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VISION: e want all our gymnasts to reach their full potential and enjoy the journey getting there.
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VALUES: ur values underpin everything we do and create the culture to achieve our vision. Enjoying the journey to success is as important to SAADI as the success itself. Have Fun Work Hard Be Inspired Be Respectful Be Open Be Punctual Be Kind Give Encouragement.
Not everyone will become an Olympic Gymnast but we can all enjoy the journey in trying.
INTRODUCTION We want all our gymnasts to reach their full potential and enjoy the journey getting there.
The aim of this document is to provide squad members with an understanding of what being in a squad involves. It outlines our expectations, our values, the pathway through squad, our Codes of Conduct, competing and how feedback is given.
The many different squads at SAADI Gymnastics aim to meet a range of demands across a spectrum of ages and abilities. Whichever squad your gymnast is in, we all have a role to play in ensuring their experience is as enjoyable and productive as possible.
PARTNERSHIP WITH ‘WORKING WITH PARENTS IN SPORT’ We all have a role to play in ensuring our gymnasts enjoy their gymnastics journey and get the most out of squad as possible
The role of the Parent/Guardian in this journey is very important. Our young squad members need the space to grow. They need to be encouraged, supported and their expectations need to be discussed and managed openly.
SAADI Gymnastics and British Gymnastics have partnered with ‘Working With Parents In Sport’ to help facilitate a healthy partnership between the club, its parents/guardians and their gymnasts. This collaboration will help create an environment where the gymnast can excel via a number of tools including; coach and parent seminars, online resources and fantastic parent/gymnast journey records.
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“’ orking with Parents in Sport’ supports organisations, parents and coaches in working together to provide children with the best possible sporting experiences.” www.parentsinsport.co.uk
SAADI Coach and external gymnastics consultant Matt Jackson working with a squad member
COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING We recognise that as a parent/guardian you want to have an understanding of how your child is progressing and behaving. Your child’s coach will be sending home a report at the end of each term (so three times per year). The report will outline their progress against each piece, what our expectations are for them and an overview of their behaviour. Examples of the report can be found below.
In addition to the report we would encourage our parents to take part in the WWPIS program that we run, particularly the Journey Books that help us all understand the gymnasts progress better.
YOUR SAADI JOURNEY STARTS HERE… Your journey with SAADI starts from the moment you walk (or crawl) through the door as young as 3 months! Our Drop-In Play Gym sessions run daily and offer an open gym experience to children between the ages 3 months and 5 years. Our Play Gym’s are usually the first experience children have of gymnastics and for this reason they are one of the most important sessions to get right. These children are the future of our club and gymnastics in general…who knows when the next Gold medalist may be passing through! From our Play-Gym children move into our Parent & Child Classes. These classes cater for 2-3 year olds accompanied by a parent or guardian. Classes are small and run by one or more of our British Gymnastics trained coaches. Each week is a different theme and you can see some of the examples on the opposite page. During these classes children understand the foundations of gymnastics as well as learning to listen to instructions. Pre-School follows on from our Parent & Child classes when the child is between the ages of 3 and 4 years old. Like Parent & Child it has a different theme every week and lasts for 45 minutes. Classes can be viewed from our café upstairs. When the child goes to school they will have the option to move to our Recreational Classes. These classes run every day from 4pm in the evening. It’s possible that at this point they may also move to a Squad Pathway. Children can join the gymnastics journey at any point. You don’t have to have taken part in a Parent & Child Class to then join Pre-School for example.
SAADI PATHWAYS Below you can see the pathway through our club. We go into more detail about our Squad Pathways in the next section.
DROP-IN PLAY GYM 0-5 yrs
PARENT & CHILD 2-3 yrs
RECREATIONAL 4 - 16 yrs
PRE-SCHOOL 3-5 yrs
SQUAD PATHWAY
WAG
MAG
GAG
SQUAD PATHWAYS This section explains the route we expect your child to follow in their time at SAADI. As a rule, this means starting in some form of beginner group and then gradually adding days and hours to their training as they get older and progress. The Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) pathway and the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) pathway operate independently but both can feed into our General Artistic Gymnastics (GAG) pathway. Movement in WAG and MAG is also typically one way (this is common in most sports clubs). In contrast, movement in the GAG can be both ways enabling gymnasts to reduce or increase their hours. Our coaches will assess which class is most appropriate for your child. Ensuring the gymnast is in the right class for their ability maximises the enjoyment they will get from the session and will help them achieve their full potential. The current Pathway can be seen below.
