Coaches Cast to handstand - tips needed (video)

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gymisforeveryone

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I'm having a two weeks long summer vacation and so are my gymnasts but I can't help watching videos of our practices and analyzing the skills the girls are working on.

We have just recently started to work on straddle casts to handstands. We have used many drills and the casts are improving but not quite there yet. The casts are something that frustrates me AND the gymnasts easily because they keep making the same mistakes over and over again. When we do drills or I spot them they do fine but when they do complete casts they can't lean over the bar enough or they lean too much. And one of them keeps arching. I don't understand how is it possible that they can press to handstand on floor but not get a cast to handstand! They have the strength needed but they don't get the technique.

Here is a video about two of my gymnasts working on them (ignore the girl who is being silly behind the bar!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkefRiwlx-8

Any comments and tips would be appreciated!
 
To me it looks like the girls shoulders are retreating to above the bar too soon. Their shoulders are directly over the bar, yet they are not close to handstand. They need to stay forward over the bar for a longer period of time so they can get to vertical. They start falling due to gravity.

Sent from my SGH-T679 using ChalkBucket mobile app
 
flipandtwist is exactly right; the shoulders need to stay farther forward for longer.

A good drill for straddle casts is to simply cast to straddle-on, then press to handstand.
 
Keeping their heads down longer will also help them keep their shoulders forward and down more, plus if their heads are neutral and down, it should help them not arch as much.
 
Wait, do these kids have a regular cast to handstand? They are pretty small looking, adding the straddle might be unnecessarily complicating at this point.
 
Keeping their heads down longer will also help them keep their shoulders forward and down more, plus if their heads are neutral and down, it should help them not arch as much.

To me it looks like the girls shoulders are retreating to above the bar too soon. Their shoulders are directly over the bar, yet they are not close to handstand. They need to stay forward over the bar for a longer period of time so they can get to vertical. They start falling due to gravity.

Sent from my SGH-T679 using ChalkBucket mobile app

flipandtwist is exactly right; the shoulders need to stay farther forward for longer.

A good drill for straddle casts is to simply cast to straddle-on, then press to handstand.

You might be able to solve all of the above by having them work them from a front hip circle of a kip. That should give them a teensy rotation component that will encourage them to rotate slightly as they elevate so their hips can move forward during the elevation.

I noticed that neither of the girls are round in the lower back, and they sag in the mid-section. That'll answer your question about why they can't cast even though they can press to hanstand. I'm betting they press with a correct rounding in their lower backs, and they keep their heads tucked in as well, but stick their heads out when they break into the straddle.

A lot of this can be from bent arms as dunno noted, or maybe it's a chicken and egg situation where other things (above problems) are causing bent arms as a reflex to compensate for some problem. No matter...... Just tell them that keeping their arms straight is their only purpose in life and then, after their arms are working correctly, pick the first thing they do that seems to contradict movement to a handstand, like sagging through their middles, or reaching back with their heads like their doing a back handspring, and pushing with their hands to make their hips move instead of using their abs to lift their hips while their hands and arms provide support for the entire skill and body parts..... not just their hips.
 
Thank you everyone! I love Chalk Bucket!

I can't wait to get back to gym and start fixing their problems.

These two girls are at the smaller side of the group. No one of them has straight body cast. We do spotted straight body cast series during conditioning but we work on straddles during bar rotation.

We don't do front hip circles here in Finland so they have no idea what it is. And I'm not going to teach it at this point ;) But thanks anyway!
 
Thank you everyone! I love Chalk Bucket!

I can't wait to get back to gym and start fixing their problems.

These two girls are at the smaller side of the group. No one of them has straight body cast. We do spotted straight body cast series during conditioning but we work on straddles during bar rotation.

We don't do front hip circles here in Finland so they have no idea what it is. And I'm not going to teach it at this point ;) But thanks anyway!

I would do drills and attempts at legs together cast first. Personally in my opinion they aren't doing the straddle part right at all either (basically they're doing a legs apart regular cast to horizontal, then trying to straddle downwards from there).
 
Gymdog:

We did straight body cast drills at first but the girls aren't strong enough to do them on their own. They are also quite tall and older so I think that straight body casts are not going to happen any time soon.

