Randolph Gymnastics

To: Advanced Tumblers/Parents at RGA
From: Donna Hughes

Why should you attend gymnastics year round?

Just as the Carolina Tarheels Basketball National Championship team trains year round, gymnasts need year-round training also.
I have seen some of the weakest, most physically uncoordinated girls learn a back handspring, and even become advanced tumblers within 1 to 2 years! Patience is MANDATORY on both the part of the student and parent. People give up too easily, and get discouraged if they do not see instant results. Consistent training is the key to success. Our gymnastics team consists of about 20 young ladies from the ages of 5 - 15. These girls come to gym ~ up to four days a week, for 3 hours each day, every week out of the year. These girls throw about 100+ back handsprings per week on average, in addition to much more. That’s approximately 5,000+ back handsprings ~that’s right FIVE THOUSAND back handsprings EACH YEAR! It is then easy to see why the gymnastics team has such advanced tumblers. Some of you see the team tumbling, and have absolutely no idea how many hours, days, weeks, months and years it took these awesome tumblers to learn what they know. THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS.
You can’t really say “I’ve been coming to the gym for years,” if all you have done is come a couple of months out of each year. It really doesn’t produce results to come spontaneously. Every time you come back, is like starting over. No one is so awesome that they can reach their highest potential in gymnastics, without consistent training. Even the most gifted, self-taught athlete needs training & discipline to grow in the sport! If you do not come year round, you are not going to see the results you want. You will basically be bored to death because you will be learning, and re-learning everything - again and again, instead of constantly building on what you know, and continually learning new things. There are however, unavoidable repetitions that everyone must go through to remain strong, like doing handstands for example. Even our most advanced tumbling classes work a great deal of handstands to strengthen the wrists and arms. Some look at these repetitions as boring, while others work them quietly, focusing on the new skills these repetitions have enabled them to learn.
“My daughter made the squad, so why do we need to keep coming?”
Unless your daughter can do a roundoff, back handspring, double full twisting layout, there is always room for improvement! Advanced skills like this are possible for those who keep coming! If your daughter is on JV, there is always a possibility that someone will be moved up during the school year due to a Varsity Cheerleader dropping off the squad. Try to be prepared for this possibility and always be caught in the best shape you can be! The captain or co-captains of JV are not automatically moved up! If you are on Varsity already, there is room for improvement unless you can do a full. Full twisting layouts are a part of every winning squad’s routine these days! Are you just simply happy making the squad? Or do you want your squad to WIN? Furthermore, I have also never met a gymnast or cheerleader that could do a full twisting layout consistently that wasn’t in the gym practicing it on a regular basis.

Finally, I have an axe I would like to grind with any parent who thinks that they need to coach their daughter from the sidelines: Leave the coaching to me! Be patient and you will not regret it! Even though something may not appear to make sense at the time, TRUST ME; IT WILL MAKE SENSE LATER! Children are reluctant to believe parents know anything, especially about the dynamics and psychological complexities of gymnastics. Even if you know a lot about it, your coaching tips will stimulate a possible rebellion, or even a loss of interest, while mine will demand performance & discipline. Children even as old as high school age, want parents to be shocked, amazed, astounded, and spellbound, not questioned or criticized of their every move when gymnastics is already difficult & frustrating enough. They don’t need a disappointed looking parent, while they proceed through a NORMAL process of gaining and losing skills. If they don’t appear to be trying their very best, please leave it to me to deal with that. Hey, my class is not easy! I have also learned, it never works to criticize them unless you can show them that you can do it too, and do it correctly. They won’t buy any advice from anyone but a drill sergeant coach who simply demands it of them. Beyond that, they just need a “good job,” from a parent, or a look of sheer astonishment once in a while. Acting like you know nothing about it, and being impressed that they do, always makes them want to learn it more. Offering encouragement, and holding back on the coaching is always the best suggestion I can offer to parents, no matter what the personality, or relationship of the child and parent. If you become frustrated with your child, try your best to hide it, because most likely she shares in this frustration! If they aren’t trying their best, it is likely out of discouragement, and your positive, quiet support will shorten this spell. I refuse to allow my students to go backwards, and I won’t tolerate laziness. I have a personal investment of a great deal of time and energy in each girl. I am fair, giving each individual an equal chance to learn. Every student is motivated by a different approach. Some learn better with a stern coach, while others are timid and shy, and need more patience. To question my techniques, is to question 17 years of studying the sport, and a great deal of hard work and many successes. I take what I do very seriously. I will give you a reason for everything I do, if you are ever curious. My safety record is impeccable. I have taught literally thousands of girls how to do a back handspring. More than I can even remember at this point. Students who follow directions in class, pay attention, and don’t ask senseless questions that interrupt our groove, learn the fastest regardless of talent.
“My daughter has been coming here for years! Why can’t she get this?”
This statement has lately come from someone’s parent who’s child does not attend year round, but for years has come a couple of months out of the year. We can only offer guarantees that you will get what skill you are striving for, when you come regularly, not just now and then. Practicing your tumbling at school, or in cheerleading does not really count as gymnastics training. Tumbling occasionally at cheerleading practice can allow you to maintain a skill, but not to learn new ones. Remember how I said that the gymnastics team girls do about 100 back handsprings a week, and more than 5,000 a year?

