Coaches are very important when it comes to finding a new gymnastics academy. Make sure you know as much about the coach as possible; their background, accomplishments, and knowledge. It is very important you also agree with their coaching styles.
Gymnastics coaches are going to be a big part of your gymnast’s life. Depending on how much your gymnast works out, they may be around their coaches anywhere from an hour a week to forty hours a week. For this reason you want to make sure they are a good role model and moral influence for you child. You don’t want you child to be around someone that has a bad background or history. Make sure the gymnastics academy you are checking out requires background checks for all their employees.
If you are paying good money for you child to do gymnastics you should expect the gymnastics center to provide good coaches. Think about it, the coaches are the main component when it comes to the success of your gymnast. The coaches are the ones who teach your gymnasts routines and skills. There are two ways they can teach them, the right way or the wrong way. Make sure they are a successful coach by looking at their experience, history, credentials and accomplishments.
Make sure you like the style of coaching your new coaches’ use. Some are more laid back and let things slide and let the gymnasts slack off. Other coaches are very rigid and harsh and get all over the gymnasts case for every mistake. Then there is the happy medium, these coaches are tough but not too tough were the gymnast can’t have any fun at practice. You need to decided which type of coach you gymnast will work better with. A parent also needs to decide if they think it is okay if a coach yells and curses if he/she is not satisfied with the gymnasts’ performance. If you get a coach that is too laid back your gymnast may walk all over them and not succeed. Let me tell you, if a gymnast has a coach that has a lazy coaching style the gymnast will take full advantage of it; this is not a pretty sight when a gymnast runs the class.
Each gymnast is different; some like to be spotted while others hate it. This is how coaches can be too. Some coaches will never touch a gymnast while others will spot them on every skill. I think that a coach should spot some but not all the time where the gymnast becomes reliant on the coach for everything. Make sure you pick a gymnastics academy where your gymnast will feel comfortable when it comes to the spotting style. If you gymnast needs spot to get over their fears, don’t send them to a gymnastics center where they will never be spotted and vise versa. Again this is one of those things where the best is a happy medium. A coach should spot if the gymnast feels unsafe but once the gymnast can attempt the skill themselves the coach needs to make them do it without spot. You do not want the gymnast to become reliant on the coach for everything. They need to get confidence and attempt things by themselves time to time.
I have seen many gymnastics coaches in my life and a coach who possesses a little bit of each of these coaching styles seam to get trough to the gymnast much better. A gymnastics coach has to remember how easily children get burnt out, so mix it up from time to time.
