Are you someone who coaches tumbling?

Do you strive to have happy, hard-working athletes that perform well during competitions and are constantly pushing themselves to learn harder tricks?

No worries, it’s time to “fix” all of that!

Just follow the 7 steps listed below, and you’ll soon be on your way to destroying their progress, poisoning your athlete-to-coach relationship, and will have them curled up in the fetal position under the crash mat. (Don’t worry, I’ll also provide the antidote so you can become an awesome coach.)

Tip #1: Make their progress all about YOU

Every time they don’t land a new trick, or are having a hard time learning a new pass, view it as a personal failure. As if they ruined your reputation as a coach.

I mean, how dare they let you down like this? Don’t they know how much you want them to get this skill?

And oh my, what will the other clubs think? They might look at your program as a joke. A total failure. These athletes with their bent arms and sloppy legs are making your gym look bad. Maybe you should just kick them off the team… I mean, it’s only been 3 weeks, they should be doing doubles by now!

Tip #2: Rush their progress

Oh they just landed their layout today? Awesome! Tell them that it’s now time to work their fulls. No they don’t need to “try” a few more reps, just go!

And don’t even get me started on the half twist. Who the hell competes a half twist anyway? No one. So who needs to learn it? That’s right, no one!

I mean, do you fill your wine glass half way? No, because you’re dedicated! And your tumblers should be as well!

Oh and screw this whole “perfection before progression” crap! Who came up with that anyways? Probably some douchebag that doesn’t know how tumbling really works.

At the end of the day, you need skills to put in your routine because score-sheets aren’t going to max out by themselves!

Tip #3: Make EVERYTHING a competition

It’s not enough that we’re already in a competitive sport and will be competing against other teams. You should want everyone to compete against each other all the time!

In fact, it’s time you started your own version of Hunger Games. Loser gets berated in front of the team and has to eat a spoonful of cinnamon.

Tip #4: Don’t bother involving their parents

Oh, they want to know how their little Suzy is doing in tumbling class and when she can expect to have her back handspring?

That’s fantastic! How about you ask them if you can predict next week’s lottery numbers as well?

Why do they need to know all this? I mean, the parent’s job is obviously to pay the bill, sit back and enjoy the show.

You’re the coach, you don’t need to answer to anyone. You know the plan of action in your head, and everyone needs to be able to trust that. Your job is to coach tumbling not explain tumbling. Obviously.

Tip #5: Reward your athletes for things they should already be doing

OMG Suzy showed up to tumbling class? Gold star! What a fantastic example of an exceptional, hard-working athlete.

Sally went through an entire training without complaining? That deserves a high five for sure!

You should constantly link their expected behaviour to rewards so they can keep hopping through your little hoops until they resemble a bunch of highly trained puppies. And that way, if they don’t do what you want all the time, they’ll be super sad if they don’t get their little rewards.

Tip #6: Focus on outcomes they cannot control

Oh, your Youth kid showed up to practice late? She obviously needs a lecture on time management and the ability to handle life.

So what if her parents are driving her to practice? She should nag their ears off to get here on time!

And what’s this, little Suzy who’s only been doing cheer for a month still hasn’t perfected the grip for a double base? Time to shame her publicly.

We know from high school that peer pressure just plain works! So why not use it as often as possible? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it right?

Tip #7: Never bother explaining the WHY behind the HOW

Did your athlete just ask you “why” you need to do another round of handstand snapdowns? Seriously? Tell them this ain’t tumbling school. You’re not here to learn, you’re here to DO.

I mean, can you imagine the amount of time you’ll be wasting if you sat your teams down EVERY practice and explained why you were making them do the drills and the conditioning you laid out for them?

How will they ever get anything done? Plus, you have a competition coming up. They may live in a free country but make no mistake, the gym is your dictatorship haven. What you say goes, without question. To question is to be banished to the corner with mind-numbing amounts of conditioning. How dare they?!

Alright, just kidding.

Just so we’re clear, the above is an example of what not to do. Hopefully that gave you a bit of a chuckle. Maybe even a reality check.

But you want to know the sad truth? Most coaches (whether in cheer, tumbling or gymnastics) are doing at least half of the things I mentioned above.

