You want to teach your gymnasts that their hard work is valued, rather than their completely perfected skill.
If you only praise the outcome of skills, gymnasts will connect ‘accomplishment’ with ‘perfection’ rather than ‘hard work’ with ‘growth’. You don’t want to create the atmosphere where gymnasts give up on skills when they don’t work out the first time.
Over at Happy Gymnastics, Sarah hits the nail on the head about giving meaningful feedback to the kids we work with. She offers some great tips and a nifty “Praise Swap List” at the bottom as a great little cheat sheet — I know I’ll be posting it up in the Coaches Room at my gym, for sure!
Check out the full article: The Death of “Good Job!”: A New Era In Praising Little Gymnasts
