Back Walkovers and skills in general -- problem? (lefty/righty)

[EmmasMommy]

My daughter seems to switch dominant sides depending on activity.

Writing, she writers with her right hand.
Cartwheels/Roundoffs ... she leads with her left side.

She just started doing back walkovers, and she's leading with her right side, I think? (Her right leg is leading the split over, the left leg is pushing off and ending the landing.)

Is this going to be a problem down the road--switching? Should she be encouraged to pick a side, and rework some skills she is currently doing with an opposite lead? Or is switching your lead from skill to skill okay?

(Maybe it's a stupid question, but it just seems like to me that switching her lead might might things harder down the road.)

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[All Chalked Up]

I write with my right hand (ambidexterous but I picked right), and do all of my skills with my left foot. Front walkover is with my right foot, which only causes a problem doing FWO-CT since then I have to cartwheel on my bad leg. Otherwise, I've been fine!

 

[BlairBob]

Ideally, a compulsory WAG gymnast should be able to do FWO and BWO on both sides. That's generally what is called for during a floor tumbling complex. For some gymnast, they might not have it one side as well but it's still worked. Cartwheels of all kinds are worked on both sides but I would say most of us only work Round-Off development on one side. It's difficult enough on one side to master than to try to make it competent on both sides (at early levels).

 

[EmmasMommy]

Thanks

I look this up and find mixed opinions.

I also thought back to how I do gymnastics--complete opposite of my daughter. I cartwheel right, back walkover left. Also, though, TO ME, it feels more natural to "connect" the two if they are opposite. If I cartwheel right and finish in a lunge, then my left leg will be in front, so it's easier to connect that into a back walkover with my left leg going over first.

What I'm saying is, I see how this is more comfortable for my daughter. For those who DO say to always lead with the same leg for all skills, how does that work for connecting skills like these? Is a "step" added between skills?

I feel pretty much like an idiot right now, but I'm hoping to fix that with some gained knowledge.

 

[EmmasMommy]

Thank you. This helps. So she will want to learn FWO and BWO on both sides, but her cartwheels/roundoffs can stay lefty entirely? And I guess down the road, she will twist right if she round off's left, or do I have that confused?

I guess I'll help her learn her cartwheels and walk overs both ways, though. She has a really good cartwheel in her age group (at the gym she's at) so maybe this will be a good challenge for her when they are working on cartwheels...

(ETA: Now that I think about it, I guess if you did FWO to BWO, that would result in a different leading leg for the BWO than a cartwheel into a BWO? I'm making my head hurt, probably unnecessarily, but I really want to understand this.)

 

[justanothergymmom]

At the pre-team levels my DD1 was exactly like yours...split, kickover, and lunge into handstand with one leg (they considered this her good leg), cartwheel and RO with other. The only time it caused a problem for her was in the L5 compulsory beam...the choreography currently requires a half-turn on your good leg, finish and step onto bad leg, then immediate cartwheel with your good leg. If my DD had continued to cartwheel with her bad leg she would have needed to take and extra step in her beam routine that was not in the choreography. Her coaches made her learn a carwheel on her good leg and all was well. 5 years later...she still does her RO with her "bad" leg...lol...

As far as connecting a cartwheel to a BWO, my DD has never really needed to do that, so I don't think that would be a consideration...

 

[EmmasMommy]

Thanks This helps!

It sounds as though learning a cartwheel either way is good, so I may encourage her to pursue that (learning a righty cartwheel). I guess also learning a left backwalkover would be good, too. My husband and I have tried to figure out which is her dominant side, but we struggle. Her splits are even on both sides. Cartwheel/roundoff lefty, back walkover righty. She's definitely right hand dominant with writing. My husband thinks she might be a right because of that and because she "kicks" better with her right leg.

It is amazing the things I think about when avoiding "work" ... this is probably the most ridiculous thread. But I really do appreciate the feedback. Thanks again I wonder how hard it will be for her to learn a right cartwheel...

 

[Kiwi]

I'm surprised to hear that gymnasts are working skills both sides, I don't think that happens at our gym...

My DD is a lefty for cartwheel, RO, etc. For BWO she lifts her left leg first. It makes sense that way if you think of going into FWO and handspring - you will lead with the same leg as you do for a handstand - and then when you come to do a tic-toc.

