Going for Gymnastics Gold

This week we’re continuing the conversation on creating powerful emotional fuel to help set your gymnasts up for success.  Did you know that you can experience two emotions at the same time? One of our favorite strategies to help our gymnasts navigate through negative emotions is to focus on a second, more positive emotion simultaneously. We call them “AND emotions” and they are here to come to th...

Now that you’ve learned how to help your gymnasts allow their emotions to exist without pushing them away, you’re ready for the next step- Helping them to process those emotions. When we do this, we’re giving our brain a break from spending time on the thought and focusing our attention on the physicality of how that feeling lives inside of your body. Many times, negative emotions show up as a tig...

Hardships happen. Whether it’s just a tough practice, or your gymnast is dealing with a major setback, if your gymnast has the tools to understand their emotions they can set themselves up for a tremendous comeback.  We’d all prefer to feel happy-go-lucky and positive emotions on the regular. But the truth is, we can’t experience positive emotions without having experienced negative ones as well....

We all know that positive thinking is important. You want your gymnasts to believe in themselves, feel confident, and banish their doubts and fears. But if you have tried thought swapping, you know this can be harder than it seems. Learning to think of a new, more positive thought is a skill. Just like a gymnastics skill, there are steps and progressions and it takes practice. But the effort is to...

Have you ever noticed that your athletes are really motivated to work hard when things are going well, and slightly less ambitious during times of struggle? It’s pretty typical for the human brain to be excited about things that come easily, that we’re proficient in, and want to do more of that specific activity. That’s why your athletes who LOVE BARS seem to always do great at the event. For the...

Think about driving to your job everyday… or taking your kids to school. You could probably drive both of these routes with your eyes closed (please don’t). But if you think about it, the more we travel a specific path, the more automated the journey becomes.  When we think specific thoughts, we build a "roadway" in our brain. The more frequently we think those thoughts, the more difficu...

Picture this: Your gymnast is struggling with negative thoughts and you want to help her shift her mindset. You’re clearly not a mind reader, so you ask the question, “What’s going on?” And then you hear it. Ever coaches’ least favorite response, “I don’t know.” How are you supposed to know how to help her, if she doesn’t even know what she needs?  It’s easy to get frustrated with our athletes bec...

Goal setting is easy. But holding ourselves accountable to those goals is where things get tricky. Even when we do remember what our goals are, it’s hard to know what steps to take at any given moment. We have to make sure to help our gymnasts connect the daily and weekly work they do with the long term goals they hope to accomplish. In this episode: Creating a plan to achieve your goals Giving yo...

Today, Ali and Stacie talk about how to help your gymnasts set mindset goals. We know that it takes more than improving your gymnastics skills to reach a big goal. A healthy mindset is key to achieving those BIG end-of-the-season goals. In this episode:  Setting mindset goals  Ideas to inspire mindset goals for your athletes For more examples of what we teach gymnasts on this topic, head over to I...

Setting a goal for the next season is so important. It gives our athletes something to strive for, and teaches accountability. Oftentimes, gymnasts set small goals so they can feel the satisfaction of accomplishing something. However,setting a BIG goal for your gymnast is critical.  In this episode, Stacie and Ali explain how bigger goals can be the difference makers when it comes to the outcome o...

When your gymnast is frustrated with how things have gone in the past, they can fall victim to overgeneralizing one or two mistakes as a complete character flaw. A few falls in a meet season become "I can't compete well." Difficulty on a skill turns into "I am just bad at that event." In this episode, Ali and Stacie talk about how to help your gymnasts look at the facts of...

It’s important for your athletes to evaluate their season while everything is still fresh in their minds. After the last meet of the season, help your gymnasts take time to look back at the year. It’s easy to immediately look forward to what comes next, but there is so much to be learned from what we just did. Your gymnasts will be able to see how things came together this season so much more clea...

