Coaches arms on floor

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isaelijohjac

Hi there. My daughter's arms are constantly not at her ears. She has great form, and gets great scores, but as she is training harder skills (currently is a level 6) she is having a hard time--ie--her back tuck has gotten low and long as she puts her arms close to her chest as if she is protecting herself. On simpler skills like a back handspring her arms end not at her ears but rather out at about 45 degrees. I thought this was a form/aesthetic issue but now see that it is affecting her front handspring, back tuck etc. Her coach was working the beginnings of a double back on the trampoline today but stopped as her arms were such a problem. Any suggestions??? She says she is focusing on keeping her arms up but it isn't happening. She just turned 9 years old.
Thanks for any input.
 
Could it be strength or flexibility issues? I know some of my gymnasts have issues keeping them up due to not being strong enough, or flexible enough.

A great strength builder is to take a resistance band or tube and wrap it around something. Have the gymnast sit facing whatever it's tied to with her arms over her head, holding one end of the band in each hand. Have her pull her arms back, trying to keep her ribs and head neutral, slowly. Keep repeating the motion. Do two sets. Then turn her around so her back is to the band. Have her pull the bands forward, making sure she feels a stretch when she lets her arms go back. These are great exercises to work on getting arms by their ears.

Some of our girls also have these elastic bands that they put around their arms and slide down their arms until the band lies behind their head, making them stuck holding their arms up by their ears. (Hope that makes sense) Using this training tool, the gymnasts CAN'T drop their arms. It's very good for the girls, especially at the lower levels.
 
I'm also wondering how her shoulder flexibility is? If it's not good, it will be really hard to her to keep the arms up.

On skills like front handsprings she could use the correction of watching her hands. If she brings her chin down at all towards her chest at the end of the skill, it's really hard to keep the arms up. The chin angle can cause shoulder angle.

Handstand snapdowns might help for backhandsprings.
 
I think BlairBob is right.

What are some things to do for more/better shoulder flexibility?

Any suggestions on how to get rid of this bad habit? I guess just try and do it right each time. Any drills?
Thanks so much.
 

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