After having an interesting conversation withour junior National coach on Saturday I have started to toy with the idea mark allowing my older boys to take responsibility for their own training, more specifically their competition preparation. Normally I dictate every skill, part routine,full routine and repairs during this phase but i think i am going to change at least 1 or 2 weeks of it to where the gymnasts takes 90% control of their training. This is how i will propose it happens.
For example:
If weeks 5 and 6 dictate that the gymnasts have to perform a total of 60 routines i would normally break that total down into skills, halves and full routines across the week. The gymnasts would then come into the gym and know exactly what I expected from them session by session, apparatus by apparatus. (they have the weekly programme in advance so they can look through and prepare for any hard days, or celebrate easy ones)
This is where it is going to change……..for now at least. I am going to tell my gymnasts that they are expected to perform, for example, 10 routines on each apparatus over the week. I will not dictate when, how or numbers per session. This way they will be able to take control and will perhaps do more on days where they are full of energy and less when they are a little tired or sore. I am hoping that it is going to be a great compromise for both parties……I get what i want and the gymnasts feel like they aren’t being MADE to do routines when they are not up to it on that particular day. I will however keep a record of the totals during the week so that i can see whether the gymnasts are doing what they say.
Fingers crossed it works, the British Championships 2012 is at stake.
Wish me luck!
Best of luck!.. i personally think that you will have a good result. I feel that with athletes at your level, they will enjoy taking some control over their own preparation. You might even get more out of them. However, some athletes might not respond very well. Self motivated, driven, and intrinsically motivated athletes will respond well I predict. But athletes who are people pleasers, perfectionists, extrinsically motivated, might stray….
Please report back on what you find.. actually I would be very interested to know what you general programme structure is like, and how you split up your year. Man i wish i could apply and work under yourself… compliments to you sir!
Valentin Uzunov
TheGymPress.net