See what I mean? Unless your cheer coach is an absolute drill sergeant like me, and makes you do 100 back handsprings a week, you need to be at the gym. There is a mandatory consistency to this sport, and tumbling here and there, simply does not compare to having a coach with 17 years of experience staying on your butt for a whole hour and a half! Doing a seasonal sport such as cheerleading, can be physically challenging and therefore healthy and good for you, but has nothing at all to do with learning gymnastics.
“Will my daughter get this faster if she takes private lessons?” I have also heard “We did a ton of private lessons, and she still didn’t get it!”
Private instruction is not really ideal. Learning with others in a class situation, can provide a student with more time to rest between activities, and students in a class meet new friends, that help motivate each other. The competition between students can strengthen their desire to learn. Private instruction is by no means a short cut to learning anything, and is only advised when a student is already enrolled in every class possible, but is having extreme fear issues which will become safety issues, or has difficulty understanding a specific skill that needs one on one attention. People progress much faster in a group situation. With no one else, or just a couple of people, it can be boring, and with little time to rest, much more difficult than a regular class. Instead of paying for 3 months of private lessons, save your money and enroll your child year round in the proper class at the gym.
“Some of the stuff they do in the class, my daughter can do at home.”

The reason we do it in class, is because they AREN’T doing it at home! Sometimes it is worth the money to have someone behind them to give them the push they need, so they WILL stretch and exercise at home! If they don’t have a full twisting layout, there is room for much improvement when it comes to strength and flexibility. If they are able to perform a full twisting layout consistently, then the strength and flexibility training is needed to maintain the skill.

“What does my daughter need to work on at home so she can learn & progress faster in the gym?”
HANDSTANDS. As many as she can do, wherever she can do them.

Tumbling requires that a human body go upside down, and support the entire body weight with a force of up to twice the weight of the body on the hands. This is why we do so many handstands and arm strength exercises.
Weights: Get a 5 pound weight, and simply lift it slowly above your head with straight arms 50 times a night.
Back bends: Back bends aren’t fun for older girls, but if they will do a few a week, they will certainly see a difference in their overall tumbling capabilities.

If you will hold your daughter in the “banana stretch,” for one minute each day, this would be equivalent to doing several back bends.

Push ups: Just 5 GOOD ones per day would make a world of difference.
Sit ups: Just 50 each day, every other day, or even twice a week outside of practice would also make a world of difference.

“Doggies:” 100 with each leg
Toe Raises: 100 (even better if holding a 5 pound weight)
Heel stretches: 10 with each leg.
We do many of the things listed above in class, as most students will rarely work seriously at home when not pushed by an experienced coach.
“My daughter had a back tuck on her own before, so why won’t she do it now?”
There are many reasons why people lose skills. Sometimes, once somebody gets something, they begin to over analyze it, and therefore they lose it. If a girl learns a back handspring, or a back tuck, but doesn’t do one for several weeks, or several months, it can be like she never had it to start with. It is harder to do things after growing several inches taller, or gaining several pounds in a normal growing process. That is why consistent training is the key to avoiding injuries, regressing and getting discouraged. My question for you is “How many times did she do it by herself? ONCE? TWICE? I only count a skill as being LEARNED, when a girl has it every single time for several practices, not just once, twice or sometimes.” Again, doing something once in a while at cheer practice does not count for much unless you practice it consistently like we do here at the gym.
The moment a student learns a skill for the first time, such as a back handspring, an aerial, or a back tuck, does not constitute a skill learned. It is only when they learn how to do it consistently that they should really say, “ I got it!”
Usually, in the case of any skill, most often the student will learn it, lose it, learn it again, lose it again, and then finally learn it for keeps. This is a NORMAL process. The students with parents who are impatient, will see skills lost more then skills gained. When a student first learns a skill, that is certainly not the time to relax and quit: it is when they really need to work harder than ever to make sure they don’t lose it, and to learn to be able to do it consistently. Here are the stages of learning, enforced by hundreds of successful gyms:
Stage one: Back handspring by yourself on a wedge mat.
Stage two: Roundoff, back handspring on the marshmallow mat (at the end of the tumble track.)
Stage three: Roundoff, back handspring on 8 inch mats.

Stage four: Roundoff, back handspring on 4 inch mats.
Stage five: Roundoff, back handspring on the floor.
Stage six: Standing back handspring on the floor.
Stage seven: 2 back handsprings connected on a wedge, and then on tumble track.
Stage eight: Roundoff, two back handsprings on the floor.
Stage nine: Roundoff, back handspring, back tuck, also standing back on tumble track.
Stage 10: Roundoff, 3 back handsprings on floor. (Every time, not just some of the time, strong and fast).
Stage 11: After you have had your back roundoff back handspring, back tuck by yourself on tumble track for at least a month, and you can do three back handsprings on floor rapidly consistently that don’t look like a struggle, THEN you will be ready for roundoff back handspring, back tuck on floor.

Meanwhile in stage 12, you also learn Roundoff, back handspring, layout on tumble track.
Stage 13: Layout on floor, full on tumble track.

Former Gymnastics team member, Anna Shelton,
throwing a nice layout on floor in tumbling class.
Stage 14: Full on floor, double on tumble track. (Students sometimes throw a full off tumble track for anywhere from a month to a year before attempting it on floor).

Melissa Pierce, one of our most advanced tumblers,
throwing a sky high full.
One night, Melissa threw 200 fulls in practice! Amazing!!!
Stage 15:Double full on floor, double back on tumble track. Students who try to defy the order of the stages of learning listed above, will experience instability, uncertainty, sudden crashes, loss of confidence, will regress, and will ultimately get discouraged and drop out.
Unless you can do everything on this list, there is always room for improvement, and even then you will need to keep attending class so you can maintain the strength to keep these skills! Once again, even the most gifted, self-taught athlete needs consistent training & discipline to grow in the sport!

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