level 5 vault for a shorty

[emmasmom]

My 6 year old is preparing to be a level 5 next year, and the coach told me that her vault may be tricky due to her small stature. Any ideas about this, and ways mom can help her?
Many thanks.

 

[CoachTodd]

Speed is the small vaulter's best friend. I've seen very small gymnasts vault at some pretty big settings as long as they have a good run and can transition the run into the springboard instead of onto the board. Depending on when next year's season starts, she should have plenty of time to get her run down.

 

[marie83]

Definately the run up and board jump will be the key! I have a teeny weeny gymnast who has to handspring over 120cm in October - she is a good 10-12 cm shorter than this herself! However, although she isn't doing the vault on her own yet, she actually has the best first flight out of my whole group purely because she can run fast and jump hard (and actually seems to naturally understand the biomechanics of it all!) We are currently working on it on 110cm until everyone can do it!

It did take my weeny one ages to get her flatback vault though and I refused to move her onto handsprings until she could flatback properly.

Good Luck! With lots of practice, hard work, good coaching and determination she'll get there!

 

[Megley]

I agree with Coach Todd, if your dd is a sprinter, she will probably be fine. There is really not a whole lot you can do about that, though. She either was born that way or not. My dd was a very small L5 last year who had just turned 7 when the season began. She is not naturally speedy and struggled with vault all year. On the other hand, we saw several very small girls at meets vault really well. The distinguishing factor definitely is speed.

 

[gymch34]

just be patient, she'll get it, but it might take a while!

 

[ZJsMom]

I agree with the idea that being small isn't necessarily a barrier to being a good vaulter. When my dd was a level 5, one of the best vaulters on her team was a small 7-year old. She was consistently good for a mid 9 on vault.

 

[grizzoline]

Yeah, calm down. The only way mom can help is by comforting her when it doesn't go well.

Vault will always be one of those events that'll be really hard for some due to size or power. But then again, in gymnastics nearly everyone has an event like that (in my case - BEAM)

 

[BlairBob]

If you can run and jump, you can vault. And if you can't, it doesn't matter whether you are tall or short.