Coaches Quick verbiage for teaching back handsprings

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CoachTodd

Coach
Proud Parent
Here's one for anyone's input. I'm looking to see what wording or verbiage others use to teach back handsprings in the simplest terms possible.
My example I stole from a college coach is as follows:
"Sit back, jump high, don't let your head hit the ground."

I'm basically looking for ways others word the mechanics for the skill. If you say Jump high and arch, I'll personally hunt you down and smack you :).
 
my most recent is "fall, sit, jump, throw" I change it up often, depending on the kid and what parts need emphasis, though.
 
I say:

"Fall, bend, jump"

However, I really spend a lot of time on this, breaking it down.
I like my gymnasts to start in a dished shape, I then get them to fall back so they are leaning on my hand. Once they understand the fall, I then ask them to fall and bend their knees at the same time. They practice the shape against a wall. Again, once they can do that, I ask them to fall and bend their knees and bring their arms down to their sides. And finally when they have all of these things put together, we start to jump backwards in a tight arch to land flat on a mat. Eventually we actually do the whole bhs which is when I'd stand ready to support them and say "Fall, Bend, Jump"!
 
I learned and teach with "sit, lean, jump." Sit like you're in a chair, lean the chair back until you're about to fall, then jump. The chair helps because they like to sit oddly sometimes in their own way of preparing to do the BHS and then I can look at them and ask "What kind of chairs do you sit in??!?" and that usually gets them to laugh and relax a bit and focus.
 
What I found helps my students alot is to remind them to not rush the sitting part (and the accompanying arm swing down) and take that part slower/normal speed and then use their burst energy on the arm swing into the move (for standing bhs)

so this usually comes out like this.

"Slow, slow, fast"

Sounds weird....but my kids get it. I think the "verbiage" is really going to depend on which drills you use to coach bhs' mainly, as my students usually only really struggle with rushing the very first part and swinging their arms down way to violently as they sit back into the move.
 
I learned and teach with "sit, lean, jump." Sit like you're in a chair, lean the chair back until you're about to fall, then jump. The chair helps because they like to sit oddly sometimes in their own way of preparing to do the BHS and then I can look at them and ask "What kind of chairs do you sit in??!?" and that usually gets them to laugh and relax a bit and focus.

I'm not real big on "lean" just because it tends to make the lay back too far and the handspring a little too flat sometimes but that's just a personal preference of mine.
 
What I found helps my students alot is to remind them to not rush the sitting part (and the accompanying arm swing down) and take that part slower/normal speed and then use their burst energy on the arm swing into the move (for standing bhs)

so this usually comes out like this.

"Slow, slow, fast"

Sounds weird....but my kids get it. I think the "verbiage" is really going to depend on which drills you use to coach bhs' mainly, as my students usually only really struggle with rushing the very first part and swinging their arms down way to violently as they sit back into the move.
Right now I don't have the luxury of setting up drills but I should have that option soon. (We're moving to a new location)
I really try to teach without an arm swing if at all possible so they keep their chests up. For some reason they like to lean forward when they swing their arms down.

Thanks
 
"Jump like McDonald's!"

Get 'em flipping and then start fixin'!

Sorry if that's to close to jump high and arch...but that is the truth...that's exactly what you need to do and that is exactly what a child understands.

Perfection doesn't start perfect!
 
The one I've been using lately is: Sit, push, throw your hands down and your toes up, throw your toes down and your hands up.

"Get upside down" is another favorite.
 
I use 'lean, bend, push' or lately 'lean, bend, hips up'. The lean is to my hand for the first 1000 so I canguard against too low, then bend knees and push back. I have a couple of not tall but long legged gymnast currently who weren't getting upside down enough, so 'hips up' is working for them.
 
"Lean, sit, jump" (long lean, quick sit and jump so more of a "leeeeaaan..... sit! jump!").

If I am spotting, I place my hand on their mid/upper back to help with the lean. Arms do not swing back past legs to help keep their chest up. I think you need to have some kind of arm swing because as they come out of a round-off they don't already have their arms on their ears, so they are doing an arm swing of sorts.
 
Right now I don't have the luxury of setting up drills but I should have that option soon. (We're moving to a new location)
I really try to teach without an arm swing if at all possible so they keep their chests up. For some reason they like to lean forward when they swing their arms down.

Thanks

I know exactly what you mean, before I even teach any part of the actual backhandspring though, I have my kids stand in front of a cheese/wall wedge.

Then, with their arms straight out in front of them, I have them fall back into a wallsit position as they swing their arms down to their sides.

I tell them their whole back needs to hit the wall at the same time their hands do

This basically forces them to be sitting back into it as they swing down, as I dont teach them anything else until they can do this every time without fail.

But before I did that drill I had tons of problems with the shoulder/chest drop on arm swings!
 
