Stride Circle

[Gymtastic]

Hi! I'm looking for tips on teaching a stride circle. I have told them about taking a big step and lifting themselves up and kicking their front leg and making sure the back leg is pressed against the bar while opening up their chest and kicking the front leg hard just before they fall. I have done the drill with the bar lowered and having them simulate the step on the floor. I have told them to turn their hands and shift their wrists quickly and have done drills accordingly. They just aren't getting the momentum they need to make it around the bar! I have spotted this skill in every way I can think of.

Any other suggestions?

[gymdog]

Is this a mill circle?

Generally I just keep reinforcing the technique reminders (lift up, step out, shift your wrists) and spot it for position, and have them keep doing the full thing. It takes a lot of reps usually. Some kids pick it up fairly fast, but even after we get the front part right, most either lift their chest towards their knees as they come up and come up short, or don't lift up and stop themselves at the end and flip around again. Head position and eye line is important, and I try to make the explanations about that very clear, otherwise the tendency seems to be to tuck the chin, and drop the chest forward as they initiate the skill, and kill the momentum. It is kind of scary at first to step out and keep the chest up for as long as you should, and so a lot of girls will drop the chest forward instead.

[Gym-Nice-tics]

I don't know what drills you did for the wrist shift, but the one that always seemed to make them go, "duh" is wrist wind ups (weight on a string, connected to a short bar- the gymnast shifts her wrists in the direction they go in the mill). You probably are doing them, but that is the one that always helped me.

[Gymtastic]

Thanks for the responses! Haven't tried the wind-ups yet! They also need to step out more instead of burying their heads and plummetting straight to the earth, as the first poster indicated Wish them luck! I guess sometimes it just takes a little more time with some girls.

[gymgramma]

when our gymmie was learning this, she had a level 10 tell her to pretend that she had ribbons tied to her leo and the ends of the ribbons tied to the high bar and she needed to not let the ribbons be "loose", they had to be tight.......she got it once that level 10 told her that