Here in NZ, in the STEP 4 floor routine we have cartwheel connected to BWO - when the first leg lands in the cartwheel, the second leg immediately goes up into the BWO. If you had to lift your right leg for the BWO that would be an extra step.

 

[EmmasMommy]

Though I'm still trying to imagine landing with the first leg and the second leg never touching the ground and swinging past the first leg to go into a back walkover. I would still like to see that

 

[EmmasMommy]

Okay, one of my posts disappeared into cyber space.

I'm not retyping all that. Lucky forum readers.

Does leading with the same leg mean always SWINGING the same leg? IE, if I cartwheel from the right, it's my left leg swinging over. If I back walkover, it's still my left leg swinging over. My daughter is the opposite, but maybe which leg is FORWARD isn't as important as which leg is SWINGING? IE--is your FORWARD leg your leading leg, or is it your SWINGING leg.

Maybe I was confused. I thought it was which leg was forward. So my daughter has her left foot forward for a cartwheel (swings right leg) but has her right foot forward for a back walkover (swings right leg). Swinging leg is the same. So, I either made an issue out of nothing, or she shouldn't change which leg she has forward (though I still struggle to image doing a cartwheel back walkover like that...)

Here in the US, a cartwheel backover is connected like this:
cartwheel back walkover - YouTube

I guess in NZ they never let their back leg touch the ground first. I do want to see that. It sounds interesting Sounds like the the first leg lands and the leg that would land behind (creating the lunge) swings forward without touching the ground to kick over into the back walkover. I'd fall on my head for sure. Some of these kids are so talented!

 

[Kiwi]

Does leading with the same leg mean always SWINGING the same leg?

To me it means which leg is in front when you push off into a handstand/cartwheel/round-off/FWO. In your video, you can see she comes out of the BWO with right leg in front, if she was to go straight into a handstand/cartwheel/FWO from there she would have switched from lefty to righty.

 

[GymSurvivor]

Not sure where you are and what you're daughter will be competing.
But in the level 4 routine you need to be able to kick-over from a bridge, in order to be on the correct foot for the next move you need to kick your good leg first (So her left leg). I am also a righty, while writing. I am a lefty in gymnastics, but learned to kick over my right leg first and do back walkovers with my right leg. But my coach made me change it because in the level 4 routine you need to be on the correct foot as well as in the level 5 routine with the back walkover and the level 6 back walkover on beam.
So basically it would be helpful to change it now.

 

[EmmasMommy]

To me it means which leg is in front when you push off into a handstand/cartwheel/round-off/FWO. In your video, you can see she comes out of the BWO with right leg in front, if she was to go straight into a handstand/cartwheel/FWO from there she would have switched from lefty to righty.

My daughter's LEFT leg is in front for all those things. But with a back walkover, her RIGHT leg is in front. So basically, her left leg is always swinging.

In that video, that girl keeps the same swinging leg, but what leg is in front switches from cartwheel to back walkover. Maybe backwards movements require backwards leg in front? Just trying to understand.

I still cant visualize how they connect these two skills in NZ. You said the second leg goes right over. here, the second leg is the back leg (final leg they land on) so are you saying the back leg never lands in NZ, or do they do it in NZ the same as the video I linked to? (which would mean cartwheel with one leg forward, back walkover with the other leg forward.

I guess if you did a cartwheel before a forward roll, you'd also have to take a step in this case, but for a back walkover, it seems no step is needed if you change which foot is forward and keep the swinging leg the same.

 

[EmmasMommy]

This helps a LOT. So basically, the leg that *kicks over* first is your correct foot? (She faces left for cartwheel and back walkover, which means her right leg always kicks over first). I think I was confused because of which foot was forward at the start, instead of thinking which leg goes over. Sounds like she's not mixed-footed after all, but I'll make a quick mention to the coach and see what they say. I don't know what level is is competing yet. She's on pre-team now and she competes in this upcoming year (pre-team girls become team girls). It's hard to tell based on skills, since I don't know too much about competing. She won't need the back walkover, though. This was me more wanting to make sure it wouldn't be harder for her down the road. Because however she is doing her backovers now, she'll probably be doing them for a while before she uses them in competition, and I didn't want to form a bad habit. We just recently helped her "correct" her handstand. (she was switching legs in the air)

 

[GymGran]

Thank goodness Grand-D has a coach to worry about her feet because I am now totally confused by these replies. Left/right leading/last, backward/forward, twist L/R....Yep, I love and appreciate her gym coach! I think I'll tell her at practice today!

