WAG Front Flyaway Question

[coach ash]

I have a gymnast that wants to learn a front flyaway. I don't have very much experience with these, but how would you go about teaching it? Our main problem is that our gym doesn't have a pit bar. Is it the type of thing where we should just put down soft mats and have her play around with them until she gets it. Or is it a skill you shouldn't really do without a pit? Another thing I'm curious about is how would she face the opposite direction if she put it in her routine? She is only a platinum (she just moved up from gold so still fairly new to platinum skills) so she can't pirouette yet. The most common way I've seen is the tap swing half turn like the DP level 4 dismount. I can't really think of any way other than that or pirouetting.

 

[Sylvia]

I have a gymnast that wants to learn a front flyaway. I don't have very much experience with these, but how would you go about teaching it? Our main problem is that our gym doesn't have a pit bar. Is it the type of thing where we should just put down soft mats and have her play around with them until she gets it. Or is it a skill you shouldn't really do without a pit? Another thing I'm curious about is how would she face the opposite direction if she put it in her routine? She is only a platinum (she just moved up from gold so still fairly new to platinum skills) so she can't pirouette yet. The most common way I've seen is the tap swing half turn like the DP level 4 dismount. I can't really think of any way other than that or pirouetting.

We had an XD do a front flyaway and she did the swing half turn that is similar to the level 4 dismount to get to be facing the correct way. As for teaching the skill without a pit, I would recommend a large, soft mat, such as a resi mat (we call them whale mats) if you have access to that. Otherwise maybe stack a couple eight inchers and have a pit pillow if you have that. I think it would also be helpful if you are able to spot her when she first starts, just so you can make sure she gets around all the way and isn’t landing on her head.