Coaching can be approached in various ways. The traditional method is coach-centric, where coaches typically instruct athletes on what to achieve, similar to the 'I say, you do' teaching style, or even focusing solely on the coach's own objectives. In such instances, the gymnasts have minimal input in decision-making, and the coach may view them merely as performers rather than individuals.
Recently, there has been a shift from the conventional coaching approach. Coaches are now encouraged to embrace a gymnast-centered approach. This approach involves fostering a philosophy and environment in clubs that are caring, inclusive, engaging, consultative, and democratic.
What does it mean to be athlete-centered?
Creating a gymnast-centered environment involves getting to know the gymnasts personally - their names, backgrounds, interests, motivations, and aspirations. It also means ensuring that both gymnasts and parents feel welcome, included, and informed about the sessions.
A gymnast-centered approach entails involving gymnasts in decision-making processes, empowering them to become more independent and motivated learners. Depending on their age, maturity, and experience, coaches should prompt gymnasts to identify their strengths, areas for improvement, and strategies for development. Gymnasts should comprehend and commit to agreed-upon goals.
The nature of gymnastics requires a certain amount of repetition which, if not managed correctly can lead to boredom. Your gymnasts need to understand and appreciate why they need to perform certain skills/activities many times. For example, once mastered, that particular repetitious skill will unlock other bigger and better skills in the future. Finally, you should adopt a holistic approach recognising the gymnast as more than just a performer.
Benefits
The athlete-centered approach has the potential to lead to increased career or participation longevity.
Firstly, by preventing injuries (both overuse and acute). This is due to the fact that the athlete-centered approach allows for more effective two way communication, where the gymnasts has more space to voice any early symptoms of overuse and develops the self-reflection tools needed to identify how their own body feels.
Since the gymnast has a bigger say in the skill selection, skills that the gymnast may not feel ready to perform or that gymnasts feel anxious to try will be further avoided, reducing risk of acute injury.
Secondly, by avoiding burnout. The coach-centered approach often encourages performance based self-esteem. This means that the individual sees themself only as an athlete and can at times lead to issues of self identity when they aren't in the gym. Studies suggest that athletes with a performance-based self-esteem might be at greater risk of experiencing burnout.
Common misconceptions
With any new approaches comes some uncertainty about the implications this may carry. The most common misconception is that all the training decisions are entirely up to the the -most often than not, young and inexperienced gymnast.
This is not the case.
As Jeff Thompson puts it -FIG Men's Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) Technical Committee vice-president:
"The athlete is at the centre, but the coach is at the top"
 said as the key-note speaker of the seminar "Being Athlete Centered", part of the FIG Education Commission On-line Seminar series.
One can think of a coach as a GPS. The gymnasts should have a say in where they are going, whether that is the participation route or the high performance route; the gymnast shouldn't be made do things that do not intrinsically serve them. However, the coach has the experience to guide the gymnasts to their final destination and give them the tools to achieve the goals they set out together.
For this to happen it is vital to develop a coach- gymnast relationship built on trust and mutual respect.
Strategies for promoting a gymnast-centred approach to coaching
According to Hiroaki Sato, FIG Education Commission member and Men's Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) Japan's national Head Coach there are three pillars to this approach: Trust, Communication and co-design.
A huge part of this approach consists on the gymnasts taking ownership over their practice and progress. In order for this to occur, it's important to make sure the gymnasts understand the importance of actively participating in their learning process. Posing open questions that give give gymnasts the opportunity to reflect on their own practice can be helpful, such as:
"Do you know why you dropped the apparatus?"
"What did you think went well in your routine? What could have gone better?"
"In order for you to master this skills, what do you think you need to do?"
Goal setting is key when implementing an athlete centered approach. Its important to teach how to set SMART Goals from a early age so gymnasts learn to reflect on what they actually want and what that is going to cost them. The gymnast needs to understand that the training programme will be based on these goals more and more as they grow and become more experienced.
While adopting a gymnast-centered coaching approach has its advantages, certain factors must be taken into account.
Primarily, the safety of the gymnast should always come first. Involving gymnasts in decision-making should never compromise their safety. When Additionally, the age and experience of the gymnasts being coached should dictate the level of independence they are granted. For instance, it is recommended that coaches working with athletes under the age of 12 adopt a more directive approach to ensure safety and the mastery of fundamental skills. However, in gymnastics, younger gymnasts may have the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes earlier, as they are likely to have extensive experience in the sport by the age of 12.
Key Stakeholders
There are many roles and responsibilities surrounding the development of gymnasts. This is true in most sports.
However, rhythmic gymnastics being an early specialization sport, parents and educators take a more central role in the gymnasts' development process.
"Its critical that every person in this structure focus on their area of expertise and not go outside their scope of practice"
-Highlighted Jeff Thompson in his seminar.
He developed on this concept by explaining each member of this support structure needs to only focus on their area of expertise and not go outside their scope of practice. He reminded coaches watching the presentation will very well know that they've had parents talk to them about what they think their child should be doing in the training environment even if they themselves were never a gymnast or maybe never an athlete. When you start to have people leaving their area of expertise you can have a real breakdown in the system that's needs to be functioning properly. He brought up another example that he has seen personally; where the physiotherapist started to take on a role of almost a psychologist with the athlete but if that's not their area of expertise they shouldn't go down that road.
All of these different people around need to respect and appreciate that they have a key key role to play in helping that athlete achieve their potential. But stay within your scope of practice, focus on what you know best and if you do want to understand what the other people are doing in those other bubbles talk to them talk to the coach.
In conclusion, a gymnast-centered practice is about taking a holistic approach and using gymnastics as its intended purpose since its creation: An education tool. The gymnasts should have an age and level appropriate say in their practice and learn to take ownership of it in order to develop good goals. The coach should be the orchestrator of the development that leads to the achievements of these goals. This method allows for effective coaching, better developed gymnasts, and happier participants in the sport.
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