WAG Level 7 Vault questions

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kandkfunk

Proud Parent
I was at my DDs meet this weekend and something caught my eye that I had never noticed before. When our girls were vaulting, almost all of them were hitting the vault table toward the front or middle. The other teams were hitting toward back of the table, so they were able to travel much further off the table than our team. Our girls' entry from the board to the table looked very similar to the other teams (i.e. body position, speed, distance from the spring board), however I noticed that the spring board was placed much further from the table for our girls than the other teams. I know the coaches set the equipment, so I'm wondering if there is a standard for how far the board should be placed from the table? My DD is a level 7 and there is quite a significant age and size difference between the smallest/youngest girls and the biggest/oldest ones (my DD is one of the oldest/biggest). The board is never moved for any of the gymnasts. All are expected to vault at the same setting. If the board were placed closer to the vault table, I am thinking our girls would hit the table a little higher and have a longer/more dynamic post flight. However, maybe my thinking or understanding is flawed.

Also, is there a standard for when a girl should hurdle in front of the spring board? My daughter doesn't have a problem with the coach's expectation, but some of the smaller girls have complained that they cannot hurdle the distance that is being requested. The coaches have a tape line on the vault runway where they expect the girls to hurdle and the line is the same for all of our team members (level 5 and up), regardless of size.

Thanks!
 
^^^ It would depend on the size/power difference of the kids, but it sounds like you might have a lazy coach who can't be bothered to adjust equipment.
 
This one is a pet peeve of mine. I like coaching vault. Basically the further from the table the board is, the slower the gymnast is moving when they hit the table thus they get less block. The way I see hand placement on the table would be, if you are hitting the front of the table, you plan on flipping (assuming the board and table settings are correct). If you are floating out to the far end of the table, you plan you just doing a front handspring and not getting as much turn over. I know this is a bit over simplified but that's a quick look at what I see on vault.
 
I was at my DDs meet this weekend and something caught my eye that I had never noticed before. When our girls were vaulting, almost all of them were hitting the vault table toward the front or middle. The other teams were hitting toward back of the table, so they were able to travel much further off the table than our team. Our girls' entry from the board to the table looked very similar to the other teams (i.e. body position, speed, distance from the spring board), however I noticed that the spring board was placed much further from the table for our girls than the other teams. I know the coaches set the equipment, so I'm wondering if there is a standard for how far the board should be placed from the table? My DD is a level 7 and there is quite a significant age and size difference between the smallest/youngest girls and the biggest/oldest ones (my DD is one of the oldest/biggest). The board is never moved for any of the gymnasts. All are expected to vault at the same setting. If the board were placed closer to the vault table, I am thinking our girls would hit the table a little higher and have a longer/more dynamic post flight. However, maybe my thinking or understanding is flawed.

Also, is there a standard for when a girl should hurdle in front of the spring board? My daughter doesn't have a problem with the coach's expectation, but some of the smaller girls have complained that they cannot hurdle the distance that is being requested. The coaches have a tape line on the vault runway where they expect the girls to hurdle and the line is the same for all of our team members (level 5 and up), regardless of size.

Thanks!

yikes! the closer the board means the sooner and faster they can get on within coordination parameters of the athlete. i still see coaches put the board at 2 or more (6 or more if your measuring from the back of the board). this is misguided and how they think vault works in their head is wrong. the faster and sooner you get on the better the vault. this requires the board to be close or as close as possible and withing the coordination abilities of the athlete.:)
 
Bear with me .... I'm new at this......

So, at a meet, the coaches are allowed to set up where the springboard is in relation to the vault?!?!
We had our first meet last week, and our team (L3) did horribly at the vault. The spring board was so far away from the vault. The girls had never practiced it that far. In fact, one poor little girl missed the vault twice (slammed into the mats) because she couldn't get up! And this never happened in practice.
Do we practice too close? Or do you think our coaches (1st time coaches) had no idea that they could move it up?
 
yes, the coaches decide where to place the board. and the rest of your post i can't interpret. level 3's use a mat stack. the board is the board. and when you say "missed the vault twice" do you mean screwed up the skill she was performing or missed hitting the board altogether. try again. your new, but i'm literal.:)
 
yes, the coaches decide where to place the board. and the rest of your post i can't interpret. level 3's use a mat stack. the board is the board. and when you say "missed the vault twice" do you mean screwed up the skill she was performing or missed hitting the board altogether. try again. your new, but i'm literal.:)

Sorry.... I'll retry!....
Yes...mat stack. So, she missed completing "the vault" because she couldn't get her body OVER the mat stack. She jumped off the springboard, but was so far away from the mat stack that she bounced off the side of the mat stack instead of being able to do the dive roll on top of it.
Does that make sense?
 
Sorry.... I'll retry!....
Yes...mat stack. So, she missed completing "the vault" because she couldn't get her body OVER the mat stack. She jumped off the springboard, but was so far away from the mat stack that she bounced off the side of the mat stack instead of being able to do the dive roll on top of it.
Does that make sense?

uh, no, that doesn't really make sense. :confused: off to the side? If the board is too far away, she might have landed on the ground between the board and resi mat....?
 
sounds like she slammed in to the mat stack cause she couldn't get her body up and over from the board. so yes, the board was more likely than not to far away from the mat stack.
 