Not because they intentionally want to set their athletes back, but because they don’t know any better. I’ll be the first to admit that I did almost every single thing on that list to some degree when I was first starting out as a coach.

But I learned from my mistakes. Having said that, let’s talk about what you should be doing in order to make sure your athletes are progressing while developing self-confidence — you know, the one key characteristic that parents put their kids into competitive sports for in the first place!

Here’s A List Of Things You Should Be Doing

Make each athlete’s progress about them, and let them excel at their own pace. You’re smart enough to know that everyone is different. So why have the same expect the same amount of progression from Sloppy Suzy that you do from Dynamite Debbie? I can honestly say that some kids will learn a full in 3 weeks, while others might take 3 years. It’s just part of the game. So focus on their little wins, and amplify even the smallest degree of progress. Because eventually they’ll reach their potential. And once they do, that’s when kids become a huge asset to your team, club or program.

Never rush their progress. There’s a reason I wrote an entire article on my P3 system (practice > perfection > progression) and there’s also a very good reason that some of the TOP gyms in the world use my tumbling progression charts — because it lays out a logical order of skills progression. It’s the ABC’s of tumbling. If you’d like more information on these charts, take a look at the video right here.

Avoid unfriendly competition. I have my girls do piggy-back races, handspring races, handstand contests and so forth. But here are the two key factors that separates what I do from some of the other stuff I’ve seen out there. One, the competition is purely friendly. There is no consequence for losing. It’s all in good fun and for high-fives. It’s a good way to bring out their competitive nature without making them feel bad. Second, it’s one hell of a good time. My girls go out of their way to ASK for these little competitions because to them, it’s a fun game between friends. That’s how it should be.

Don’t forget who your real customers are. Parents pay the bills, and at the end of the day if they’re not happy, you don’t have a business. I don’t care how much or how little tumbling knowledge a parent has, I always do my best to educate and involve them in the process. Sure, sometimes you might get blessed with parents that basically give you blank check and say “do what you need to do and make sure my kid is happy”. Other times, you might get someone that wants to know every detail because they were a gymnast or cheerleader themselves. You have to be OK with both extremes and everything in between.

Set clear and logical goals. If your athlete is working on a round off back tuck, don’t expect them to have a round off, triple back handspring, back tuck in another month, ready to compete. It’s unrealistic and the pressure will crack them. If you have my progression charts then you can select the next skill block in their current teir. It visually gives you, your athlete and even their parents a clear view of what’s next, without any guess work.

Get your athletes to believe. Now you might get lucky and have an athlete or two that trusts you so well, that anything you say will be done without question. That’s how we want it to be, right? Well hopefully not. I love the curious and skeptical ones that ask questions. Because once you explain the WHY behind the HOW and they get it, they will slingshot past your “follow anything you say” type athletes. And the reason for this is simple — a deeper understanding produces greater belief, and greater belief results in greater results. If someone has truly bought into the idea that the mastery of a handstand will help them learn back handsprings faster, they will pour their heart and soul into it versus the kid that did 10 reps just because you said so. Also, when athletes understand the mechanics, they start to become smarter tumblers down the line. They can fix their own corrections and generally need less and less coaching. I call it Tumbling IQ, and you should be doing whatever it takes to raise it in every athlete you work with.

Remember: Coaching Itself Is A Skill

No one becomes a good tumbling coach overnight just as how no one learns a layout full twist overnight. Great coaching is developed through education and hands-on practice!

If you’d like to take your coaching to the next level and have the ability to provide the best tumbling program in your region, consider working with me.

I provide full-day coaching seminars that cover everything you and your staff will need to take your athletes from cartwheels all the way to double fulls. Here’s a small sample of the things I cover and go into:

• Mindset of a great coach
• Good coaching habits to develop
• My complete tumbling structure
• Live video of my entire tumbling progression library
• Practical tips and advice such as WHEN to use which type of correction along with problem solving
• Fundamentals of strength & conditioning
• Practical nutrition advice that parents & athletes can actually follow!
• Complete hands-on time with spotting technique, demos and live practice!

If you’re interested, please Click Here to fill out the interest form, and I’ll be in touch!