Coaches What were they thinking?

[CoachTodd]

I have one girl that cheers at one gym but comes to me for tumbling. Her mom says she doesn't let her go to the tumbling classes at the other gym and she likes that I make sure she does the skill with proper technique. I found the other gym's Facebook page and they actually posted videos of their tumbling. It scared me half to death.
the second kid in the video does a frog legged back face spring. There are several round off back tucks at waist height. If this place actually thinks these tumbling passes were good enough to post, God help their kids.

 

[All Chalked Up]

Sounds like most cheerleaders I see

 

[CoachTodd]

I spend a lot of time correcting technique so the advanced girls can learn to do a correct Full.

 

[All Chalked Up]

I know a former cheerleader turned gymnastics coach who did a full by doing a complete back layout followed by full turn before he hit the ground.

Thankfully since coaching gym he picked up the proper way!

I know a cheer coach who teaches BHS with a sponge held under their chin. I can see that for a standing back tuck, but it seems counter-productive in a back handspring!

 

[CoachTodd]

I like the head in for back handsprings myself. too many kids throw their heads back and land with their head sticking out in the handstand phase.

 

[All Chalked Up]

Care to elaborate? I don't really understand how that could be done!

 

[iwannacoach]

Care to elaborate? I don't really understand how that could be done!

The first and most important part of a back handspring is the jump. If directed correctly and with enough speed/energy the rest of the bhs pretty much happens with little effort until the hands get to the floor, and an arched neck isn't going to help the push into a snap down.

Try jumping any direction you care to while keeping your head tilted back and chest arched out (a by product of the head position) during the push into the jump. It doesn't work nearly as well as when you keep your head neutral. Since it's normal for bhs beginners to think they have to steer their body into an upside down position by cranking their heads backward as early as possible, a good correction is to keep that sponge tucked under the chin as long as can reasonably be done.

 

[coachmolly]

Ugh! I've seen this kind of junk from both cheer gyms and a rec. gymnastics place nearby and am fortunate enough to get the products of these establishments on the HS team. It's amazing to me what skills they reportedly "have" only to see them do it and cringe.
I don't understand how the individuals running and staffing these programs don't see the enormous dangers of what they are doing. I know even if the best run programs crazy and cringe worthy stuff happens from time to time, but these types of places are obviously very proud of the scary stuff they produce to be posting it on Facebook.
All the best to you as you work to reform these kiddos!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Care to elaborate? I don't really understand how that could be done!

simply, if the head moves faster than the head and arms, the face will be the first thing to hit the floor. and sometimes the top of the ahead. this needs to be avoided of course.

 

[All Chalked Up]

On that note, we had a cheerleader concuss today as a result of a poorly done RO-BHS...