Teenagers growing

[Mats Trane]

Hi Coach Sommer and other gymnasticscoaches

How do you handle/coach gymnasts that have been training for years and have reached the time in their lifes when they grow alot and suddenly cant do what they have been doing easely for years? I noticed that alot of gymnasts quit this fantastic sport when they come into this period of their life.

What psychology do you use?

what sort of strenght training do you emphasize

Thanks

[matthew.percussion]

Try, try, try, and try again.

You will get back the skills. It may take a while but not nearly as long as the first time you learned them.

Once they get used to their 'new' body things will come back.

Not sure how to keep em from quitting...

[Coach Sommer]

Patience is an absolute necessity during the adolescent growth spurt. Diminished balance, coordination and strength-to-weight ratios will of course negatively effect performance levels until the body adjusts to the new growth. Attempting to maintain strength as much as possible and additional flexibility work are key during this time. Be sensitive to the needs of the body; do not train a particular event that day if excessive growing pains crop up.

Young athletes quit primarily because this drop in performance was somehow unexpected for them and their coach :?. To me this is unacceptable; I begin preparing my athletes to psychologically handle their forthcoming growth spurt when they are 10-11 years old. They understand that it is a vital and necessary part of their physical maturation that, once completed, will lead to vastly improved performance levels.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Hayden Whealing]

So if I'm 14 years old. I will have slower progress in developing the strength for moves like planche and front lever than an 10 year old or someone who has already had their growth spurt?

[matthew.percussion]

Not necessarily. At around 14 you will probably still be growing. You actually have a pretty good chance to work on your strength.

Not only do you get taller, you also build more muscle.

[Joshua Naterman]

Yea man! Your body is kind of naturally on steroids and growth hormone during that stage of life. If you eat enough food and do intelligent workouts, you can make some truly incredible strength and size gains in your high school years!

[Blairbob]

Coach Sommer, how/or do you address this with the gals at all or have you ever?

My friend's son was a L9 training L10 with an extremely hard work ethic at a good gym when he was 14 and in 8th grade. However, his growth spurt put him around 5'9 or 5'10 and he was literally shorter than myself when I met him in 04 ( roughly 11 or so ). He kept on training and dealt with the decreased strength to weight ratio but ultimately retired due to the pressure of HS sports, especially that they would not share him and the fact that he would be very tall for a gymnast and would have a better chance at the other sports as he excelled in those.

Right now, Erik is just 10 but also loves soccer and plays "select". I'm not sure if he has the talent or drive or family intention to go on towards higher than that or if gymnastics weighs higher than soccer ( though he told his class he wanted to do it in college ) We only train 3x/week as a L5 so in the fall soccer season, it won't conflict typically. Do you allow your compulsory/lower level athletes to do other sports? I have another boy who is a fledgling actor and may come back after the summer from spending it in Los Angeles. I know that if he gets into that field, gym will be a side note mainly to give him strength and some acro skills for his resume. I also know that your L4's don't train that many hours per week but I can't remember if your L5 or L6's do.