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Safe Actions:
To help provide a safe environment you must make sure that athletes stretch to help prevent accidents and injuries. Any type of sport requires an athlete to stretch before and after training. You have to make sure that your students are aware of these considerations and know how to prepare themselves for an activity to reduce the risk of injury greatly. As an instructor it is your responsibility to ensure that your students know how to prepare themselves for any activity.
Warming Up: Warming up and stretching before and after an activity will reduce the risk of injury greatly. Warming up helps make your muscles more flexible. To warm up your body it only takes 5-10 minutes and can be done by simply running, jogging or skipping etc. Your know when your body is warmed up when there is a slight perspiration this means that your your core body temperature has elevated and your muscles are warm and stretched. When the muscles are stretched and warm this decreases the chances of injury greatly. Warm ups do not have to be boring you can make them fun by listening to music and jogging to the beat of the song. Also dancing is a very good way to warm up and is also a good exercise to keep fit as it uses a lot of your muscles in your body.
Stretching: There are three terms that are used stretching very often:
The 2nd purpose of stretching is to increase flexibility. Static flexibility stretches should be performed after gymnastics skills when the muscles in the body are at the warmest. These stretches should be held for a minimum of 60 seconds and you should perform at least 2 - 3 repetitions per stretch. In stretching there are guidelines to follow to help increase flexibility and avoid injury. They are as follows:
Safe Stretching Exercises:
Head and Neck:
Wrists, Hands and Fingers
Legs, Ankles and Feet
Conditioning:
Gymnastics conditioning is very important in coaching gymnastics. Without conditioning a gymnast will never reach its full potential or a high level of difficulty in this sport. A well conditioned gymnast will have the advantage of strength, speed and agility. Conditioning will help a gymnast to successfully perform advanced movements in gymnastics. You will need fast twitch muscles in able to run, vault and tumble effectively. When a gymnast has a fit and well conditioned body they will be able to facilitate learning by allowing the body to perform more repetitions before getting tired. Being more flexible will have movements and make the movements look better.
Landing And Falling:
Proper landings are very important for the gymnasts safety. Landing and falling skills should be practiced before the gymnast actually needs them.
Landing Safety: It is very important for gymnasts to practice falling properly without hurting themselves. In some situations gymnasts may land in unbalanced situations and could injure themselves in the process. If a gymnast feels that they will lose balance they should bend their knees, by bending the knees it can prevent the gymnast from falling. Gymnasts should practice falling drills until the drills become automatic reactions. Landing safely is one of the most important keys to prevent injuries. The higher the jump the more important the landing should be and the bending of the knees is very important to absorb the force. Gymnasts should always try to land on their feet 1st.
Landing Technique:
Side roll:
Side rolls are important when gymnasts over-rotate or lose balance in a vertical, forward or side-ward direction.
Forward Shoulder Roll:
Backward Shoulder Roll:
Landing and Falling: When gymnasts fall from equipment they usually fall from heights which therefore has momentum. This means there will be more force in the landing and there is a higher chance of the gymnast to land of balanced. Gymnasts should try not to roll with their hands or break fall with their hands. A safe recovery out of fall from apparatus is the side-ward roll. It is important for gymnasts to have very good visual techniques as this is very important for safety and completion of gymnastics skills. A gymnast should know where they are going to land before the perform a skill. They need to know where to look before and during during skills when landing. Gymnasts must be taught to maintain eye contact with apparatus and the floor in the intend direction of motion.
Spotting: A spotter has a very important role in spotting athletes. It is a spotters job to protect and assist an athlete successfully and help prevent injury. A gymnast puts all trust in the spotter so if a certain skill goes wrong the spotter is there to intervene and prevent the athlete from being injured. The easiest form of spotting is when you can place your hands on the gymnast before they move. An example of this type of spot is a back walkover. A more difficult type of spot is when you put your hands on the gymnast before he/she moves but this time you must travel with the gymnast. An example of this type of spot is a back handspring series. The most difficult form of spot is when you cannot touch the gymnast until he/she starts moving and in this situation u have to get into position very quickly. An example of this type of spot would be the round-off to back handspring. A spotter must be able to judge when to get into position. If you judge wrong you put the gymnast in risk by getting in the way of the gymnasts movement and you will be unable to keep the gymnast safe. In some cases the spotter does not need to spot the gymnast the whole way through the exercise. The gymnast may only need assistance in certain areas of the skill.
