Coaches Back Handsprings

[peace.love.gymnast]

Need help please! I have about 6 classes of tumblers. I have several that just can't seem to get over in their back handsprings. All of them have very little flexibility in their shoulders (which I tell them to also work on that part @ home...of course they don't); they are also pretty tall girls (it's like they can't get their long legs over the rest of their body). I'm kind of frustrated because I feel like they should be further along than they are. I do tons of drills, conditioning, & flexibility in class in rotation with their tumbling. I really don't know what else to do.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Linsul]

If their jump is good enough, have the them do the bh on a 8-12inch mat, catch their legs in a handstand. Well, ideally they'll be in a handstand! Make your corrections, have them pike down and stand, or pike down and fall back on their bottoms with straight legs. Since you're on a mat, you could also have them fall flat on their tummies, staying tight with their feet together. Reverse flatback basically. It really helps them to be aware of their legs in my experience.


If it's their jump they need to work on, giant pit mats help a lot. You could set up a panel mat or trapezoid piece, have them snap down, then immediately jump back. The goal is to get as far back as they can, with feet together, toes pointed, etc. Draw a box about 4 inches out with chalk from the snap down mat for their feet to land/rebound in. This helps them snap down tight rather than have their feet out behind them.

My bh stations are typically these:
handstand pike down
handstand snap down
handstand snap down + jump back (chalk boxes drawn for feet for this and previous 2)
bhs on the wedge
bhs hs fall/pike down on the 8-12 incher (spotted)

I probably left some out, but those are my go-to drills I use most often.