Is this normal?

[ejgymmom]

My daughter steps forward with her left foot when doing handstands and cartwheels. I've just recently noticed that when she does bridge kickovers she kicks with her right foot first. I went back and looked at old videos and she's apparently always done this and I've never noticed. Back in the day when I used to do gymnastics I did everything with my left foot first, including kicking over with my left foot leading. So it seems awkward to me to do it with the "wrong" foot.

I don't think her coaches have ever noticed and since she's only 4 and has only been in preschool classes up to this point (she starts pre-team in April) I don't know if they were looking too hard at what foot was leading. Plus they really don't do too many kickovers in class...but she does work on them at home all the time.

Is it a problem if she is kicking with her right foot first, or will she end up having to go back and relearn how to kick with her left foot first since she leads with her left foot on everything else?

(Sorry so long...hope this all made sense! )

 

[gymdog]

I would change that, personally.

 

[dannolynn]

I do the exact same thing. I put my left foot forward on cartwheels and handstands and I turn to the left. But for back walkovers, I have my right foot forward, and it kicks first. I also do leaps with my right foot forward as well, although I do left split jumps, and left switch leaps (because for leaps, I have to push off of my left foot no matter what kind of leap I'm doing. That makes me do a right split leap and a left switch leap.)

I don't think it's a problem at all. In fact, depending on what type of competitions she plans on doing, it could be an asset. For example, I have a series in my routine where I connect a cartwheel to a back walkover. I don't have to swing my leg through after my cartwheel like most people do with that connection, because I land my lefty cartwheel with my right foot in front, so it is all ready for me to lift it up and do the righty back walkover. Sorry if that was a confusing description, but hopefully you can picture what I mean. I don't really see why it would matter which foot she prefers to use?

 

[Bobby]

I do the exact same thing. I put my left foot forward on cartwheels and handstands and I turn to the left. But for back walkovers, I have my right foot forward, and it kicks first ... I don't think it's a problem at all. In fact, depending on what type of competitions she plans on doing, it could be an asset. For example, I have a series in my routine where I connect a cartwheel to a back walkover. I don't have to swing my leg through after my cartwheel like most people do with that connection ...

Exactly like me (except past tense - I'm retired!!). It's a more solid (less risk of wobbling) beam combination our way (with no swing through of the leg).

 

[CreateMagic]

From what I've noticed teaching, this is fairly common. Kids often start kicking over with the "wrong" leg because their "ready foot" (this is what we call it...you get ready for your skill with your ready foot in front!) is the stronger leg, so it is easier to push off from.

At some point, she'll have to learn to kickover with her left foot also. In the USAG routine texts, they want everything done with their dominant leg. Reversals would be an error.

 

[dannolynn]

CreateMagic - I like your description of the "ready foot." This explains why I do everything the way I do. I thought it was just random, but now that I think about it, I'm just always pushing off of one foot.

I am not in the regular USAG program, so that's why I'm able to keep my weird habits!

 

[ejgymmom]

From what I've noticed teaching, this is fairly common. Kids often start kicking over with the "wrong" leg because their "ready foot" (this is what we call it...you get ready for your skill with your ready foot in front!) is the stronger leg, so it is easier to push off from.

At some point, she'll have to learn to kickover with her left foot also. In the USAG routine texts, they want everything done with their dominant leg. Reversals would be an error.

That's great to know. My husband figured it was she was doing it with the opposite leg for the exact reason you stated, because her left leg is the stronger leg. When she starts her pre-team in a couple of weeks I think I might go ahead and mention it to her coach just so she's aware right from the start. I try not to "coach" my daughter at home because she's stubborn and gets frustrated at me so I'll probably let it be and let her coach correct it.

Thanks for the responses!!

 

[gymdog]

They may be able to reverse the walk/kick over in the compulsory routines without deduction. I would change it to the dominant split and step down for those reasons alone. If she is stepping down from handstand on a different leg she is kicking over from, then that could be a problem when she tries to learn things like beam series, BHS step out, etc. I don't think being able to do cartwheel back walkover is a good enough reason to leave it. I have a definitely dominant side when it comes to flexibility (right split), although my left side is much stronger from being overdeveloped from years of kicking into right ROs and twisting left. Still, my right BWO, FWO, and tick tock are much better and straighter because my right split is better. I can do BWO, FWO, and tick tock as a "lefty" and it probably doesn't look terrible, but it takes more work for me. I think a lot of kids initially keep their dominant leg down simply because it's more stable and they get better balance.

