Coaches Requesting Back Handspring Drills for a beginner

[shadow]

I do private lessons with a girl who wants to learn a back handspring. I have her doing back limbers and back handsprings over a barrels and those are looking great. She also does jump body slams and those look good also. When I spot her in a resi pit, she brings her legs up way before she starts to go backwards... it's a little hard to explain... when she jumps back, she literally looks like an "L" in the air. Its almost like she is going for a standing pike! Does anyone have drills that help with keeping the legs down? It would really help a bunch!

 

[stargazer]

I'm still trying to figure out in my head if this would work or not, but a useful drill for teaching back handspring shapes is to do the back handspring, stop in handstand and fall to stomach with tight body, bum tucked under and arms straight. Up onto a thick mat of course. She will probably end up landing in a kind of 'tent' position with her hands and feet on the ground and bum in the air if she makes the L shape, so it will reinforce very quickly that she needs to stretch her body throughout the skill. You should probably spot her heavily until she gets a feel for the skill. It's a great drill for reinforcing the quick drive back with the arms, and pushing up through the shoulders as the gymnast's hands hit the floor. Good luck

 

[Gymsanity]

The jumping 'L' isn't as uncommon as you would think (unfortunately). There are many drills to help with it, and it sounds like you are doing a good job progressing her. Depending on her size/your size, the best fix I've found for that problem is to have them start on a cheese, FIRMLY hold on to their ankle, have them jump into their BHS while you use your other hand on their lower back or seat to force them into the correct arch position. I keep their feet on the cheese, or close to it as I support most of their weight. It's what I call a half BHS. From there, just give them a little help with the snap over/down. It's coach intensive, but produces really good results, and lets the kids see and feel what it should be like. Hope it helps.

 

[shadow]

Thanks for these! I will try these tonight when we have the lesson. I'm going to try to explain the "L" shape a little better... When I am spotting her I have to physically flip her backwards because her shoulders do not go back. If i wasn't there to spot, she would land flat on her back with her legs sticking strait in the air... in the "L" shape... the other girls I have had lessons with seem to want to put their hands on the floor as fast as possible. This one wants to wait as long as she can before her hands hit... if that makes sense.

 

[BlairBob]

Yes, Stargazer, I used those a long time ago. BHS to prone/pushup position or stomach splat. The boys loved it.

As well, if you can spot a lot of basically BHS to HS. This can also be done with an octagon/boulder.

 

[shadow]

well... she didn't show up tonight so I didn't have the chance to use any of these drills. But I will next time!

 

[iwannacoach]

A common problem in coaching is assuming kids *actually* believe what we tell them because they politely nod every time we explain things. Try making her explain the key elements and why they are key to the skill. It usually doesn't take much time to get to the point where they expose the problem they're having, and why.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this kid thinks her legs, or feet will not follow the rest of her body through the air unless she lifts them into the skill, and she'll continue to do some variation of a Frankenspring that caters to that notion until you convince her to follow the correct model of the skill.

The way she's lifting her legs seems, to me, to be her attempt to help her body get upside down following the logic that if her legs go up and over she'll cause her upper body to go down and under. It's really pretty sound logic, but it fails to consider the need for traveling backward with enough energy, with a stretched body that curves slightly in her upper back and shoulders to help her move through the handstand phase of the skill. I doubt you can get a beginner to swallow that concept whole, and even if you can, she'll lack the strength and awareness during her take off to make it happen just the way it should be, but she'll progress most easily by getting her as close to that model as the two of you can.

If you use drills, consider them as bit size pieces of the mental model she can't swallow in one bite, and convince her that she needs to incorporate those bites into the skill.