Gymnastics: current problems in the training of gymnasts

Lack of experienced qualified trainers

The consensus on the main problems in youth sports and gymnastics would include at least the following list. In gymnastics, the lack of qualified coaches is perhaps the biggest problem. The sport is growing at a rapid pace and before there were not enough coaches (of any level of experience).

There is no place for trainers to learn

There are many reasons for this and a number of shortcomings in the coaching pool. The biggest problem is that there is no place for anyone who is interested to go to learn how to train properly. There is no college, university, trade school or even a central source of information that you can go to.

to learn to train and the higher the level you aspire to train, the less information and resources there will be.

Bad habits and training practices are transmitted

Trainers in this country learned to train, either by how they were trained themselves or by imitating another trainer in the gym. An annual congress of coaches does little to improve the situation. Add in the lack of helpful informational resources and the trainers are basically on their own.

This is the problem we have chosen to target with our website and products.

developmentally inappropriate training

Linked to this situation and problem is the inappropriate training style for the development of many coaches in our sport. The lack of knowledge about the training loads and hours in the gym and the amount of pressure to put on very young gymnasts is all too common in our sport.

Parents and coaches want medals, gymnasts want to learn and have fun.

The next big problem in sport is the overemphasis on winning, actually more on the part of coaches and parents than on the part of the gymnasts themselves. Parents evaluate the sport by the competitive success (read that – medals count) of their child. Coaches match that and then top it off with an emphasis on how much control they have over their team and macho competition over which coach can teach the hardest skill in the shortest amount of time instead of building the right foundation for long term development.

No fun allowed – Exit

Coaches are often all too willing to sacrifice the natural fun of the sport for the ego boost to achieve their own personal goals. Some even take the position that the gymnasts on the team shouldn’t have any fun at all because gymnastics training requires nothing more than serious training. Our advice in this situation – find a new coach – or if that’s an impossibility, learn to ignore that attitude in them.

The most talented burn first

We are talking about exhaustion. And unfortunately, it often happens first to the most talented of our gymnasts. The trainers get a young talent into their gym and proceed to push them too far, too fast in terms of too many hours in the gym, too much unnecessary pressure too soon, and stealing the fun of the sport. Gymnasts are kicked out of the sport before they are old enough to compete internationally.

Burn before they learn trainers

By the time the coaches realize their mistake, it’s many years and many gymnasts burned out in their careers. The problem seems to have made a comeback recently. A generation of coaches learned their lesson a decade ago, but with no place to learn from the mistakes of others, the new generation of coaches is busily burning their own gymnasts.

Learning high level skills is not the problem

Some have misinterpreted our position on this. We do not advocate restricting gymnasts’ speed of learning and diminishing the quality and level of skills they are capable of learning. We simply believe that young and very young gymnasts should have limited practice hours and competitive pressure. We still want them in the gym when they are 16 and finally old enough to compete internationally.

Too much pressure or too little support

The next problem is almost a riddle (a riddle, a puzzle). For one thing, many parents put too much parental pressure on athletes, especially in light of the fact that some coaches put too much pressure on the gymnasts themselves. On the other hand, some gymnasts suffer from a lack of attention and support from their parents.

Education is the solution

The solution to all of the above problems is education: education for parents and coaches.