Headstands & other preschool skills

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Beth I was wondering if you could give your input to me. DD who just turned 5 was put into invitation classes at the age of 3. She has been doing bridges since put in that class. They have never been forced but she was able to do them. At 4 she was doing bridge kickovers and back walkovers. Right before her 5th birthday she got her back handspring and RBHS. Just reading about this has me scratching my head. This entire year on pre-team she has been walking in a bridge position the length of the floor and turning and walking backwards in that same position. They do headstands on occasion not very often but they have done them. Mind you DD has been the youngest in her group since going into these classes. Her one class was 5 year olds and she was the only 3 year old with a couple of 4 through in there. THis year she was the only 4 year old with mostly 6's-13 year olds. I can't really say she has been in preschooler classes for some time the workouts have been 3-4 hours a week for her for the past two years. What should I be looking at now with her. I have talked at length to her ped and her ped neurologist and neither had any concerns. (Long story why we have a ped Neurologist). Her cardiologist had the most input with requiring more salt in her diet to help her but other than that there hasn't been any flags raised. I know DD is not the rule so to speak but I just want to make sure we are not putting her at risk.
 
Phew..are you ready for a novel?

Please understand, I am not a doctor, so I cannot make medical decisions. All I can tell you is what the current standards are, why they exist and how they apply to preschool gymnastics based on the information that's out there.

I realize that there are gyms who bridge children at young ages and train kids multiple hours at young ages. I do not agree with those practices based on the safety guidelines we have at our disposal and my strong belief that children need to be children. There will come a time in their training when they will have to choose between other activities and gymnastics. Preschool, in my opinion, is not the time to push kids that hard. Burnout happens fast enough.

So, in regards to multiple hours of training at her age, I would suggest that you watch your child's reactions and base your decisions off her behavior. If she absolutely loves going to gymnastics....great. But, if you see her start to balk at going to class, wanting to stay home and play with her friends or watch her favorite t.v. shows or whatever, then let her back off some of the hours for a little while. There really is more time than people think for walking up the competitive ladder since the ages have been upped for international competition.

There is so much more than simply "gymnastics skills" that young children gain from our sport. Fundamentals like balance, hand-eye coordination, foot-eye coordination, weight transference, small motor movements, etc...and they are all movement elements that carry over into other areas of our lives. Lateral movement, for example, aids in reading. Sequencing helps in mathematics and rotary movements aid in vestibular input which directly affects our verbal and communication skills.

So, I would be more inclined to make sure she's getting heavy doses of fundamental movement work in deference to "big" gymnastics skills. I'm the first person to tell parents who come to my gym that if they want me to throw kids into big skills fast, my gym is simply not the gym for them. I want a firm and sound foundation in all of their movement so that when they make their choices later on (whether they want to do soccer, swimming, football, play violin or stay in gymnastics competitively ...whatever their choice... ) that their participation in gymnastics will benefit them in anything they choose to do.

We have an invitation class in our gym for 4-6 year olds also. Still, once in that class, anyone under age 5 does not bridge. We maintain the standards for age appropriate and developmentally appropriate activities...and let me tell ya..5th birthdays are big happenings in our gym. Even in that class, however, they meet once a week for one hour per week. They have the option of coming to two of those classes, but it is not something we push very hard. Two hours per week for a 5 year old is plenty.

I try to put it into perspective for my gym parents this way...Try to remember when you were little and you had to sit for an hour in church. If you were anything like me when I was little, that one hour per week lasted an eternity. Now, try to imagine a 4-6 year old trying to maintain disciplined focus on skill work for an hour. It's not easy for them. It takes ALOT of effort. So, like I said, I view two one hour classes per week as plenty for that age group.

Regarding bridging in preschoolers..Like I said in an earlier post, I cannot recommend anything that I know is not in the best interest of the child. It isn't a question of "can they" because many of them CAN do it. It is a question of "SHOULD they." If I know they shouldn't do something due to solid recommendations with reasoned physiological concerns, then I am simply not going to ask them to do it. Nor will I ever recommend someone else ask them to do it.

I can tell you that we strictly adhere to the KAT standards in our gym and we do not ever bridge children, regardless of talent, before age 5. Yet, we put kids on the podium in competition regularly. So, I know for a fact that children can be trained within the recommended safety guidelines as set down by the USAG KAT program and still be well prepared for competition at a reasonable age.

I think the most common argument I hear from coaches regarding bridging in preschoolers comes from coaches who use the compulsory routines as a foundation of their curriculum. Their question is generally this: "How can we be expected to prepare kids for walkovers by age 6 in Level 4, if we are not allowed to bridge them until age 5?"

Just after the standards had changed a few years back, I had alot of coaches asking me that question in the courses I was teaching for USAG. It seemed like a very valid question. So, I asked for clarification to that question at one of the National Instructor meetings. USAG's response made alot of sense. It was this.."The compulsories should not be viewed nor were they ever intended to be viewed as the foundation for curriculum." USAG's stance is that preschool children should be trained under the safety guidelines and standards set forward in the KAT. Otherwise, they would not have created the program.

Once a kid has elevated out of the preschool level, if they progress at a rapid pace and they are ready to compete Level 4 by age 6, it's there for them to compete, but USAG does not expect nor do they encourage that every 6 year old should be able to compete at that level nor do they believe that children should be solely trained for that goal.