WAG
BEGINNERS (3HRS) 4-5 yrs
DEVELOPMENT (5HRS) 5-6 yrs
PRE-SQUAD (8HRS) 6-7 yrs
MINI SQUAD (10HRS) 7+ yrs
JUNIORS (14HRS) 9+ yrs
MAG
BEGINNERS (3HRS) 4-5 yrs
DEVELOPMENT (6HRS) 6-7 yrs
JUNIOR (9HRS) 7-8 yrs
JUNIOR PLUS (13HRS) 8-9 yrs
SENIORS (14HRS) 10+ yrs
GAG
ADVANCED (1.5/2HRS)
NOVICE (3HRS)
INTERMEDIATE (4HRS)
JUNIOR (5HRS)
SENIORS (6HRS)
It is possible that we may recommend other pathways outside the Squad. In order for a gymnast to reach their full potential it maybe that the right pathway is to another club that offers either more specialist training or coaching at a level that we don’t offer. Some gymnasts may want to develop their coaching skills with the club (something that we welcome).
SENIORS (14HRS) 11+ yrs
OTHER POSSIBLE PATHWAYS ANOTHER CLUB COACHING
MAG Squad working on strength and conditioning
ANNUAL COMPETITIONS Being a member of squad means that you can expect to be entered into competitions. Competition performance is just one of the methods by which we can measure the progress of our gymnasts. We expect all gymnasts to enter all the competitions we put them forward for and send out dates as early as possible so that you can put them in your diaries. It may be that you are sent multiple dates for competitions. This arises when your child either misses a competition and therefore needs to enter a new one, or when there is a change in circumstances.
THE SAADI GYMNASTICS ACADEMY Finally, we would like to introduce you to the SAADI Gymnastics Academy. This is the umbrella brand for our Coach Training Programme. The Academy covers a whole host of training channels including British Gymnastics courses, internal coaching courses, external mentoring, secondments, and external consultants. The aim of the Academy is to encourage learning, accelerate coach capability, develop talent, support personal growth and to shape the future of the club. We tell you this because you and your children will play a part in, as well as benefit from, this programme. Already they will have had access to one of the best coaches in the country in Matt Jackson and in the future there are plans to bring more inspirational figures from both within and outside gymnastics.
Matt Jackson Gymnastics Consultant attending SAADI as part of our SAADI Academy Programme. Max Whitlock OBE watching a session.
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS OF IMPORTANCE There are 2 codes of conduct which we need to be signed, dated and returned to us when you start. These will be given to you when you join the squad. Other documents such as Kit and Home Conditioning sheets are available on request. CODES OF CONDUCT
The first is a Parent or Guardian Code of Conduct and the second is the Gymnast Code of Conduct. Both outline our expectations from our members and focus on the values of our club. Our values may well differ from other clubs and so it’s important that you read these documents carefully before signing. Once you have signed both documents, please bring them along to one of your training sessions and either hand them to your child’s coach or leave them with the receptionist.
KIT LISTS
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have developed Kit Lists for each squad to ensure your child has all the correct equipment for gymnastics. We can order as much of this equipment as you need so please do not hesitate to ask us. When you see the Kit Lists you will notice that not all of the kit is mandatory, however we do encourage you to purchase them as they would be beneficial to use during training as well as at home.
HOME CONDITIONING AND FLEXIBILITY
Our coaches have developed a number of resources to help gymnasts continue their development and training at home. We encourage all our squad members to do this and ask parents/guardians to support this. COMPETITION CALENDAR
We have already spoken about the importance of competitions when you are a member of squad. We produce a ‘live’ competition calendar that is readily available upon request.
Have Fun Work Hard Be Inspired Be Respectful Be Open Be Punctual Be Kind Give Encouragement
Our Drop-In Play Gym sessions are the start of the gymnastics journey for many children.
SAADI GYMNASTICS Copyright 2022
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