Posts Tagged ‘Verona’
Goal Setting and strategy
One of the things I love best about being a gymnastics coach is how our sport teaches so much beyond skills to children. One of my favorite by-products is having kids learn goal setting. When we talk about goals with our new optional level team kids we explain that goals are like sign posts: we…
Read MoreTreat for a trick? Of course.
I remember Halloween as a kid. I went out until I was about 14 years old (I was small for 14) because, with candy as a motivation, I would do anything. We set out at sunset and came back around 10. It was a job for us. We took it pretty seriously. It’s a bit…
Read MoreGreed is the name of the game….the pro game anyway
A friend of my dad’s once asked me “So you coach kids? Is there a lot of money in that? Sadly Pete there isn’t. Like a teacher I affect the learning, discipline, determination and character of young children. I give them lessons and opportunities to learn, perfect and perform skills. I help formulate the future…
Read MoreStretch-schmetch and warm up-schmarm up
I have long said that gymnasts waste a lot of time doing stretching before practice. Traditionally coaches have felt that stretching before practice is very important because it reduces the likelihood of injury during practice. That is wrong. First off, lets clarify two very different terms; stretching and warming up. Warming up is a very…
Read MoreHey Canada, go back to being Canadian
Think of Canada. Beautiful right. Think of Canadians… earthy, natural, warm, friendly healthy people. Usually nicer than us stress packed Americans to their south. But things are changing. Canada, as well as the rest of the world, is turning more “American-ish”. Many of the multi-national food production companies are American based. Fast food as a…
Read More7 from camp
So 2 weeks ago I was in Pennsylvania coaching at a really great gymnastics camp called Woodward. I had a chance to work alongside many experienced coaches that I had known through reputation and many young coaches coming up. I trained kids that I had never met, didn’t know their skills, their hang ups, their…
Read MoreLife is suffering, pain is optional
That’s a pretty big title. It’s actually an old Buddhist saying that has always resonated with me. It’s akin to when Lincoln said he believed that “most people are about as happy as they want to be.” The gist is the same. My mom, who I often quote because of her kitchen table wisdom, used…
Read MoreFitness for Americans: Fitness from the neck up, or getting your head fit: (part 3 of 3)
When I talk about “head fit” I’m not talking about shopping for hats. There is so much that happens to our bodies when our head is not healthy. It sounds like I am constantly insulting Americans but the fact is we have many attributes that open us up to ridicule. This time I will say…
Read MoreFitness for Americans: If it hurts, you’re doing it wrong (part 2 of 3)
Last time we discussed how getting healthy and fit was so overwhelming and scary. So much so that it becomes a deterrent to itself. The landscape of confusing consumerism that bangs us over the head with new plans and programs that are “guaranteed” has us so confused that it’s easier to just do nothing. Pass…
Read MoreFitness for Americans: (part 1 of 3)
The shadowy world of the exercise industry is a dark and scary place. For a person seeking to raise their level of fitness, lose weight, get healthy or just feel better we have created this frightening and confusing landscape to scare them out of doing what they set out to do. We tell them of…
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