Spin to Win – Quarterly Report – July to September 2015

Work completed to date:

Design and implementation of the Virtual Assessment Tool (VAT):

The VAT will enable assessment and tracking (approximately 600 athletes who are 4-8 years prior to bench mark performance) on a set skills curriculum. Phase 3 of the project – delivery and implementation has occurred and all 4 gymsports are utilizing the VAT. An education roadshow, led by the pathways team, travelled around the country in July/August 2015. The aim of the roadshow was to upskilled coaches/administrators on how to use the skills curriculum and the VAT. In the 3 months of use we now have 175 coaches from 92 clubs from all over using the system. 650 gymnasts are registered, and over 350 have now begun submitting videos of their progress. Over 11 500 videos have been uploaded and assessed so far. We are now investigating sophisticated analysis methods so the data is most useful.

Development of pathways for the ‘Spin to Win’ athlete:

During the National Clubs Carnival in September the Pathways team presented two Pathways Forums, which were open to everyone in the gymnastics community – including parents, coaches, judges and managers. The presentation included information on the FTEM framework, Spin to Win, Team Future, Virtual Assessment Tool, with Q&A at the end.

Several new pages have recently been added to the Gymnastics Australia (GA) website in the Talent Pathways section, one is the Talent Pathways Resources page. On this page there is information about the Ideal Physical Attributes that are necessary for identifying young athletes who have future potential success in all four AWE gymsports (Men’s artistic, women’s artistic, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline), also diving and aerial skiing. This page includes other information such as Talent ID assessment documents, summaries of the Spin to Win quarterly reports, information about FTEM and the individual AWE Gymsport FTEM frameworks and various relevant documents including Top 10 Tips for Parents from the AIS website (appendix 1).

Bree planned and led the inaugural Open Camp was held at the AIS from the 19th to 22nd of August. There were 40 gymnasts and 21 coaches from 16 clubs and programs in attendance, coming from all over Australia. The Open Camp operated in a similar way to the GA Team Future Camps, with plenty of athlete and coach education. The athletes also participated in physical testing, used the recovery centre and learnt self-massage techniques. Special guest of the Open Camp was Ashleigh Brennan, dual Olympian and gold medallist. Ashleigh’s role at the Open Camp was to act as a mentor for the girls, she also did an inspiring presentation and helped coach during the camp. Other Gymnastics Australia staff to assist at the camp was Women’s Artistic head coach Peggy Liddick, National Pathways Manager Jo Richards, Women’s High Performance Program Manager Liz Chetkovich and WAIS coach and artistic preparation specialist Stacy Umeh. During the Open Camp Jo ran a Pathways Presentation, which included information about Spin to Win and the FTEM model, explaining that clubs sit in F3 and aren’t on the Talent Pathway, but they are welcome to try high performance gymnastics, and that F# gymnasts make excellent talent transfer candidates. Overall the feedback (via Survey Monkey) from the Open Camp was overwhelmingly positive. A full camp wrap up was published on the GA website along with a highlights video that is on the Gymnastics Australia YouTube channel. Following the Open Camp Bree was invited to present a summary to the Women’s Commission.

Bree recently went to Adelaide for two days with the purpose of meeting with the five key gymnastics clubs in Adelaide, as it has been difficult for Spin to Win to gain traction especially in the area of talent transfer. The goal of the club meetings was to explain the Spin to Win project and how we are keen to open the communication channel with clubs, it also gave the clubs an opportunity to ask questions. Along with a Talent Pathways Presentation, Bree was able to meet with Andrew Cordery the Gymnastics SA High Performance Manager, Mike Martins the Diving SA Operations Manager and coach, Tania Paterson the SASI Senior High Performance Coordinator and by sheer coincides Kevin McCormick the Senior Project Officer for Sports Pathways at Office for Recreation and Sport in SA.

