- Moderator
- #1
Coaches, when (if ever) do you like to teach back pikes? I guess I'm mainly referring to floor, but many of the same questions apply to vaults and bar dismounts.
In the past, I've generally spent little to no time on piked saltos, preferring to stick to tucks and layouts. However, I've noticed that one or two of my JO girls who have been training them for T&T seem to be developing much better back tucks and layouts as a result.
I like to approach the sport as scientifically as possible, and as such, two disclaimers need to be made: first, that correlation is not causation, and a large part of the improvement on their back tucks and layouts simply may be from the extra time spent on trampoline in general. Second, two kids is not a statistically significant sample.
However, it seems to me that there are a couple of key points that a back pike can help with. First, the head doesn't start rotating until much later in the skill as compared to a tuck or layout. I suspect that becoming comfortable with this delay helps the kids avoid throwing their heads back in other backwards saltos. Second, the kick out at the end looks (and more importantly, feels) much more dramatic in a back pike; getting used to this might aid them in getting a better kick out on a back tuck as well.
Thoughts?
In the past, I've generally spent little to no time on piked saltos, preferring to stick to tucks and layouts. However, I've noticed that one or two of my JO girls who have been training them for T&T seem to be developing much better back tucks and layouts as a result.
I like to approach the sport as scientifically as possible, and as such, two disclaimers need to be made: first, that correlation is not causation, and a large part of the improvement on their back tucks and layouts simply may be from the extra time spent on trampoline in general. Second, two kids is not a statistically significant sample.
However, it seems to me that there are a couple of key points that a back pike can help with. First, the head doesn't start rotating until much later in the skill as compared to a tuck or layout. I suspect that becoming comfortable with this delay helps the kids avoid throwing their heads back in other backwards saltos. Second, the kick out at the end looks (and more importantly, feels) much more dramatic in a back pike; getting used to this might aid them in getting a better kick out on a back tuck as well.
Thoughts?