Types Of Spotting:
Spotting Guidelines:
To help provide a safe environment you must make sure that athletes stretch to help prevent accidents and injuries. Any type of sport requires an athlete to stretch before and after training. You have to make sure that your students are aware of these considerations and know how to prepare themselves for an activity to reduce the risk of injury greatly. As an instructor it is your responsibility to ensure that your students know how to prepare themselves for any activity.
Warming Up: Warming up and stretching before and after an activity will reduce the risk of injury greatly. Warming up helps make your muscles more flexible. To warm up your body it only takes 5-10 minutes and can be done by simply running, jogging or skipping etc. Your know when your body is warmed up when there is a slight perspiration this means that your your core body temperature has elevated and your muscles are warm and stretched. When the muscles are stretched and warm this decreases the chances of injury greatly. Warm ups do not have to be boring you can make them fun by listening to music and jogging to the beat of the song. Also dancing is a very good way to warm up and is also a good exercise to keep fit as it uses a lot of your muscles in your body.
Stretching: There are three terms that are used stretching very often:
- Static - the muscle is stretched to mild tension and held still for 30 - 60 seconds.
- Dynamic - the body is moving
- Ballistic - a movement that it performed quickly and with force, ballistic movements are not recommended for stretching because a joint may be taken past its normal range of motion.
The 2nd purpose of stretching is to increase flexibility. Static flexibility stretches should be performed after gymnastics skills when the muscles in the body are at the warmest. These stretches should be held for a minimum of 60 seconds and you should perform at least 2 - 3 repetitions per stretch. In stretching there are guidelines to follow to help increase flexibility and avoid injury. They are as follows:
- Flexibility exercises should stretch all major joints and cover a full range of motion. Stretching one muscle group does not stretch another muscle group or increase flexibility of another joint. Gymnasts need to stretch all muscles related to each joint.
- It is important as an instructor to remind gymnasts to stretch at a mild tension then relax and when the muscles are relaxing try again but his time stretch a bit farther than before. There should be no pain whilst stretching. Pain causes muscles to contract which can cause injury.
- There is a stretch reflex that automatically contracts the muscles when they have stretched to far. If a muscle is contracting, it is not stretching which is counterproductive.
- Gymnasts should the joints normal movement ranges and avoid putting not needed pressure on joints whilst they are warming up and stretching. A lot of gymnasts skills place their body's in unnecessary positions, limit stress on joints and avoid unnecessary stretches.
- Each stretch should be smooth and slow. Some gymnasts use ballistic movements which may take their muscles past their normal range. Although there is a stretch reflex the damage has already been done to the muscle tissue before the reflex can contract the muscle.
- Improper stretches or stress to an area over a long period of time causes damage to muscles.
- It is important to sit and stand with proper posture, even when performing stretching exercises.
Safe Stretching Exercises:
Head and Neck:
- Firstly turn your head to the right and position your chin over your right shoulder. Then turn you head to the left and repeat on that side.
- Tilt your head to the right and bring you right ear to your right shoulder. Then repeat on the left side.
- Lift your head slowly up towards the ceiling. The drop the chin and tilt your head towards the floor. ( no extreme movements)
- Roll the head from the side to the front and then to the other side. Do this in a controlled manner and no extreme movements. Do not roll the head to the back.
- Stand upright and have your hands on your side. Keep a flat back. Round the back all the way up one vertebra at a time, sliding hands up the thighs and tightening the abdominal muscles. Repeat the flatback and rounded positions.
- In supported pike slowly rotate the torso by pressing one shoulder down. Then repeat with the opposite side.
- Sit with left leg extended. Cross the right leg over the left leg, rotate torso to the right, place left elbow against the knee, and press, causing ore rotation on the torso. Repeat on the other side.
- Butterfly position, place the arms on the floor behind the body and lean back, stretching and slightly arching the back.
- Shoulder shrugs by lifting the shoulders towards the ears and then passing the shoulders toward the floor.
- Perform shoulder rolls backward, then forward.
- Place the arms overhead by the ears, extending from the shoulders and reaching as high as possible. Then slowly place the arms diagonal from the body and hold.
- Perform arm circles forward from shoulders, starting with small circles and gradually increasing the size of the circles. Repeat with arm circles backwards.
Wrists, Hands and Fingers
- Make circles with your wrist. Make a circle with them one way then do the same the opposite way.
