Parents wrong foot

[guest301]

my kids do left foot in front for cartwheels but right foot for back walkovers. noone corected when it all started and now its too late for the correct leg to be natural for back walovers. is it too horible? both in rec classes age 7 and and almost 5.

 

[wallinbl]

DD changed legs for round offs after her level 4 season. It took a lot of repetition and time to get it to where it feels natural to her. Have their coach figure out which leg is correct before trying to change.

 

[guest301]

they said cartwheel leg is the correct one but they wont fix it

 

[Moxiegrl83]

My DD6 did the same thing. It was corrected by tying a piece of pre-wrap on her ankle for practice, to remind her and her coach's which leg to use. You could mark their legs for the classes, and let the coach know why. It was my DD's coach who let me know, but if they haven't said anything you can bring it up. I definitely don't think it's too late, but it will take some time to get them used to using the correct foot.

 

[AmandaLynn]

At age 7 and 5, it is not too late to change the lead leg for a skill. If your kids are in the rec track, it's not a big deal. If they hope to do compulsory gymnastics, it can be a bit of an issue, depending on the skill. Though, some skills are "reversible" in the compulsory routines. Honestly, they should be working cartwheels on both legs anyway.

 

[nameless]

wait, what?? there is a correct leg and incorrect leg for roundoffs and kickovers/walkovers?? our gym doesn't do a lot of nit picking with the youger girls, so i have never heard right and wrong leg.. they just ask the child which leg they use before certain skills.. hmm.. which leg is the correct leg to start with for roundoffs? and walkovers and mill circles??? my dd generally uses right leg for all leads, i think..

 

[krisnkids]

Easiest (and cheapest) one is to put a pony tail holder or scrunchy on the dominant foot's ankle to remind them to use that foot. Rec coaches do not tend to worry about it as much as a team coach would.

 

[wallinbl]

wait, what?? there is a correct leg and incorrect leg for roundoffs and kickovers/walkovers?? our gym doesn't do a lot of nit picking with the youger girls, so i have never heard right and wrong leg.. they just ask the child which leg they use before certain skills.. hmm.. which leg is the correct leg to start with for roundoffs? and walkovers and mill circles??? my dd generally uses right leg for all leads, i think..

DD's coach bases it on which direction they naturally twist better. His opinion is that the round off involves twisting, and future skills that involve twisting should continue twisting in the same direction as the round off, rather than forcing the gymnast to twist in a direction opposite to their round off. So, he has them stand, jump straight up, and twist - several times in both directions. If you watch a kid do this, it doesn't take an expert to see which direction they're better at. He bases the "correct" leg on that, saying it will benefit them when they get to higher levels. It was a big enough deal to him to put DD through 6 months of endless round offs to get comfortable with the leg he wanted her to use.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Kids should actually be taught to do all their walkovers, leaps jumps, turns, cartwheels etc on both legs. If not their risk of injury is far higher. As particular muscles grow and develop on one side and not the other.

 

[marie83]

DD's coach bases it on which direction they naturally twist better. His opinion is that the round off involves twisting, and future skills that involve twisting should continue twisting in the same direction as the round off, rather than forcing the gymnast to twist in a direction opposite to their round off. So, he has them stand, jump straight up, and twist - several times in both directions. If you watch a kid do this, it doesn't take an expert to see which direction they're better at. He bases the "correct" leg on that, saying it will benefit them when they get to higher levels. It was a big enough deal to him to put DD through 6 months of endless round offs to get comfortable with the leg he wanted her to use.

Yep we do this too.
We go through this little sequence:
for a left twister:
Forward walkover - left leg
Cartwheel -left leg
Backward walkover - right leg
Full turn jump to left

reverse it for a right twister!

makes beam combinations a lot easier and the gymnast always has her correct foot behind her when twisting off the beam!

 

[Kiwi]

Backward walkover - right leg

Do you mean the grounded leg or the raised one?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

my kids do left foot in front for cartwheels but right foot for back walkovers. noone corected when it all started and now its too late for the correct leg to be natural for back walovers. is it too horible? both in rec classes age 7 and and almost 5.

this would be mechanically correct. a left foot in front cartwheel is a left cartwheel which finds the right foot in front and the left foot back on the landing. so then, you could then immediately do a right foot forward back walkover from the left cartwheel seamlessly because the feet/legs never have to switch.

try to visualize this on beam as a series. it would be a bit odd to see it any other way. and this is if you are explaining what they are doing correctly.

 

[marie83]

Do you mean the grounded leg or the raised one?

The raised one. As dunno explains above, as the left leg cartwheel lands, the right foot will be in front so this is the leg the gymnast should raise for the walkover.
As the gymnast becomes more advanced the series could be free cartwheel into back layout step out so requiring the other leg to be in front would be a nightmare!

 

[guest301]

The raised one. As dunno explains above, as the left leg cartwheel lands, the right foot will be in front so this is the leg the gymnast should raise for the walkover.
As the gymnast becomes more advanced the series could be free cartwheel into back layout step out so requiring the other leg to be in front would be a nightmare!

so left foot in front for cartwheel and right foot in front for walkover is correct? that is great because tne kids prefer that.

 

[Kiwi]

The raised one. As dunno explains above, as the left leg cartwheel lands, the right foot will be in front so this is the leg the gymnast should raise for the walkover.
As the gymnast becomes more advanced the series could be free cartwheel into back layout step out so requiring the other leg to be in front would be a nightmare!

I think my DD does this the opposite way!

 

[guest301]

Ok that makes sentce to start cartwheel with one leg and walkover with another. Now I am wondering why our coaches sometimes insist on same leg?

 

[marie83]

I think my DD does this the opposite way!

I do it myself too! I don't think it's impossible to get around but it is definitely easier the other way which is why a lot of coaches will choose the gymnasts 'leg' for them based on their twisting direction from day 1 before they've even learned to cartwheel and handstand.
However I'm with the camp that say learn everything on both legs if possible!
It's not only acrobatic skills that can be affected. Advanced leaps can too.
If the gymnast is a left twister and they perform a split leap with quarter turn, but leap with their left leg in front, they won't be able to turn the correct way! Although in my experience its not so difficult to be ambidextrous with leaps!

 

[Kiwi]

Ok that makes sentce to start cartwheel with one leg and walkover with another. Now I am wondering why our coaches sometimes insist on same leg?

I find it confusing! Because with FWO you would lead with same leg as you do going into handstand and cartwheel, it is the opposite of how it sounds like you are meant to use for BWO, which could get a bit confusing when you come to do a tic-toc. You'd need to be able to kickover from either leg.

 

[marie83]

I find it confusing! Because with FWO you would lead with same leg as you do going into handstand and cartwheel, it is the opposite of how it sounds like you are meant to use for BWO, which could get a bit confusing when you come to do a tic-toc. You'd need to be able to kickover from either leg.

Good point. I think that it would be best to teach the gymnast to kick over on both legs anyway, and not worry too much about the tic-toc as its not really used the further up the levels you go!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

hi guys, go look at what i have posted so far. and under "leftie". i'm addressing these very issues.