and let parents know what most coaches are thinking but actually cannot say.  

Finally, as I alluded to earlier having interacted with all the various types of parents, I have heard just about every excuse that a parent can make and been witness to the delusions of grandeur statements that so often comes from parents.  So I will use this opportunity to tell you what I traditionally am thinking, and these situations as a coach and I am confident many of your coaches will be thinking the same thing.

Keep in mind I am NOT a gymnastic aficionado.  I know enough about the sport of gymnastics to realize I don’t know anything.  So, if you are looking for some drill or skill to make your daughter get her kip-cast-to-handstand…”I am not that dude”.  But if you are looking for some comic relief while you sit in those metal chairs waiting for your daughter to finish that long practice then you have come to the right place.

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