Coaches P-bar dismounts, twisting direction

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I have three guys who are learning (or getting ready to learn) front and back tuck dismounts from p-bars.

On a back tuck, is it better that they dismount in a direction that would have them twisting towards the bars if they twist or away from them? To put it in more concrete terms, should a left-twisting gymnast do his back tuck off the left side or the right side? Or does it matter at all?

Same question for front tucks. This one is perhaps more important, since I am almost certain that the best dismount for my oldest guy, given his strengths and weaknesses, would be a front 1/2 or front 1/1. He's a left twister, so should he dismount off the left side or the right side? (So far, he seems more comfortable doing his front off to the left, so he'd be twisting away from the bars)

 

[Rick McCharles]

twist towards the bar

We've always tried to get the guys to twist towards the bar.

With this philosophy, you decide the direction of dismount from PBars based on twist direction. It's bonus if the gymnast does Stutz in the same direction too.

EG. back or front salto from P Bars travels over the left bar for a right twister.

If you check the gymnasts who dismounted twisting in the past, I think you'll find 80%+ do it this way.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Why is this?

 

[infinitegymcoach]

We teach our boys to twist away from the bar. This helps them to keep a "popping action" and pushing away from the bar. Watch clips of people who do a 1/2 off (widely used to recieve full credit on eg V) and you will see most with an away from the bar twist. Although I do have boys that twist towards the bar as well.