Successful programs have good leadership: Yearly Plan, Session Plan and individual Class Plans. In this workshop we will analyze the Class Plan and goals in great detail, the objective to optimize every precious minute we have with the kids.
Our goal is to MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN the moment the kids arrive until the moment you deliver them to the parents.
Gymnastics should be the best 90min of their week.
Coaches requested information links to the best lesson plans for Rec classes. My personal favourites are for SCHOOLS, but they can be adapted to the club situation:
This post includes a VIDEO of my presentation and a some course notes. Leave a comment if you have anything to add.
Making a Career Out of Coaching
I’ve been a full-time gymnastics coach since 1980. And have made just about every career mistake possible.
In 2011, what are the best career strategies? What should a coach look for in a gymnastics job: Salary, Benefits, Security, Quality of Life, Professional Development?
Business guru Frank Sahlein attended. Thanks Frank! … My advice to any coach is to bring on a consultant like Frank to help you build a plan for your gymnastics business and personal career.
• Frank and I were super impressed that two young female coaches, age-14 and age-16, opted to attend a session on “Coaching Careers”. I urged them to get organized, then take over the world, relegating men to second tier. 🙂
• gymnastics promotes “physical literacy”
• PlayGymnastics.com, the Gymnastics BC Rec website, recommended
• Rick invited Frank as the USA is so much better evolved in the “business of gymnastics”
• Rick asked coaches to “follow your bliss”
• look for role models. Coaches you admire.
• consider coaching in other acrobatic sports: circus, Gymnaestrada, cheer, etc.
• Rick recommended all coaches in Canada have a “contract” on paper. Frank noted that at his gym (2500 athletes / week) they dispensed with contracts, instead using “job descriptions”
• in Canada most coaches are “employed” not “self-employed”
• recommended was no more than 28hrs / week contact time with athletes
• be careful to calculate the hours required / year for competitions, camps, meetings, etc.
• the contract should spell out what’s paid with regard to travel days
• can the employee count hours working from home? … The trend is to work 24hrs/7 days a week.
• Frank pointed out that every week is different for a full-time gymnastics person
• Frank talked about “peak-end research”
the peak of any activity is memorable
the end of any activity is memorable
Rick suggested that the very LAST activity in a class should be very FUN
• make the “magic” happen in your class
• Rick suggested that every child in Canada should do at least 18 months of recreation gymnastics to be “physically educated” for life
• Frank pointed out that at least 30% of families in most demographics cannot afford our classes
• you need an expert like Frank to calculate how many kids you will have in your gym in your market, assuming you do a good job as compared with your competitors • LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
• Rick suggested that a top end husband / wife coaching team could expect $100,000 combined in salary in 2011
• a new Head Coach (fully L3 certified) at a small club, likely rural, could ask for $25,000 – $38,000
• job security and personal happiness limited when working for a non-profit Society
• considerations mentioned:
That’s the goal for the best programs in the world.
… I’ve only achieved it once, program wide.
Here’s some good advice on how to reach that high number:
• Keep Students Using Their Time Productively • Minimize Waiting • Make Sure They Learn and Are Successful • Vary the Classes for Interest and Excitement • The Eight Second Rule • Use Supervised Side Activities
We want NO LINE-UPS with our Rec kids. Especially with boys who will invariably end up wrestling.
In my program I have a ‘no wrestling’ rule. The boys (especially) are not allowed to touch any of the other kids in the group, unless it’s required of the game or activity.
… This should be a wakeup call to your gymnastics class coaches as well as gym coaches and owners everywhere. Gymnastics is a naturally fun sport of nearly infinite variety. If your cannot keep your classes interesting, you are definitely not doing your job. …
It is, in one sense, very easy to make gymnasts, and kids in general, happy. If they are learning something new, they are happy. So job one for a coach is to make sure gymnasts learn something every class. …
At every level, there are hundreds of skills you can do. Just putting together two and three skill combinations on beam, floor and trampoline gives you a virtually infinite lesson plan that never has to be the same. And that variety alone makes the class fun. …
Recreational Gymnastics 
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