Hitting Beam - Mary Lee Tracy

HITTING BEAMJust Do It

TOP 3 HIT FACTORS

#1 Athlete and Coach must BELIEVE she can HIT! “What you think about you will bring about.”

#2 Every training day, every turn is either a deposit or withdrawal. When you want to “buy” that hit set ... did you pay the price?

Each second of the routine has been choreographed from head to toe.

Building Confidence With Consistency

What are the expectations of this workout? Complex, basics, performance, skill deposits, #’s

Make daily guidelines or assignments clear! 30 minutes, stay until complete, high or low, pads or not

Do ... Make... HIT!

Give attention to and reward the behaviors that are consistent with becoming a HITTER!

It all Begins wi" y# as $ leader of $ plan, y# are $ temperature controller!

Repetition builds CONFIDENCEComplex sets the temperature of the workout!

Long - Out of Season: condition positions, repetitions of basics, dri"s for exce"ence

Medium-Pre-Season: Basics: Kicks, leaps, jumps, turns, handstandsShort- In Season: Kicks, arm set, routine on floor, 30 sec. touch

Complex

Super Sets (2)Examples:

1. 5 Front Aerials from knee 2. 5 Front aerials up to panel

Front Aerial

Triple Sets (3)Triple Set for Side Somi

1. 10 needle kicks 2. 10 rollers on foamie 3. side somi up to block

Text

Side Somi

Triple Setting Dismounts1. Timer up 2. Salto up 3. TT

Dismount

Triple Set For Routines1. Arm set in mirror 2. Routine on Floor 3. Routine on beam

1. Tumble set 2. Dance Set 3. Basic Set

Routines

Giant Set (4)1. 10 squat jumps up to block with kettle bells 2. 10 hollow tuck

rockers panel 3. 5 tuck backs up 4. 5 bk tuck off THEN 5 on beam

Tuck or full

... more repetitions

* skills on a line * skills up to block * root skill(basic)

*Element repetitions / Into and out of’s

*tumble routines

*Basics routine / Dance routine / Performance routine

*full sets on line / full sets on beam

*Arm sets on beam / in mirror

*Releve sets on beam and on floor

*Write MC / say MC with arm set

*Visuals

Core Strength Connects the Upper body to the Lower Body

Fun Tools to Create a SOLID foundation for Consistency and Confidence!Jumping RopeMedicine Balls

Kettle Bells

Jumping Rope - Core & Focus 1. In place 2. travel front to back 3. db jumps 4. bell jumps

5. One foot jumps

Medicine BallsHigh Releve walks, jumps, punches, tossing

KETTLE BELLS1. Swing Press to releve 2. travel 3. single arms

4. around the world

Core Strength

BUILDING into routines is an art! ...help create a masterpiece

Skill selection that is aesthetically pleasing for the athletes body. Visualize skills with no deductions.

Choreography that is comfortable for athlete and enjoyable for others to watch.

Repetitions of Tumble sets, Dance sets, Performance sets, basic sets, releve sets, arm sets in mirror, sets on the floor

THEN routines.... with flight only, D Saltos, Dance Bonus, Dismount.... then put 2 or 3 of the above together.

NOW it is time to put it all together and work towards endurance building.

BEAM ENDURANCEMust be trained year

around

Creating Beam Endurance Physically and Mentally

Staying on top of the beam! Eliminate jumping down in between complex, elements, and other assignments. Create an environment of WORK!

If beams are shared then create assignments for the floor, tramp or super sets!

Double flights, double dismounts, beam set-floor set

Back to back routines, dismount 2nd routine or full set then basic set

Arm sets with weights on wrists, Performance Sets weights on ankles. Great for awareness of arms and legs.

Tight Mind - Tight Body Again.... it begins with the coach!

1. Be Present, that is what you expect of your athletes.2. Keep your talk & corrections to the project at hand.3. You are in control of the “beam box”, if anyone gets lose mind, take them out until they are ready to resume a tight mind.4. Speak in the tone and tempo you wish to see. May very from medium tone and aggressive to calm and cool, this depends on the athlete and the situation.5. Music can be a great tool for calming or “picking it up” when necessary.6. Elements in a row breeds maintenance of a tight mind.7. Pressure skills, routines, team routines, contests, trains the mind to hit when it matters. “VERIFICATIONS”8. The mind setting is a choice by the coach and the athlete!

Quotes from USA “Beam Queens”"So much of hitting beam is KNOWING that hitting is the only possible

outcome."

"Put your body where you want it. Don't let the beam hit you."

"There is a beginning & end position to every movement. Don't skip either."

... I wish the above were 100% fool-proof & accurate. Ultimately, I guess our job as coaches is to help our gymnasts train in a way that regardless of the

competitive outcome, we all have ZERO regrets that anything more could have been done to prevent a mishap, poor performance.

By: Kim Zmeskal-Burdette

...another Beam Queen

Some of the things that made beam consistent for me:Perfect practice makes perfect.

Calm.Remembering to have a breathing pattern.

Word routines. (same in training and competition- every routine)Confidence.

Attack.In competition thinking.....Just one more routine. You train

thousands of the same routine, when its time to compete its your chance to show off the hard work.

By, Jaycie Phelps

Shannon Miller... the best of the best!

The Workouts: "repetition, repetition, repetition!"

Workouts: "make every routine your "Olympic" routine. Every one counts and learning how to handle adversity during routines in the gym is critical when it

comes time for competition."

Competition: "Never underestimate the power of breathing. It will help you channel the nervous energy in a positive way"

Competition: "Focus on no more than 3 corrections at a time on each skill. And don't look to far ahead. If you're on the mount don't be thinking about the

dismount."- Shannon Miller

“the” B E A M Q U E E NMY ADVISE FOR BEAM...

Trust yourself and always pretend like your doing beam on the floor.... Try to stay consistent in

training, that’s the MOST important thing. That way when you go into a competition you shouldn’t even

be able to recall the last time you fell, ONLY positive thoughts!

-Nastia Liukin

The Balance Beam Was Created to be Fun!