Visit the Region 7 Trade Show Hall to chat with exhibitors and check out the latest products and services in the industry, including equipment, apparel, technology and more!
For beginner level coaches, a look at some different aspects of coaching/teaching skills that are not always “in the books.” We’ll cover how to break down a skill and important factors to consider, including requirements for strength, flexibility and pre-requisite skills.
Having games in your back pocket can be invaluable. Waiting for your area? Waiting in line? Need to build strength? Team build? Just have a bit of FUN? Come ready to get moving and PLAY- the most important part of your day.
Stations and set-ups to safely teach and perfect this popular skill to tumblers and gymnasts.
Gym owners, learn which data to look at monthly to know QUICKLY how healthy your business is, and what adaptations you need to make. Looking at data can be daunting, but avoiding the numbers can keep you stuck in a reactive cycle. I can show you an easy way to track the simple, essential data you need to monitor so you can stay proactive and make smart, strategic decisions.
In this lecture, I break down how to build a Pak as a smaller, female coach. I cover the safeguards that I put in place to make sure that the athlete is safe during every phase, including not rushing too quickly and creating skill confusion between the double back dismount and pak release. This lecture is perfect for coaches with athletes training 20 hours or less who still want to do beautiful, safe pak releases.
Rolling, handstands, cartwheels and bridging are the basics for all BIG skills, do you do them everyday at every level? How to get basics to be FUN and rewarding to the everyday athlete.
Hyper specific plans for new coaches, and flexible ones for coaches ready for freedom. Learn these two structures to master your rotation schedules and crush your quality control.
Founded in 1972 by a university gymnast, our center grew from a small ballet studio to a thriving, state-of-the-art facility serving over 2,000 students. Guided by the core value that “teaching children to succeed is a lesson they learn for life,” we’ve expanded through resilience, strong leadership, and a commitment to staff, safety, and community. Our programs now include gymnastics, karate, parties, and more, with athletes earning state and national honors and college scholarships.
What Attendees Will Learn: Discover how to define child-centered values, overcome major challenges, and hire passionate staff. Learn effective marketing, financial management, and staff development strategies, as well as how to adapt to community needs and protect your brand. Leave with practical tools, inspiring stories, and proven approaches for building a profitable, resilient, and community-focused gymnastics center.
Lead up drills for strong, safe vaulting
Get hands-on practice spotting a variety of recreational-level skills on vault, bars, beam and floor.
Vault: basic vaulting skills.
Uneven Bars: Pullovers, Back Hip Circles, Swings and Regrips, Squat-Ons.
Balance Beam: Handstands, Cartwheels.
Floor: Cartwheels, Back Walkovers, Front Walkovers, Backward Rolls, Handstands, Back Handsprings.
Space in this session is limited! Reserve your spot by signing up at the Congress registration desk beginning Thursday at 5:30p.m.
Session attendees aged 18+ must be U110 SafeSport Trained to participate in hands-on spotting activities.
Discover how a well-crafted team handbook can clearly communicate your gym’s rules, expectations, and philosophies—reducing confusion, saving time, and minimizing those repetitive parent meetings.
The learning doesn’t have to stop! Bring your lunch and continue your professional growth as Denise Johnson & Stephanie Myers discuss landings and falls. Meal not provided. Please bring your own lunch.
Hungry for knowledge? Grab a bite to eat and join Carmella Solito as she walks you through the basics of writing grants. Meal not provided. Please bring your own lunch.
Guided Hands-on Spotting Practice:
Uneven Bars: Kips
Beam: Cartwheels, Handstands, Back Walkovers, Cartwheel-Side Handstand Dismounts
Floor: Front Handsprings, Back Handsprings
Space in this session is limited! Reserve your spot by signing up at the Congress registration desk beginning Thursday at 5:30p.m.
Session attendees aged 18+ must be U110 SafeSport Trained to participate in hands-on spotting activities.
Before you go off and buy a whole bunch of Ninja equipment, start with whatcha got and focus on great programming!
This workshop provides coaches and gymnastics professionals with strategies to foster positive, productive relationships with parents. The program focuses on establishing trust, maintaining open lines of communication, and effectively addressing concerns in a respectful and constructive manner. Participants will explore techniques for managing challenging conversations, setting boundaries, and working collaboratively with parents to support athlete development.
Guided Hands-on Spotting Practice
Uneven Bars: Clear Hips
Floor: Roundoff BHS-BHS, Front Handsprings, Front Tucks
Space in this session is limited! Reserve your spot by signing up at the Congress registration desk beginning Thursday at 5:30p.m.
Session attendees aged 18+ must be U110 SafeSport Trained to participate in hands-on spotting activities.
