Parents Just can't figure out the vault

[juststartingout]

My daughter has been doing great in every other area except vault. I would love to know of some home exercises she could work on to help. The coach says her run and jump are fine. She also has a great handstand flat back. She seems to have a problem getting her butt up over her head sometimes and when she does she seems to tuck her legs under her instead of behind her. I don't know much about gymnastics but she is supposed to be vaulting into a handstand flat back. She is short and her bottom half is solid and heavy so I don't know if that's part of the problem or not. She can always do more reps than the other girls when it comes to leg exercises but clearly there is an area where she must need more conditioning to get this. Any help would be appreciated since vault is killing her AA score. Her gym doesn't seem to do a lot of build up to a skill they just have you go for it. I kind of feel if it could be broken down into different skills then she could figure out what part is the problem for her.

 

[EastCoastGymMom]

Maybe have her do some handstand holds against a wall and some handstand push ups to help with the "block" off the mat? I think some of it is timing too, and driving her heels. I'm not an expert though! I'm sure some other parents and coaches will have better advice.

 

[UnoMas]

No advice but vault is also my middle DD's toughest event, she actually got worse on it as the season progressed (it is also that flatback vault). It also killed her AA scores and placements. So, your daughter is not alone!

 

[Natasha]

Sorry. No advice here either, just empathy. I can't tell you how many times I've wished they would just do away with vault for an event. I would love for women's gymnastics to go to a 3 event sport and cut practices by 1/2 hour every day! Gee, can you tell my dd started from a 9.0 on vault this year? Talk about killing AA score...

 

[Deleted member D3987]

video please.

 

[JMACAZ]

Same issue over here. Coach said she is "piking" Also pulled her AA score down.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

video please ^^^.

 

[juststartingout]

She's back in the gym on Tuesday so I'll try and get one then. They don't do vault every day though and the view from the parent room isn't great. For those of you who also have kids struggling do your kids do vault every practice? Our girls only do it every other week and sometimes even when it's vault week it gets skipped up for beam. A lot of our girls struggle on vault so it's frustrating.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

never mind the video. vaulting every other week makes for the situation you describe.

 

[2littlegymnasts]

How do they vault every other week during competition season?

Sent from my SPH-L710 using ChalkBucket mobile app

 

[JMACAZ]

Thanks so much Dunno, here is one from last Fri. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xepQnd5lm4o&feature=youtube_gdata_player Scored an 8.675 in the State XCel Meet on Sat. Brought down her AA but still qualified for the Regional Team as an alternate-by the way do you know how that works??

 

[Deleted member D3987]

she's a newbie. vault will take awhile. and no, i don't know anything about alternate at that level.

 

[krisnkids]

I'm not sure as I'm a mom not a coach but it looks like she is piking up, in other words her but is leading her legs and feet when her body should be straight from punch to flat back. Your comment of getting her but up over her head makes me wonder if the key words being told to her may be causing it. Maybe just changing the thinking from getting her but over her head to "heel drive" may help.

 

[JMACAZ]

Thanks, she is piking. The booty over head comment was from another poster Her coach has mentioned driving her heels.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I'm not sure as I'm a mom not a coach but it looks like she is piking up, in other words her but is leading her legs and feet when her body should be straight from punch to flat back. Your comment of getting her but up over her head makes me wonder if the key words being told to her may be causing it. Maybe just changing the thinking from getting her but over her head to "heel drive" may help.

these are "effects". not the root "cause".

 

[ac7179]

She needs to run faster and gain speed as she approaches, not slow down.

 

[krisnkids]

Why are they only vaulting every other week? It makes it impossible to perfect a skill when practiced only every 14 days. Imagine a child learning to read who only reads once every 14 days. Its not going to happen.

 

[sglemon]

I don't know how xcel judges, but if level 4 judges were looking at it, her 2 major deductions would be her run and the pike. She needs to run faster gaining speed as she hits the spring board. Do you see her steps shorten a step before the spring board? She is studder stepping, which is slowing her down. Her steps need to be equal throughout the run, the same look, same distance apart, etc.... If she corrects her run, you will see her get off the springboard with more power. That will help her correct her pike.

 

[JMACAZ]

Thanks for the advice-and sorry to hijack the thread about my vaulting daughter OP

 

[wallflower]

Why are they only vaulting every other week? It makes it impossible to perfect a skill when practiced only every 14 days. Imagine a child learning to read who only reads once every 14 days. Its not going to happen.

DD's gym did that as well this past season for level 6. So frustrating! They chose to do extra bar rotations over the front handspring vault. Fine for kids that are already scoring 9.8's on vault, but that wasn't my kid!