 

[justanothergymmom]

This helps a LOT. So basically, the leg that *kicks over* first is your correct foot? (She faces left for cartwheel and back walkover, which means her right leg always kicks over first). I think I was confused because of which foot was forward at the start, instead of thinking which leg goes over. Sounds like she's not mixed-footed after all, but I'll make a quick mention to the coach and see what they say. I don't know what level is is competing yet. She's on pre-team now and she competes in this upcoming year (pre-team girls become team girls). It's hard to tell based on skills, since I don't know too much about competing. She won't need the back walkover, though. This was me more wanting to make sure it wouldn't be harder for her down the road. Because however she is doing her backovers now, she'll probably be doing them for a while before she uses them in competition, and I didn't want to form a bad habit. We just recently helped her "correct" her handstand. (she was switching legs in the air)

No...she is mixed footed...Her lead foot in her cartwheel is her left one if that is the foot in front when she begins. Her lead foot in her BWO is her right one if that is the on that she kicks into the air first.

I am sure if you mention this to your daughter's coaches they won't have a problem sorting it all out. My DD learnerd her bad leg cartwheel on the beam in about a week....it didn't take long at all.

 

[EmmasMommy]

No...she is mixed footed...Her lead foot in her cartwheel is her left one if that is the foot in front when she begins. Her lead foot in her BWO is her right one if that is the on that she kicks into the air first.

I am sure if you mention this to your daughter's coaches they won't have a problem sorting it all out. My DD learnerd her bad leg cartwheel on the beam in about a week....it didn't take long at all.

ah, thank you! I will mention it to her coaches. Right now, I think they're more focused on getting the other girls to learn their bridge kick overs than to worry about DD's back walkovers, but I will say that they OFTEN tailor things to meet her needs and provide her with new challenges. They are very good about working with the team AND the individual, and I hardly blame them for not paying attention her feet this early on. (Though, I think paying attention to it early on will help her more in the long run!)

So just to be clear, if she did a cartwheel back walkover, she would have to take a step between her cartwheel and back walkover? (That's the only way she'd get her other leg in front first, unless she does it like in NZ where where you swing your leg forward without it ever touching the ground--so I'm told!)

I also read something online by a coach last night that was talking about if your round off right, you're supposed to twist left, and vice versa. Seriously, confusing stuff!

Also, I can see now how this can be common. If they are left-side dominant, the gymnast has to switch the function of the foot. For handstands, cartwheels, and front walkovers, they have to kick up their right leg first (because left leg is out front). But with a back walkover, they have to kick up their left leg first (because the dominant leg always has to be in front). This switches which leg keeps them planted and which leg swings them over (for backwards skills)

 

[2gymmies]

When my oldest dd was on preteam and early levels of team, other than for routines (because they are written specifically) - they had to do both left and right of most things. They never called them "good" and "bad" - they called them left and right. The roundoff dictated whether they were right or left gymnasts, not cartwheel or front or back walk over or leap or jump. Not sure if that is the correct way to do it, but that is how it was done for her. She is probably alittle messed up because she is a left round-off and a left twist - I think some of the coaches on here have mentioned that a left round off is a right twist - but that isn't a big deal at pre-team. And for what its worth, my dd's (Level 8 and Level 4) have never done cartwheel, backwalkover connected. Try not to worry, if she has the should flexibility to kick over on 1 leg, with a tiny bit of practice, she can definitely do it on the other, as well.

Good Luck!

 

[EmmasMommy]

Thanks Yeah, when I did gymnastics, we worked both sides. I guess where she's at now a lot of the girls don't have the skill at all yet, so they are only working whatever side they can get it on, instead of both sides. My daughter roundoffs left, too.

So far what I see is -- left handstand, left cartwheel, left roundoff. Her splits are even, but she says she prefers her right leg (and seems to favor her right leg for split jumps, but not by much). I'm going to ask her coach tomorrow what they think -- whether she should be aiming for a left or righty here -- but it sounds like working on both sides would be a wise idea either way.

 

[Quadqueen]

She needs to have left left in front for cartwheel AND back walkover. I wouldn't worry about the fact that she would have to switch legs for a back walkover if it immediately followed a cartwheel...that is not a skill combination in any routine your DD would be doing soon! (if she's doing USAG)