Vault-in need of intervention

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Daughter does great on bars, floor, and beam. Vault ALWAYS pulls down her scores. She has a HORRIBLE run. Getting better, but not quite there yet. She doesn't hit the board hard. Better, but not hard. You can't hear it the way you can with others. She doesn't jump hard. Of course she can't make a handstand. It is piked. I bought her a mini tramp at the house to practice jumping hard. It helps and when she does it her vault is better at gym. She can jump from the mini tramp into a handstand to my bed and hold it. But when you put it all together at gym she can't do it. Her coach gets frustrated with her. Which frustrates her and makes it worse. She now HATES vault, which isn't helping. Please give us some advice and ideas to work with at home-running around the block etc? The mat at gym she vaults onto comes up to above her shoulder, then her coach puts a barrel standing on it flat sides infront of the mat-between the board and the mat. Sometimes he puts another smaller mat on top of those for them to go over. The taller it gets the worse she gets, the more frustrated she is the worse it gets.
 
She's probably doing it wrong at home. It's much easier to put your hands down and do bounces to handstand off a mini tramp (donkey kicks) than it is to run, hit the board, and do a preflight. Especially if she kills her momentum by referencing the incorrect technique of reaching down when she hits the board.

Maybe a private lesson with a coach but ramping everything up at home is just putting more pressure on her. I'd let it go. Tell her she's doing a great job and it'll improve if she keeps working hard.
 
We have had the private lessons. Her coach says it will come with time. :) The other coach says things like you aren't going to the next level without this. Your sister could do this etc. This make Em want to come home and work. She wants it so badly, I feel helpless and want her to help her. Yes, she is reaching down. I am going to schedule another private session with her coach to work on it. It is much better this yeat then last year. Her level 3 vault is getting 9's, but the level 4 vault is what is causing the problems.
 
STOP coaching her at home. it will come in time-she needs to get stronger & keep at it. Instead of making her work on it at home, tell her you know she'll get it and that you believe in her. The coach is probably frustrated bc he/she has to keep reteaching things after she practices on a minitramp & bed at home.
 
Coaching her at home is going to knock all the fun out of gym. When you get overinvolved in how she does, she will begin to feel that gym is all she is valued for. Sell the mini tramp and use the
money for a day out having fun.
The vault will co
e in time, but it will come way faster if the coaches don't have to fix bad habits learned at home.
 
I know. Wish I could take the blame for coaching her at home, but she is doing it on her own. Bought the mini tramp for her to bounce on. Walk into my bedroom and she is bouncing to a handstand. Will def. get her to stop doing that. I keep telling her she will get it with strength and time. But she wants it now. It is so hard to see your child want something so badly. I feel like if I could find her something to do at home that wouldn't hurt her training, but would get her to believe it is helping, then her attitude toward the vault might change. I have put the mini tramp up for now. So now she is doing handstands all the time on the floor. Like I said her desire is there.
 
Wish you all knew my Emma. :) She is very motivated and doing stuff on her own all the time. Like I said the mini-tramp was bought to have fun with and bounce. the girls wanted a big tramp, but we don't have room for it. I go to cook dinner and she is doing other stuff with it. SInce she wasn't getting hurt, I let her get the energy out that way. Will def. put it up. I honestly couldn't coach a dog if I wanted to. As I tell her coaches, it is their thing, not mine. :) I just witness what she is doing. I desire something safe to put all the energy to. She is determined and will always be doing something-cartwheels, handstands, leaps, roundoffs, walking on her hands etc. She gets bored easily. I believe she has even posted on here asking for help with this skill under her own account.
 
Ok....my dd went to a camp where Mr Tom (the choreographer for all of the compulsory routines) was coaching. The parents got to pick his brain on a few things, and a piked vault was one of my questions. He told me that the piking comes from their chest not being up (leaning forward) when they hit the springboard. I told my dd this and guess what?!?!?! The next day at her gym, she kept her chest up, and it was fixed. It was amazing what a few simple words can fix.:) Hope that helps your dd.
 
As anyone that has seen our videos Midget's run was awful forever. She finally had a breakthrough and it not only helped the run but also the power off the springboard.

It was actually really simple.

Her coach told her to run like you were being chased by a crazy person.

