Vault - L7

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

My daughter has always seemed to have vaulting issues. She used to pike over the table, then she was in a tight hollow position for a while. One meet she gets a 9 then next meet 2 weeks later a 7.9. Her coach is fantastic. I was hoping someone could look at her video from states. Maybe someone could say something that would click in her mind.

At one practice the coach was timing her running her vaults looked really powerful. I realized she is arched in the video, but is there a drill to help that maybe her gym does not do? She is really frustrated with her vault scores. Any help would be great.

YouTube - Level 7 Gymnastics MD States, Vault - Age 10
 
Wait, she got a 7.9 for that vault? I mean, it was not a perfect vault, but it's not a bad vault by any stretch of the imagination.

If this is the vault that got a 7.9, I'm as confused as you are.
 
The deduction for angle of repulsion in level 7 is up to 1.0 if she fails to leave the table by vertical, and the arch makes her lowest body part (her feet) even lower when her hands leave the table. Add that to the arch in all three phases, lack of height, distance, and dynamics, and you could definitely have a seemingly low score.
 
Sorry, the score for this vault was an 8.5. Back in Feb she got a 7.9 for her vault and yet 2 weeks earlier she got a 9.025. Her one coach even told her in between the first and second vault in this video to pull in her belly. My poor daughter is one of the lowest scoring vaulters on the team. Only 2 of the 7 on the team usually get a 9.1 or better. Don't get me wrong...I am so proud of her accomplishments this year. She was having issues on the high bar and worked so hard these last couple of weeks on her single giant - flyaway. I hate to see her get so discouraged with vault.
 
Last edited:
If I were judging from the angle of the video I would have taken .4 in repulsion, .25 arch (total all phases), .3 height, .2 distance, .15 dynamics & .1 for the step on the landing. Giving me an 8.6, so in range with the judge on the floor. She needs to have a more explosive vault, that is why she isn't scoring as well as it feels like she should. .5 in height and distance can really hurt...she should work on a stronger repulsion and pay attention to the angle she is hitting the vault, because is she is already past vertical when her hands hit, she will automatically be taking a significant deduction in repulsion.
 
I used to arch a lot (and i mean A LOT) in my vaults, so I would practice running up to the vault table and doing something similar to the level 4 vault. Basically all you do is stack up mats all the way to the height of the vaulting table and when you vault you block your hands off the table onto to mat. I like this drill because i can work on being hollow with out worrying about the landing. Hope this helped!
-GCG
 
Sorry, the score for this vault was an 8.5. Back in Feb she got a 7.9 for her vault and yet 2 weeks earlier she got a 9.025. Her one coach even told her in between the first and second vault in this video to pull in her belly. My poor daughter is one of the lowest scoring vaulters on the team. Only 2 of the 7 on the team usually get a 9.1 or better. Don't get me wrong...I am so proud of her accomplishments this year. She was having issues on the high bar and worked so hard these last couple of weeks on her single giant - flyaway. I hate to see her get so discouraged with vault.

Were you competing in different states? The higher scored vault was probably still better, but the extent of that score range could have been exacerbated because judging in MD tends to be significantly harder than in VA. It would be better to look at where she fell within the group. It sounds like her vault improved over the course of the season, so I would encourage to think of that long term improvement rather than fixate on any outlier scores - which sometimes happen. If she's continuing to improve, she'll continue to improve. She'll get more power when she's a bit bigger, and she'll be working on different vaults. It may not be her strongest event but if she was working hard and trying her best I would be pleased with how her vault is looking right now as a coach...she looks right on track.
 
O.K., I'm no expert, but here goes.....

Firstly, I am in agreement with gympanda's comments as far as deductions. Here is where I think they come from:

1) The Run. Her run is not bad, but I would like to see a longer stride and perhaps fewer steps. She should be reaching max. speed right before the board.

2) The hurdle looks pretty good.

3) There is a slight forward lean on the board, which makes it hard to get the heels up fast and contact the table early.

4) Due to #3, the hands contact the table a little too late. If you drew a straight line from hands to feet (ignoring the arch), she is almost vertical by the time her hands hit.

5) Body Position on the table. Not only is the arch a deduction, but it shows a lack of body tension in the stomach and lower back (this does not look like a tight arch to me). Kinetic Energy is transmitted better through rigid objects, so the loose arch results in poorer repulsion from the table.

6) The block through the shoulders is too slow (body is past vertical), in part due to the faults above.

7) Post flight is low and short, due to poor dynamics and the arch position over the top of the table.

Just my opinion, others feel free to share.
 
I don't have any tech pointers to share. But, as another parent, I will share my observation.

Just out of curiosity, is this her first season competing at L7? If not, please discard the rest of this post as it is not relevant.

Otherwise, it could explain her and your frustration. Because it's typically the same vault going from L6 to L7, many new L7s and their parents have the misconception that the judging should be the same. In these cases, the once low to mid 9s have all of a sudden become low 8 and high 7s (even with the same performance). This all seems unjust.

The far more qualified posters above have pointed out the areas of deduction. And, they are inline with my limited understanding. Nonetheless, please note that at L7 repulsion (block power, angle, position, height, etc.) is far more heavily weighed in scoring than run, body position and landing.

What adds to the confusion is the occasional inconsistency in judging -- meaning what the judges look for on that day? For instance, I have been to one meet where a big part of vault scoring on that day is the landing. Our gym's focus is the block. An explosive block makes landing far harder than a timid one. Everyone but one on our team had a huge deduction because of the step on landing (our team typically gets low to mid 9s), but other gyms whose vaults were far worse than your daughter's all had 9s (sorry if that doesn't come out right). So, you need to take that into consideration and not get too hung up on the fluctuation in score from meet to meet. Just make sure she understands what she needs to work on and where the deductions took place (her coaches should know). Her vault, like everything else, will get better in time. Best of luck to you guys.
 

New Posts

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Gymnaverse :: Recent Activity

College Gym News

New Posts

Back