bridge up to kickover-level 3

[emandelsmom]

El is having trouble with this skill. I have read lots of different things on here about this. Here is what she can do: great straight handstands-no arch and has pointed toes, cartwheels, round offs, spotted back handsprings, all of the level 3 bars routine-level 1 and 2 also. She is very strong and makes bars look easily according to coaches at other gyms. According to our coaches, she is very tight through her shoulders. She trouble opening up her shoulders. She can do the kickover from stacked mats that are high. She can do it from a cheese mat. She can't do it any other way. Her bridge up has improved greatly. She can now straighten legs and put feet together doing it. We have been doing all the stretches that have been assigned by her coaches. She was supposed to begin competeting in Nov, but I am holding her off to Jan. until she gets this skill.
thanks.

 

[UnoMas]

I know what helped my younger DD with this was walking her bridge in closer together (so her feet and hands are closer together, does that make sense)? It is easier to kick over from the squished up bridge than from a stretched out one. (gotta love my highly technical terms). Also getting her head under her shoulders before she kicks over. I am guessing the shoulder flexibility thing affects this but these are the things that helped my DD. Also lots of practice and falling on her head!

She'll get it. All her other skills sound so strong. This one will for sure come along too!

 

[emandelsmom]

Thank you!
That is what we were trying to tell her. I guess you are right about the shoulders probably are keeping her from doing those things. We will keep working on them.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

She needs to be able to push her armpits past her hands before she tries to kick over. Also she should continue to look at her fingernails, this will keep her head in the right place.

 

[mayestra12]

My dd has trouble with this skill too (also level 3). She has just been able to do it recently from the floor but she's still inconsistent with it and her head often hits the floor. Maybe she has a shoulder flexibility issue too but I don't know. Her gym does not compete level 3 so I don't I'm not worried about it. I'm sure she'll get better at it!

 

[Kiwi]

My DD is the same with the shoulder flexibility issue. The shoulder stretching exercises on Geoffrey Taucer's Apex blog could be helpful, I'm going to try these with my DD. You could also try doing the kickover from the mat and then gradually use lower and lower mats until down to ground level. If you keep your arms straight you won't fall on your head.

 

[Galadriel]

a shoulder flexibility thing my own dd did and seened to help -when she was learning this skill was that one where you are sitting on the floor, hands behind you, palms flat to floor, and slide towards lying flat on the floor (not letting arms go out to the side - try linking little fingers) and seeing how near you can go to armpits at floor level - can be done watching tv etc!

 

[emandelsmom]

Thanks you all. We are stretching her and using the same stretches posted on here. Her coaches even taught her dad the stretches so he could do it right. She has made progress, but can't do it without a spot on the floor yet.

 

[Coach.Simon]

Thanks you all. We are stretching her and using the same stretches posted on here. Her coaches even taught her dad the stretches so he could do it right. She has made progress, but can't do it without a spot on the floor yet.

Following along with the looking at the fingernails and making sure armpits/shoulders are over/past her hands before she kicks, something that's helped alot of my students who get stuck on this move is to remind them that not only is it a kick/sweep with their first leg, they also have to push off through the second leg - I find that some of my students concentrate so much on that first leg that the second one lags behind or has much less power than it should...

 

[Kiwi]

I find that some of my students concentrate so much on that first leg that the second one lags behind or has much less power than it should...

I think my DD has kind of the opposite problem - she pushes off but forgets to go into handstand split and puts her feet together like a normal handstand!