WAG Is there a wrong way to learn a round off?

[JumpingQueen]

My daughter has a new coach now and I notice the way she is telling her to jump into the round off is different, along with other random differences in technique with some of the other skills. Im zeroing in on the round off because it was so obvious to me but is this just like a personal prefence thing that all coaches/ gyms have different styles?

 

[amiandjim]

There is absolutely a wrong way to learn a round-off! Likely, this coach is trying to “fix” your daughter’s hurdle. But, yes, some gyms do have different styles as well.

 

[vagymmomma]

There definitely is. We experienced this last year when a new coach came to our gym. They corrected something with my daughter's hurdle on the round-off (this was at level 9!), but it was the secret sauce to landing her double back on floor. It's always amazing to me what a difference a small change can make.

 

[GymMom4]

Yes, apparently there is. After we switched gyms a year ago we were told that my daughter’s hand placement was wrong going into her roundoff.

Years later it’s tough to change old habits.

Yet another thing they are trying to fix from the old gym. We should have never left our current gym for the one we left because now we are back and she is having to correct technique on a lot of skills.

 

[tpMom]

There's absolutely a wrong way. My daughter recently discovered that after 2 years of practicing. her hand placement was incorrect in her round off. The head coach finally figured it out because she kept going crooked on her bhs entry vault. It took a lot of time and tears to get it fixed, but since she's corrected the problem her tumbling has improved enormously. She went from barely getting a layout around to doing them 4 feet higher and now she's even starting to twist. She also moved her vault drills to the table and even started flipping a few off a mat and into the pit. The correct round off changed her entire experience in the gym.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Yes, most definitely. As a preteam and L3 coach I do my best to start them off correctly with a good hurdle shape, correct hand placement and all the right bits in the right places. But, kids are kids and I swear I am still correcting some roundoffs that *I* taught, and taught correctly, that are now in L 4-5-6 still not right....

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

The roundoff migth be one of the most technical skills in compulsory gymnastics. Yes, lots of ways to do iT wrong, not so many to do iT right

 

[Aussie_coach]

A round off is an incredibly technical skill, there are many, many things that you can do incorrectly. Round off is one of those skills that gymnasts will continue to tweak and improve for many years.

 

[DebraNC]

Should round offs always be taught with a rebound? My daughter's first gym didn't do teach it that way and it almost cost her a spot at another gym during a tryout. That and arm circles for vault seem to be controversial in my area.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

Should round offs always be taught with a rebound? My daughter's first gym didn't do teach it that way and it almost cost her a spot at another gym during a tryout. That and arm circles for vault seem to be controversial in my area.

They cant be taught. Rebounds are a way to get the energy out that is too much coming out of it. The better the roundoff, the higher the rebound. A roundoff stick is almost never technically correct

 

[kiwi2406]

There are about 3 ways to learn a round off correctly and 248740748 times to do it wrong. A round off is a skill that shouldn't be played with out of the gym, because a bad habit in one is really hard to break, especially since it is a skill used in a gymnast's entire career.

 

[JumpingQueen]

This is helpful! I guess I knew the answer, which is why I asked. SO question - what is a right way to go into it, hurdle wise - is jumping from one foot with one knee up OK? Does it have to be two feet down before you jump, etc? We have a new coach and I trust the old coach, he was obsessed with technique and body position down to the pinky and this one doesn't seem to be so particular, plus the hurdle is just different so I'm wanting to make sure she's not learning something that will have to be corrected later. Not that I'm going to tell my daughter how to do it or anything, just curious as I size up this new coach. Thank you !!

 

[gymisforeveryone]

If you are talking about power hurdle from two feet and "normal" hurdle, both are ok. Just different techniques. The power hurdle is usually used more as drill. Our kids learn both

This is the power hurdle

 

[JumpingQueen]

If you are talking about power hurdle from two feet and "normal" hurdle, both are ok. Just different techniques. The power hurdle is usually used more as drill. Our kids learn both

This is the power hurdle

Ohhhh! That makes sense! The power hurdle was probably what I've seen from their drills! Thank you so much for that video!!

 

[kiwi2406]

For hurdles, we often use a 'crash start', which is from two feet, swinging the arms back to set and then step out into your hurdle, but this can only be used from a standstill. When doing a round-off from a run, we are taught to still set with our arms to get power, and make our hurdle long and low as possible instead of straight up in the air.