WAG Skills Timeline

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If you have these skills, how long did it take you to get your-

Side Aerial?
Front handspring?
FHS SO , FHS connection?
Backhand spring?
Backwalkover?
Back tuck?
RO BHS?
Front tuck?

Kip?
Squat on?
High bar pullover?
Front handspring on vault?

I have been trying for 3 months and I still don’t have my side aerial….is that ‘slow’ progress for a skill? I know I am delaying my hands touching the ground much longer but I’m getting frustrated. Same with BHS…..I cannot do one without a a very heavy spot. How long did it take you to get the skills mentioned above?
 
Everyones timeline is different.

It took my daughter many months for most of those skills if you include all the drills that build up to them. Some years. A front handspring on vault has lots of progressions.

My kids Kip from when the serious work started until she actually got it. 8 months at least. Last of her group to get it. Only 3 other of the over a dozen kids she worked out with are still doing gymnastics.

Dont worry about what others do. You do you.
 
A lot of the skills you mentioned above like kip, bhs, aerials, front handspring vault take time to learn.
For me BHS took quite a while compared to the other skills, about 3 months, and I lost it again after about 1.5 months of having it (currently dont have it). I get the frustration but skills will come with time

For side aerial, try going from a higher surface like maybe an open panel mat because thats what helped me.
After i had it from a higher surface, my coach spotted me on some aerials from a lower surface to higher (like floor to sting mat) - both of these helped me get it on a level surface but the last thing you need is confidence on yourself that you can land it so you wont put your hands down.
 
A lot of the skills you mentioned above like kip, bhs, aerials, front handspring vault take time to learn.
For me BHS took quite a while compared to the other skills, about 3 months, and I lost it again after about 1.5 months of having it (currently dont have it). I get the frustration but skills will come with time

For side aerial, try going from a higher surface like maybe an open panel mat because thats what helped me.
After i had it from a higher surface, my coach spotted me on some aerials from a lower surface to higher (like floor to sting mat) - both of these helped me get it on a level surface but the last thing you need is confidence on yourself that you can land it so you wont put your hands down.
Thank you for the tips! I have my aerial off a raised surface but not on the ground. I will ask my coach to spot me.
 
I think it's really hard to answer that question. There are so many variables, like number of training hours per week, how often the skill is worked on and drills to build up to the skill, to say how long it took to get a particular skill. My dd got her kip a couple of months after the end of the level 3 season when they really started focusing on the new skills for level 4. However, they had been working drills and kips randomly throughout the level 3 season.
 
It's hard to answer "how long did it take to get X," because.... when does the clock start on any particular skill? Are you asking how long from first attempt at the skill itself, or how long from starting drills specific to the skill, or how long from starting general drills and strength that help the skill, or how long from starting lead-up skills, or.....?

To use an example from a girl I coached before the pandemic: she successfully landed her RO BHS back tuck on floor on her very first attempt. But she'd already been doing the pass onto a resi for a couple weeks, and she'd been doing it on tumbletrak for months, and back tucks on trampoline for almost a year, and drills for back tucks for a little over a year, and backhandsprings for a couple years, and other skills that help prepare for back tucks much longer than that; heck, I could probably draw that line of progression all the way back to her first preschool gymnastics class six years earlier. So I could honestly say she learned the skill in one try, or I could just as honestly say it took her six years.

There's a (probably apocryphal) story about Pablo Picasso that seems relevant:
Picasso is sketching at a park. A woman walks by, recognizes him, and begs for her portrait. Somehow, he agrees. A few minutes later, he hands her the sketch. She is elated, excited about how wonderfully it captures the very essence of her character, what beautiful work it is, and asks how much she owes him. “5000 francs, madam,” says Picasso. The woman is incredulous, outraged, and asks how that’s even possible given it only took him 5 minutes. Picasso looks up and, without missing a beat, says: “No, madam, it took me my whole life.”
 
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If you have these skills, how long did it take you to get your-

Side Aerial?
Front handspring?
FHS SO , FHS connection?
Backhand spring?
Backwalkover?
Back tuck?
RO BHS?
Front tuck?

Kip?
Squat on?
High bar pullover?
Front handspring on vault?
It totally depends on the skill and the person. It took my daughter one try get her squat on. It took her longer to get her back walkover on the floor, as a little kid, than it took her to get her back walkover on beam. It's impossible to predict.

The kip in particular is unpredictable. A person could have perfect technique for a year and never get it because they lack the strength. Strong people are good at some things. Flexible people are good at other things. Bigger people are good at some things (vault), while smaller one tend to be better at other (bars).

While some kids do get every skill crazy fast, every one of those kids that I have personally seen ends up struggling mentally at some point in the future. I suspect that it's because the big skills came so fast and so easy that as soon as something is legitimately hard it throws them off.
 
The kip took my daughter 3 months to get, but over a year to get with straight arms, and another few months to connect to her cast.
She used to get tumbling runs in a week. BAM. Prodigy. Then the mental blocks started. Now it takes a lot longer and she has to continually remind her body how to do a RO/BH.
So. Like everyone's saying... depends.
 

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