All-Star Mental Blocks?

[SmileyRyleigh]

Is it fair for someone who has a mental block (not throwing ANY tumbling at all) to be on a level 5 team? IMO I think that they should be put on a lower level team until they recover from their block.

 

[yooolizzi]

I feel like this is aimed at a high profile cheerleader...

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

I feel like this is aimed at a high profile cheerleader...

nooooo! i was jw. because theres people at my gym like thaaatt.

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

Is it fair for someone who has a mental block (not throwing ANY tumbling at all) to be on a level 5 team? IMO I think that they should be put on a lower level team until they recover from their block.

Does your team have a high enough %age of tumblers with level 5 tumbling that it won't hurt them at competitions to have her not tumble? Can she still keep up with the stunts, jumps, and dance? I would leave her be. Clearly she has level 5 skills or else the coaches wouldn't have placed her on that team. It would be unfair, however, to shuffle her around mid-season and have her learn all the new material on a level 5 team that she missed, as well as have the lower level team have to worry about finding a replacement or re-working choreography.

 

[garretttt]

Ive talked to a lot of people from big gyms and they say the coaches always "Just because you have a full or double doesnt mean youll make level 5 and just because you dont have one doesnt mean you wont make level 5" there is more to level 5 than just tumbling.

 

[ryann3794]

theres more to cheerleading then tumbling. My gym is in it's 2nd season right now and the highest team we have is Large senior coed level 4 and me and one other girl are on the team but neither of us tumble (yet) due to mental blocks.

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

Ive talked to a lot of people from big gyms and they say the coaches always "Just because you have a full or double doesnt mean youll make level 5 and just because you dont have one doesnt mean you wont make level 5" there is more to level 5 than just tumbling.

thats a really good way to put it..

 

[cheermuse]

How do you handle a 2 year mental block? (this is a level 4.2 team) She is a flyer but only has basic level 2 flying skills.

 

[cheeeeer93]

How do you handle a 2 year mental block? (this is a level 4.2 team) She is a flyer but only has basic level 2 flying skills.

I know a girl that was pretty much only afraid to tumble backwards so they got her to do alll front skills and took focus off of back skills. That way she could regain her confidence in her tumbling. Then they slowly started to work on backwards skills and after a few pep talks, she's throwing MORE than what she had before her block like weeks later.

 

[jcheermom]

I know a girl that was pretty much only afraid to tumble backwards so they got her to do alll front skills and took focus off of back skills. That way she could regain her confidence in her tumbling. Then they slowly started to work on backwards skills and after a few pep talks, she's throwing MORE than what she had before her block like weeks later.

I think that this way of handling mental blocks towards backward tumbling is an excellent way of helping athletes to get over their blocks and improve their self confidence tremendously. This approach is one that I wish more coaches and athletes used to help work through their blocks. This takes more time and patience but if the athlete can gain confidence and reach their goals in front tumbling, they will feel positive about tumbling and may want to attempt to regain backward tumbling skills again once they have made progress in their front tumbling skills.

 

[keepdreamin]

Well, I had a mental block last year and they definitely have to do with confidence. I think if you move the athlete to a different team it lowers their confidence. My coaches left me on my team and helped me until my block went away, but if they moved me to a different team I probably would still have the block.

 

[star1998]

Mental blocks must drive coaches absolutely nuts! One minute you have a great level 5 kid and the next minute you have a kid who all of a sudden won't throw any tumbling skills. A mental block can be over just as quickly as how it began. It's a switch in the brain that goes OFF when your afraid and ON when your confident. It's usually caused from too fast a progression in learning skills. Some people say it can be caused from a fall. Yes, you fell because you shouldn't have been doing that skill alone yet. Anyway, she is probably still level 5 because it's summer and the coach has time to wait and see if that girl can regain some confidence and turn her switch back ON.

 

[TheVipersMom]

The only thing about mental blocks- is I see kids on a particular team in our gym who almost had all team tumbling; when they were put on this team several months ago.
Then one of the girls on the team has been blocking on a lot of the skills here lately she will run and do her Roundoff and then stop like she can't go and then it takes her 10 times to finally throw it with someone standing there then very next pass she "can't do it again." So it was affecting her and now all the other kids get scared and think they can't do it and they start doing the same thing. There was like 4 at last practice who all have great level 3 tumbling skills that won't throw their tumbling! Let me say the practices for those girls isn't very enjoyable!!