This session focuses on building powerful, confident vaulters through safe and effective progressions, beginning with the handspring vault and extending beyond. Participants will explore creative drills designed to develop proper run mechanics and optimize board contact, laying the foundation for greater power and control. Emphasis will also be placed on teaching athletes how to execute dynamic yet controlled landings, helping to prevent injuries and promote long-term success in vaulting.
Coaching with high standards is essential for athlete success, but how can coaches push athletes to excel without crossing the line into harmful behaviors? This workshop delves into the fine line between acceptable demanding practices and demeaning coaching. Participants will explore effective strategies to challenge athletes while avoiding pitfalls such as defensiveness, performative criticism, and biting remarks. Learn to maintain high expectations with professionalism, foster trust and respect, and create a positive environment where athletes thrive under constructive, inspiring leadership.
This session explores the critical role of landing mechanics in injury prevention, with a focus on both performance and long-term athlete health. With landing-related injuries accounting for a significant proportion of acute and chronic issues in gymnastics, this session provides an evidence-based framework for reducing risk through biomechanics, coaching strategies, and updated technical guidelines.
This interactive session will look at the Level 3-5 compulsory routines for text corrections and points of emphasis for major elements. Come and learn how you can improve your compulsory scores!
Bars is always the most difficult event for recreational students. We will break down skills into small achievable goals for your students and explain stations that can be performed safely and autonomously, building strength every day!
Did she choose to step, or did she have to step? What about body position? Evaluating the landings on Vault, Bars, Beam and Floor.
Why developing a cleaning culture in your gym will make you more money, improve staff training, make work more enjoyable and create a business you can be proud of!
To view and/or register for currently scheduled in-person Practical Exam sessions and locations, click here.
Rise and Shine! Begin the day with a rejuventating morning stretch session. Awaken your body, mind, and spirit in preparation for an invigorating day of learning and professional growth!
Visit the Region 7 Trade Show Hall to chat with exhibitors and check out the latest products and services in the industry, including equipment, apparel, technology and more!
Learn>Repeat>Perfect>Compete>Recover
A simplified presentation of the training phases and their primary emphasis.
Preparing and training Yurchenko vaults.
Note: This is a Virtual Session! We’re thrilled to offer this exclusive opportunity to hear from nationally acclaimed speaker Jason Vonk, presenting LIVE via Zoom! Thanks to virtual technology, we’re able to bring some of the most respected voices in gymnastics education directly to you! Don’t miss this chance to learn, engage, and be inspired!
This session will focus on dance drills you can use to teach both basic and more complex leap, jump and turn elements and combinations. We will look at ways to use a variety of elements to create distinctive combinations, and also look at ways to recognize and fix problems during the performance of dance elements.
Discover how to turn parents into active partners in learning through play! This session will explore fun, purposeful activity stations that foster meaningful parent-child interaction. Learn effective strategies to guide parents in playful engagement that supports their child’s development—and makes learning fun for everyone!
In tough economic times, there are things we can do to ensure our clientele feel like they NEED gymnastics. In this lecture, I will help gym owners understand what those strategies are.
Creating a positive culture in regard to conditioning.
Drills and side stations for developing strong uneven bar skills.
This lecture addresses the critical and often uncomfortable realities faced by Black and Brown girls in gymnastics, as more athletes of color enter the sport. It explores the challenges of racism, microaggressions, isolation, and unconscious bias that these gymnasts can encounter. Through real-life examples and an open dialogue, attendees will gain insight into these experiences and engage in meaningful discussion about how to recognize, address, and navigate these issues to create a more inclusive and supportive environment in gymnastics.
Rhythm/Tempo, Stop, Concentration Pause: Evaluating all Connections on Balance Beam.
A made-for-you checklist to find the coaches you’re looking for!
Developing strong handspring vaults in Compulsory and Xcel gymnasts.
A single mistake on the beam or a missed landing can send gymnasts into a spiral of negativity that’s hard to stop. One bad turn can snowball into frustration, fear, and self-doubt, derailing an entire event or practice. This session dives into why athletes struggle to recover mentally after setbacks and how these spirals can damage confidence and progress if left unchecked. Learn proven strategies to stop the spiral in its tracks, reframe failures as growth opportunities, and help gymnasts regain focus and resilience quickly. Coaches will leave with practical tools to guide their athletes through tough moments, ensuring they can bounce back stronger and stay on track during both practice and competition.
Note: This is a Virtual Session! We’re thrilled to offer this exclusive opportunity to hear from nationally acclaimed speaker Dr. Ali Arnold, presenting LIVE via Zoom! Thanks to virtual technology, we’re able to bring some of the most respected voices in gymnastics education directly to you! Don’t miss this chance to learn, engage, and be inspired!
