Level 6 bars

[Tumblequeensmom]

Hi all! My poor DD needs some help! She is about ready to compete at her L5 state meet in May. In the meantime, the girls have been working on their L6 skills. She has her RO, BHS, BT o.k. (not pretty, but getting there), she has her backwalkover on the beam (now THAT one looks good)... but BARS!!! She's 13, so her body is bigger than the 8, 9 and 10 year olds. They're flipping over no problem on that long hang pullover on the high bar. She's "stuck". She keeps wanting to bring her TOES to the bar instead of flipping over it. Any suggestions? I haven't seen the coaches actually TEACHING the girls how to do this, other than just telling them to "go". (NOT HAPPY) I read somewhere about telling her to pull her knees up as she's reaching that horizontal swing out position, to shorten her radius and help push her over the bar?? Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Lynn

[CoachL]

The biggest problem with most people when learning this skill is that they aren't aggressive enough in the tap and the turn over.

Have you daughter work some back hip cirlcles or free hips and have her pay attention to the way she shifts her wrists and gets her weight on top of the bar because thats pretty close to they way a baby giant feels. Aggressive tap and strong wrist shift are necessary. She could also do them on the low bar and strap bar I suppose.

[Tumblequeensmom]

Thanks CoachL... I'll try to catch her at the end of practice tonight and show her your suggestions!

-Lynn

[lannamavity]

The reason most kids won't tap and follow through is because they are out of control coming from the cast, so they spend the rest of the skill trying to slow down.

I never teach a kid to do that skill without being able to first tap swing three times and tap into a"candle position" and almost arrive in a support on the bar with straight arms. I usually spot at first, so they don't fall over forward (though they should know what to do if this happens). This way, when the speed from the cast is introduced, the athlete has an idea how to rise over the bar through the hollow and then lower to the bar...and it's much easier.

The worst thing a gymnast can do is bend the arms and body in an attempt to pull in close to the bar. I think the name "long hang pullover" is a misnomer. It's a 3/4 giant to a front support. A "pullover" suggests bent arms.

Good luck.

[BlairBob]

Big Tap Swings. Otherwise you just end up with a pullover from a swing. Nothing to get excited about.

Recently, I've been subbing for the compulsories and I didn't work this skill much. Personally, I didn't want to step on the toes of the absent coach.

I checked their bail ( push-away ) and it seemed fine. Really most of their casting into the skill was horizontal, give or take 15 degrees. Not a lot of power from that weak of cast.

Working tap swings we drilled a lot of holding the tap shape ( and proper way to do it ) and how to bounce the bar. Also how to push out the shoulders at the bottom to really extend away. As with these compulsories, their tap in their swing wasn't that great to begin with and of course just dwindles when they have to do a flyaway.

Basically:

- As best as cast and push away as you can get

- Get away from tapping early and introducing the giant tap

- Swing big causing the turnover ( it's scary ). This is also a result of a proper timing of the tap and the turnover. Of course, we used visual cues as to where the toes should point.