Parents first back handspring

[guest301]

Ok before posting this I want to mention that my DD is not a typical 4 year old. She is very strong and very flexible. She is 90% for her hight. So she looks older and very muscular. Not typical 4 year old baby build at all. So she has been "practicing" with spot her back handspring for quite some time now in the gym. Coaches say she is super close (they have been saying this for months). So last night I was hearing jumping sounds in our spare room. Went to see and found my girl on bed tryinf BHS by heself. I freaked out! no gym like that in the house! I am still scared to watch this and had good talk with her. But because it was her "first" emerging BHS i took little video clip.
Can you guys tell me if this is very horrible and she still needs a lot of spotting? or is she on a good track to learn by herself?
Clip is here.
Thank you!

 

[profmom]

Please don't let her do this. It is dangerous. Think of what would happen if she fell off that bed onto her head. You would be spending years watching her learn how to walk and talk again instead of watching her learn gymnastics skills.

Lots of other parents with team kids can tell you stories of how scary it can be when a newly acquired back handspring goes wrong on a spring floor with a coach right there.

At my children's gym, there was a gymnast who worked his way up to be a really good L10. Somewhere around his sophomore year in high school, he had to leave the sport. Why? Because the upper level skills re-aggravated a growth plate injury he had gotten at the age of 9 years old -- fooling around doing tumbling on a friend's backyard trampoline.

Keep gym in the gym, and do not send any mixed signals about this at all.

 

[ginnymac]

By videoing this, you are sending the message that it is ok to do. Not safe at all.

 

[guest301]

I dont want to sound rude, but please if you cant answer my question then dont respond.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

Can you guys tell me if this is very horrible and she still needs a lot of spotting?
Thank you!

To answer your question- it's horrible and terrifying for all the reasons the above posters stated.

 

[onebusymama]

1st of all your gymmie is precious! It looks to me (non coach/ parent) that she basically has it down. However I would try to keep her from tumbling on the bed (& I know that's not always easy). Maybe if she wants to practice it more you can take her to "open gym" & let a coach spot her on the tramp OT wedge until they give her the GO to do it on her own. She seems fearless!

 

[krisnkids]

We could all say that she obviously pays attention in class because she has the basics down, good squat, strong arms etc. HOWEVER, she is 4, she needs to be doing this under CLOSE supervision of a qualified coach on correct equipment. Not being encouraged by her mom to do them at home on a mattress. I say encouraged because you are A. vidoeing her and B. when she asks if she can do one more you say okay and keep videoing her.
Sure its fun seeing your little gymmie do new things and its great that she is learning. But do this, go to the gym and tell her coaches what she is doing at home and see if you get a "how cool keep it up litle gymmie" or "um, that's not a good idea, she needs to be on safe equimpment and close supervision or she can get hurt or learn bad habits."

 

[sglemon]

She is going to break her neck, her arms are bent and set too wide apart. Also by encouraging her to do them at home, you are reinforcing her bad habits, ie bent arms and set too wide apart, bent and separated legs. Trust me, bad habits can be very hard to break, sometimes, it can take years, to correct. My older dd could never fix hers, got frustrated and quit gymnastics, because her scores were low enough, she never won anything. The bad arms also tells me she doesn't have the proper upper body strength at this time. I have seen girls, tumble, (experienced tumbling) and one arm gets planted slightly off, and you hear that sick wet snap of a bone. In a couple of them, she wasn't jumping up, just straight back, another dangerous move. Learning skills properly can take a frustratingly long time, but in the end, it really pays off. Don't rush it!

 

[Faith]

Can you guys tell me if this is very horrible and she still needs a lot of spotting? or is she on a good track to learn by herself?

I agree with the others, this simply isn't safe.

But, to answer your question, it isn't perfect and there are corrections that need to be made. The BHS is a very technical move, she can't "learn it by herself", as it needs to be properly taught. She still needs a lot of spotting to guide her through the correct form, not just so she can do the skill. Not just because of the bhs, but because eventually you'll need it perfect so you can add back tucks, then double backs, or move it to the beam. A slight issue with the technique in the BHS means she might not get these skills.

By allowing her to do it over and over again un-coached like this, she will reinforce the bad habits, and the coach will need to take far more time correcting them. Even if she doesn't injure herself, you might still damage or slow down her gymnastics.

 

[gwenmom]

I also want to put in my 2 cents, even though I am in no way an experienced gym mom. My dd is 7 and Level3/4. She recently got her back handspring.

When she was starting in gymnastics at 3 (I believe) we set ground rules that every time she learned a new skill she had to get permission from either us or her coach before sharing that skill at home or school. This is the girl I had to take the canopy of her day bed because it was monkey bars and something to climb, she has no fear. I am happy to say, no at 7, she self polices herself. When she got her back handspring the first thing she said to me after practice was "I know, mom no doing this at school or home until I have it perfect."

BHS, to me, is the first major gymnastic skill. Not only is there potential for serious injury it is also the foundation of just about every other tumbling skill. Please do not allow your daughter to do this at home without an experienced coach spotting/correcting/adjusting her. You are risking both injury and tons of time to "fix" the bad habits she has taught herself.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

She's cute as a button! But why the rush to learn her bhs? She can't compete it until she is 6 yrs old-per USAG rules. That's 2 years to get it perfect. When my dd first was learning her bhs, she tried them on our trampoline. I saw it, and told her coach. Coach had a talk with her and said, no gymnastics at home. She cried bc she thought she had disappointed him, but it worked-no more bhs on trampoline. And the waiting didn't hurt her at all. She never even set foot in a gym until she was 6 yrs old, and she's now just turned 10 and training level 8,9 and some level 10 skills. Properly. At the gym. With her coaches. Not at home.