Guided Hands-on Spotting Practice:
Uneven Bars: Flyaways
Beam: Back Walkover-Back Handspring; Back Handspring-Back Handpsring; Back Handspring-Layout
Floor: Aerials, Front Tucks, Standing Back Tucks
Space in this session is limited! Reserve your spot by signing up at the Congress registration desk beginning Thursday at 5:30p.m.
Session attendees aged 18+ must be U110 SafeSport Trained to participate in hands-on spotting activities.
Trampolines are the most common at-home gymnastics equipment and it is important for us to teach our students how to perform skills safely on this apparatus. There are so many skills that can be taught. Trampoline is not just a side station, it is a whole event!!
What to do when the question is not in the Code of Points?
This workshop focuses on essential tools and strategies to effectively manage risks in gymnastics clubs. It will cover creating safety protocols, injury prevention, emergency response planning, and staff training, with a focus on practical application. Participants will also explore the value of tabletop exercises—interactive scenarios that help teams practice real-time responses. Policy development will be emphasized as one of several tools within a broader risk management strategy, helping clubs identify and address potential risks while fostering a culture of safety and preparedness.
Make the most of your lunch break! Grab a bite and join Sara McCoy at this thought-provoking lunchtime learning session. Meal not provided. Please bring your own lunch.
In this practical, hands-on session, attendees will learn essential taping techniques for gymnastics, focusing on the ankles, wrists, and other key areas prone to injury. The session will cover how to apply tape for stability, support, and injury prevention, with step-by-step instruction and opportunities to practice each method.
Drills and preparation for back and front giants on bars.
Note: This is a Virtual Session! We’re thrilled to offer this exclusive opportunity to hear from nationally acclaimed speaker Jason Vonk, presenting LIVE via Zoom! Thanks to virtual technology, we’re able to bring some of the most respected voices in gymnastics education directly to you! Don’t miss this chance to learn, engage, and be inspired!
Guided Hands-on Spotting Practice
Uneven Bars: Low Bar Giants
Floor: Roundoff Back Handsprings, Back Tucks and beyond
Space in this session is limited! Reserve your spot by signing up at the Congress registration desk beginning Thursday at 5:30p.m.
Session attendees aged 18+ must be U110 SafeSport Trained to participate in hands-on spotting activities.
There’s more than one way to create a setup, AND they are ALL THE BEST! Find ways to tap into kids creative learning process by mixing, matching and blending stations, circuits and machines. Add a couple brain breaks and challenges and you’ve go the recipe for skill-based AND fun-focused learning.
What do athletes need to show the judges to separate themselves from the pack?
Several ways to find and keep amazing staff members for every department in your gym.
In this lecture I will focus on the basic fundamental movements, such as forward and backward rolling, and how they transform into safe high-level optional skills. I highlight how simple mistakes such as arching, eyes moving, head throwing in the early stages of skill development, show up when trying to learn higher level movements- and how to build an athlete’s foundation from the beginning to be as safe and fundamentally sound as possible. I also cover the very necessary core strength required to help keep the athlete’s back healthy- pulling ribs in and down (Pilates), engaging lower abs and therefore the pelvic floor (cue number of athletes with pelvic floor disfunction!) This information has been compiled from my in-house PT, Shift Movement, and local pelvic floor therapists.
Do gymnasts really need snack breaks? Are sports drinks appropriate for gymnasts? Should a gymnast eat so late at night? Learn the best types of foods for your gymnasts to be eating when to support optimal performance and recovery.
Guided Hands on Spotting Practice
Vault: Yurchenko Training
Uneven Bars: Overshoots
Beam: Dismounts
Space in this session is limited! Reserve your spot by signing up at the Congress registration desk beginning Thursday at 5:30p.m.
Session attendees aged 18+ must be U110 SafeSport Trained to participate in hands-on spotting activities.
Games, set ups, and stations that make balance beam the event that your coaches and students will look forward to doing!
This engaging session will explore the importance of professionalism, adaptability, and always keeping the athlete at the center of our decisions. Through real-life “what if” scenarios, we’ll discuss practical strategies to handle challenging situations with integrity and composure.
This session equips club owners with practical strategies to support the well-being of their coaching staff and improve retention rates. Participants will learn to identify key factors that influence employee satisfaction, understand how these factors impact retention, and explore actionable ways to foster a supportive and positive work environment. The session will also provide techniques for addressing staff concerns, promoting work-life balance, and encouraging professional growth – ensuring a motivated, sustainable team that contributes to the long-term success of the club.