 

[ZJsMom]

That's how I did it as a kid and the cartwheel, backwalkover combo does work nicely that way. My dd used to do backwalkovers right and everything else left, but when she got to level 6, the coach made her switch the backwalkover. It would be easier to switch it now. As I mentioned to someone else on here, dd was upset and had a hard time getting used to the left backwalkover.

 

[starmaker]

My dd has a similar issue. I hadn't noticed till someone here brought it up to me but apparently my dd does all her skills with the right but on her L4 floor routine kicks over with her left. I asked her coach about it and she said it was not a problem.

However, she can do it with both because her bwo on beam is with her right.

 

[slkbeambabe07]

I did kick overs with my Right foot, and cartwheel, roundoffs, twisting, all with my left. i ended up being a level 9 gymnast with no problems! always go with what's natural!! don't change it! it causes more problems than it's worth.

 

[slkbeambabe07]

From what I've noticed teaching, this is fairly common. Kids often start kicking over with the "wrong" leg because their "ready foot" (this is what we call it...you get ready for your skill with your ready foot in front!) is the stronger leg, so it is easier to push off from.

At some point, she'll have to learn to kickover with her left foot also. In the USAG routine texts, they want everything done with their dominant leg. Reversals would be an error.

this is incorrect. the texts allow for reversals in fact.

 

[eme777]

My level 4 daughter used to be the same way. The coaches let it go for a little while, until she became comfortable changing it. The reason she told me that she had to make the change is in the floor routine. When scoring, the judges make note of what leg they start w/ & most elements it needs to be consistent. Even if the kickover could be with either leg, when she comes out in a lunge, her right leg is now in front & it will be wrong for the rest of the routine. This is how the coaches explained it to my daughter, so I don't know how accurate this is. She's fine with it now, though, & I think your daughter has plenty of time to correct it, being so young. Just try to make it fun for her & I'm sure she'll be able to learn kicking over with either leg. My middle daughter had to learn many of her skills with both legs & she loves it!

 

[gymnut1]

I have noticed that some children kick over with the 'other' leg to most of their skills. I coach little ones and I teach them backwalkovers. I have found those who kick over on the other leg to their splits and handstands find it difficult to back walkover well because they are in 'wrong' leg splits in their BWO. They often try to change legs in the middle. This has been a particular problem for girls who don't have very good splits to begin with.

I correct it as they are still 5,6 years old with me. I think they need to handstand and BWO with the same leg otherwise they will struggle to BHS step out or BHS step out layout on beam.

I don't think it is quite such a problem if they cartwheel and roundoff the 'other' way to everything else. It is the handstand and kickover/ BWO that need to be the same.

 

[em278]

I was like this too--I did back walkovers, etc with my left leg first and forward/side tumbling with my right. Every new coach I met seemed to really disapprove of this, but it was too late at that time to fix it. To this day I wish someone HAD told me to fix it early on. It became a real pain when I was working on my BHS connections on beam because handstand-step down-bhs seemed so awkward!

 

[JBS]

Although many skills in the USAG routines are reversible, I would change the kick over to the handstand leg.

 

[wendy1972]

It probably will be a problem, when she starts to do walkovers. She will probably want to lead with the opposite foot. Better to change it now. Trust me, switching the way you twist in a full, because your dual footed habits catch up to you, is no fun!!

 

[ejgymmom]

Thanks everyone. We actually had her switch so she kicks with her left foot on her kickovers and she's SO close to having it. At first she always had to be reminded NOT to kick with her right, but now she does it with her left every time without prompting. Hopefully she'll have that kickover back soon!

 

[gymnut1]

i have noticed some clubs have their little ones wear a band on their dominant ankle. They then know to always lead with that leg. Perhaps that might help her for a short time to remember.

 

[ZZMom]

Good Idea!

What a good idea! ZZ is a lefty and there is a tendency for coaches to forget that her dominant leg might be different than a righty's.

Thanks.

Best Wishes

ZZMom