Handstand drills

[nettyinpa]

How long is too long to hold a handstand? My dd is a Level 4 and last night at the end of practice they split them up into 2 groups ~ one went to the ropes, the other to "the wall" where they had to hold their handstands, with their bellies facing the wall, for a minute. Well, it was actually more than a minute because the coach took her good old time counting, with some chatter in between. They did this 3 times. Is it me or is that a bit extreme? I was concerned but didn't know if this is a normal drill or not. Have any of your kids done this that long? Thanks!

[Ingymmom]

my personal opinion is to always push handstands to the limit - it can only make them stronger... my dd spends an entire TV show upside down in handstand position sometimes & pretty much walks around the house on her hands LOL .

On the other hand coaches that are chatty and unattentive is MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE! A few minutes would not be a big deal, but if it went on through out the class, I would be concened...

BUT handstands are GREAT, maybe in this case, the coach being a little unattentive gave the girls a little better conditioning just my 2 cents

[Blackie6]

Not sure how long is too long netty, but my DD's coaches say it's the one skill they encourage them to do at home. I see my daughter do them in the gym as you described, but I've never paid attention to the time (I know, bad mommy) and she's never complained about them. She also loves the rope too...weird!

As one poster mentioned about the chatty and unattentive coaches....recently I got very *tweeked* when a coach would not spot my DD's ROBHS at the end of a very long 3 1/2 hr practice. She was landing on her head and I was upset. This was not a regular coach, and I did speak to one of her regular coaches (who I adore) about it afterwards, but what really turned me into "one of those moms" that complain was the fact that I could hear her ASKING him to help! She is 6 and working out with older & better girls who maybe didn't need as much attention. As this was a recently learned skill, that days practice sent her backwards about 3 months or more. So yeah that would be my pet peeve as well. May even cost me for privates.