Tucked Tsuk

[marie83]

It's almost the end of our competition season and I am looking forward to continuing to work on some new skills with the gymnasts.

The main skill I'm looking for drills for is the tucked tsuk.

I have 3, possibly 4 gymnasts who could really do with learning this. They all have good half ons and can all half on over a 1m platform to land on their backs into the pit with nice straight/hollow bodies. I'm planning on stacking up mats to the same height from tomorrow onwards so that they really HAVE to block off the top.
3 of the girls have done lots of tsuks with support but as soon as I step away, all just go back to landing on their back
Are there any really good conditioning exercises I can get them to do whilst they wait for their turns?
We also do half on tuck back off the 1m platform turned around lengthways - Ideally I need to get them doing this on 120cm as that is the height the vault will need to be, but I wanted to start lower!
Are there any other drills I can have them doing?


Thanks in advance!

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

If you have a pit: we do tsuk drills off of a wedge/cheese mat. The higher side of the mat is at the edge of the floor, and the gymnast runs up, hurdles with her front foot on the low end of the mat, and places her hands at the top of the wedge as if it were a table, and flips into the pit. This is good because there is less fear associated with flipping in this situation, and it is the same basic motion as a tsuk over the table.

 

[marie83]

We do have a pit, but it is a covered foam pit, so it is slightly higher than the tumble track - we only have small cheese mats at our gym and when you put the high end by the pit they are the same level! I have thought about putting one on top of the other before, but they slide off each other and it becomes a very steep incline! I'll see if I can think of anything else though as I like the idea! I saw a video on youtube of a similar set up but with 2 springboards on top of each other so I might try that!

 

[CalEliteCoach]

If you have a competitive style trampoline, you can do...
Cody
back drop pull-over
back 1 1/4

I highly encourage teaching a 1/4 on rather than a 1/2 on to the table. We use the double board drill you mentioned from the web video. Lots of double flipping will also aid spatial awarness and give the confedience to flip Tsuks. We do not have loose foam pit, but through tons of drills we have kids training tuck, pike, layout,and tucked Tsuk full.

 

[CoachTodd]

I would suggest trying a pike in your drills as well. It seems to keep most kids from balling up in the tuck too early. I coached one girls whose pike tsuk was 2 feet higher than the tucked one for that exact reason. It's also worth more at level 8.

 

[marie83]

I have noticed that too coachtodd! We have one girl who physically can't seem to tuck so she pikes (Still with support though!)
We've not had anyone compete a tsuk yet at our club so I'm sure as soon as one gets it, they'll all realise it's not that scary!
Unfortunately the girls I am coaching aren't allowed to pike, it is banned at their level!

 

[CoachTodd]

Then have them learn it piked then bend their legs when they get upside down .

 

[gymalex]

Yevgeny Marchenko once told me that he only teaches pike and layout positions because they're safer. In a pike, you only have 3 places to land- on your back, on your butt or on your feet. When you're in a little ball the chances of injury are much higher. Not sure I fully get it, but I certainly haven't coached an Olympic champion so I'm not about to argue.