DIFFERENT SYSTEM

Seeing is believing. I heard stories about the Soviet Union ( Russia ) and its gymnasts. Tales of KGB, torture, and tripling tykes left little impression. I wanted to see it firsthand. So the opportunity came. I was selected to attend a Coaching Course under the U.N.E.S.C.O. educational Diploma Coaching program in Moscow, that was in 1983. I took it without second thought for my purpose is to learn more about the Soviet system of gymnastics.

Coaches from 20 countries were housed on different floors at the Sports Hotel, Lenninsky Prospek. Every morning we traveled by bus to the Olympisky Sports Complex built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics .Lectures in the morning and practical sessions in the evening. During the weekends we were taken to the Dynamo Club, Central Amy Club, Sports Schools, Sports Science Centre, Circus Schools and city tours, complete with a team of interpreters to answer our every need.

We have seen top Russian gymnasts at World Championships, Olympic Games and etc., but those gymnasts were the results of many years of training – the finished product. I also wanted to learn how the Russians developed their youngsters.

What we see at these clubs were not the whole picture, indeed, but there was an underlying theme to the Russians training that is missing from that of ours and many other nations. The selected preschool-age youngsters at these facilities, weren’t attempting cartwheels or choo-choo trains. Instead they were being stre…..tched and strengthened for three hours with a conditioning program that would make a typical Malaysian male gymnast cry “ Daddy “ By the time these kids are six or seven years old, they have a perfect body line and a solid handstand. Next step ? Take them to the apparatus.

Granted, the Malaysian idea of preschool gymnastics is a far cry from three hour sessions of splits and planche presses. If we did that, little Jamal and Jamilah might quit after 15 minutes, and where would the “ business “ be ? So the main difference lies not within our children but with our system.

We see the Russians, Chinese and Americans performing new skills all the time, and its only natural to want to match them. But it is difficult to keep pace if you don’t have a solid foundation.

So, as gymnastics continue to become more and more difficult, we should not be consumed with learning the latest D or E element. Instead, we should strive for the proper preparation from the beginning of a gymnast’s career.

I would be sharing my experience about coaching in my other blog http://magayarspindle.blogspot.com

Small steps forward now will prevent big steps backward later. “ MALAYSIA BOLEH “