Coaches Coaching Gymnastics In The New Millenium

[ACoach78]

Some of you may have already surfed by and visited, but if you have not I'd like to invite you to come and check out a new gymnastics coaching blog that my friend and I recently began updating on a more regular basis -


Coaching Gymnastics In The New Millenium


Please take a look, leave some comments, ask questions, and recommend future content. We encourage participation and want this to be a beneficial site for everyone to learn and improve their craft.

The blog has been featured a couple of times on GymnasticsCoaching.com

Thanks
- Chris

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

An excellent blog which I've been following closely, and I didn't even realize that you were one of the ones behind it.

 

[momofchalksters]

I am only a pre-school coach but this blog looks very imformative! I already plan on using some of the handstand tips with my little kiddos!

Thanks Chris!

 

[bogwoppit]

Dodn't realise that was you, I have really enjoyed reading it. Great job!

 

[BarCoach]

I've never seen that site before. Those videos were great. But how do you necessarily know how to teach it right the first time? I can understand and agree with the idea that its better not to have to go back and try to fix bad habits, but coaches will make mistakes. They will think they're teaching something correctly, only to find a better way later, and maybe have to go back and re-teach it anyway. I think the best idea from it is to not rush the kids through things. Make sure they've got a base skill mastered before pushing them on to the next one. Great blog. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ACoach78]

Hey guys, my partner that's doing the site with me, Troy, just put up a great post on developing the front handspring on floor. If you're having trouble with your compulsory front handsprings, you don't want to miss this!!! He just posted Part I of a three-part series. I have already previewed the other two parts and it's some great stuff.

I encourage you to check it out. There are several videos associated with this post.

Coaching Gymnastics In The New Millenium


- Chris

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Great article, and front handsprings are definitely one of my weaker points on floor as a coach.

I'd be curious to hear your opinion on the relative importance of front handsprings; the skill seems to have gone extinct on the men's side, and is only seldom seen on the women's side at the top levels.

(I'll repost this in the blog comments)

 

[Valentin]

Great blog...Thanks Chris and Troy for sharing your know how with us all. Its good to see you Chris getting in there man, its been a while since the good old days on Gymworld. haha

 

[gymnut1]

Im abit confused by the handspring article. Our gym teaches joining the legs in handspring quickly. Even in a handspring step out. I understand the idea that slowing the first leg might slow the acceleration of the handspring but I thought the legs needed to be joined to help the block through the shoulders. Am I misunderstanding that. If you join the legs late don't you just end up with a fast walkover? Or is he saying joing as quickly as possible without allowing the first leg to slow down. I'm confused (haha its not the first time)

 

[gymdog]

is only seldom seen on the women's side at the top levels.

At the elite level, maybe (not really sure, some of the top routines aren't using it much but I don't know). Shawn did FHS full to rudi and Nastia did FHS double front...not sure if she had another FHS pass in there. In general you see a lot of back to front combinations at that level with many athletes having the ability to do it but it still seems like I see a fair amount of FHS passes.

At the JO level say level 8-10 I would say many many girls using some version of FHS FLO either by itself or at the higher levels connected to something else. Punch front tumbling is not uncommon but I would still say less common at the JO levels even. This pretty much would make sense with what I've seen anecdotally because it seems like weaker tumblers, if they can learn an effective FHS, seem to be able to do a better FLO out of it than they can learn punching. That might be due to a difference in focus in the earlier years - of course up until recently we had an aerial rather than a punch front in L6. But I don't know...I can do either, but for some reason I "like" doing it out of a FHS more. It feels more "right." They pretty much have to do FHS FT in L7 anyway.

If they join the legs too early, they're going to stop the drive of the back leg. If you see a kid do a RO and join their legs passing through the vertical stage this becomes probably more apparent because they stop and pike down. On FHS the kids who can't get to the needle kick position well tend to either fall back or land on their heels/in a squat.

 

[gympanda]

Our gym teaches joining the legs in handspring quickly. Even in a handspring step out.

I just wanted to add that at Level 6 if gymnasts are joining their legs in their front handspring step out, they do receive a .1 deduction. During the early 90s the front handspring skills in the compulsory routines were required to show legs together prior to step out, now it is a deduction.

 

[BarCoach]

I was working on floor with the level 5s last night. Watching the girls with better front handsprings, I noticed they naturally bend their back legs in their take offs, and the ones who struggle with front handsprings do not. So they all tried standing front handsprings with bent back legs to get the good push. One of them said, "That's so much easier!". I was glad to hear it. Thanks for the great drills.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I also had my level 4 boys try front handsprings with the back knee bent in the lunge. HUGE difference. Great drills, thanks a ton!

 

[gymdog]

Another coach who tried the back knee weight transfer...worked really well. Some of the kids took awhile to figure out the coordination but when they did it helped. Will continue to work from these positions.