Itwould be hard to believe that a coach wouldn't know that they could move theboard, unless they had never coached at a meet, competed themselves, or hecknever actually seen a competition. But what I would guess happened, it that thecoaches (if they are very new, perhaps coaching at their first competition)FORGOT to move the board after the team before them competed. If they are youngand inexperienced, at their first competition like your daughter, they werelikely very nervous, excited, worried, just like the girls, and got caught upin remembering so many of the other details that they forgot a big one, to movethe board. Not excusing them, they should have at least noticed after yourfirst team girl went, but they will learn.
 
ya think, wandrewsjr? lol....:) as you said, they will learn.
 
Dunno- yes..... you got it! Thank goodness!

wandrewsjr- they are young coaches. I'm pretty sure that for one of the coaches, it was her 1st meet as a coach. The other one, I thought she had more experience. I do know she was a coach for the optional level, but I'm not sure what her role was..... whether she went to meets or not.
I'm not upset with our coaches, I'm sure they learned a lot (like the kids and parents). I think they didn't realize how little Level 3s actually know. :eek:
 
uh, no, that doesn't really make sense. :confused: off to the side? If the board is too far away, she might have landed on the ground between the board and resi mat....?

not "off to the side". "off the side". she bounced off the front of the mat stack. lol.:) i'm sure she's okay given the level.
 
Itwould be hard to believe that a coach wouldn't know that they could move theboard, unless they had never coached at a meet, competed themselves, or hecknever actually seen a competition. But what I would guess happened, it that thecoaches (if they are very new, perhaps coaching at their first competition)FORGOT to move the board after the team before them competed. If they are youngand inexperienced, at their first competition like your daughter, they werelikely very nervous, excited, worried, just like the girls, and got caught upin remembering so many of the other details that they forgot a big one, to movethe board. Not excusing them, they should have at least noticed after yourfirst team girl went, but they will learn.

or they may have a lower mat stack in the gym and not know it. lol, i've seen that too. if so, bet they were surprised as the athletes were. lol. the image will make me smile for the rest of the day. :) kinda like those cartoons in the gymnastics magazines.
 
sounds like she slammed in to the mat stack cause she couldn't get her body up and over from the board. so yes, the board was more likely than not to far away from the mat stack.
Mats are more forgiving than pommel horses! Every time I see or hear of a gymnast crashing into the mat stack, I think of Brian Meeker.
 
yikes! the closer the board means the sooner and faster they can get on within coordination parameters of the athlete. i still see coaches put the board at 2 or more (6 or more if your measuring from the back of the board). this is misguided and how they think vault works in their head is wrong. the faster and sooner you get on the better the vault. this requires the board to be close or as close as possible and withing the coordination abilities of the athlete.:)

I'm glad someone asked about this because I've been wondering the same thing myself, about my DD's step 5 vault. DD's coach seems to put the board a lot further back than some of the other coaches, and from what I could gather, there seemed to be some kind of discussion or disagreement amongst a couple of the coaches about where it should go. DD's coach also makes them hurdle over a mat to make them hurdle long, resulting in some of them hitting the board too far back. I think their rationale for putting the board so far back must be that they think putting it close might encourage the gymnast to pike on, or that they won't have enough time to rotate to handstand position, that's my guess anyway. My DD is currently struggling a lot with the step 5 vault (handspring to flatback).
 
I was at a men's national qualifier meet one year working a guy into a practice rotation. Since these were all grown men, they would set the board for the next guy to go. One guy said "Put the board at 1'4" from the table" He then did a front handspring double front and over rotated to his face. It kills me to see coaches teaching the beginner levels with the springboard 4 feet from the mats.
 
Mats are more forgiving than pommel horses! Every time I see or hear of a gymnast crashing into the mat stack, I think of Brian Meeker.

and Mark Caso also. we can both laugh at this now. LOL. remember how they looked when they hit the horse? bwhahahahahaha, some mental snapshots WILL NEVER GO AWAY.:)
 
I was at a men's national qualifier meet one year working a guy into a practice rotation. Since these were all grown men, they would set the board for the next guy to go. One guy said "Put the board at 1'4" from the table" He then did a front handspring double front and over rotated to his face. It kills me to see coaches teaching the beginner levels with the springboard 4 feet from the mats.

that is precisely correct, CoachTodd. the board should be as close to the table as the athlete's coordination and muscle twitch/reflexes can tolerate. :)
 
Level 7 vault

We are having a similar issue. Tiny girls are expected to hurdle the same distance as the 14-15 year olds. I know one child is regularly in tears over this expectation and is tiny for her age. I had an opportunity to measure from the tape line to the front of the spring board back and it was 9.5 feet.
This seems very long to me?

Our team regularly hits in the middle of the board, hence the middle of the table at best. From what I have read here that can be the cause for little momentum post flight?

Are there concerns for feet and ankle issues if a small kid is expected to punch the board on the same number of springs as the older kids? Then you add such a large hurdle to that expectation and weights. It seems this might explain her pain issues? Just trying to get an idea of what the expectation should be.

Thanks!!


I
I'm glad someone asked about this because I've been wondering the same thing myself, about my DD's step 5 vault. DD's coach seems to put the board a lot further back than some of the other coaches, and from what I could gather, there seemed to be some kind of discussion or disagreement amongst a couple of the coaches about where it should go. DD's coach also makes them hurdle over a mat to make them hurdle long, resulting in some of them hitting the board too far back. I think their rationale for putting the board so far back must be that they think putting it close might encourage the gymnast to pike on, or that they won't have enough time to rotate to handstand position, that's my guess anyway. My DD is currently struggling a lot with the step 5 vault (handspring to flatback).
 

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