What would you do to correct their technique? The drills I have used are:

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YUO14TjXws at 2.30 at. 2.50

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdzfoGCRsOw

3) I couldn't find a video but we place two blocks under the bar and then the girls do horizontal cast, pike their hips and land the feet onto the blocks. Then they straddle jump/press to handstand and fall over. But when they do this their shoulders easily go to the wrong side of the bar
 
the easiest drill to conduct and one that will provide the biggest bang for the conditioning buck and make them strong enough to do these is as follows:

1. place a sturdy block or panel mats on 1 side of the bar. they must jump up to support relatively easy so don't make the block to short or the bar to high.

2. the athlete jumps to support with straight elbows and with the wrist and elbows and shoulders positioned directly over the center top of the rail.

3. they "bend" in to the bar to prepare for a cast.

4. they then cast and go back down to the block.

5. repeat 2, 3 and 4 3 times in a row.

6. each cast performed must go higher than then one before it.

now, this won't happen over night. but if you keep at it EVERY DAY i guarantee that they will eventually get to a handstand. the coaches job is to stand to the side of the rail. you let them know as they are going that they must keep their elbows straight and keep their elbows, wrists and shoulders directly over the top of the rail as they cast. if they don't you yell that out at them. and don't forget to yell "higher" if each subsequent cast is not higher than the one that came before. :)
 
Would like to chime in... Instead of asking gymnasts to lean the shoulders forward during casts, I think approaching it from another perspective could help.

I like to ask gymnasts to ensure their hips are directly on the top of the rail, before they drive their heels upward.

Most gymnasts, will enter casts by resting the hips on the side of the bar itself which drives the heels in a backward direction as opposed to upward towards handstand. By concentrating on the coaching cue of getting the hips on top of the rail prior to driving the heels upward, it may achieve a better outcome...(?)

At the end of the day, in order to the get the shoulders forward, a gymnast must get his/her hips on the top of the rail. Perhaps explaining it from another angle will allow them to better understand the process of getting the shoulders to "lean" forward.
 
thank you for stating top of the rail. many coaches do not understand this concept. :)
 
A few more drills for straddle casts,
Floor bar drills , with a half piece of foam between each arm and ear,(one on each ear), 3's 4's 5's all do these as a side station, using a floor bar.
1. Straight arm jump pike to forward roll, (deep pike with feet by bars)
2. Straight arm jump pike to straddle handstand (again showing a deep pike)
3. Butt sticks, (that is what we call them), put a floor bar about 4 inches away from a wall. Have the child stand with back against the wall put hands on the bar while standing in a straddle position. Jump up a little so butt sticks to wall with feet close to the ground, and shoulders should be leaning over the bar. (casting position). and tada, an excellent conditioning tool for casting, pressing. Reverse the hands and you are now working front giant strength.

Skill training, first off, STRAIGHT ARMS and I teach all casting out of kips for one reason only and that is.... If I let them do them alone on a side station from a support they are more likely to bend arms.
1. Kip cast to Pike (spot it and compress them, one hand on back of neck the other hand on back of thighs or knees, tilt them all the way up so butt is over the head and feet by the bar)
2. Kip cast to pike then tell them when to straddle, ( I usually do sets of 5 and have them go to handstand on the fifth, spot with one hand on back of neck the other on belly)
3. Kips cast to straddle handstand, your done. (same spot as #2, one hand on back of neck, the other on belly)

Important to note that I teach a quick snap to pike, so it's more about technique then actual casting energy or height. The kids in the video were using way too much energy trying to get up and some were casting higher then needed to snap the straddle up. They were also fighting themselves, by lifting the head up, arching and pushing arms straight, (in other words, it's hard to get one half of your body to go up when the other half is going the same direction).
Hope that helps.
 
hey were also fighting themselves, by lifting the head up, arching and pushing arms straight, (in other words, it's hard to get one half of your body to go up when the other half is going the same direction).
Hope that helps.

That was diving me crazy but I couldn't figure out how to decribe it without getting carried away. It amounts to one of my favorite notions..... Gymnastics is easy until you try too hard the wrong way, which usually happens...... uhmm most of the time to some kids, and some of the time to most kids.
 
There's another set of drills that I've only just started using for straddle cast handstands.

Take two p-bar blocks (or anything the gymnasts can swing on like p-bars. Have the gymnast swing to straddle stand on the blocks without bending the knees, feet as close to hands as possible. Next, the gymnast simply presses to handstand, then swings back down.

My plan is to then have the gymnasts try to swing straight to the straddle press without first putting the feet on the blocks, but my guinea pig group hasn't gotten to this stage yet. I guess I'll report back when we get there.
 

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