Coaches how do YOU coach these simple skills?

[amberdezi]

i have coached at three different gyms in the past 2 years (two of them i coached at concurrently, because they didnt mind, since they are 35 minutes apart). anyways, i noticed they coach different skills different ways, and im wondering, "is this the correct way or is the other way correct?" and its driving me nuts. here are some that i can think of off the top of my head:

FLOOR
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handstand forward roll- bent or straight arms during the roll? or are they two different skills?

back extension roll- do you quickly scoot your butt back and get into a pike before you roll, or is that the wrong way?


BARS
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pullover- do a pull up, then bring legs over the bar, ankles together the entire time? or start standing with one leg in front, and swing that leg up, THEN meet the legs/ankles together?

*do you teach kids to cast off the bar after a skill, or do you teach them to dismount by doing a "forward roll to pull up"?


BEAM
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forward roll- start from a squat or a lunge?

 

[Linsul]

FLOOR
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handstand forward roll- bent or straight arms during the roll? or are they two different skills?

I teach straight arms. There will be arm bending at first usually, but I let my gymnasts know up front that straight arm is the goal. I find it's not the arm straightness that's hard, but the rounded back to roll onto. If the girls hit the floor arched, they bend their arms to escape the pound of when their bodies hit the floor in a bad position. Having them do a handstand in front of an 8 incher has helped. They can learn how the roll part without sacrificing arm position when you close the distance between the hs and the roll.

back extension roll- do you quickly scoot your butt back and get into a pike before you roll, or is that the wrong way?

I think this was answered elsewhere and the consensus was a rhythm deduction rather than a technical one if any deduction is taken...might want to search to double check. I don't teach with the scoot. I start on the wedge, backwards roll to pike so they get a sense of lifting their hips. The downward angle makes a scoot impossible pretty much. Then the same drill on a lengthwise panel mat. They start and finish on the floor. There's generally not enough room for the scoot, I don't see a scoot on the panel mat anyway. It also keeps them from throwing their arms wide. Chalk on the hands to check inward turn position also helps. I also have them try for a handstand on the panel mat once they do the bw roll pike with good hand position and tight legs throughout.

BARS
------
pullover- do a pull up, then bring legs over the bar, ankles together the entire time? or start standing with one leg in front, and swing that leg up, THEN meet the legs/ankles together?

*do you teach kids to cast off the bar after a skill, or do you teach them to dismount by doing a "forward roll to pull up"?

I teach the pullover chin up, legs over bar for beginning rec. Once they get it we clean it up. Legs together, finish in a front support, etc. Advanced up through team straight, together legs and pointed toes are the rule. They learn both ways of dismounting.

BEAM
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forward roll- start from a squat or a lunge?

This one is complicated. I generally go with squat, pike if the girl is able. I find the knees get in the way for a lot of kids when they squat. Pike, roll, tuck to stand is my preferred way of teaching those. I've actually never seen a lunge forward roll on beam. I can't remember one off the top of my head anyway!

 

[gymcoach26]

Floor- straight arms in handstand forward roll
Bars- chin up pull over with legs together. I find kids often throw their head back and arch their backs when they attempt to swing their leg and kick up.
Beam- Squat at first and then pike if they have the flexibilty.

 

[CoachGoofy]

Floor
HS roll-Straight arms. It's a handstand tip over to candle. That's all it is.
Back extension- I hate the scoot with the passion of 100,000 firey suns. They all learn their back rolls to pushup with their arms overhead & to get their hands to the ground first, then push it away & shoot their toes up, & we do a lot of "go bigger" with that...I do it downhill, on tumbletrak, up a hill, onto progressively higher mats...

Bars:
Pullover: chin up, feet over. If they want to try a kickover on a floor bar, I'm not gunna stop them, but they need to have their heads in and do it from 2 feet when I'm helping. Science works that way.
I each both ways off the bar.

Beam:
I teach the roll from a squat or a pike, depending on their flexibility

 

[BlairBob]

FLOOR

I teach the HS FWD roll first with bent arms progressing on to straight arms as the end goal.

Early on in their training, be it in developmental or rec, they start the backward roll progression as follows:

Backward roll while laying on block/wedge. This is almost more of a bridge with their shoulders hanging off the block and edge and they place their hands, pull their legs over to squat stand, eventually to prone/plank. This is a super easy drill designed to train shoulder flexibility, inversion, and the basic ability to bridge and keep straight arms (for HS development). It's also fun. I actually call it a "Bridge pullover". Sometimes I have them put their hands farther away from the edge so they are actually in a non supported bridge and of course they split their legs.

Learn the candlestick progression to inverted pike/basket. After they learn this, you just show them "pizza hands" and the backward roll happens.

Preferably I teach the bent arm backward roll from a seated straddle to standing straddle, seated tuck to standing tuck, seated pike to standing pike. Somewhere in there when they know how to do a sit to candlestick and stand up, we will incorporate the backward roll from a stand.

After they learn pike to pike, they learn stand or sitting pike to prone/plank/pushup with bent arms.They then learn this to handstand. Basically they should have developed enough bent arm strength with these progressions. Bent arm progressions develop strength for straight arm progressions (basically protecting the elbow).

Then I teach a straight arm forward roll. This is merely to teach the straight arms of the back extension roll and rolling over the ridge of the hand while keeping pressure through the shoulders so they don't bend their elbows.

From there we work down a wedge or mat stack from tuck to pike to pushup (L4) from a sitting position in pike. However, I teach kids to sit into the backward roll by bending their knees. I am not fond of the technique of having them pike down to the floor while touching their hands to the floor. I prefer arms by ears with no shoulder angle. They body can be slightly bent over, hollow in the chest.

I also like teaching the entry into a back extension roll from a pike stand reaching fingers to floor. It's something I saw one of the men's national coaches doing so...

Once a gymnast can perform a bent arm pike roll to pike stand, I generally will teach the straight arm back extension roll though I do like it if they can do a bent arm to prone or handstand at this time.

BARS

If I am teaching pre-team kids, I would never allow the "kick-over" method. Their head and spine arches back and they use momentum. For Rec kids, I teach both. Kickover in the first level and progressing to a jumping pullover with feet together. The arching is fixed when they start doing them from long hang though some kids will arch their body into the long hang pullover.

The simple fix of this is to work on pullup and leglift strength. I like flex arm holds especially flex arm L/pike hang holds if not in V-shape.

For dismounts we teach the cast-off the bars besides a forward roll to flex arm hang.

 

[tbake]

I only coach REC kids right now. Here are my answers:

HS FWD roll: arms bent to facilitate rounding the back and safety

Back Extension: my girls are still working on the straight arm bkwd rolls, land in front support position. They do those down a wedge front standing on the floor.

Pullovers: I do the kickover first (important to teach the overall movement and get the kids excited that they can learn the skill) and then teach the chin-up pull-over with feet together

Casting vs. fwd roll dsmt: I get my kids to do three cast immediately after the pullover (either version) and then fwd roll dsmt. I teach the cast/push away/underswing as a skill all my itself. Once it is strong on its own it should be incorporated into a full bar sequence to start mimicing routines.

Fwd roll on beam: I teach it from a squat/tuck. They learn the pike once they are ready to finess the skill.

These are just my opinions and what I do for my rec kids.