AboutJack Leonard Expertise Former 5 time Natl. Tumbling Champ, 3 time Natl. Vaulting Champ, Natl. Floor
Exercise Champ; Ass`t coach of Dominique Dawes for 6 years; Owner/Director/Head coach of Kauai Gymnastics Academy on the island of Kauai in Hawaii; Retired Physical Ed teacher; Childrens Fitness Expert; Expert Consultant for gymnastics litigation; Retired Mens & Womens HS Gymnastics coach for 32 years. National coaching honors for Men in 1981 & Women in 2001.
Experience I value the following awards because they were given by acknowlegement through my peers: The Nissen/Grissold Award given to the outstanding Tumbling and Tramp Athlete(1972), National High School coach of the year in 1981 for men and 2001 for women, 10 time County Coach of the Year. Medal Award given at the first World Tumbling Championships in London, England for dedication to the sport. Lastly, having the opportunity to coach Wes Suter(1988 Olympian)in his intermediate years and Dominique Dawes(1992 & 1996)
Question Hello Mr. Leonard. I am hoping you can give my daughter some advice. My daughter is 8 years old and started taking gymnastics at age 6. She competed last year at level 4 at 7 and is competing at level 5 this year at age 8. My daughter has excelled on the beam,floor and vault. That being said, she struggles on the bars. It is painful to watch.She has a HORRIBLE mental block for jumping to the high bar. She casts to her squat on and goes to stand up she looks down and jumps out and down. Her coaches are frustrated. My daughter scores the highest on the other events but the head coach is threatening my daughter if she doesn't jump they will make her scratch so she gets a 0 for her score and kill her AA. The coach knows that my daughter has a very competitive side to her and knows she doesn't like to not be on top. Threatening my daughter in this way is making her shut down though. The coach has been putting a crash mat down at practice and they let her attempt to jump. 2 Practices ago she jumped and caught the bar 20 out of 30 times. Then yesterdays practice she only jumped twice out of 30 times. My daughter is frustrated. If you have any suggestions I would truly be in your debt. Thank you in advance for your help.
Answer Hi Dawn,
I am glad to help you. Okay, the coach needs to remember his/her childhood and fear. I have seen this before and the coach needs to be sensitive to communicating in an age appropriate manner. What I do is simply to work up to the (fearful) distance by moving the bars in closer to the point of no fear and then slowly (after many repetitions) move them out to the competition distance. Understand that any amusement ride gets boring after enough repetitions. This also applies to new skills which are like amusement rides. New skills become old with repetition. Be patient. Give me suggestion to the coach of simply moving the high bar in and gradually moving it to the appropriate distance. Also, another building block is to jump from the tramp trak to the tramp trak bar ( at its highest setting) for the practice of being in the air before grasping the high bar. My kids love this drill. I usually have them do a pullover from that swing and it helps their routine requirements. I wish your daughter the very best and
take care – Jack Leonard