- Shake hands and fingers, then wave hands an fingers.
- Clench your fists and open them as far as you can stretching your fingers. Repeat this a few times.
- Interlock fingers, turn hands away from body and then stretch the hands forward.
Legs, Ankles and Feet
- Make ankle rolls by sitting or standing and circling one way and then the other way.
- Heel raises, stand straight and extend ankles then lift to the toes and then lower to flat feet.
- Stand in a lunge position, then shift your weight over the back leg, flexing the weight bearing knee. If you need support place hands on flexed knee and front leg extended, with heal touching and foot flexed. Repeat with the other leg.
- Sit on the ground with knees bent and the heals of each foot against each other. Push slowly down on bent knees.
Conditioning:
Gymnastics conditioning is very important in coaching gymnastics. Without conditioning a gymnast will never reach its full potential or a high level of difficulty in this sport. A well conditioned gymnast will have the advantage of strength, speed and agility. Conditioning will help a gymnast to successfully perform advanced movements in gymnastics. You will need fast twitch muscles in able to run, vault and tumble effectively. When a gymnast has a fit and well conditioned body they will be able to facilitate learning by allowing the body to perform more repetitions before getting tired. Being more flexible will have movements and make the movements look better.
- The Principal Of Overload : Doing more than the muscle is accustomed to. This means increasing the number of repetitions or moving to a more difficult exercise.
- The Principal Of Progressive Resistance: The intensity of the exercise should be increased gradually. This can be done by adding more gravity. Some exercises can be made more progressively resistant by doing the exercise on top of a box or also by adding weights to free hands or feet.
- The Principal Of Specificity: The strength exercise should be as close as possible to the exact movement pattern that is being trained.
- The Principal Of Recovery: You need enough time for recovery to take place because without recovery the gymnast will lose strength instead of improving.
- The Principal Of Variation: It is important to vary exercises. You should practice one exercise one week and another the next week. You must give your body enough time to adapt to other exercises.
- The Principal Of Reversibility: You must keep exercising as it can reverse just as quick. You can lose strength just as quick as you can put it on so it is important to use it or you will lose it.
- The Principal Of Range Of Movement: All conditioning exercises should be done in a full range of movement so that flexibility is developed through strength.
- The Principal Of Oder Of Work: Exercises involving large muscle groups should be done first to help prevent injury.
- The Principal Of Warm Up: The specific warm up should include running, punches, deep long lunge walks, about 50% resistance or conditioning work and also of course training.
Landing And Falling:
Proper landings are very important for the gymnasts safety. Landing and falling skills should be practiced before the gymnast actually needs them.
Landing Safety: It is very important for gymnasts to practice falling properly without hurting themselves. In some situations gymnasts may land in unbalanced situations and could injure themselves in the process. If a gymnast feels that they will lose balance they should bend their knees, by bending the knees it can prevent the gymnast from falling. Gymnasts should practice falling drills until the drills become automatic reactions. Landing safely is one of the most important keys to prevent injuries. The higher the jump the more important the landing should be and the bending of the knees is very important to absorb the force. Gymnasts should always try to land on their feet 1st.
Landing Technique:
- Come down on your two feet without taking a step.
- Knees slightly bent to absorb the impact of the landing.
- Align knees over the center of the feet.
- Straight spine to keep the neck stable and prevent falling forward.
- Arms extended in front, straight and level with the heart in order to keep chest up on landing.
Side roll:
Side rolls are important when gymnasts over-rotate or lose balance in a vertical, forward or side-ward direction.
- Begin in a lying tuck. Keep your arms up next to the ears or in a hug position. Roll over sideways across the floor or down on an incline mat.
- Perform a tuck and side roll from a kneeling position. Try rolling to booth sides.
- Perform a small stretch jump. Land in safe landing position. As feet land, bend knees and hips to fall by tucking the body. In tuck, roll to your back or side. Then roll to your shins to protect yourself and stop momentum. This roll is similar to the fire safety roll "stop,drop and roll".
Forward Shoulder Roll:
- Stand with legs together.
- Fall forward, placing one arm diagonally across body.
- Tilt head forward, tucking chin to chest and to left side.
- Roll diagonally forward from right shoulder down and across back.
- Land sitting and continue rising to a stand.
Backward Shoulder Roll:
- Begin in a squat or sitting position.
- Lower the back and lift legs upward with arms placed at the side of the body on the floor.
