Nothing Like Waiting Until the Last Minute...

[Kayleigh]

Hey all...

I'm in need of some advice. With Thanksgiving break being this upcoming week, we only have three practices left until my first meet as a level 6, and I still don't have my flyaway. I'm starting to panic. I have a private lesson scheduled for tomorrow, so hopefully I can get it then, but any advice is greatly appreciated beforehand.

The thing is I have a HUGE fear of actually letting go, or hitting my toes off the bar. I can do dead cows fine, but when it comes time to tuck and flip I freak out. I won't even do them into the pit. Help. Please!!!

[maddiekate]

what are dead cows?

[I-Heart-Beam]

Hope this isn't too late... try not to panic when you're doing them! Sometimes you can be so desperately wanting a skill that you try too hard (which sounds stupid written down but seriously works for me). Just close your eyes and let go and don't expect it to be perfect the first time! The first one's always the worst.

[LasswadeCoach]

I would say you don;t sound mentally ready to put the skill into your routine, but I don't think that will be of great help

Swing down in a nice tight dish and then allow your body to fall into arch, and kick your feet up to the ceiling as far as they will go, this is when you should release, when you release the bar completely relax in your shoulders and do not pull on the bar or close your shoulders, as this is usually the main cause of gymnasts hitting their feet off the bar! if you release at the right time and relax in the shoulders your flyaway (back away as we call it in Scotland!) should float through the air above the bar, you will know you are pulling on the bar if you turn underneath the bar and the bar pings.

Good luck with the flyaway and your meet!

[hammy]

Great advice LasswadeCoach--I couldn't have said it better myself!

A dead cow is a timer for a flyaway--you swing up then release the bar and land on your back with your arms and feet up (the way a cow would be laying down once they've died).

[Geoffrey Taucer]

One thing that I find helpful is to try to throw your arms out to the side as you release; this ensures that you won't be pulling in.

But really, there's not much you can do except to practice it into a pit or with a spot until you feel comfortable with it.

[JBS]

The drill in this video is perfect for you...it gives you something to shoot for that is away from the bar. Worked great on one of my gymnasts that was scared of the bar.

[Kayleigh]

Update --

Well, the private lesson helped a ton! I took your tips and put it to work, and it made it SO much easier. I think I was just trying to hard.

Coach said that if worse comes to worse, he'll just spot during the meet, but I should have it by then. I'll let you guys know how everything goes.

[blantonnick]

I think it is beneficial for both female and male gymnasts to first learn a flyway from the parallel bars. The advantage to this is purely psychological. The biggest fear on a flyway is obviously hitting the bar by pulling in. While the grip is drastically different while doing the skill from the parallel bars, the idea of learning on the end of the PB's still allows the dynamics of using a tap swing to effectively release at the right time to provide the gymnast an idea of projectile motion up and away from the bar. This psychological advantage of releasing without the fear of hitting a bar (unless you straddle your legs) could greatly reduce the time to learn and master the simple concept of the skill....goodluck

[hammy]

JBS--awesome video--I love the fly away drill--I think i'm going to introduce it to the other coaches---our girls really need work on flyaways, but i never get to coach them on bars.

Kayleigh--I'm glad to hear that things are working out!! I found that I often tried too hard a lot of the time; I also liked to think about it too much. Keep up the great work!