IzaGymGirls

The day is finally here for IzaGymGirls – we are so excited!

IzaGymGirls is an inclusive and diverse group of gymnasts sharing the joys of gymnastics through educational and fun videos.

IzaGymGirls aims to educate gymnasts, their families, coaches, and judges about all aspects of gymnastics, from beginner's gymnastics classes to long-term team members.

You can learn gymnastics skills, technique, exercises, and drills from the IzaGymGirls. Additionally, they will foster a community that is fun and inclusive, built upon respect, mentorship, and encouragement. IzaGymGirls are looked up to for their gymnastics skills, friendly and respectful attitudes, and fun approach to sports.

IzaGymGirls’ gymnastics challenges will entertain and delight gymnasts of all ages, as they try the fun at-home challenges. Subscribers are encouraged to video their at-home challenge and tag us for the 'Best Challenge' award.

As an IzaGymGirl, you'll be featured on our social media accounts, such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram; you'll get a page on our website with a bio, and you'll be featured in our amazing training materials and commercials.

Our gymnastics contests are always worthy of a like and include the best handstand, choreography, and gymnastics hairstyle. You can share your feelings about gymnastics with weekly polls, and our Question of the Week gives all gymnasts a voice. Swag-a-Ways are open to everyone, with the chance to win fun IzaGymGirl swag and other gymnastics-related items.

Sound like fun?

Create a video no longer than 3 minutes, where you:

Introduce yourself

Tell us a bit about yourself

Explain why you should be an IzaGymGirl

Show us your favorite gymnastics skill, and explain why it’s your favorite — don’t talk during the skill, instead talk to the camera before and after the skill.

Upload the video to YouTube, and enter at izagymjudge.com/izagymgirls for a chance to become an IzaGymGirl!

Enter by July 5, 2022 at 11:59 PM EST

#izagymgirls #izagymjudge #gymnastics #gymnasticslife

Preventing Rips

Preventing Rips #1: Moisturize

Gymnasts need to wash their hands often, so finding a gentle soap is essential. We want to wash the hands without drying them out.

Some people believe gymnasts shouldn't moisturize their hands because it can lead to rips.

In our experience, and according to USAG, moisturizing properly and often actually reduces rips!

Chalk dries out hands - that's a given.

To prevent rips, it's vital to wash hands after every practice with warm (not hot) water and mild soap. After washing, apply a clean (not greasy) moisturizer.

Replenishing moisture increases skin elasticity - which is what prevents rips! So keep those hands clean and moisturized to prevent rips.

Preventing Rips #2 - Treating Calluses

If your gymnast gets a callus... wait, that's not right. Let's try that again.

When your gymnast gets a callus, you want to treat it. The first thing you can do to prevent rips is to keep up with calluses. It's important to remember that the callus is protecting your athlete's hand. Your athlete is building extra tissue to protect against the extra friction and pressure from bars. If the callus gets too thick or too large, it can cause a rip, so it's crucial to treat calluses when they occur.

Some of the options to treat a callus include pumice stones or feet sanding sticks. Very thick calluses may require a callus razor but be careful not to cut through the skin!

The secret to callus treatment is to shave the callus down - but not too far. If you see tender pink skin underneath, you went too far. Be careful and only remove a little bit at a time. You can always file the area again to remove more - but you can't put the skin back on!

If a gymnast keeps up with their callus treatments, it can reduce calluses and rips.

Open Access to Training

Everyone knows I love gymnastics. That isn't debatable.

In this day and age, what is debatable is whether to support organizations that don’t allow open access to training facilities.

Abuse thrives in the dark.

Abuse can not survive transparency.

Open access to training facilities is critical to preventing abuse of any kind. USA Gymnastics has a policy requiring member clubs to permit parents and guardians access to practice and training sessions.

Required. Not optional. Must happen.

Gyms preventing access is a dangerous practice.

Clubs can limit the number of parents allowed based on space or safety limitations.

But why would they limit access?

Good question.

Especially considering there is an inexpensive solution to space limitations and safety concerns - video and audio.

Why, in this day and age of Covid, are they not using video and audio live-streaming?

Why?

The more important question?

Why do we support these organizations?

Why are we supporting gyms that don't follow the rules?! Why are you *paying* a gym that you *know* is breaking the rules?!