It kills me to see these girls get so upset and frustrated about these skills and then just not throw them when they had them beautifully before. So I feel like it's a mind thing but it's contagious in a sense. Yes I can see one person getting a block but over the course of several weeks more and more girls can't tumble!

I'm glad my cp isn't scared to do anything tumbling wise- she will land on her head a million times and keep trying but I guess that's the glory of being young it usually doesn't start at 6 years old.

I wish who ever has one right now much success and hope it ends soon for you... So good luck. I pray this never happens to my cp but only time will tell!

 

[tumbleyoda]

Mental blocks must drive coaches absolutely nuts! One minute you have a great level 5 kid and the next minute you have a kid who all of a sudden won't throw any tumbling skills. A mental block can be over just as quickly as how it began. It's a switch in the brain that goes OFF when your afraid and ON when your confident. It's usually caused from too fast a progression in learning skills. Some people say it can be caused from a fall. Yes, you fell because you shouldn't have been doing that skill alone yet. Anyway, she is probably still level 5 because it's summer and the coach has time to wait and see if that girl can regain some confidence and turn her switch back ON.

While it is true that some mental blocks (I dont call them that around the students and parents - imagery issues, negative reinforcement and too easy to be used as a crutch) are caused by too fast progressions, that is not always the case. An athlete can have a fall because he/she saw something while tumbling that scared them - like a child running too close to them, a voice that scared them, a bad set, improper technique, thinking about too many things to fix before going, a growth spurt, injury, too much pressure from a parent, coach or peers, or a multitude of other things. And sometimes it can just be an aberration. But it sticks with the athlete and there ya go.

I had an athlete years ago who was told while away at camp she couldn't do a roundoffbhs because her roundoff wasnt perfect. She was kept in the CW/Roundoff group the majority of her time at camp. She came back to the gym and wouldn't throw anything even though when she left for camp she was throwing ROBHS series. No they were not perfect and she had been told that and attempts at correction were constantly made in the gym by several instructors. But she didn't get the changes. Yet one coach - a complete stranger - convinced her she could not tumble and it took her quite a few privates, and lots of tears before she got back to tumbling again. Now as a coach I know what the other coach was trying to do. But for this child it had a major negative effect as every child does not respond to the same method. Some you can push, others you have to pull, others nudge and others gotta find their way with your encouragement alone and leave them to think it was their idea not yours - ahh the psychology of coaching. Unknown to that coach this child was already struggling with self esteem issues, being one of the few kids on her team without a pass in the routine until she fixed it and being told she had to do more, parental pressure etc. We knew that - the other coach didn't. We had a plan in place. They didn't. He was doing his job for that camp session. We were developing an athlete long term based on what we knew about her that he did not.

Likewise I have had athletes simply bust a pass they have done for years by themselves. Just one bust. And something changes and they end up blocking as you say. Or the athlete who everything has come very easy for and then they hit that one skill they struggle with and they end up shutting down. There are just too many variables to discuss. Likewise there are too many variables to say what will help them get out of that condition. Bottom line we all hate it for the athlete, parent, coaches and the team.

 

[cheerdiva22]

ive had two blocks the first one i just got my robhs tuck for the first time and they put me in a level four tumble class and i was supposed to be doing layouts.... all i did was a robhs no tuck at all not even with a spot, my coach was mad and told me that if i wasnt tumbling she would call my mom and telll her to come pick me up, and she made me get on the tumble track and read a manual on how to do a robhs tuck three months later i was taking tumbling at a gymnastics gym near me where the coach had me doing robhs stop standing tuck w/spot closing the gap of time each time until iwas doing ro bhs tucks, he got me out of my block in two classes my second was like two months and i just got over it fully on tuesday i was really stressed out because we had too many people on my team and we have to get rid of some luckily my coaches were really supportive and didnt give up on me i wasnt even throwing bhs but now i have my confidence again!!!!! i met a girl at woodward who wouldnt do anything backwards even with a spot for three years i think because she fell on her head on a standing tuck, and she was finally doing bhs with a spot everyone was really proud of her.