Team Lesson Planning - How Do You Organize All Those Drills?!

 The one where we break everything down and organize!

Have I had days where real life got in the way of planning and I ran a class by the seat of my pants? Absolutely, I am human and I've been doing this long enough that I can make it work. However, to run a successful program and get my gymnasts ready for whatever is next for them, planning is key. I also try to be transparent with my planning, like beam especially. I allow my gymnasts to use a resi under the high beam but I make sure it is clear when that resi will disappear. 

So, let's get started! This is a general outline for all of my events and every level. I always start every event with some form of pre-hab to prevent injury. This could be as simple as calf raises for level 2 or more complex at the optional level. Anything to make sure we stay healthy throughout the season. This is also a great time to work on individual needs like tight shoulders, weak quads, etc. 

Then we move into basic shaping and drills. Depending on which part of the season we are in, the amount of time we spend on drills will be based on this. Summer, LOADS of time on awareness and drills. Right before meets, significantly less time. I try not to get myself trapped into *new drills* *new drills* which I think many coaches do. I analyze where my gymnasts are at, where they need to be, and resort back to the drills I know from experience work. If I do introduce new drills, I test them out for about 2 or 3 weeks, if I see a difference I continue to use it. If I don't, I move on! 

Next we move into working the actual skills. Again this is all based on the time of the season. I also consider where we are doing the skills like floor; in the summer its trampoline, trampoline, trampoline. Leading into season we move to the rod floor and then lastly to the spring floor. I find this prevents injury on top of mentally preparing the girls as they gain confidence. 

Lastly we end with some form of conditioning. Sometimes we do this before drills but mostly at the end of the event just to wrap up working on specific gymnastics conditioning. This usually looks like hollow/arch rockers, handstand holds, or box jumps. Again it depends on the event. I do less conditioning on beam versus floor as beam to me is more about the basics and fine muscle movements  versus floor which is more about generating power. 

Additionally, I make sure to leave some time for the girls to work upgrades or other fun skills. As a younger coach I thought I had to have every last second organized at practice and while the girls worked hard, I saw more mental success if I gave them some free time. THEY were the ones pushing themselves to try new things instead of me. Here is an example of a level 4 Bar Plan used before season in November (our gym competes level 4 from January-April).

If you'd like to stay organized and use my template you can find it at my Etsy shop. I will definitely be going in deeper than what I have here in the future but for now this is how I generally plan! Maybe I'll even start a YouTube channel soon, who knows.

Have a great week!

Jaclyn