Things You'll Need:
- Some gymnastic experience
- A place for classes
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Step 1
To be a successful coach for a children's gymnastic class, you need to have experience with gymnastics yourself. There are proper techniques that are vital to know to prevent the children from injuring themselves. You can gain coaching experience through classes at a local community college, by watching training videos and/or by watching other coaches in action.
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Step 2
One of the most important aspects of being a gymnastics coach is to keep your class size small. You might consider having one or two assistants help you with a larger class.
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Step 3
Children's gymnastic maneuvers are usually easy to learn and restricted to using floor mats. Working with gymnastic equipment comes later in training and mastering them is a matter of the children practicing and repeating exercises until they become comfortable with the maneuvers.
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Step 4
Basic maneuvers include somersaults, twisting and balancing moves (to help with coordination), and even working on handstands and cartwheels with close instructor mentoring. Size up your class and determine the advanced students; you can work with them while an assistant works on the basics with the other children.
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Step 5
When using gymnastic equipment, it is important to give each child one-on-one attention. This means you can use one child to demonstrate proper technique on the equipment with your guidance and support, and then let each class member take a turn.
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Step 6
For beginning students, it is important to use low-to-the-ground equipment, such as a balance beam, vault, or high bar. They need to develop a sense of coordination before moving on to the regulation-sized equipment. Plus, you won't know which students can actually handle standard equipment until you watch them build their way up to it.
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Step 7
In non-competitive gymnastics you are able to focus more on rhythm and grace, rather than complicated routines. This is a good way for children to see if they like the sport, and whether or not they think they might be interested in competing someday.
