Discord Response

That’s tough man. I’m sorry that you guys are going through that, I know its draining. I’m not sure how far this athlete is into the struggle, but I had a youth elite athlete this year that went through a similar scenario and I just typed out a few thoughts… hope it helps! 

 

Instead of confusing back skills, my athlete confused every front skill for a one and three tuck (700o).

 

It was completely involuntary. It was a result of “ducking” her chin to her chest and losing her originally well-trained line of sight to the trampoline. It happened first playing around at a summer camp, and then it kept happening… she lost years of control and confidence in a single afternoon.

 

Once it was clear that this was a problem that was here to stay, we did several things…

 

Affirm and Connect: 

First, we affirmed her skill as an elite and normalized the struggle. We told her about several elites that have experienced this type of challenge and that they have overcome it (Including a few athletes on our own team that she knew personally.) We encouraged her to reach out to other elites and ask them how they did it… the “how” is important, but even more so just hearing the reality that it IS surmountable. Rosie MacLennan did an interview on Trampoline Insight where she discussed her own journey on the topic and she instantly became my athlete’s hero. My athlete learned that she was not alone and that there was a way forward.

 

Involve the Parents, Schedule Extra Time 

Next, I laid out what the path might look like time-wise and progression-wise with her parents. Their (non-skill) support was essential. We planned lots of time together outside of regular team training because she was embarrassed, because we wanted to lessen the pressure, and because frankly I didn’t want my other athletes in that group to catch similar symptoms; Energy is contagious. She still attended a few team workouts (for the community) but most of her work was done in private for about two months. When she was with the team, I tried extra hard to make it fun, positive, and attractive to her to want to keep coming even without the challenge of “new” skills. She helped hold the mat for her peers and got to contribute. 

 

Build Little Wins - Hand-spotted Everything 

In her one-on-one trainings, we focused on line-of-sight for EVERYTHING… forward rolls, front drops, handstand holds, cartwheels, etc.… We found small wins and tried to keep multiplying them. But still, she couldn’t flip without flipping hard, so, the next physical step involved a ton of hand spotting. I had to physically stop her from doing accidental one and threes. I probably hand spotted her on 500 front tucks at one point before we could go to the next step, and even then, we reverted a few times in the process. I hand spotted baranis, porpoises, ball outs, eventually half outs again, etc… and I don’t normally hand spot very much, so it was quite the labor for both of us lol. I certainly didn’t spot her that much when she learned the skills the first time. 

 

Other Coaches can Help

There was a point about two months into the process where she really wanted to just give up… but she had earned a spot at a camp upcoming and had already committed to it (and paid for it). When we attended, I told a few other coaches about her struggle, and honestly, getting some outside encouragement from them proved to be HUGE to her.

 

Circle of Confidence

We also kept track of which skills she felt good about throughout the process. Some days, a particular skill would get moved back into her “circle of confidence” and sometimes it would move out. But slowly, that circle grew, and by tracking it, she got to see a physical manifestation of the progress she was making. 

 

It may take a while 

It was tedious, but ultimately, quarter by quarter, she built her way back and now she understands skills and their progressions so much more. From start to finish, her timeline took about 4 months. That was 2 months of big struggle, 1 month of tentative confidence, and then another month of swinging skills together again in level 8 routines, then 9, then 10, then finally elite combos at last!!

 

Victory is Possible! 

She just competed her hardest difficulty pass and hit her new score PR last month at two back-to-back events. We made sure to celebrate : )

 

I’m not sure if any of that helps. But if you want to talk it out anymore, I’d be happy to jump on a call. Based on my athlete’s journey, I would say your next step involves a heart to heart, course setting, and a lot of hand spotting this kid’s back layouts.