Parents Small kids doing vault

[Peachy88]

My daughter is 5, on preteam, and on track to compete Level 3 next year. Her nemesis right now is the vault though because she is only about 40 pounds and it seems the spring board barely moves when she hits it. She hits it pretty hard and then does something I find hilarious, she goes stiff like one of those goats that gets scared and falls over. From my perspective it looks like she goes perfectly straight and her coach tosses her over and she falls flat. Obviously her coaches have said she will get it and they crack up over how straight she goes, but I am curious if size really does make it harder to do vault at the beginning or if vault will always be harder for her. They do no modifying with tramp or a shorter mat stack for her so she is stuck trying to get this. She can straight jump on the mat stack but barely makes it.

 

[profmom]

Time, patience, experience, and growth. Maybe a lot of time. Like, more than you can possibly imagine.

 

[kayjaybe]

Yes, I think vault is harder when they are really tiny. But she will grow and it will get easier. Dd struggled with vault in old L5 & 6. By the time she got to L7, it was one of her best events. I think she medaled on it every meet last year in L8.

One of the big differences I see at the lower levels is the speed of the run. Girls that run really hard tend to score much better. (At higher levels, they all have to run hard or the vault won’t happen.)

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

People used to try to tell me DD had vault issues because she was so little. Then another girl came along on her pre-team and was half a head shorter and 10 lbs lighter and she was the best vaulter by far! They were still all doing handstand flatbacks, but she was more than ready for handspring vaults. She has power for days. The same is true at her new gym. DD has put on 4 inches and the weight that goes with, but she still struggles on vault, and the best on her team/vault state champion is the size of a 5 year old. I think it really is just time and technique!

 

[profmom]

There are no universals, but string beans often have more trouble with vault than fireplugs early on. My son still struggles with this event. I know it will come eventually, but right now, the only game for him is technique.

 

[LouLou]

Teach her how to run properly. Good form and some speed will definitely help. Tiny kids can do serious vaults. Size is not the only factor.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

My dd is 5 and only about 37 lbs and vault is by far her best and favorite. She is the strongest vaulter in her group. She is a really fast little runner so maybe that helps. However, she struggles with other events where other girls in her group shine. I think your daughter will be just fine on vault, it may just take her a little more time than some of her other events.

 

[raenndrops]

YG has always been one of the stronger vaulters even when she was little (before she was on team, she was vaulting better than some of the girls on the team at Old L4.
It is a matter of how they run and how they hit the springboard... YG has always been good at that
This fall, they ended up adding another spring for her (the lightest in her group) because she was bottoming out the springboard at the same number of springs as girls up to 40 lbs heavier were using.

I would suggest running / hurdling "games" at home. It might help.

 

[John]

How does she hit the spring board? From how far away does she hurdle and where does she land on the board.

My DD had trouble when she was tiny but one day learned to jump long before reaching the spring board and to aim for the end. She was always a fast runner it was learning how to take power into The board.

 

[Taxidriver]

I don’t think it’s necessarily size, my dd is one of the smallest for her age at gym but is one of the stronger vaults, but she does have a very powerful fast run (her coaches often joke with her about her speed saying she runs like a cheetah) but she also needs very long run. It has taken time for it all to come together but now she’s worked out her ideal run up length and also the distance of the spring board from the vault (I’ve noticed a couple of them like it placed at a different distance to the rest).
I’m guessing the vault height is the height she has to compete at like it is here in GB, so they have to learn to vault at that height and if they lowered the height for practice I don’t think that would benefit her as she would still need to learn to vault at the higher height.
Time and patience for her to master the technique and I’m sure she will get it.

 

[duyetanh]

You have LOTS of time.
Fwiw, my kid weighed about 5 pounds less than yours at that age and was very, very, short (still is!), but her strength to weight ratio was pretty equal....and she had fast twitch stuff going up the wazoo....vault was, and still is, her favorite. It was her best event also. People couldn't believe how she would pull off that dang thing....I couldn't either. But she could haul it down that runway. Now bars? HAHAHAHA!!!! Major issues. Ugly, ugly, ugly. But yeah, while a bit of size is helpful, it isn't the end all for awesome vaulting.

 

[Peachy88]

I did a little looking and it looks like our gym's vault height may be much higher than necessary. The mat they use is about 30-36 inches tall. Should I say something or just let it go?

 

[raenndrops]

I did a little looking and it looks like our gym's vault height may be much higher than necessary. The mat they use is about 30-36 inches tall. Should I say something or just let it go?

let it go. For Level 3, they have to vault at least 32 inches.... It goes 32 - 40 - or 48 inches.

 

[Peachy88]

let it go. For Level 3, they have to vault at least 32 inches.... It goes 32 - 40 - or 48 inches.

Thanks!

 

[Taxidriver]

I did a little looking and it looks like our gym's vault height may be much higher than necessary. The mat they use is about 30-36 inches tall. Should I say something or just let it go?

Yes let it go, our girls have been training on a higher vault than needed for this year but the coaches are planning ahead as next year the vault height increases.

 

[profmom]

If the coaches are doing something with which some kids are struggling, even struggling a lot, I've found that there's generally a good reason for it that has to do with something down the road rather than something immediate.

 

[VanessaJV]

My daughter is and always has been incredibly small for her age. I would say her size never truly caused an issue until she started flipping yurchenkos. Before that it was really only a matter of technique. But it took her until 58 lbs to really have enough umph for her yurchenko and even then they were just getting there. She is on a very looong break due to injury... one good thing about it is she may be getting a little bigger right now

 

[duyetanh]

My daughter is and always has been incredibly small for her age. I would say her size never truly caused an issue until she started flipping yurchenkos. Before that it was really only a matter of technique. But it took her until 58 lbs to really have enough umph for her yurchenko and even then they were just getting there. She is on a very looong break due to injury... one good thing about it is she may be getting a little bigger right now

How is she doing? Wasnt it a back injury? If i am wrong, i apologize.

 

[VanessaJV]

How is she doing? Wasnt it a back injury? If i am wrong, i apologize.

Yes it is. She has a break, a stress fracture, and a slight slippage of her L5 onto her S1 vertabrae. Thanks for asking how she is. She has been out 3 months now. She is braced. The hope is she will be out of her brace at the end of January and return to the gym. However, for her first 6 weeks she will only be conditioning and working flexibility and dance.

During her time out her and I actually auditioned for a theater production with a local theater company. She really enjoyed her time doing that and the final show was this weekend. It was a really great experience for her and I am so glad she got to see there is actually a world out there besides gymnastics. But she is definitely ready to get back. We try to get to the gym once a week if possible for her to sit in at practice with her team. Her whole team, coaches included, came to see her in the show. We will still be going to all the meets although she is not competing this season. They begin next weekend. So she has stayed connected while away which has helped keep her spirits up as well.

 

[SMH]

All of our teams best level 3 vaulters are the smallest 6-8 yr olds on the team, scoring 9.5 and up usually, so at least at level 3, in my experience it doesn’t seem to be detrimental to be small and light.