Parents Experience with come back/regaining skill after back tuck fall?

[Kcanflip]

Anyone have any experience with coming back and regaining a robhs back tuck after a fall? My daughter had newly learned hers and had just moved to unspotted and had a weird 'freak out' moment doing one, and basically stopped mid air. Kind of landed on her neck area and rolled backwards out of it. I wish I hadn't seen it. Was in the last 15 minutes of gym so I had just gotten there! I've played it cool with her, and have not made a big deal out of it despite it really bothering me. But that's me. With her, it has been about 1 1/2 weeks now and she's got an obvious fear of doing them. Her double robhs is still good, although coach said she was hesitant on those as well so was working on her feeling good about these/back tumbling in general. Coach has her on trampoline for back tuck work for now. No floor work yet. Seems like she's going to take it slow coming back and build her confidence back up. Just curious if anyone has a similar experience and wondering what to expect as far as how long it could take for her to get this skill back again. I am guessing, it is very dependent on the kid. But just curious on other experiences to get an idea of how other kiddos have dealt with this happening.

 

[gracyomalley]

sometimes the falls are no biggy and sometimes they set off a whole ugly back tumbling thing....which can last years....

going back to basics and slowly progressing is important, and not pushing her. also, just lots and lots of BTs - can she do standing BT or BT off of blocks, etc also - anything to get her muscle memory to have it dialed in so the "freaks outs" don't happen - most "freak out" moments are with skills not completely down.

Whatever you do, be patient....DD just finally started really back tumbling again (not twisting though) after 9 months of complete inability to do anything out of a RO BHS - other than 90K BHS in a row. and I don't know if she'll ever connect multiple backwards flight elements on beam again...there was lots of pressure/tears/etc put on her by a previous coach who meant well....and I didn't help because I didn't understand...so hoping you can avoid all that....

On the other hand, she may hop up and do it great next week - with other falls my DD has done that, and my boys do....

 

[raenndrops]

FWIW, it can take quite a while. OG had a fall in warm ups for a meet - Old L6. No concussion, so she was still able to compete. She opted to do RO2BHS instead. She would do spotted on air track occasionally for the next month, but froze when it came to putting it on the floor (even with a coach spotting). We had a coach that would carry her through the entire back tuck which helped... then the coach moved away. No back tuck for 18 months.
Had to go back to basics and build up.
Sounds like that is what your gym is doing, so she should be good.
Every gymnast is different. Could be 2-3 weeks and could be 2 years. Good luck!

 

[Kcanflip]

sometimes the falls are no biggy and sometimes they set off a whole ugly back tumbling thing....which can last years....

going back to basics and slowly progressing is important, and not pushing her. also, just lots and lots of BTs - can she do standing BT or BT off of blocks, etc also - anything to get her muscle memory to have it dialed in so the "freaks outs" don't happen - most "freak out" moments are with skills not completely down.

Whatever you do, be patient....DD just finally started really back tumbling again (not twisting though) after 9 months of complete inability to do anything out of a RO BHS - other than 90K BHS in a row. and I don't know if she'll ever connect multiple backwards flight elements on beam again...there was lots of pressure/tears/etc put on her by a previous coach who meant well....and I didn't help because I didn't understand...so hoping you can avoid all that....

On the other hand, she may hop up and do it great next week - with other falls my DD has done that, and my boys do....

Thank you! I am really hoping that it is a quick thing. But I'm prepared for the worst. The good thing is...she's got some options as far as competing. She won't do 4 again, but could do 5 USAG in the fall if things progress really really fast here. Or state stream 5 and/or 6 (non-USAG but same routines) in the spring. Or Xcel Gold in the spring. Or a score out of 5 USAG late in the year and then go on to do USAG 6. Learning towards the late season score out of 5. That would give us anywhere from 4-6 more months. So taking it day by day. And knowing she's got some options helps keep the pressure off. Was it a fall on beam or floor that caused your DD to block?

 

[Kcanflip]

FWIW, it can take quite a while. OG had a fall in warm ups for a meet - Old L6. No concussion, so she was still able to compete. She opted to do RO2BHS instead. She would do spotted on air track occasionally for the next month, but froze when it came to putting it on the floor (even with a coach spotting). We had a coach that would carry her through the entire back tuck which helped... then the coach moved away. No back tuck for 18 months.
Had to go back to basics and build up.
Sounds like that is what your gym is doing, so she should be good.
Every gymnast is different. Could be 2-3 weeks and could be 2 years. Good luck!

Just curious...what was the deduction like for her substituting the RO2BHS for the tuck? Did she have to compete New level 5 again the following year? 18 months...yowzers! That had to have been hard for your gymmie as well as yourself. But kudos to her for sticking it out and it sounds like eventually getting it back! Hope she is doing well these days. And thank you for the insight!

 

[gymdog]

Most likely if she did a back tuck to her head/neck she already had a vestibular issue. Now the result of that has caused fear. Once she has the feeling and orientation back, she will likely realize it and be able to overcome the fear. Non spotting backward progressions are necessary until she does.

 

[raenndrops]

Just curious...what was the deduction like for her substituting the RO2BHS for the tuck? Did she have to compete New level 5 again the following year? 18 months...yowzers! That had to have been hard for your gymmie as well as yourself. But kudos to her for sticking it out and it sounds like eventually getting it back! Hope she is doing well these days. And thank you for the insight!

She actually took a 2 month break and when she came back, she competed Xcel Gold (no pressure to have the BT). She did put the tuck into about half her routines the following season.
If I recall correctly (which I may not due to "concussion brain"), the deduction for the substitution was the value of the back tuck plus form deductions. BUT she didn't take a deduction for omitting the element (2x the value) or breaking the series (I forget). She also got her highest score of the season on floor!

She is still dealing with issues off and on, but it is PTSD related. When she goes for it, it is beautiful! She needs it back this season because she wants to compete Platinum after taking all of last season off.

 

[Kcanflip]

Most likely if she did a back tuck to her head/neck she already had a vestibular issue. Now the result of that has caused fear. Once she has the feeling and orientation back, she will likely realize it and be able to overcome the fear. Non spotting backward progressions are necessary until she does.

With vestibular it is a feeling of being lost in the air, correct? I really feel like she just got scared last minute and didn't commit...just too late to stop herself after a really nice set and good height. She hasn't mentioned feeling 'lost' or anything. But who knows...she's at the right age for vestibular from what I've read! I also think sometimes her power (especially being older and stronger) is scary to her.

 

[gracyomalley]

Thank you! I am really hoping that it is a quick thing. But I'm prepared for the worst. The good thing is...she's got some options as far as competing. She won't do 4 again, but could do 5 USAG in the fall if things progress really really fast here. Or state stream 5 and/or 6 (non-USAG but same routines) in the spring. Or Xcel Gold in the spring. Or a score out of 5 USAG late in the year and then go on to do USAG 6. Learning towards the late season score out of 5. That would give us anywhere from 4-6 more months. So taking it day by day. And knowing she's got some options helps keep the pressure off. Was it a fall on beam or floor that caused your DD to block?

No clear fall, although she did fall on bhs to layout step out on beam.. But she was already having issues. With her it's clear its vestibular (now). She even sees stars swinging on bars. But fear of the lost feeling became a huge factor then self esteem. She's not afraid of getting hurt at all.

Your girl has lots of choices...as long as she's patient with herself it will hopefully pass