Coaches Landing Flyaways

[Jabba]

One of my gymnasts is having a really hard time landing (tucked) flyaways. She does them fine into pit: height and rotation are good, but over-rotates to her back. Same deal when I put a small mat in - she never opens up to land. She says she can see when she's supposed to open up and is not clearly not afraid of throwing the skill, but yet doesn't open and land. Has anyone seen this before? Any drills/ideas to help? I've tried having her do a piked flyaway, but she said she thought she was trying it and it looked exactly the same (so tucked). She says no, but I definitely think it's tied to a fear of landing it, but I'm not sure what drills i can create to simulate how to land something like this. Maybe rolling backward into pit off a block? This is a very hardworking, honest gymnast, so I know she honestly thinks she is trying to do it. It's very frustrating for both gymnast and coach. Any/all help is greatly appreciated - thanks!

 

[JBS]

Got a video?....

 

[Jabba]

No, I dont, sorry. :/ ...Basically instead of opening up to land, she stays in the tuck and rides it all the way to her back. It's like she has a mental block on the landing part.

 

[JBS]

Back tucks and gainer back tucks on trampoline.

Be careful with the gainers...the safest way to work them is with an overhead spotting rig.

EDIT: You don't need to see a huge travel in the gainer...just the concept of moving forward and flipping backwards.

 

[Jabba]

Gainers make perfect sense to me - might be hard getting her to do that though. We have a spotting rig, but I'm not sure how accessible it will be until at least our weekend practice. Our tumbltrak is right next to pit bar though, so maybe alternating flyaways w/ back tucks on there, focusing on the landing, will make something "click." Thanks!

 

[catou]

You could also give her a verbal cue when she needs to open. When my gymnasts learned their dismount, told them hop! the moment I wanted them to do a specific action. If she can do a back tuck on trampoline, use the same cue, so she can associate the two skills together.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

or stack a couple of more mats and bring the landing up to her. it will help with her orientation. then you can peel mats away.

or put a real soft resi on the loose foam. now be patient with this next part and give her some space to independently work on this instruction. tell her to land on her hands and knees at the same time. understand?

 

[Jabba]

I've tried the verbal cues - she doesnt seem to open when I say to. But she does say she sees the floor/end of mat, so it's not that she is unaware of where she is in the air. I will, however, try them with the back tuck on tramp and see if she can relate the flyaway to that. Tucks on floor and tramp are not an issue for her.

I'm afraid to add more mats. Since she's missing her feet entirely, she lands back on her back (like a timer for a double but tucked.) With more mats, i think this would hurt her, plus sometimes her arms go behind her, which really scares me. She has been doing them this way into pit and with a thin crash mat on top of the loose foam. Dunno - you are saying have her flip the flyaway but land it on hands and knees on the mat on top of the loose foam?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

raising the floor/mats and bringing the mats up closer to her feet will prevent her from over rotating and missing her feet. that's the point.

you place a thick and soft beat up kind of resi (every gym has one) and put it on top of the loose foam. when she lets go tell her to land on her hands and knees. it's only near a 1/2 somi. this instruction will change what she is currently doing. that's the point.

 

[CoachTodd]

I'm with dunno's post. It sounds like she's trying to flip thus over rotating. The tap and release can do the entire salto in a single flyaway. She may be tapping, releasing, cranking a flip. That usually ends up over rotating. You could add slow layout flyaways in the pit to get her used to a slower rotation.

 

[JBS]

Try this one to slow the flip...

 

[JBS]

Here's more...ignore the ankle weights...

EDIT: Video no longer exists.

 

[Jabba]

Thanks for your responses everyone!! I will try some of these out to the best of my ability tonight. Where she is currently doing the flyaways, the mat and pit foam are already as high up as they can go without her feet hitting. I'm trying to understand, but still not quite sure how I'd put a resi in front of her for this without it being too far away or her kicking it on the tap swing. Slow layout flyaways make sense to me, but she isn't very experience in the tuck flyaway and also a bit mental with things (aren't most gymnasts? )- I'm pretty sure she'd balk at throwing it and I know she would if I put a wedge mat in front of her. I will definitely try this, though - hopefully she'll surprise me!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yes, the resi will be a bit further away. nothing dangerous though if the kid knows what their doing and you trust them to understand and follow the instruction.

 

[iwannacoach]

I was on that same page prior to reading CoachTodd's post. It's sounding like she's kinda loose on the entry into the "tap" and gets an uncontrollable whip into the salto. The problem with the whip is that even if she opens up, she'll be loose through her core, and she may have a sense that a landing is going to be out of control.....which is an extension of her salto's behavior.

Look at her knee/shin lift as she prepares to release the bar. It should be a smooth action that seems a part of the swing. If the knee/shin lift is absent, or is a jerk into a tucked position, you gotta fix that before expecting a predictable, controlled landing.

 

[stargazer]

Are her flyaways close to the bar? If I find myself over-rotating it's because I sometimes close my shoulders to compensate for the tap swing, and end up whipping around and flipping much closer to the bar than I would like. Try having her do a very open tuck, while keeping her arms at ther ears the entire time and not grabbing her knees, then progress to tucking less and less. Hopefully she'll balk less at this then a straight layout, and I've found it really helpful for fixing my flyaways and then learning layouts.

I love the drills that everyone has posted, I'm gonna try some out myself!

 

[Jabba]

We didnt have a lot of time to work on them, but she made a little bit of progress with this last night.

iwannacoach, I think you are onto something! I'm going to watch her tap more closely tonight, but it sounds like that is what she could be doing. Stargazer, i'll look at her shoulders too. seems like that could be it also, or maybe a combination of both.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Spotting belt ?

 

[JBS]

Spotting belt ?

One of the best ways to teach flyaways. I am a big fan of spotting rigs on all events.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

so is my back...