Sovetsky Sport. December 2, 1967. As a coach working with children, I am in favor of early specialization, but with one mandatory condition: in the first two or three years of training, their coach must pay primary attention to the correct physical development of his students.
Of course, in gymnastics, as well as in music, there are Wunderkinds. But such early 'stars' must be protected in every possible way. And in order to have more of them, it is necessary to strictly adhere to certain principles when working with young gymnasts. I believe that with seven-year-olds one should not do sports gymnastics but play gymnastics.
In practice, it often happens that 12-to 14-year-olds achieve high results, then get stuck at some level for a long time and ultimately never grow into top-class masters. Why does this happen? In my opinion, it's because they do not have a solid foundation. A talented child learns everything very quickly. However, in an effort to learn new elements, he often stops improving those he has already mastered. As a result, knowing many elements separately, he often cannot combine them together. Only by firmly securing certain initial positions can one move to a new peak. And so on, step by step.
E. CHARKIN, coach