Customer Reviews

Teaching Children's Gymnastics (Meyer & Meyer sport)

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2 star:		(1)
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I was very disappointed. This book is very confusing, and not a good guide for beginning coaches.

The title of this book is somewhat misleading. I ordered this book hoping to find lots of new ideas and methods - unfortunately I found very few. The majority of the book is filled with ways for kids to spot other kids. Ninety-nine percent of the material in the book would not fly in the USA! While kids CAN learn to spot each other, we cannot, as adults, trust that they are going to be as careful or capable as an adult 100% of the time. Not only is there the potential for injury (which is awful, no matter how it happens), but if a child was injured while ANOTHER CHILD was spotting them (not a coach), it would cause great problems with insurance and possibly in court.

Not only that, but the book is rather outdated, using equipment no longer present in today's gyms (or that you would even want in your gym - like wooden boxes!) Contributing to that, I believe,is that this book was originally published in Germany. I imagine that shortly after the cold war (around the time it was published), gymnastics institutes may not have been receiving the funding needed to keep their equipment up to date.

The few exercises I did find in this book I use only on occasion, as trust-building exercises. I would not recommend this book, especially if you are a young or new coach wanting to learn more about coaching.

This book is very thorough and has excellent diagrams and photos to help in following the step-by-step instructions. Even young children can get involved and learn how to spot each other if the suggestions given in this book are followed. Gymnastics needs to be a safe activity for children, but it also has to be fun -- this book is helpful for any teacher or coach in achieving both those goals. A very practical and helpful manual. Recommended.