Coaches Teaching front & stride circle

[All Chalked Up]

My province just switched to JO this year, and I've been given an older (10-14 YO) group of pre-comp kids since a coach went on maternity leave.
I'm struggling with teaching front hip circle, stride circle (mill circle?), and also a skill that appears to be a frontwards stride circle. Any drills and spotting techniques would be infinitely helpful, since most of the girls are as big or bigger than I am!

 

[GymRays]

I used a lot of these drills to teach these. Shoot Throughs and Stride Circles:

 

[GymRays]

Front Hip Circles:

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Tons of strength , work the front hip, sets of 7, keep belly off the bar and just keep spotting them. Work the single leg shot on pomel horse as a side station. Start working the front stride circle in a few months. Once you work the front hip and lots of strength , the mill is easy.

 

[gymdog]

Tons of strength , work the front hip, sets of 7, keep belly off the bar and just keep spotting them. Work the single leg shot on pomel horse as a side station. Start working the front stride circle in a few months. Once you work the front hip and lots of strength , the mill is easy.

I agree with this. I know if compete level 2 the progression is the front mill first. But personally I always teach the front hip circle first. I find that the younger 5-6 year olds are also very affected by their proportions on a front mill circle so it doesn't surprise me that I almost never see it completed without spot in any of the level 2 routines I see on YouTube. There's just too much stuff going on it it for tiny kids. Conversely, big girls seem to get it easily because they quickly figure out how to leverage their legs and their hands can hold the bar more easily. Little kids just collapse and get stuck at the bottom and often can't hang on if they slip back...then they get afraid, and don't go into the skill properly, which causes them to slip....


The front hip circle, while often regarded as more technically difficult, doesn't present these problems. Thus it's easier to get more repetitions in without feeling everyone must be spotted on every attempt. In addition to doing Jason's drills, every practice work on:

Hanging in a tuck, toes to the bar, candlestick, etc all with good form
Hollow swings progressing to regripping the car simultaneously
Crossing the bar hanging user it in both grips, crossing the bar in front support

 

[raenndrops]

Tons of strength , work the front hip, sets of 7, keep belly off the bar and just keep spotting them. Work the single leg shot on pomel horse as a side station. Start working the front stride circle in a few months. Once you work the front hip and lots of strength , the mill is easy.

This is not true for all... My YG has had a very pretty Front Hip circle for 3+ years now. She has good strength too... to this day, she cannot do a mill circle. It is the wrist shift that gets her... same problem with her kip ... It should be simple once you know the problem to FIX it, but there is a disconnect between her brain and her wrists

 

[Deleted member 14190]

This is not true for all... My YG has had a very pretty Front Hip circle for 3+ years now. She has good strength too... to this day, she cannot do a mill circle. It is the wrist shift that gets her... same problem with her kip ... It should be simple once you know the problem to FIX it, but there is a disconnect between her brain and her wrists

Wait, so after 3 years she is in level 3 still????

 

[raenndrops]

Wait, so after 3 years she is in level 3 still????

She is doing Xcel Gold now.
She did 2 years of Old L4 (that was her only missing skill) and 1 year of New L3. She would have been doing a FOURTH year at this level because of missing the kip and beam cartwheel, but HC decided her work ethic was strong enough to compete Optional routines (and she can compete without her missing skills).
She has had a long hang pullover for 2.5 years... has had her RO2BHS for 3 years... has a FHS stepout on floor (she does it to a RO because it is cleaner than her FHS to 2 feet)... is training FT and ROBHSBT.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

She is doing Xcel Gold now.
She did 2 years of Old L4 (that was her only missing skill) and 1 year of New L3. She would have been doing a FOURTH year at this level because of missing the kip and beam cartwheel, but HC decided her work ethic was strong enough to compete Optional routines (and she can compete without her missing skills).
She has had a long hang pullover for 2.5 years... has had her RO2BHS for 3 years... has a FHS stepout on floor (she does it to a RO because it is cleaner than her FHS to 2 feet)... is training FT and ROBHSBT.

No offence but after 3 years she should be able to kip and certainly Front mill, Can she hang in a L seat (hold for 3 seconds), then lift her toes to the bar(hold for 3 seconds) with out bending her legs and then from that position lift her thighs to the bar and hold for 3 seconds? Can she hang in an L seat, hold the L and do a pullover without letting her hips straighten or legs bend?

 

[gymdog]

Had a child come to me beginning of the summer, could not do anything on bars other than a forward roll and back hip circle (sort of). Took her to level 3. She was nowhere near a shoot through, and couldn't even press up and through without a spot. Fast forward 6 months, has straight arm front hip, mill circle with straight arms no knee on the bar (sometimes lacks perfectly tight legs though), scores above 9.

Some kids might not be able to get it but that's definitely not the norm for kids above 5-6 years old. I ended up coaching an older Xcel bronze group last year, made up mostly of beginners who were going to move to levels, most of them were around 8-9. They could all do a mill circle pretty quickly, as I said in my experience with slightly bigger hands it's easier for them to hold on when they fall back and so they learn to leverage their legs pretty quickly. You don't even have to shift your wrists to get up if you leverage your legs, tons of kids do that. They won't get a straight arm mill circle, but they can learn how to get up that way, then they can learn how to shift in conjunction with the legs.

5-6 years old it's different. They can't hold on as well.