To answer your question- it looks like the more she does, the more she starts kinda twisting to the side and trying to use her flexibility to get legs over. That just looks like a back and hip injury waiting to happen. Repeatedly doing a skill improperly not only causes a nightmare problem for coaches to correct form, but you could be setting her up for an overuse/incorrect use injury that may cause her TONS of problems down the road. Not worth it, imo.

Please do not take any offense to the comments that you have been given. The parents/coaches that are responding have kids that are older than yours and have been doing this longer and have seen these bad things happen to other kids. We want your dd to enjoy and progress and stay in this sport that we love for a long time.

 

[gymmommy123]

I know how exciting it can be to see your dd learning new tricks. My dd finally got her BHS at 5 yrs old, and she wanted to practice it all the time. We would pull her mattress down onto the floor, like a mat, and spot her on them. I even talked to the HC about it, and whether it was ok to practice them this way. She actually agreed, as she knew her skill level well, BUT, in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have had her do them at home. This was roughly 6 months ago. She is now at a new gym, and even though she has had her BHS for a while now, her new coach has spent the last month spotting EVERY single BHS for her, stopping her half-way through, fixing her hand placement, her body position, etc., and then working on her snap down. She practiced an awful lot of BHS with arms too far apart, legs too far apart, and arms bending when going over (at the gym too!) I can't help but wonder if the reason she has had to get so much correction, is to fix those problems. We no longer have her practice them at home AT ALL, as the last thing I want to do, is interfere with all the work her new coach has put into improving her BHS. And I do think she'll be ready to compete them by Fall, with just the practice she gets at gym. Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

 

[cbifoja]

You know that old saying that goes something like "If you can't be an example, you'll end up being a warning" or something like that. Consider me your warning.

Bella was doing gymnastics at home long before I discovered ChalkBucket and didn't know any better. She had a full array of stuff at home....panel mats, tramp, bars (indoor and out), beams (indoor and out). And I let her use them to do all the gymnastics she wanted.

Then she made team..... and her coach spent most of the year trying to correct bad form habits that she learned while playing (especially on her bar). I eventually got rid of the bar because her skill level made it obsolete for anything other than playing around. Having this stuff and using it at home did NOT make her a better gymnast fast. Instead, it made her a struggling gymnast early.

There is no "fast" to good gymnastics. I promise you that your daughter is no more enthusiastic about gymnastics than ours are. Most of our daughters live for gymnastics, beg to do it more, always want to go to the gym, etc. Making her keep gym in the gym isn't going to slow her down or make her fall behind. It will actually allow her coach to progress her more quickly since s/he won't have to waste time unteaching those bad habits.

Not trying to be rude and hoping I didn't offend you....

 

[lhmom]

ITA with azgymmommie. Plus, if she forms bad habits practicing at home without a coach, I guarantee her coaches will know based on what they will see her doing at gym. Not worth the time and effort it will take for them to fix it at the gym. I come from the perspective of no tumbling at home at all though. She tumbles enough at gym and they have a much springier floor.

 

[mommyof1]

Making her keep gym in the gym isn't going to slow her down or make her fall behind. It will actually allow her coach to progress her more quickly since s/he won't have to waste time unteaching those bad habits.

This is exactly why we have banned even cartwheels, forward rolls, and backward rolls at home. Practicing them even slightly wrong was only reinforcing bad habits.

 

[reillysmom2]

Just to throw something else out there...my dd was 9, has a lovely backhandspring. My son had taken her for a private lesson while I was at work, coach works on backhandspring stepouts on the squishy floor beam with her. We have a low beam at home (used lots at first, not so much now...she actually uses it to measure her duct tape projects!) Anyways. DD wanted to show me her backhandsprings on beam when I got home. Fell before I got home, too scared to tell her dad she hurt herself because she isn't supposed to be doing gymnastics at home. Had a broken hand and didnt say a word until I got home.6 weeks in a cast (didn't need surgery, thank goodness)....took forever to build confidence back up to try backhandsprings again on beam! Lesson learned. No gymnastics at home!!

 

[wallflower]

I won't comment on the safety. But technique wise she is doing more of a backward dive to a handstand and then just kicking over. Not really a correct bhs. If that were on the real floor that wouldn't not be safe. I'd avoid working them without a coach.

 

[tooootsie]

She is adorable! I am not an expert, but what I do know with having two girls on developmental teams (4 and 6) is that the coaches would be pissed if I told them my girls were trying BHS on the bed.

Your daughter does seem like she is getting them, however she seems close to her head which would cause a neck injury. I once caught my 4 y/o trying to do BHS on bed (mid BHS) and she landed on her head, it scared the daylights our of me. I only allow cartwheels and handstands at home. I wont even allow my 6y/o to try her BWO at home at all.

That being said, 4 is probably too young for BHS. But like I said, I am not a coach, nor an expert. I would talk to the coach and ask if she can try one without a spot on the tramp (way safer). I would also talk to the coach about her doing them at home. Because the coach will talk to your daughter and let her know its not ok.

Good luck, she seems very talented!

 

[Gymmommy71]

Looks like a "cheer backhandspring" to me...yeah, she's technically doing it, but the form and technique has years to go.

 

[Twosmiles]

I think this is just one of those things that needs to be left in the gym for the coaches.

When my DD was 4 she just learned how to do a backbend and insisted on showing her teacher at school that she could do one. She missed and landed on her head on the concrete playground. We were lucky that it wasn't that serious (fortunately no stitches!) and are grateful that it left an impression that what happens in the gym stays in the gym. The only skills allowed at home are handstands, cartwheels, and rolls.