Springboard

Monday 08 March 2010

Springboard
<COMING SOON>

SPRINGBOARD

...... For every athlete at every stage ...........

What Is It?

It is a gymnastics-based coaching course, which focuses on fundamental gymnastic skills (e.g. Jump, land, roll, balance), movement patterns and training methods (e.g. flexibility and physical preparation).

The essence of the course is about the ‘transference of these gymnastic skills to all sports, to ensure all athletes/players have developed their basic physical literacy skills’ – It is not about turning athletes into gymnasts, or sports coaches into gymnastics coaches!

It has been developed in partnership with the University of Ulster, and supported by Coaching Ireland.

Who Is It For?

It is aimed at all sports coaches, from all sporting backgrounds, coaching players/ athletes of all ages, at all stages of the LTPAD pathway (recreational to elite).

Areas Focused On
  1. Body Awareness ~ “What the body can do”
    Different shapes the body can make (e.g. stretch, curl, twist, wide, narrow)
    -Balance on different parts of the body
    -Transfer of weight from one part to the other
  2. Space Awareness ~ “Where the body moves”
    -Personal space (e.g. immediate space around athlete) & general space (e.g. total available space)
    -Direction (e.g. forward, backward, circles, patterns)
    -Levels (e.g. high, medium, low) or location of body parts
  3. Qualities ~ “How the body moves”
    -Speed of moving
    -Force or effort of moving (e.g. strong, light)
    -Flow of moving, & timing (e.g. of movement, skills)
  4. Relationships ~ “To whom, & what the body relates to”
    -To people (e.g. mirror, matching, partner work)
    -To objects (e.g. over, around under, off)

Goals

  1. Develop coaches understanding, confidence and ability to use gymnastics as a coaching tool (in a sport specific context) in their sport
  2. Help coaches target potentially neglected basic skills e.g. balancing, rolling, jumping, landing etc.
  3. Allow athletes/ players to focus on quality of movement of basic physical literacy skills
  4. Provide corrective work for elite athletes/ players
  5. Reduce the risk of injury (e.g. Safe landings)
  6. Encourage ‘more training, and less competing’ - prevent burn-out
  7. Enrich and add variety to current training plans e.g. cross training
  8. Provide a diagnostic tool to identify weakness in athlete/ players

What’s Involved?

  • 6 -7 hour coaching course – one day or two evenings
  • Some theory sessions, but mainly practical
  • Led by a Coaching Ireland (CI) approved tutor
  • Coaches receive the SPRINGBOARD resource, containing all the skills
  • Certificate of attendance ~ CI coaching licence (TBC)

Roll Out/ Launch

April/ May 2010

Contact:

Aimi Baker, Participation Officer, Irish Gymnastics; po@irishgymnastics.ie; Mobile: 087 2383930; www.irishgymnastics.ie