scared of beam

[lilgymmom]

Any suggestions for a Level 3 who is having trouble doing her handstand on the beam? she has beautiful form on the floor, but is scared to pieces up on that beam. she falls EVERY time when doing a full out handstand. The only way she can stick it, is for her to do a teeny tiny "baby" handstand, which doesn't look pretty.

Any suggestions on drills we can do at home?

 

[MWGC-Gymnast]

Hi.
When i was younger i had exactly the same problem as your daughter.
In my back garden my mum put a line of flour on the grass and told me to pretend it was like a beam. Eventually i became good at the whole line thing and gradually moved to the beam
Hope this helps

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

I am working with a girl @ DD's gym with a similar problem. She kick's to about a 3/4 handstand but never all the way up. What u try to do is have her do one on her own then on the next one catch her and take her from 3/4 to vertical so she can feel it. Then have her do several on her own, then pull her to vertical again.

 

[floorlover14]

I actually HAVE that problem with the handstands right now. I had never actually attempted it on the beam without spot before until my last meet. I just went for it and kicked up. It was definitely not all the way though. I kicked to about 3/4. I think a good thing to do would be to have her try it on a small beam and do a few. Then a medium beam (if you have one) and then the high beam. We have a padded beam at our gym so the people who are scared can work on that because it doesn't hurt if you fall or straddle it.

 

[bogwoppit]

Just give her more time to practice. Being up on the beam is scary enough without doing HS! The fear is probably the fear of going over and crashing badly. If that is the case teaching her how to save a hs that has gone too far is a good thing and she can do that on the floor even at home. Once she learns how to get out of a crashing HS on the floor she will feel safer on the beam. Also once she learns to control her HS all the times it will improve.

 

[tabgymnast926]

I have just gotten over the same problem. What I did was just worked myself up. I would do a little handstand and then get a little bit bigger each time. Or she could just keep doing big handstands untill she feels comfy with them.