Gymnastics From All Angles

, , ,

I was an active gymnast from age 4 until I graduated High School at age 17.  From that point on I have been coaching and judging gymnastics. I feel like I have experience with many aspects of the sport of gymnastics.  Anyone who is looking into the sport of gymnastics needs to decide what their looking to accomplish with this great sport. There are a few directions you can go and it is important to know the differences so you can make a decision as to which route you would like to take.

Recreational Program

A great starting point is a recreational program.  Here you will be able to learn the basics of the sport and to see whether or not you enjoy gymnastics and want to continue on with it.  I teach recreational gymnastics and my favorite part about it is that it allows kids to participate in multiple sports simultaneously. Doing a sport just for fun without having to fully commit allows students to stay involved in the other activities they enjoy without having to choose which one or the other.  It is also very affordable. Many recreational programs also have beginner, intermediate & advanced classes so you can continue to improve your skills.

Competitive Club Program

The next step after a recreational gymnastics program is a competitive club program.  Just like many other club sports, competitive gymnastics is very demanding and time consuming. It can also become very expensive to belong to a club team. I did club gymnastics from age 7-15.  One thing that I loved about club gymnastics is that I made some amazing friends that were like my family. Club gymnastics teaches you discipline and how to work hard while overcoming your fears.  Although the time you put in is a lot, it can really pay off. Having more practice time will allow you to perfect your skills and form as well as continue to improve and upgrade your routines. Through club gymnastics you will get the opportunity to place or even win competitions. If you are looking for more than just doing gymnastics for fun, you will want to look into a club gym near you.

A Fork in the Road

As gymnasts are entering High School, they will now have to make another tough decision.  They can continue competing for their club team, compete for their High School team, or in some cases if a club allows it you can compete for both.  Not all High Schools have a gymnastics team. If they don’t then that makes your decision easy. If your school does have a gymnastics team, you are presented with the opportunity to represent your school as a team and an individual.  The High School season is much shorter and practices are usually shorter too. I did club gymnastics my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school. Because of this, I missed out on a lot of fun school activities. During my Junior and Senior year I competed for my school and I loved it!  Without club, I would not have had the skills that I had but it was great to finish my competitive gymnastics years representing my school and making it to state as a team. I was able to enjoy life as a high school student with a little bit less pressure.

Some gymnasts will even get the opportunity to compete in college which is a great accomplishment.  A small percentage of gymnasts will become Elite and have a chance to try out for the Olympic team.

Here at GymnasticsTracks.com, we wish you the best of luck with your gymnastics career whichever route you decide to take.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

/by

Choosing the Perfect Gymnastics Floor Music

, , ,

When it comes time to get a new floor routine, it can be difficult to choose the perfect gymnastics floor music. Choosing the right gymnastics floor music is very critical because it sets the tone for your entire routine.  Gymnasts tend to listen to many demos of gymnastics floor music and it can get very frustrating if you can’t find exactly what you are looking for.

The first thing you need to do is to decide what your strengths are as a gymnast and dancer. Don’t try to be something that you are not. The goal is to inspire and entertain the audience by enhancing your abilities as an athlete. If you are graceful and have excellent jumps and leaps, you may want to choose a slower, more orchestral piece. If you have more of a peppy quality to your dance, you may want to consider hip hop or techno floor music. The judges like to see the gymnast’s personality come out in their performance. If you accomplish that, your score will reflect it.  You also need to remember that this floor routine will be something that you have for at least one season or more. You want to make sure that you love it because you will be practicing and performing it over and over. You should definitely take the time to choose wisely.

Here at GymnasticsTracks.com, we combine our knowledge and experience with the sport of gymnastics with our background in music to create a variety of fresh, new and exciting gymnastics floor music to vamp up your next floor routine. We will continue to expand our library to provide a wide selection of unique tracks. If you continue to listen to floor music and still feel like you can’t find that perfect sound, you may want to consider designing your own custom floor music track. We can work with your ideas and creativity to produce a track created just for you! All you have to do is place the custom floor music product in your shopping bag and complete your purchase. A GymnasticsTracks.com producer will contact you shortly to discuss your ideas. After 7-10 business days, we will send you the first demo of your piece. After you listen to it, you can give us your feedback and we will continue to work on the song until we have created the sound you have been looking for to help inspire you to choreograph a stellar routine.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

/by

Don’t Bore the Judges

, , ,

Through my experience in competing and coaching I have found that a lot of girl’s gymnastics judges have been judging for a loooooong time.

One could think that these judges would prefer routine tracks to be more “old school”. However, I found this is not the case.  I often see judges visibly reacting more positively when a gymnast brings them something fresh and new unlike they have seen before.

They have seen many routines throughout the years and are looking for something fresh and exciting. After all  they are human. Bringing something new and fresh all starts with the music. If you want to impress the judges, don’t bore them with the same old music.  An energetic routine starts with high energy modern sounds much like the gymnastics tracks you might find here at GymnasticsTracks.com.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

/by

Dancing Does Matter

, , ,

Dancing does matter! In my experience I have found that dance is just as important in a floor routine as the tumbling passes.

I put all of my efforts towards emphasizing my dance moves in hopes that it would help my score at least a little bit. It paid off.

Over the years of competing and coaching, I have been complimented many times on my routines. However, there is one particular moment that has stayed with me.  At the beginning of my senior year of high school, I had an incident that unfortunately left me with a badly sprained ankle. I struggled a lot with this because Floor was always my favorite event and I could not compete in the next few meets.  I worked very hard to eventually come back partially and decided to compete my floor routine without being 100%. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the best idea because my tumbling was very sketchy due to my injury and I was risking additional injury by doing so.  But, I did anyway. I went for my first pass and quickly realized that it was not going to be my finest performance. In mid-air I had to rework my tumbling run so that I would land on my feet instead of my head. After a rough landing, I decided that if my ankle was going to force me to water down my skills, I would have to make up for it in my choreography.  So that is exactly what I did. I put all of my efforts towards emphasizing my dance moves in hopes that it would help my score at least a little bit. It paid off.

When my routine was over I walked off the floor laughing at myself because I knew that it was nothing close to what I was capable of even though I gave it my all.

In the end, my score was flashed as a 9.3.  This was way higher than I deserved but I give my high energy dance all the credit.  The judge really appreciated my dance and clearly gave me the benefit of the doubt.

I try to stress the importance of the creativity and composition of a floor routine to all of my gymnasts because I have seen first hand the benefits when this is properly applied to the routine.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

/by

Recipe for a Successful Gymnastics Floor Routine

, , ,

Over the years I have choreographed many floor routines to many different types of music styles for students with a wide range of dance abilities. The first ingredient to a great gymnastics floor routine is the music.  The music is going to determine what style you are looking to portray in your performance. A gymnast should always choose a music track that is going to fit their personality and style.

“Proper music plays a major part in a successful floor routine and high scores from the judges”

The goal in Floor Exercise is to combine tumbling and dance elements blended together with artistry. That is the job of the choreographer and without the proper music it would be impossible to accomplish.  Once I have the music for a floor routine, I listen to it repeatedly to help gather my ideas. Once I have a solid start I begin showing the gymnast the choreography.

We generally practice it several times during which I  offer them constructive positive tips on how to execute the moves properly.  Once the routine is complete I explain to the student that they don’t have to do the routine exactly how I show them and encourage them to make their routine their own and give it their own twist. This is important to give the student some ownership of the floor routine so that they will perform it with as much passion as possible. When you put it all together in the end you will find you have one great floor routine that you, the audience, and most importantly the judges will enjoy.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

/by