If you really think about it, getting up and saluting that judge can be a very heavy feeling for some gymnasts. It’s particularly hard for those athletes who struggle with pressure. You know, the ones who “have to” hit this routine for one reason or another.  “I have to stick this beam routine or, (insert unlikely consequence here).”  In this episode: Turning the “have to’s” into “WANT TO’s” Shift...

Did you know that the physical phenomenon of feeling nervous and feeling excited are almost exactly the same? The body has a hard time distinguishing between the two emotions. It’s the brain that determines which emotion your gymnast is going to experience based on the thoughts that she is having.  In this episode:  Understanding the NOW process Shifting nerves to excitement  Breathing strategies...

Are your gymnasts experiencing the post season blues? Sometimes it can be hard to stay the course when the end of the season is lurking near. “What if I don’t hit?” “What if I don’t qualify?”  “What if my season is over after this weekend?” What if, what if, what if.  It’s common for gymnasts to push these thoughts and feelings down, but we all know that doesn’t work. We’re here to help you refram...

Are you seeing some of your gymnasts starting to crumble under the pressure of the end-of-season meets? Losing skills they have had, making uncharacteristic mistakes, or just showing signs of stress in their everyday demeanor? Let’s talk about pressure. Where it comes from. How to handle it. And what you can do to help your gymnasts take their own power back.    In this episode: The “What if this...

Do you and your gymnasts lose motivation to keep at it? Or do you feel like you have to keep motivating your gymnasts all the time? You might need to add in some regular celebrations. When your gymnasts think the only time they should celebrate their success is at a meet or when they hit their goal, most of their training will become unenjoyable. And unmotivating. Teaching your gymnasts to celebra...

Have you struggled with trying to help your gymnasts make the corrections they need to gain those extra tenths to reach their goals? Trying different things to actually make a correction or a change in a skill is often hard for a gymnast. They want perfection right away and think that anything short of that is a problem. This prohibits them from trying different things, learning and ultimately get...

It’s time to get fired up and do the work for the last half of meet season. Now that your gymnasts are in the groove for competing, they can finally focus on making the improvements they need to reach their season goals. To fix their form, hit those handstands, and split requirements, and stick those landings.  In this episode, we talk about how we help the gymnast we work with go through the...

Are your gymnasts hitting the mid season boredom? We see so many gymnasts at this point in the season start to lose their motivation and their focus. We like to help give their brain something to be motivated about by setting or refocusing on their season goal. Setting goals for the season can help your gymnasts stay motivated and focused on achieving success. By setting season goals, you can ensu...

Nobody is talking about how much comparison and jealousy hurts your team and steals your gymnasts joy in the sport. Competition doesn’t have to be a battle of comparison. Let’s help your gymnasts find joy in the challenge and celebrate their individual successes! We want to help you help your gymnasts to feel empowered and inspired, so they can focus on what truly matters: their own personal growt...

Want to know the number one thing gymnasts are worried about in competition? One of the things we hear from gymnasts all the time is that they fear disappointing their coaches, parents and teammates with how they do in competition. It drastically affects their ability to enjoy competing and adds so much pressure. In this episode we get into some of the reasons behind their worry (how their brains...

Are your gymnasts making their routines in practice but falling once they get to the meet? One of the first things we teach a young gymnast is how to fall safely. Because we all know that for sure, a gymnast is going to fall. And so we prepare them for it. And yet, we (and they) still think something has gone wrong when they actually fall in a meet. Even though ALL gymnasts fall in meets at some p...

Meet season can be difficult for so many reasons. Leah is fighting hard every day to learn how to go through meet season with a positive mindset so she can enjoy the journey AND reach her goals. In this special podcast series, Florida Gator Leah Clapper takes you behind the scenes in her final season as she and the Gators go after a national title. To reach her goals and to really enjoy her final...

Does meet season sometimes feel like a rollercoaster of emotions for your gymnasts, totally dependent on how they did at the last meet? Your gymnasts often time attach their feelings to their results. They think they can only feel proud if they win. Or that winning makes them happy and is the only thing that can prove that they are a good gymnast.  This can create an emotional rollercoaster f...