Coaches closing hips when hand hit the vault

[coach1234]

I have a gymnast who goes onto the in a good shape on her front handspring but as soon as her hands hit the vault she closes her hips and pikes, is there any drills/conditioning that i can do to get the to stop this?

 

[twinklytoes9468]

I can't quite visualise what you mean? I see a gazillion kids pike up to the vault, but i don't think that is what you mean? What happens after her hands hit? Is there a push? Maybe if you could describe the 'what happens next' How old is the gymnast ,and does she understand what she is aiming for?

 

[wordsmith]

How severe is the pike? Does she simultaneously duck her head?

I know a number of coaches seem to intentionally have their gymnasts hollow their shapes immediately upon blocking off the table.

I personally don't like that and teach compulsory kids to spot their hands with their eyes upon leaving the table (until turning upright) and stay tall and stretched (not arched).

 

[eucoach]

I had a gymnast like that and for her the problem was that she could not generate enough power from a slow run and also had problems punching the board right (weak coordination and little power). Therefore she was hitting the table only slightly above horizontal and had to start piking at about 45° from vertical in order to make it over the table. I would have never let her do that vault if she did not have to and all the other events were fine.

She got better with tons of running and jumping drills and vaults over lower surfaces.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Fix the hurdle and arm circle first. Low hurdle an arms swinging forward off the board. Typically kids who hit the board with no arm swing or it's too early will pike on. If those are good, tell her to squeeze her butt. It's pretty much impossible to pike if you are squeezing your butt.

 

[wordsmith]

Hmm. I dismissed the notion that the gymnast was piking right off the springboard, based upon the way it was described:

I have a gymnast who goes onto the in a good shape on her front handspring but as soon as her hands hit the vault she closes her hips and pikes,

I suppose I misinterpreted, thinking the gymnast left the springboard straight body ("in a good shape") and only piked upon blocking.

An Australian coach I once worked with used to do board approach drills for rotation. The front handspring is a deadend vault that doesn't really lead to anything. So he used to put the board way up close to the table and have gymnasts work on establishing rotation off the board (arm circle, feet in front and punching hard. If the gymnast did it right and punched hard enough, she'd rotate through a hollow layout to her back; arms would be by the ears following the arm circle and stay there. If there wasn't enough height on the punch, the hands would touch but the body shape would fall hollow- not flat back. And the gymnast would land on the front end of the table (covered by an 8 incher) and not sail out.

A couple of weeks before competition, he'd pull the springboard back to their normal handspring setting and they would naturally reach out to the table.

 

[Aero]

An Australian coach I once worked with used to do board approach drills for rotation. The front handspring is a deadend vault that doesn't really lead to anything. So he used to put the board way up close to the table and have gymnasts work on establishing rotation off the board (arm circle, feet in front and punching hard. If the gymnast did it right and punched hard enough, she'd rotate through a hollow layout to her back; arms would be by the ears following the arm circle and stay there. If there wasn't enough height on the punch, the hands would touch but the body shape would fall hollow- not flat back. And the gymnast would land on the front end of the table (covered by an 8 incher) and not sail out.

A couple of weeks before competition, he'd pull the springboard back to their normal handspring setting and they would naturally reach out to the table.

This sounds interesting, but I'm having a hard time understanding. Could you explain it a bit different, or perhaps provide a video?

 

[coachmolly]

I'm picturing this, but I could be way off:

 

[Deleted member 14190]

I'm picturing this, but I could be way off:

good drill but they all hurdle too high.

 

[coachmolly]

good drill but they all hurdle too high.

Not mine, I just saw it on Swing Big the other day and thought it sounded like the drill that Wordsmith was talking about. Might try it with my kids, though. And I will look out for that high hurdle.

 

[wordsmith]

I'm picturing this, but I could be way off:

It's kind of like this; but definitely with feet in front and arm circle that freezes arms by the ears (no arm drop to increase rotation; they all seem to be leaning in and ducking their heads along with the arms to establish rotation).