Why are we supporting a governing body that doesn't investigate the rule breaks?! Why are we *paying* for membership to a governing body that refuses to enforce its own rules?!

No gym is above the rules. Covid is NOT a reason to prevent access, especially when live-streaming is available for gyms to use.

Member clubs must allow access through in-person viewing, live feed of video and audio, or another option that allows access.

While parents may choose *not* to view, they should have the option! There should be nothing preventing a parent from "dropping in" to check on practice or choosing to sit there throughout the entire four-hour team practice if they want to.

Let's talk about this for a minute.

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

Social Media Post: "My gym isn't allowing access to practice. We can sit outside the garage door (in the rain and snow) to watch, but that is it. Sometimes they close the doors and tell us tough luck. What can I do?"

You'll get 3 types of responses...

1. Report it.

Which, btw, is always followed up with some reports of how the governing body doesn't investigate such reports, and even if they do, their process and results just suck.

2. You're lucky you get that access. We don't get any access since Covid. Be thankful they let you sit at the door. We have to beg for scraps before they let us watch for 1 minute.

3. Why would you want to watch practice?! I would (gasp) never do that! I *trust* my coaches. You should either trust your coaches and drop them off for 18 days without checking on them, or you should quit gymnastics forever because you're a wimp.

Okay. Maybe I exaggerated just a tiny bit in my responses... or not.

I’ve written about “Trust the Coaches” and “Trust the Process” here, so I won’t repeat it.

But you get the idea. It happens. Repeatedly.

Why?!

Why are we attacking and mom-shaming other moms for their choice - even if it's different than our choice?!

In another post, Courtney Fleming wrote,

"No parent is “better” than another because they “would never sit there for hours” or because they “trust the coaches.” This isn’t a contest. Any parent who desires to view has the right to access. They should also have the right to be respected for that choice. Period. If a parent wants to stay and watch 4 hours per day, that is their choice and we should not judge them or make them feel “less than” or weak or anything other than respected for their choices. Why does everything have to be a one upping contest? A parent who desires to view practice is no less than a parent who choose not to view. A parent who is being denied access and is frustrated about that has every right to feel as they do and we should not judge them or make them feel small for being frustrated."

Well said, Courtney. I literally couldn't have said it better - which is why I used her quote!

So, let's stop the shaming.

Let's stop supporting organizations that break the rules.

Let’s stop supporting the governing bodies that refuse to investigate reports of clubs breaking the rules.

Let's start supporting each other and demanding changes that benefit ALL of our children.

Because this is about the kids.

Remember them?

They're the ones watching you.

They're learning how to handle a situation in the future - by watching how you handle it now, in the moment.

So, whatcha gonna do?

Skill Tips: Beam Cartwheel

• During the cartwheel, keep your arms tight by your ears

• Place hands one at a time on the beam - not at the same time

• Sometimes, gymnasts prefer to turn the second hand in, so the fingers point toward the end of the beam

• The farther the gymnast reaches out, the easier it is to straddle kick into the cartwheel

• The wider the straddle in star shape, the easier it is to turn over the cartwheel

• During the handstand stage, the gymnast should look under her arm to land her foot on the beam

• The more vertical (open hips and shoulders) the gymnast is, the easier it is to land the cartwheel as it helps the feet align and land on the beam

• If a gymnast pikes during a cartwheel, they will have difficulty landing on the beam because they will be a little short of the beam line

• If a gymnast pops her head out of alignment, it will probably cause her to arch her back, and her feet will cross the line of the beam, making it more challenging to land cleanly

• Ideally, the 1/2 turn is complete before the gymnast starts to come down from the handstand

• Be sure to maintain a straight body line into and out of the cartwheel

• All gymnasts should learn how to twist out of the handstand if they fall forward. One option is to twist into a roundoff, so they don’t land on the beam

Gymnast in teal leotard, picture shows gymnast in 5 stages of cartwheel from entry through vertical to step down

Bob the Block

It’s like a yawn. Once someone starts, who knows how many people will be affected?! Or maybe I should say “infected” since it spreads so quickly!

What am I talking about?

The dreaded and well-known gymnastics BLOCK. We call them blocks because whether the root cause is emotional, social, physical, intellectual, spiritual, environmental, or caused by automation, it’s blocking their progress.

