WAG Level 4 floor question for coaches

[Ali'sMom]

At practice last night I overheard coach & HC discussing DD, and relating to being lefty/righty.

On the way home, DD mentioned that she may have to work on her BWO on the other leg for the floor routine. (but she wasn't sure exactly what was said, or it if was definite).

I emailed HC and asked if she's got to do that, and she is looking into the rules about switching legs, etc.
But of course, I'm going to ask here too

Do any of you know for sure if there is a specific rule about which leg to do the BWO with in the L4 floor routine?

Thank you!

 

[Pea'sMom]

Pea's a lefty as are two others on her level. There is a way to 'switch' the routines from right dominant to left. It effects both the feet and arms I believe. She has never had to learn anything using her non-dominant side, in fact she since there are so many lefty's the routines where taught/demonstrated right first, then left for every step.

 

[AmandaLynn]

I am guessing that she is a righty on all other skills, but does a lefty BWO, or vice versa?

Certain skills are allowed to be reversed. The BWO is one of them. However, some coaches are particular about reversing skills and won't allow it.

 

[Ali'sMom]

I'm not sure which way she goes, I know that "in real life" she's a righty, but does a cartwheel lefty. I can't recall which way for BWO... I just looked at a video of L3 floor, and after the bridge, when she does the kickover, her right leg goes first. I think that means she's lefty with that?

I believe my coach will allow it, as long as it's allowed in the rules, so thank you both for letting me know it's okay

 

[Ali'sMom]

This is a lefty, correct? (the dominant leg is the one that stays on the floor to push?)

 

[Pea'sMom]

This is a lefty, correct? (the dominant leg is the one that stays on the floor to push?)

Nope, that's a righty walkover. Pea's is opposite, she kicks with her left leg first. I do know there is are certain degrees of left handiness, not all lefty's are 'totally' lefty (they can prefer to kick righty, eat righty, etc) which might prove tricky in gymnastics. My boy is lefty too, but not 'as lefty' as Pea. Soccer coach spent all last season trying to commit him to kicking with one foot, he kept switching back and forth (great skill to have if he was any good, but alas Pea got all the athletic genes)

 

[Ali'sMom]

Nope, that's a righty walkover. Pea's is opposite, she kicks with her left leg first. I do know there is are certain degrees of left handiness, not all lefty's are 'totally' lefty (they can prefer to kick righty, eat righty, etc) which might prove tricky in gymnastics. My boy is lefty too, but not 'as lefty' as Pea. Soccer coach spent all last season trying to commit him to kicking with one foot, he kept switching back and forth (great skill to have if he was any good, but alas Pea got all the athletic genes)

See, shows you what I know! LOL!
How about a cartwheel that goes left hand first? is that righty or lefty? (man, it's moments like this that I really feel like I know nothing about the sport!)

 

[Gymmomto2]

Both my DDs are lefty. L hand L leg starts in cartwheel. BWO also kick with left for leftys.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Okay, so DD does cartwheels lefty and BWO righty.
Now I get why they needed a discussion about it...

Thanks so much!

 

[BachFlyer]

That was my DD too. She is Right handed, but when she was in L5, she did her RO/cartwheel/handstand as a lefty, and everything thing else as a righty. Eventually when she moved up to optionals (I believe when she started twisting), it became a problem to be right-dominant but doing the RO as a lefty. Her body was getting confused. So, the coach had her switch everything to correct (dominant) side which fixed her tumbling issues.

 

[PalmTree]

Cartwheel: dominant hand goes down first
BWO or kickover: dominant leg kicks over first
Full turn: turn on toe of dominant foot
Leap: dominant leg in front on leap (take off of non dominant foot)
Handstand: kick up non dominant leg first, come down on dominant leg
Split: dominant leg should be all the way down

I have my pre-team kids do all of the above skills and see how it works out. Many of them do some lefty and some righty. It has nothing to do with which hand they actually write with. If you catch it early, you can make sure they do everything on the same side. But if they are already into compulsories, they can almost always switch up the routine a bit for skills that they do their other foot for - it just makes it complicated because none of the other "lefties" do a righty cartwheel, so when you're teaching routines (as a coach) you have to remember to change it.