I'm about to launch into an even longer ramble..so I'll stop here. I don't know if it helped any, but I hope so. I'll be happy to add more later if I think of anything that needs to be added.

Oh..One other thing. The doctors who would be most likely to know the most about this condition and it's causes are Orthopedics. If you have any Orthopedic doctors, talk to them and ask their recommendations.
 
Fish Flops

Sometimes in pre-school classes I do fish flops with them.

Pretty much you just lay on your stomach, reach back grab your ankles, pick your head up and make "fishy faces". Don't know if it does much, but, it's fun! That's about as close to arching as I get with that age.
 
In the USAG compulsories, we have to train the headstand as it's in the L4 boy's routine and somewhere in the L1-3 girl's routine on floor.

I teach the HeS at age 5 and up but don't bother trying with the bridge at that age (besides the fact that many boys don't have the flexibility to do a decent one at that age). So we start lying on a block, slide and reach for the floor hitting a bridge and then pull the legs over (bridge pullover) or do a bridge kickover. Eventually I try to use lower and lower blocks but I doubt that many of them could get into a bridge regardless (because of lack of strength and flexibility). Sometimes we'll do bridges on small swiss balls. I think we originally started using this drill in the kinder class with the topside of a wedge and mailbox where they bridged over and pulled their feet to the floor in a pike.

Of course we do superman holds and cobra/seal.
 
Have read all the responses but still unclear what the opinion is on headstands.

I would like to do these to practise straddle presses, but we are not allowed to do headstands at our gym.

I would not do these with young kids, only those Level 5 and up if I was allowed.

Do headstands damage the neck?

I think it was Aussie coach who made a comment that they are banned in Australia.

I have footage of the Gymnastics Australia, Mens national program showing headsprings L4 boys. In manual as well. I would have thought these had the potential to cause neck problems more so that headstands?

I like the idea of progression from headspring to handspring, interested to know how hard these are to teach and how these are taught?
 
When some people execute Headsprings, their head does not actually touch the floor, there is merely a bending of the arms which then extend to straight and open in the shoulder angle.

Learning a headspring is quite often "old-school" for front tumbling since it teaches how to go from a piked to open hip position and prepatory physical strength and power development in the upper body. It also taught before the bounder handspring/flyspring on a trampoline/tumbl-trak which is easier to learn than the handspring step out or handspring from a lunge.

Such prepatory strength and power drills include:

Being able to do a pushup from headstand to handstand with or without the wall.

Doing the above but assisting in coercision from a piked position. This also can be done through the handstand to bridge as a sort of limber.

If you fall on your head when training the headspring, it can hurt of course. Again there is the prepatory physical development.

Headstands can put pressure on the spine, especially cervical spine. Not good for someone with spinal issues. For everyone else, it can be beneficial ( though a good idea to also work on spinal decompression exercises like hanging and swinging ).

Another prepatory drill for the headstand that takes off pressure off the spine is the bent arm handstand. Place the head on top of a panel mat of appropriate size while supporting with the hands/arms in a tripod. There still is pressure on the spine. To note, this pressure also strengthens the spine but can damage it.

Headstand straddle presses are significantly easier to learn than in handstand because of the shorter lever by bending the arms. However, against a wall or better yet, against a wedge mat on the wall, they can focus on lowering. This requires the basic ability to do a handstand against the wall which is tougher than a headstand against the wall and more daunting.

The short term benefit of learning the headspring may outweigh the benefit especially in youth girls because of the sheer amount of limbers they do with their spine. Boys tend to do these in much smaller volume, if ever and never on beam. Over time, these issues can surface as back problems with the girls.
 
We only recommend bridges for smaller children, when their feet are elevated on a block. I much prefer teaching a handstand (walking feet up a padded wall) over headstands.
 
BlairBob...headstands are in the girls L2 routine for USAG. My niece competed L2 last season and had to do them.
 
^ I was thinking the same thing! If headstands are so dangerous- why are they in the USAG floor routine? I don't teach headstands or bridges until age 5, but some of you are insisting that headstands are harmful even after age 5?
 
My daughter is in L2 (AAU) and in our state they do not do the handstand. As a matter of fact, if they lift their feet up off the ground (as they move their feet to a pike position in the tripod) they get a deduction up to the value of the skill. I always wondered why and now I wonder if the headstand safety issue is the reason (especially since some 4 and 5 year olds compete level 2).
 
My dd is 5 competing level 3 and her coaches have never done headstands with her or any of the other kids.

This is pretty much the same for my daughter. The only time ever that she has done headstands was a week or so ago when she went to a make-up class and had a different instructor. Her normal coaches have never taught headstands nor do I think they will since it's not in the Level 3 routines.
 
Aerials Coach, I do realize that the headstand is part of the level 2 routines. Our gym has a level 2 class but the girls don't compete until level 3. In the level 2 classes, they do not do headstands at all. I don't know why. It may be because our gym doesn't even learn the routines for level 2.
 
That's a shame because it really is a fun developmental skill, plus the pike and straddle press handstands work the abs and hip flexors. My daughter loves doing them :)

shelovesthebars- My daughter's class doesn't do them either for Level 2 as they don't compete until Level 4. She learned her headstand at home on her own time and enjoys doing them.
 
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