TID requirements of the ‘Spin to Win’ Sports:

After wrapping up round 1 (the first 6 months of the year) of Spin to Win Talent ID initiatives, we are beginning round 2. We will continue working with the five selected High Performance programs across Australia for both Men’s and Women’s artistic gymnastics (MAG & WAG), and our goal is to still ensure that we are accessing the right talent for gymnastics – resulting in our key high performance programs are working with the best available talent. Bree has met with each program to plan round 2 TID initiatives, which will see us through to the end of the year. Bree has developed a simple planning document and budget spreadsheet to accompany the round 2 initiatives (appendix 2). Each program is being challenged to roll out three different TID initiatives in round 2.

Round 2 initiatives include:

 HP coaches scouting at various competitions, including regional competitions  Using HP athletes to help out at free clinics run by the HPC for club gymnasts to attend  The HPC building relationships with local clubs, by using HP coaches as a tool available to local clubs to help upskill their coaches, and in turn look at the clubs talented juniors There is continued co-branding and promotion of the Spin to Win Talent ID initiatives on the Gymnastics Australia website and Facebook page (appendix 2).

Identification process of possible candidates for our partner sports and beyond:

Aerial Skiing:

Aerial Skiing have just completed their winter of skiing at Mt Buller with their new Development Squad athletes. Of the 6 girls that were chosen for the development squad, two were pre-selected from 2014, and of the remaining four girls, three were identified through the Spin to Win project. Rachel Johnson (the Aerial Skiing program manager at the VIS) said that one of the girls identified through the Spin to Win project was one of the most talented athletes they have come across. Work on finding athletes for the 2016 Development Squad will begin in October.

Diving:

Bree attended the Elite Junior National Championships where she was able to meet with all five Talent ID programs, with the purpose being to find out their Talent ID plans for the next 12 months. While she was in Sydney she also met with the Diving Australia (DA) CEO David Bell, it was a great opportunity to fill David in on the successes and challenges and for Bree to also receive some feedback, and to discuss the next 12 months. Lastly Bree met the new Diving WA CEO Steven Rose, she filled him in on the Spin to Win project and the plan she has developed with the DWA team around Talent ID initiatives.

There has been continual work with the five Diving Talent ID programs in Australia (NSW, QLD, SA, Vic, WA).

New to this quarter was promotion on the GA website and GA Facebook page of the three Diving Australia National Elite Pathways Program (NEPP) trials occurring in QLD, SA and WA in September (appendix 3).

Between July and September there were five Diving Talent ID trials across four states, with 61 children attending, with a further 31 being offered a trial.

Media:

Published several talent transfer stories on the GA website and GA Facebook pages. A story was written about the fact that 75% of the Australian Diving Team who were competing at the FINA World Championships were former gymnasts, we mentioned (and hyperlinked) the gymnastics club/program where each diver had their sporting start. A follow up article was written when the two of the teams won two bronze medals at the Diving World Championships, again mentioning the gymnastics clubs.

For the Open Camp Bree liaised with Brian Semmens the ASC Media Manager/Social Media Adviser, he did a fantastic story about Ashleigh Brennan giving back to gymnastics by helping at the Open Camp (appendix 4)

Incorporation into the Team Future Program:

Preparations are on-going towards the second WAG Open Camp from the 9th to 12th of December at the AIS.

Key Project deliverables achieved to Date:

 In July alone there were 7 Spin to Win Talent ID screening days across Gymnastics, Trampoline and Diving, across 4 states  Over 270 children have attended Spin to Win Talent ID screening days in gymnastics with 70 of those children been identified and offered a trial, and a further 30 being offered high performance training  Over 160 children have attended Spin to Win Talent ID screening days in diving with 49 of those children been identified and offered high performance training or a trial  So far Spin to Win has supported 20 Talent ID initiative across gymnastics and diving  3 of the 6 girls selected for the 2015 Aerial Skiing development squad, were targeted by the Spin to Win program for their Aerial Skiing potential

See appendices below

Appendix 1 – Talent Pathways Resources – Gymnastics Australia website

Appendix 2 – Gymnastics Talent ID initiatives promotion

Appendix 3 – Promotion of the GA website of the Diving Australia NEPP Talent Search sessions across QLD, SA, WA

Appendix 4 – AIS media about Ashleigh Brennan and the Open Camp