I am PRETTY sure that to switch the BWO in the Level 4 routine you just do the full turn and take a step, then back walkover instead of the usual full turn, sweep leg through BWO. It's in the compulsory text. I would MUCH rather have a kid do a very nice BWO on their "other" leg (when allowed) than have them try to learn it on bad leg. There is NO deduction for switching the dominant leg on this skill.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Cartwheel: dominant hand goes down first
BWO or kickover: dominant leg kicks over first
Full turn: turn on toe of dominant foot
Leap: dominant leg in front on leap (take off of non dominant foot)
Handstand: kick up non dominant leg first, come down on dominant leg
Split: dominant leg should be all the way down

I have my pre-team kids do all of the above skills and see how it works out. Many of them do some lefty and some righty. It has nothing to do with which hand they actually write with. If you catch it early, you can make sure they do everything on the same side. But if they are already into compulsories, they can almost always switch up the routine a bit for skills that they do their other foot for - it just makes it complicated because none of the other "lefties" do a righty cartwheel, so when you're teaching routines (as a coach) you have to remember to change it.

I am PRETTY sure that to switch the BWO in the Level 4 routine you just do the full turn and take a step, then back walkover instead of the usual full turn, sweep leg through BWO. It's in the compulsory text. I would MUCH rather have a kid do a very nice BWO on their "other" leg (when allowed) than have them try to learn it on bad leg. There is NO deduction for switching the dominant leg on this skill.

Thanks so much!
I did see a video on youtube where the gymnast took a step, so that she was in place for her dominant leg for the BWO. I'm just going to make sure that HC finds the wording so she agrees

 

[fuzi]

I am PRETTY sure that to switch the BWO in the Level 4 routine you just do the full turn and take a step, then back walkover instead of the usual full turn, sweep leg through BWO. It's in the compulsory text. I would MUCH rather have a kid do a very nice BWO on their "other" leg (when allowed) than have them try to learn it on bad leg. There is NO deduction for switching the dominant leg on this skill.

The BWO is a skill that they are allowed to switch. Like PalmTree explained, they have to take an extra step, and it is explained in the compulsory code. I have a gymnast with this very same issue this year and when I noticed, I explained to her that she would always take that extra step. She knows to do it her "different way" even when I am drilling all the other kids on the full turn- finish-swing through BWO. No big deal.

 

[Ali'sMom]

The BWO is a skill that they are allowed to switch. Like PalmTree explained, they have to take an extra step, and it is explained in the compulsory code. I have a gymnast with this very same issue this year and when I noticed, I explained to her that she would always take that extra step. She knows to do it her "different way" even when I am drilling all the other kids on the full turn- finish-swing through BWO. No big deal.

that's exactly what I saw in a video.

But now that I'm looking, I'm confused where my daughter's real issue is. I just looked at the whole routine (and found the compulsory code, etc). She actually does do the BWO the way they say (lift right leg off ground first). so I'm not sure why there is any discussion about it. I think I need to clear it up. DD could have heard wrong, and just was reacting to what she think she heard.

Okay, before I finished typing this, DD called me at work, so I asked her what foot she spins on (the 360). Apparently she spins on her left, and the directions call for the right. That's where the problem is that she needs to do that extra step for her righty BWO.
Now to find out if spinning the other way is okay...

I understand, if she has to change that, then so be it. But I don't want them to focus on changing if she doesn't have to. I don't want an unnecessary hurdle put in front of her right now, you know?

 

[AmandaLynn]

Basically, with the compulsory routines, whichever foot they leap and turn with decides the direction of the routine. The acro skills can be reversed. The routine is written for a righty, but a kid that does a lefty turn and leap will reverse the entire routine.

The time you really run into issues is when you have a kid that turns in one direction and leaps with the other leg forward.

 

[Aero]

A back walkover is the mirror image of a front walkover. They use all the exact same steps and require all the exact same criteria, except in opposite sequences. A good example of this would be the tik-tok commonly seen on floor and beam; it's essentially a front walkover that is immediately reversed once the first foot hits the ground. The feet do not switch. However, what's really important is to think ahead to the skills that follow, or can be linked to the skill in the future. For instance, if an athlete does a round-off leading with the left foot, you wouldn't want to learn a front walkover leading with the right foot because you could never chain the skills together when it comes time to learn front handspring step-outs. Same with the back walkover. Think about when she'll need back handspring step-outs and layout step-outs on beam. She's going to need to kick with her power leg, which is the opposite of her leading leg. Therefore, for an athlete who leads with the left leg in front for round-offs, the left leg should be in front for front walkovers, and the right leg should be in front for back walkovers. Notice how this assigns the "kicking" motion in both skills to the same leg. This will certainly aid in the learning of future skills that are more difficult. However, I personally think the back walkover should be learned on both sides. The back walkover is a paradox because it makes sense to do it as a mirror image to the front walkover, but that doesn't facilitate the learning of the harder versions after it.