Coach Keith's Corner — youth coaching

There have been many times when I went to teach one of my upper level athletes a new skill and realized it is harder to teach than I thought because of bad habits, bad technique or just something I overlooked. An example - I had a very talented kid.  I wanted him to learn a specific vault (a kasamatsu).  Super talented so should not be a problem - only there was a REALLY big problem - he twisted the wrong direction to learn a kasamatsu.  When he was little he just picked his direction to twist and I thought nothing...

Before you think I don't like the holidays (I do), I am referring to this time of the year for a Gymnast or Gymnastic Coach. For the most part, our season is split into a few time periods. We have meet season which lasts from roughly January to May.  Each practice is pretty similar and drama free.  The kids come in do their routines and some strength and go home.  They are getting consistent on their routines, they just have to do the work to clean them up and maybe add something here or there.  Its not the most exciting practices but ...