Gymnasts Hard time learning to set my flips due to fear of landing in gap

[marcb]

I'm a bit stuck on learning new skills and bringing them to the floor. Trying new skills on the actual floor poses way too many risks - wrong technique, not getting enough height or landing wrongly with way higher risk of serious injury.

So, as most of us do, we learn new techniques on the tumble track or air track, onto a soft landing or into the pit.

This is where my problem comes in. Especially in back tumbling, I have a subconscious (but also a bit conscious) fear of the gap in between the tumble track and the mat or pit.

This results in 2 things:
- I subconsciously have a harder time making my ro/bhs longer/flatter (which generates more height), because I want to be sure to punch from a safe spot
- I am afraid to set my flip so that I go up first, because I'm afraid that I'll land on the tumbletrack or worse, in the gap between mat and tumble track or even worse, on the edge before the pit

This makes it so I tumble with way too much distance, and throw my head back which makes keeping tight more difficult, and results in not being able to get much height.

What should I do to overcome this fear, any tips on how to gain confidence that I'm punching from and landing in the correct spot? No matter how and where you put a mat down, there will always be spots you don't want to punch from and don't want to land in...

P.S. for some skills, like a back tuck, I'm so comfortable doing them and knowing I'll land safe on the floor, that I'm able to set it, and go up first, way better than anything I'll do on a track with 2 different surfaces.

 

[Dahlialover]

All I can say is that every single little boy at my child’s gym has the same problem. The gap of death makes them all completely freak out. Can you work on tumbling up to the edge and the just doing a rebound onto your back with hollow body into the pit? Take out the skill and just work on getting over the fear of the gap?

 

[That_Gymnast]

I'm a bit stuck on learning new skills and bringing them to the floor. Trying new skills on the actual floor poses way too many risks - wrong technique, not getting enough height or landing wrongly with way higher risk of serious injury.

So, as most of us do, we learn new techniques on the tumble track or air track, onto a soft landing or into the pit.

This is where my problem comes in. Especially in back tumbling, I have a subconscious (but also a bit conscious) fear of the gap in between the tumble track and the mat or pit.

This results in 2 things:
- I subconsciously have a harder time making my ro/bhs longer/flatter (which generates more height), because I want to be sure to punch from a safe spot
- I am afraid to set my flip so that I go up first, because I'm afraid that I'll land on the tumbletrack or worse, in the gap between mat and tumble track or even worse, on the edge before the pit

This makes it so I tumble with way too much distance, and throw my head back which makes keeping tight more difficult, and results in not being able to get much height.

What should I do to overcome this fear, any tips on how to gain confidence that I'm punching from and landing in the correct spot? No matter how and where you put a mat down, there will always be spots you don't want to punch from and don't want to land in...

P.S. for some skills, like a back tuck, I'm so comfortable doing them and knowing I'll land safe on the floor, that I'm able to set it, and go up first, way better than anything I'll do on a track with 2 different surfaces.

My gym puts a mat in the gap. Helps everyone feel comfortable. Can you ask your coach if you could put a small pit pillow or crash mat there to help alleviate stress?

 

[marcb]

All I can say is that every single little boy at my child’s gym has the same problem. The gap of death makes them all completely freak out. Can you work on tumbling up to the edge and the just doing a rebound onto your back with hollow body into the pit? Take out the skill and just work on getting over the fear of the gap?

Sounds like a good one. I hope it works, because just rebounding vs flipping is different as I feel I can control the distance/landing a lot more with a rebound, for instance: on a large trampoline I tend to really set my back flips, but that usually makes it so I start and end in the same spot. And I don't want that to happen when I tumble (and set the flip for height). But maybe trampoline is a different punch.

Also, maybe stacking mats to land in candle would be a good next step after doing some hollow rebounds over the edge?

 

[&bs]

Maybe try the skills just from a Roundoff (omitting the back handspring). Although not ideal, it will let you control your takeoff area more precisely so you can focus on the skill, rather than on trying to avoid crashing.