Hi! New gymnastics mom here - help with vault

[Jenetic69]

Hi everyone! My 8 year old daughter had a later start to gymnastics and just started Level 3 (pre-team) this year. She had only had 6 months of gymnastics prior to this, but she is strong, flexible and learns quickly. She was behind at the beginning of the year, but after 5 months has more or less caught up to the rest of the girls in her group. The one exception is the vault, where it seems like she has developed some sort of mental block towards it. They are doing vaults off the springboard onto mats (not the real vault yet) and she had a bad jump off the board last month where her foot slipped off the back and and she crashed into the side of mats. She was fine, but every since then, she started pulling back or overshooting as she approached the springboard and would either crash into the mats, or sort of like a run/leap off the board onto the mats. This only happens if she is asked to jump and land with 2 feet on the mat. She can do the maneuvers where you land on the mat with your hands (like the flat back vault). Are there any tricks to help her get over this?

 

[amiandjim]

First, congrats to your kiddo for making team so quickly! That’s great. This will likely be the first in a long line of struggles and mental blocks. Most of us here subscribe to the “let the coaches handle it” approach. Don’t talk about the block or bring it up unless she asks you to talk about it. As long as she in a good gym and is happy, the coaches will help her! Trust the process...easier said than done I know!

 

[Jenetic69]

First, congrats to your kiddo for making team so quickly! That’s great. This will likely be the first in a long line of struggles and mental blocks. Most of us here subscribe to the “let the coaches handle it” approach. Don’t talk about the block or bring it up unless she asks you to talk about it. As long as she in a good gym and is happy, the coaches will help her! Trust the process...easier said than done I know!

Thank you! She had many years of jumping around the house and off the furniture until we finally sent her to a class! It's good to know this is common. She comes to me upset after practice, but I haven't offered her any technical advice since I have no idea what I am talking about!

 

[amiandjim]

Yeah all you can really do is assure her it’s normal and things take time!

 

[Eat/Sleep/Gym...Repeat]

I never understood what “lose a skill” could be until I saw it happen. Kiddo lost her back handspring one day at a bad practice. Took several weeks but “found it” again. Agree with advice of let coaches handle it... very common. Don’t dwell on it or ask too frequently. When she gets it back again, and she will, you’ll know because there will be fireworks, lol. Hope you guys do great!!