The kid actually RUNS now. :D

Good luck with it, I agree with the others though. It will come with time.
 
my dd had the same problem that got fixed after:
1. much conditioning
2. run faster
3. hit the board harder
4. and last but not least - drive the vault from her heels, not her bottom!
 
OMG! What a great idea!!! I am going to tell Emma that one. She is running now like she is thinking too hard. LOL I will share that with her tonight! Thank you!!!!!!
 
my dd had the same problem that got fixed after:
1. much conditioning
2. run faster
3. hit the board harder
4. and last but not least - drive the vault from her heels, not her bottom!


Love 4. I am going to share that one with her as well. Anything she hasn't heard is a great help!!!
Thank you!!!
 
It was actually really simple.

Her coach told her to run like you were being chased by a crazy person.

The kid actually RUNS now. :D

I tell my gymnasts to pretend big sister/annoying little brother/ext. is chasing them. Nothing like the thought of an annoying sibling to get them running.

When that doesn't work, I tell a teammate to chase them down the runway. That always works.
 
It was actually really simple.

Her coach told her to run like you were being chased by a crazy person.

The kid actually RUNS now. :D


I have actually chased my preteam kids down the runway like a crazy person to encourage this! Lots of fun for both of us :D
 
Sounds like my dd. You actually might want to check the similar thread I started. Since your dd is only a level 3, I would be patient. I know it's frustrating because my dd is in the same boat. She can score mid nines on the other three, but can't break nine on vault.

I do agree that practicing at home generally won't help. The one exeption would be running practice. If you want to do sprint drills with her or things to improve her running techinique and speed, that should help.
 
I read a similiar thread on here and the dad sent his daughter to the Parisi speed school. I know a lot of athletes use it here in the offseason for all kinds of sports. They have running camps too to teach the young kids how to sprint properly. I also know that the the head trainer at our location works directly with a college squad on a regular basis. I don't have any kids that go to the school but I would definately consider it for my kids if I felt there was a need but I was a personal trainer before I had my last 3 kids and I see benefits that can last a lifetime. Maybe a short camp would be beneficial.
 
Thank you! We will try running some. We have been walking and jogging as a family. She usually skates when we do it. Might encourage her to run with me. That will make her feel like she is working toward it. :)
 
How old is your daughter? From the thread, I have figured out that she is Level 3 (is that vault similar to the Level 4 on to the mat?) ...but at this point, I would back way off ( I know you say that you don't coach and it's her thing that she does herself but she must be feeling pressure from something..) and let her coaches coach her..that's what you pay them for.

i do agree with prior posters that the run is usually the key but i don't think that at her level, she needs to be enrolled in any special speed school or private lessons for this as it will come in time.
 
She is 10 and moving to a level 4. I think the pressure is coming from the one male coach who is frustrated with her. Last night he was patient with her and told her that her run is getting better. Em is a perfectionist. Her level 3 vault is great. No problems. It is the handstand fall to her back that is the issue. When ever she has competed it she gets 8 or high 7's on it. (She started off last season as 4 in Oct and we made a decision to bump her down for lots of reasons-growth spurt, ADHD meds needed adjusting etc-head coach out with illness all the year and summer before). She is now going to start retraining level 4. This is the skill that is making her nervous. I keep telling her it will come. There are no speed schools near us(I did look just to see, LOL). She is impatient and wants it now. She sees the other 2 girls doing it and wants to be just like them.
 
I have actually chased my preteam kids down the runway like a crazy person to encourage this! Lots of fun for both of us :D


Dd's coach runs a drill where he has the girls chase each other down the vault run-way in pairs. One takes off, then the next girl takes off a second later to try and catch her. They switch for the next run.

The best info I have heard about vault relates to the energy transfers that go on in that brief period of time. It is all about physics. A strong run creates the energy for a strong bounce on the spring board which transfers into a strong pop off the table. Of course there is some form stuff over the table, but if your dd can get that run down the form will be easier to tweak by the coaches.

When my dd had trouble getting over the tale at L5 (she was super tiny a light weight) we told her to pretend the spring board was her brother who was annoying her. Not really nice - but we were desperate!! It worked - she couldn't wait to get down the runway to stomp on her brother's head:eek:
 

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