As a coach for over 40 years, I have seen many changes. The problem is fueled a few ways-Governing bodies, parents, coaches, and kids with passion for their sport.
Sometimes the child LOVES the sport and does not know when to modify training. They often hide aches and pains from coaches and parents due to fear or so they can keep training. It is up to adults who know the consequences of overtraining and to modify the training for the child who is injured.
A big part of the problem is also that governing bodies of sports such as USA Gymnastics. USAG encourages very young children, starting at age 5. (My opinion, it is a way too young and USAG has likely been motivated by money in membership fees.) By the time some children are only 8, they are dealing with overuse injuries.
As an NSCA-CSCS, I have had to fix many injured gymnasts in the past decade. Some coaches and parents choose to treat these 5 years old children like pro athletes. They are children and many adults forget that with their eyes on that college scholarship. It takes many years to develop strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, an appreciation for safety, and maturity. It should be a gradual process. A child should not be training like a pro athlete at such a young age.
I have met many parents who are overboard, insisting their children train at home as well as the 25+ hours in the gym. I have had to remind a parent that an 8 year old that she should not be training at home on top of her 25+ hour schedule. A few years ago I have several parents of five year olds ask for private training the week before their first competition. I said no to all of them. I’ve had parents discount children’s aches, pains, and fatigue and have seen those kids end up in surgery. There is only so much a coach can do when a parent insists their child train at home or pulls a child from a coach who refuses to have a child reduce training to heal from injury.
Not every coach is aware of injury prevention or rehab. They have spent years mastering the sport, how to teach skills and create routines. Some coaches do not do the math when it comes to training. For example, if a gymnast has 5 jumps in her beam routine and you ask her to do 10 routines a day, that is 50 jumps per day on the hardest surface in the gym. Compare that to a routine with 3 jumps times ten routines to equal 30 jumps per day. That is a difference of 20 jumps in one day. The difference becomes really significant over time. In one week that is 250 jumps vs 150. Over one month that is 100 jumps compared to 600 jumps, a difference of 400 jumps. Coaches should really do the math and learn the breaking point (when gymnasts start to feel aches, pains, fatigue) so they can keep the number just under that breaking point. You can be demanding without overtraining and produce healthy, strong, and successful gymnasts.
Need help with reducing injuries? There are very few high-level gymnastics coaches who also have the CSCS. It is not an easy-fitness certification. It is based on sports science. A college degree is required to sit for the exam, you are given 6 months to study, it covers exercise prescription for competitive athletes, exercise technique, injuries, injury prevention, nutrition, and more. Not everyone passes the first time. And in order to keep the certification, we must continue education by attending events, webinars, self-study, doing presentations, and writing.
Just a quick note to say enjoy I hope your holiday season…
Spend time with friends and family, enjoy the colorful lights and decorations, or just relax with your time off from work. No matter how you choose to spend this time, I hope you enjoy it.
Yes, I do have many products and services that would be nice gifts. Here are some links in case you are looking for gifts.
I studied ballet for years as a child then again as an adult in the city. I even searched for adult ballet classes in NJ, but could not find one. That’s how I ended up in ballroom dance.
Anyway, my reason for mentioning ballet is because I recently heard of some gymnasts doing ballet with the intent to help their gymnastics. Unfortunately, that is ineffective. With ballet, most leg positions, leaps, jumps, landings, and turns are done in a turn-out position. And the crown arm position is not a stable position for balance beam. With gymnastics, especially on balance beam and dismount landings the gymnast’s feet and legs must be in parallel, not turn-out. Parallel landings are more mechanically safe for the body, especially when the gymnast is landing with a force of 10-13 times her body weight. A ballet dancer might only land with twice her bodyweight. If the knee is not in line with the middle toes, severe damage to the knees can occur. Most knee pain is from the knee not being in line with the middle toes and hip upon landings or take-offs. More specifically, if a gymnast lands with her feet turned out on balance beam and her knees move forward due to momentum, she will cause damage, and may actually roll her ankle, fall, and get seriously injured.
Again, I love ballet, but not with the intent to compliment gymnastics. So when you are looking for cross training to help your gymnasts, try to align the movements with the sport you are trying to improve. Ballet, as wonderful as it is, does not do that.
I have seen the effects of it and also seen the knee pain after years of trying to perform gymnastics skills in turn-out, specifically landing, beam work, and rake-offs on roundoffs. Most gymnasts cannot detrain the turn-out easily to suit their gymnastics skills easily. So, from a sports-science point of view it is correct. And yes, sports science is what I do. I am a CSCS. The body will perform what it has been trained to do and in that case, it’s turn-out. And I studied ballet for about 7 years. Everything is turnout.Turning out in the compulsories is a mistake. It causes bad habits and potential damage to the patella tendon because the hip-knee-foot alignment on landings and take-offs. http://www.maximumtrainingsolutions.com/landing-mechanics-what-why-and-when/
Please keep in mind that ballet dancers land with a fraction of the force a gymnast lands. The more force on the landing, the more important it is to use proper mechanics. A ballet dancer lands with up to 2x their body-weight, that’s if they are getting 2-feet off the floor. A gymnast lands an average of 4x-13x times their body weight for tumbling, beam & bars dismounts, and vaults.I see the turn-out often and it is difficult to fix. And I see it with kids who take ballet as part of their gymnastics as well as those who take ballet before they enter the sport. It happens very often going into back handspring, lunging into roundoffs, and even stepping out of skills on beam.
I saw one gymnast today reach back, go into a bridge during her warm up with her feet turned out. The stress on the knees over time does become an issue. I agree with you that it is up to the coaches to try to correct it, but it is difficult to get a kid to adjust foot alignment. I have been hired by gyms to do stuff just like that in order to reduce injuries, knee pain, ankle pain, etc.
