Layout Flyaway Drills

[Shane]

A lot of our level six's are struggling with their layout fly-away dismounts on bars. We are not teaching them a tucked fly-away, but going straight to the layout. Does anybody have any good drills or technique suggestions for teaching a layout fly-away.

We currently have them do a lot of flops into the pit, making sure their head is in and they are in a nice candlestick position when leaving the bar.

Thanks!

 

[wordsmith]

Do they get spotted at all in the swing to candlestick drill, into the pit? I'd say that is as good as anything- emphasis on tap swing and consistent release point with head held neutral.

You can also balance them and hold on the candlestick release when spotting; drop them to their backs on some; turn them over on others; pause on some and correct shapes; quicker on others in turning them over.

To get them comfortable with turning over, maybe have them land in hollow push up on mats (I like having them land like this on an inclined mountain of cheese mats (the kind you might build to have them hit and backward roll down) so that they land more upright than simply horizontal.

Tom Forster showed me a drill one of his coaches came up with, basically like the back extension roll off a panel mat. Have the gymnast lay on a block, lift toes and hips up to candlestick, then shoot off the block and land in a hollow push-up.

 

[JBS]

The flyaway is all about a powerful tap swing...must be able to swing above bar height in the front swing to go straight to a good layout.

If they have that I just hand spot the candlestick with no flip at first. If they are awesome you will notice that this will easily turn over while rising up. All you have to do is throw them up and away and you get great tapping layouts.

If this does not happen...back up to the tap swing.

1. Awesome tap swings
2. Tap to candle with no flip (spotted)
3. Tap to candle with flip (spotted)
4. Tap to candle with flip (no spot)

The above is all I do. Any other drills that I use are on a per gymnast basis to get them to perform one of the above numbers correctly.

I have not had great success with the flops into the pit or flat. To me they need to be in a vertical position (upside down). As you are skipping the tuck...I now skip the flop drills.

 

[marie83]

Thanks JBS for the last bit of your post - I've often wondered what the point of the 'flop drill's really is - other than getting the gymnasts used to releasing the bar! (although it's at the wrong time, so really didn't see the point!)
I did some fly aways with a couple of my gymnasts a little while ago for fun - I put them on a raised low bar (some had to bend their legs so not ideal, but safer by far!) I literally did what JBS described above. However, not really done any more since then as the gymnasts can get away with straddle undershoots for quite a long time here!

 

[JBS]

One thing to add. I always hold the wrist on the gymnasts back swing when learning flyaways. I encourage such big swings that they peel on the back swing sometimes.

 

[Shane]

Thanks for the above posts. I will start the incorporate the candlestick roll to push-up drill off of a block. I will also continue to hand spot the tap-swing to candlestick, and encourage high tap swings. Eventually, when they are ready, I will turn them over and hopefully this will work.

I always hold their wrist also, for safety purposes.

 

[coachmolly]

Any advice for bigger kids (middle/high school) and no pit?

 

[AmandaLynn]

I've not tried this, but it seems like it would be a good option for larger kids with no pit available.

[video=youtube;HtTJNTb7ZyA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtTJNTb7ZyA[/video]