"Lean, sit, jump" (long lean, quick sit and jump so more of a "leeeeaaan..... sit! jump!").

If I am spotting, I place my hand on their mid/upper back to help with the lean. Arms do not swing back past legs to help keep their chest up. I think you need to have some kind of arm swing because as they come out of a round-off they don't already have their arms on their ears, so they are doing an arm swing of sorts.

Huh? Where do you teach them to have their arms at the end of a round off?
 
Huh? Where do you teach them to have their arms at the end of a round off?

My guess is it's one of those cheer round offs where the kid stops with their hands down. I know I push the arms by ears the entire time.

I also hate the chuck it then fix it later mentality. That's the jump high and arch thing. I'd prefer them to get it right so we can move on instead of spending the next 2 years trying to fix it. I know I've worked with tons of kids taught to chuck it and it takes far longer to fix it that it would have to learn it correctly in the first place.
 
Personally I don't like to use the words "fall" or "lean" when coaching tumbling. "Fall" implies out of control and it usually ends up with the athlete on their heels for the jump, and it is very difficult to lean to the perfect position every time you do a back handspring. I have the athlete think of only two things: 1) jump back - The athlete begins the back handspring on the balls of their feet and pushes the floor away to create the backward direction. I believe the feet control the direction of all skills, so any time I need to make a correction regarding direction, the athlete immediately thinks about the feet and how they are pushing instead of falling or leaning. I find the athlete to be more consistent. 2) reach up and hit the stretch position - reach up is in relation to their body, not the building. The stretch position is just the name I use to describe the body position during the handspring. I have the athlete lay on their back with arms fully extended, legs straight and toes pointed, hips tucked under, bootie squeezing tight and lifted off the floor. It has nothing to do with stretching, it is just a name. There is a lot in those two things to think of, but it makes it simple in the athletes mind. Jump back, then reach up for the stretch position. I don't teach the arm swing until that it consistently accurate.
 
My guess is it's one of those cheer round offs where the kid stops with their hands down. I know I push the arms by ears the entire time.

I also hate the chuck it then fix it later mentality. That's the jump high and arch thing. I'd prefer them to get it right so we can move on instead of spending the next 2 years trying to fix it. I know I've worked with tons of kids taught to chuck it and it takes far longer to fix it that it would have to learn it correctly in the first place.

While I do not teach an arm whip...some of the top tumblers in the world show quite a bit of shoulder angle out of a roundoff.

What you say does not matter...it's how you develop the gymnasts over a long period of time. It matters more how you physically shape (spot) them. I always say "jump high and arch" as it gets the kids to jump so I can do what I want with them.
 
What you say does not matter..

I'll agree to disagree. I look at coaching as being a teacher. If someone told me it didn't matter what the teacher said when they were trying to learn something, I'd argue the fact.

Thanks to everyone that did put out what wording you use. I've gotten a few ideas out of it.
 
I'll agree to disagree. I look at coaching as being a teacher. If someone told me it didn't matter what the teacher said when they were trying to learn something, I'd argue the fact.

Thanks to everyone that did put out what wording you use. I've gotten a few ideas out of it.

If it matters...then I would say there are many wrong answers here. Anyone who is looking for "magic words" to make a back handspring happen is searching for something that does not exist. The fact is that different drills and verbiage work for different kids.

Now for giants...that's a whole different story. I say, "Swing really big and go all the way around!" That seems to work every single time for every single gymnast. They have all had perfect technique and form when I say this.

For the record...I get my kids flipping as quickly as possible. I have not seen many bad habits form in chucking kids through a back handspring. I do not at all view this as a skill that must be taught perfectly or it will take 2 years to reverse them back out of all their bad habits. Usually you can just improve their strength and shaping and the back handspring will improve nicely. As for words...I put them where I want them...I hold them there so they can feel the position...then I say "I need you to get here" or something of the sort.
 
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Right now I don't have the luxury of setting up drills but I should have that option soon. (We're moving to a new location)
I really try to teach without an arm swing if at all possible so they keep their chests up. For some reason they like to lean forward when they swing their arms down.

Thanks

This is interesting also. You don't want to see them thrown through the skill...but you are unable to setup drills????
 
Anyone who is looking for "magic words" to make a back handspring happen is searching for something that does not exist. The fact is that different drills and verbiage work for different kids.

I agree with this 100%. However, I took the OP to mean that he was just looking for different ideas for his verbiage than he already uses. I'm sure that we've ALL had that gymnast that you repeat the same correction to a thousand times, then a different coach walks by one time, gives the same correction in a slightly different way, and BAM! Instantly corrected. kwim? This is why I always try to have many ways of essentially saying the same thing, and I guess that is what I thought the OP was looking for when I answered.

I'm also big on vocal coaching, so I use a lot of "key words" while coaching. I'm talking and making corrections just about the entire time that I'm working.
 

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