Let’s define a block before we continue. For our purposes, a BLOCK is anything that prevents a gymnast from doing a skill they have the strength and ability to do.

A gymnast that has done a thousand BHS on beam and now suddenly can’t do one - has a block.

A gymnast who never had her BHS, but has the technical ability and strength to do one, has successfully completed all of the progressions but still can’t do the skill - has a block.

The gymnast that takes a super long time to perform a skill - has a block.

The gymnast who has to do a specific routine before doing a skill - has a block.

The gymnast that needs a one-finger spot to perform a skill - has a block.

A gymnast that needs her coach on the floor - has a block.

A gymnast that refuses to do back tumbling - has a block.

A gymnast that can’t bend backward because of an injury - has a (physical) block.

A gymnast that can’t circle the bars because of a feeding tube - has a (physical) block.

Again, a block is simply something preventing the gymnast from doing something she’s capable of doing.

Contagion

Blocks are contagious. They can take root and grow and spread among gymnasts.

But, as a gymnast, coach, or parent, there are things you can do to prevent blocks from taking root and spreading among gymnasts.

The first thing we need to do is make sure everyone understands a straightforward fact. No one wants to be blocked.

No one.

Let me say it one more time for the people in the back - no one *wants* to have a block.

We don’t wake up in the morning and say, “You know what? Today I am going to NOT do a skill I’ve done a thousand times or more. I don’t know why or how; I just know I can’t do it right now.”

No one wakes up hoping that’s how their day will go.

Since no one wants it, it certainly isn’t their fault!

They didn’t ask for it.

They don’t want it.

Don’t make them feel like it’s their fault.

It’s not.

So, now that we all agree no one wants this, we will try to understand how the gymnast feels.

Consider this the most important thing you’ll read about blocks.

You do *NOT* know how they feel. You don’t. Even if you’re a gymnast and have had a block before, you don’t understand precisely what they’re feeling. You may understand it way more than Average Joe (sorry, mom and dad), but you still don’t truly get it - simply because you’re not them! Without their personal experience, training, and background, you can’t fully understand what they are going through and how they feel.

You don’t genuinely understand it.

I don’t truly understand them and their block.

And that’s okay!

Because that doesn’t mean we can’t help!

So, the most important question… How do we help?

While the best thing you can do for a gymnast with a block is to get them into a specialized program with a block coach or counselor, that isn’t always practical. And, sometimes, it isn’t necessary - such as with a brand-new block in a gymnast that hasn’t had one before.

But, I caution against going too long without help because we don’t want automation to set in.

Automation is when the gymnast automatically bails because they’re used to doing it. We use muscle memory to train gymnastics. Unfortunately, if we continue to do a skill wrong (or bail out of a skill), our muscles learn that too.

If a block is continuing past a few days or is spreading among a squad, make a plan to address it immediately!

Identify

First, we Identify the Block.

In our coaching, we even name them!

Meet BOB... he’s one of my previous BYB girls’ blocks. He is drawn exactly as she saw him at the time we started working together.

Bob the BLOCK

I encourage our girls to draw and name their blocks because I need them to understand one simple thing: their block is NOT them.

Their block is not even a part of them! It’s completely separate from them.

Keeping them separate helps the girls develop a plan to deal with it. They need to know they’re okay, and having a block is okay. It doesn’t make you a lousy gymnast or a horrible person.

Separating the block from the gymnast makes it easier for them to actually believe that!

Introduce Me

Now that we’ve named and drawn our block, we briefly describe their origin story.

The gymnast describes how the block popped into their lives and what happened the first time in their own words.

At this point, it doesn’t matter what happened or if there was a trigger for the block.

Our gymnasts have successfully busted 97% of the blocks we’ve encountered. After busting their block, the gymnast has identified a root (cause) every single time. But at this time, it doesn’t matter *why* the gymnast has a block - it only matters that it exists.

Talk about It

It’s important to talk with your gymnast about a block. I hear parents say, “leave it to the coaches.”

Unfortunately, most coaches never receive training on how to help gymnasts through blocks. If they are adequately trained, they understand everyone in the person’s life plays a role in supporting them while they beat the block.

Everyone must support a gymnast through their block. Gymnasts feel enough pressure to compete and compete well - we don’t need to add block pressure!