This session provides coaches with insights and strategies to help gymnasts successfully acquire and retain new skills. By applying key motor behavior principles, coaches will learn how to guide athletes through each stage of skill development. The session also explores critical psychological factors, such as motivation and self-efficacy, that influence a gymnast’s confidence and persistence in learning. In addition, coaches will be introduced to effective communication techniques that strengthen the coach-athlete relationship and foster a positive, supportive learning environment that promotes long-term growth and mastery.
This session explores how physical development impacts a gymnast’s training and performance. Coaches will gain insight into how growth spurts affect flexibility, strength, and coordination, and learn how to adapt training approaches to match different stages of physical maturity. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of patience and support during plateaus in skill acquisition, helping athletes progress safely and confidently through their developmental journey.
What is your judging process? Identifying a consistent “process” to determine the Start Value and ultimately the score, specifically working with Uneven Bar routines.
There are 5 generations in the workplace. How do we close the generational gaps? Come and learn ways to improve how you manage, teach, coach, communicate, and motivate across generations.
Join us at the Region 7 Social! This FREE event is open to all Congress attendees and is the perfect chance to relax, connect, and have fun with the Region 7 gymnastics community. Enjoy light appetizers, grab a drink, and unwind in a festive and friendly atmosphere. Don’t miss this casual and enjoyable gathering!
Visit the Region 7 Trade Show Hall to chat with exhibitors and check out the latest products and services in the industry, including equipment, apparel, technology and more!
How to move between the programs and what to expect when you get there.
We live in a new era – one in which we have access to the single most cost-effective advertising tools right at our fingertips. Algorithms are always changing, and staying ahead is important. In this lecture I’ll help gym owners understand WHY they need to be on ALL social media platforms; HOW to effectively post on them; and WHAT to do IF you face a negative online review.
Explore effective vault drills and sides side stations that do not utilize a vault table. This session focuses on progressive training methods for Front Handsprings, Tsukaharas, and Yurchenkos.
Rolling, handstands, cartwheels and bridging are the basics for all BIG skills. Do you do them every day at every level? How to get basics to be FUN and rewarding to the everyday athlete.
This interactive lecture is designed to enhance judges’ accuracy and confidence by deepening their knowledge of gymnastics skill names and technical details. Participants will explore why skill recognition is essential for accurate, credible scoring and effective communication with coaches and athletes. The session breaks down commonly misunderstood elements by event, highlights frequently confused skills, and offers practical tips for distinguishing between similar movements. Engaging activities like “Name That Skill” and visual aids will reinforce learning, while additional resources will be shared to support continued education in skill identification.
Often, new coaches are tasked with the developmental phase/compulsory phase of teaching, but don’t know how to break down the Physical Abilities into teaching segments. In this lecture I cover ways to break down rope climb, presses, handstands etc… into achievable little bites for kids, that are also fun! I also cover the basic movements for front and back gianting, and how to teach falling safely from the beginning — and… using the newest soft mats we have available for purchase! Just because we all fell onto hard 8 inch mats, does not mean the next generation should have to! Buy that soft mat and safe a concussion!
Come to this interactive session and learn creative movement ideas that will help your gymnasts feel more comfortable expressing themselves on beam and floor. These are great ideas to infuse into classes as well. Feel free to join in! Let’s keep the ART in Artistic Gymnastics!
Gain valuable insight into the diverse viewpoints of parents, gymnasts, staff, and gym owners, and learn how these perceptions influence teaching and communication in recreational gymnastics. This session will explore how to align expectations, foster empathy, and build strong relationships through clear, effective communication—ultimately creating a more supportive and successful environment for everyone involved.
Magma has built a highly successful Xcel program from Bronze through Sapphire, earning multiple state and regional titles. Coach John will share how he uses the Xcel curriculum to develop gymnasts and drive program-wide excellence, covering how to start an Xcel program from scratch, develop novice athletes while subsidizing beginners, build essential skills from Bronze to Gold, determine when to progress to Platinum and Sapphire, and choose the right skills, drills, and routines for Xcel athletes.
This lecture breaks down the Safe Sport rules, such as not being alone with an athlete during training, to show club owners how these guidelines benefit not only the athletes, but also their employees and business. Grey areas not directly addressed by Safe Sport, such as parent communication and establishing professional boundaries for staff, are also covered to help create a safer environment for everyone. The importance of a multi-layered management system is emphasized, ensuring there are checks and balances in place across the organization. The goal is to reinforce that these systems, along with SafeSport guidelines, are effective tools for maintaining a safe environment for all.
This interactive session will look at the Level 3-5 compulsory routines for text corrections and points of emphasis for major elements. Come and learn how you can improve your compulsory scores!
Shaping, strength, and progressions to turn them upside down.
