Tumbling with eyes closed

[justanothergymmom]

DD tumbles on floor with her eyes closed. She opens them just before she is ready to land. Is this normal or even safe?

 

[All Chalked Up]

Most gymnasts I know tumble w/ eyes closed though Coach always tells us to have them open the whole time.

 

[Dezi]

I do not know if my dd tumbles with her eyes open or not but last year she kept missing the high bar when jumping to it, one day she got it she was so excited! When we got in the car she said "it is so much easier to catch the bar when you leave your eyes open" yes she had been jumping with her eyes closed all that time

 

[flipandtwist]

Honestly, it is very important to keep your eyes open. Especially when it comes to competition, and floors are different, you won't always get the same height and need to see where you are. Or when your doing multitple backhandsprings you need to make sure you don't run off the floor.

 

[gymdog]

How do you know her eyes are closed? Do you just think this or is she saying this? If she is saying this, the speed of the tumbling might be confusing her (vestibular problem). Visual feedback is very important for balance. Try standing on one leg and closing your eyes. You'll see it is probably not likely a tumbling run would be completed with closed eyes. You would stop after the first skill. If she is actually somehow tumbling with her eyes closed, then she should go slower and do standing series with her eyes open.

 

[justanothergymmom]

I do not know if my dd tumbles with her eyes open or not but last year she kept missing the high bar when jumping to it, one day she got it she was so excited! When we got in the car she said "it is so much easier to catch the bar when you leave your eyes open" yes she had been jumping with her eyes closed all that time

Very funny!!! LOL!!!

How do you know her eyes are closed? Do you just think this or is she saying this? If she is saying this, the speed of the tumbling might be confusing her (vestibular problem). Visual feedback is very important for balance. Try standing on one leg and closing your eyes. You'll see it is probably not likely a tumbling run would be completed with closed eyes. You would stop after the first skill. If she is actually somehow tumbling with her eyes closed, then she should go slower and do standing series with her eyes open.

At 1st I thought the same thing, but actually a coach noticed this and brought it to her attention a little while ago. She just mentioned it to me again tonight that she still does it. She takes off with them open, FHS or RO BHS with them open, then closes them when she is in the air or twisting. What is a "standing series"?

 

[Optionals United]

when i am first learning a new skill i close my eyes which is a bad habit. for me as i get more comfortable with the skills my eyes will open. when i twist im not sure if my eyes are open or if i am just twisting fast enough for me not to see anything. it is definetly something you might want her to work out of for reasons other posters said above.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

they gotta have their eyes open.

 

[justanothergymmom]

She does open them to spot her landing but says she gets a little dizzy if they are open mid-air while she twists. I guess I should tell her to bring this to her new coach's attention. She is working L9/L10 passes and is able to land and (most of the time) stick her tumbling this way!

 

[fuzi]

When I danced and was doing pirouettes and such, I would start my turn, blink and then spot my finishing point. I got really dizzy seeing the world spin and this was how I prevented it. Was this ideal? No. Did I do the skills successfully? Yes.

I would suggest that your daughter bring this to her coaches attention, but ultimately, what works is what works. If she is already a level 9, it may be hard to change. Eyes open is ideal, but hey, there are blind gymnasts.

 

[gymdog]

At 1st I thought the same thing, but actually a coach noticed this and brought it to her attention a little while ago. She just mentioned it to me again tonight that she still does it. She takes off with them open, FHS or RO BHS with them open, then closes them when she is in the air or twisting. What is a "standing series"?

Just not running into it (something slower). Of course she wouldn't do her hardest tumbling this way. How does she feel when she tumbles? Does she complain about this? It seems like something that would be difficult for an observer to really accurately judge, to be honest, particularly only when the gymnast is actually flipping or twisting. How does she do on the beam doing a beam series?

 

[haggy]

doing gymnastics with your eyes closed can be VERY dangerous. a girl at my gym closed her eyes while doing a fly-a-way and broke her toe, pulling her out of most of the competition season! when you close your eyes, you don't know where you are so i'd suggest opening your eyes!

 

[Kiwi]

This is interesting, I thought it was just me. When I was first learning a front tuck off the end of the tumble track a coach first noticed I had my eyes closed and since then I have noticed it happens automatically. I have to practice it over and over with my eyes open, I mean literally concentrating really hard on keeping them open, and it does feel quite weird.

 

[taniawilliams]

They must have their eyes open!

 

[bribri514]

How do you know her eyes are closed? Do you just think this or is she saying this? If she is saying this, the speed of the tumbling might be confusing her (vestibular problem). Visual feedback is very important for balance. Try standing on one leg and closing your eyes. You'll see it is probably not likely a tumbling run would be completed with closed eyes. You would stop after the first skill. If she is actually somehow tumbling with her eyes closed, then she should go slower and do standing series with her eyes open.

I never thought about that, that's really cool. it also might explain why i've never ever closed my eyes in gym (even when other girls did). i don't have much (if any) balance from my inner ears and i compensate with everything being visual.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

Your eyes cannot adjust quickly enough when you suddenly look to a different spot, so instead you are effectively blind for a fraction of a second. So unless you're actually observing her tumbling with her eyes closed, she may just be reporting a natural phenomenon that happens to everybody. I don't really see anything but my hands hitting the mat on handsprings when I tumble, until I look up to spot the landing.

 

[GymSurvivor]

This may not be the case for other people but for me it's very important in spotting with my back tumbling like tucks and layouts. I really need to spot the wall so my head is not tempted to through back or anything.