- Continue moving your legs over the body until the toes touch the floor over your right shoulder.
- Turn your head and look towards your knees.
- Bend the knees whilst looking at them and bring your left arm off the floor to complete the backward roll.
- Transfer the rest of the body onto knees in a kneeling position.
Landing and Falling: When gymnasts fall from equipment they usually fall from heights which therefore has momentum. This means there will be more force in the landing and there is a higher chance of the gymnast to land of balanced. Gymnasts should try not to roll with their hands or break fall with their hands. A safe recovery out of fall from apparatus is the side-ward roll. It is important for gymnasts to have very good visual techniques as this is very important for safety and completion of gymnastics skills. A gymnast should know where they are going to land before the perform a skill. They need to know where to look before and during during skills when landing. Gymnasts must be taught to maintain eye contact with apparatus and the floor in the intend direction of motion.
Spotting: A spotter has a very important role in spotting athletes. It is a spotters job to protect and assist an athlete successfully and help prevent injury. A gymnast puts all trust in the spotter so if a certain skill goes wrong the spotter is there to intervene and prevent the athlete from being injured. The easiest form of spotting is when you can place your hands on the gymnast before they move. An example of this type of spot is a back walkover. A more difficult type of spot is when you put your hands on the gymnast before he/she moves but this time you must travel with the gymnast. An example of this type of spot is a back handspring series. The most difficult form of spot is when you cannot touch the gymnast until he/she starts moving and in this situation u have to get into position very quickly. An example of this type of spot would be the round-off to back handspring. A spotter must be able to judge when to get into position. If you judge wrong you put the gymnast in risk by getting in the way of the gymnasts movement and you will be unable to keep the gymnast safe. In some cases the spotter does not need to spot the gymnast the whole way through the exercise. The gymnast may only need assistance in certain areas of the skill.
Types Of Spotting:
- Facilitating Spot: In this type of spot the spotter completes the entire skill for the gymnast by supporting the entire weight of the gymnast. This spot is used for beginners and when gymnasts are learning a new skill or developing a skill.
- Safety Spot: This type of spot is used when the spotter is concerned about the gymnast completing the skill safety. In the spot the spotter may support the weight for a part of the skill.
- Light Spot: This type of spot is used when the gymnast is able to do the spot but he/she lacks in confidence. The gymnast may not feel comfortable in performing the skill with out the spotter being there and will feel more comfortable when he/she can feel a hand on the body at the start of the skill just so he/she knows they are being supported. At this time you gradually reduce the amount of support given to the gymnast.
- Touch or Tap: This is when the spotter gives the gymnast a touch or tap to let the gymnast know that they are there and will give the gymnast feel more comfortable.
- Spotter Ready: This is when the spotter is standing ready to provide the gymnast assistance if needed.
Spotting Guidelines:
- When spotting it is important to get to know the gymnast. You must know how well of a gymnast he/she is and if they are able to perform the skill. Can they understand the skill? Does he/she have any special physical conditions? is he/she mentally ready? you must ask these questions before the skill is performed to make sure it is safe to continue.
- As a spotter you must know the mechanics of the skill being about to be performed. You will need to know all the body positioning for the skill and the correct/wrong way of performing the skill. You will also need to be aware of which parts of the body control the movement of the skill.
- A spotter must know the mechanics of the spot. You must know the correct body parts that will need to be supported. The spotter will need to know what force the they should be giving to the gymnast. Questions like what part of the skill are accidents most likely to occur? should be answered before the skill is performed.
- You must match your capabilities with the gymnast, i.e someone the same size of you or smaller. You should not match yourself with a gymnast with a bigger build as this will be hard to spot.
- The spotter must decide how much of a spot is needed and get in a ready position so that close physical contact can be obtained during the skill. Do not restrict the movement of the skill.
- As a spotter you must make sure your gymnast is prepared physically and mentally, through warm up and conditionally.
- As a spotter you must be physically prepared . You must know what skill the gymnast is going to perform. You must be prepared for anything to happen. The spotter must be warmed up as well.
- Communicate clearly. Make eye contact, have the gymnast repeat the instructions and use a signal to show that the spotter and the gymnast are both ready.
- The spotter must always protect the gymnasts head, neck and spinal column.
- As the gymnast becomes better at the skill and more confident gradually reduce the spot.
- Finally the spotter needs to stay alert! Be ready for anything to happen.