If you’re not sure what words to use, begin by asking your gymnast how they’re feeling. That should help you find where you need to start.

If you’re unsure what to do next, remember to tell her and show her you love her. She’s suffering and isn’t sure how to move past it.

If you need assistance, reach out to a coach or counselor with experience coaching through blocks.

Psycho Crowds

The title of this section really should be Psychology of Crowds, but this is so much more fun, isn’t it?! And, at times, more fitting.

Psychologists understand the behavior of a crowd differs significantly from the behaviors of individuals. Although they may not always agree on the specifics of how groups affect an individual’s behavior, they all agree it does.

In a group, kids are more likely to follow another person’s lead, especially if they are already seen as a leader in their peer group.

That means the natural leaders can either help move it away from blocks or lead it directly into their trap.

To battle blocks and prevent them from spreading, a gym needs cooperation (or buy-in) from the peer leaders and the coaches.

Environment & Culture

The environment and culture of a gym either help gymnasts beat blocks, or it creates them.

Which one are you in?

Coaches

Coaches play a vital role in the gym - no one can deny that. They also play a vital role in how blocks play out in the gym.

A coach that makes a huge deal out of a block and tries to force a gymnast through it creates an environment where blocks will become power struggles.

A coach who accepts blocks as part of training and does what they can to prevent them and support gymnasts through them will create an environment where blocks don’t thrive. They’re quickly dealt with - with the support of the entire gym - and never get a chance to take hold or spread.

Progress!

One of the most important aspects of preventing blocks from spreading is making sure your gymnasts understand precisely how the drills help them execute the skill correctly each time.

Many times gymnasts don’t understand *why* they are doing something. Showing them how the drill relates to a skill they are learning helps them see the progressions built upon each other.

Gymnasts will not find long-term success in gymnastics without progressions and previous laddering skills. For higher-level skills, you need those progressions!

Great coaches know to back up and use progressions as soon as they see a block. That may mean going back to a simple drill to build confidence. Or spotting a skill. Or doing some drills into the pit for safety. It depends on the specifics of the skill, but a great coach knows that backing up and using known progressions is a proven technique to advance past blocks.

Backing up for progressions isn’t moving backward.

Remember, progressions lead to progress!

Building Trust

Using progressions appropriately builds trust in the coaches and in a gymnast’s physical abilities.

To succeed through blocks, gymnasts need to trust their gym, coach, and training. A good environment includes:

- uses progressions appropriately

- conversations about blocks and tools to prevent them

- ladder skills to higher levels

- team-building events and activities both inside and outside of the gym

- peer leaders model good coping techniques

- good nutrition is modeled

- team models and encourages self-care

- perfection isn’t the goal

- appropriate goal setting

- questions are encouraged and answered

- concerns are addressed

- spotting is used appropriately

- coaches are proficient in spotting

- safety is paramount

Positively a Problem

If you’ve ever been called a name you didn’t appreciate, you understand that words matter.

They really do.

In fact, when dealing with blocks, our words matter just as much - if not more - than our physical actions.

Why?

Our brains hear every single word we say. Or don’t say.

Every. Single. Thought.

What do you think your gymnast is thinking about her block?

More importantly, what do you think your gymnast is thinking about herself?!

What is her brain hearing every practice? Every rotation? Every minute of conditioning?

What message is she getting?

It’s okay to not be okay.

It’s okay to ask for help.

It’s okay to get help.

It’s okay to work through it.

It’s okay to be okay.

It’s okay.

I guarantee she’s harder on herself than anyone else ever could be. Do you have any idea what goes on in the brain of a pre-teen or teenage girl?!

Oh my. It’s rough.

Our words matter.

How we approach it matters.

How we help them label it matters.

How we help them deal with it matters.

They matter.

But remember, their block is separate from them. It’s not them. It’s not their fault. It’s nothing they did or didn’t do.

It just is.

She’s not lazy.

She’s not ‘not trying.’

She can’t just do it.

She doesn’t want this.

She wants to get past it.

She loves gymnastics - except when she hates it.

She wants to succeed.

She’s strong.

She will succeed.

She wants to break through the block.

She’s tough.

She will breakthrough.

She wants to succeed.

She’s amazing.

She wants a plan for success.

You will build one together.

She is successful.

She is loved.

Show her.

Right now.