- Jan 9, 2010
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This exactly. I coached competitive middle school for two years with 4 mats (5 after I "borrowed" one from the neighboring high school). We booked 3-4 sessions at an all star gym during the month leading up to competition to and everything worked out fine. As long as they have a few opportunities to get the feel for a full floor, the kids can do well.If you have access to a full floor, say weekly...
Get some extra Velcro strips and strip your four mats across the seams. That will give you 7 panels in a line-panel format.
Run your routine "full out minus tumbling," just knowing there will be formations that need work on the days you have full floor.
Place a heavy emphasis every day on controlling the controllables.
You can't control the number of mats you have, but you can control if:
The kids understand that you're practicing on "seven panels" when in fact there are 9.
The kids understand the necessity of conditioning that is above and beyond the norm.
The kids focus on what we have versus what we have not.