Vertical Handstand on Beam

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My (hopefully) L4 daughter is working on her vertical handstand. She is confident if she is about 7/10 of the way up but when is spotted or attempts to go for it she freaks out and jumps off. How can she get over her mental block? Her handstand on floor is great so her coaches are pushing her extra hard. We have a little beam at home so if we push it in front of the couch she hits her handstand but arches over. How can she get over her mental block but not arch over?
 
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Think twice before you define this as a mental block. It may be an easy skill for her on floor, but to her, and others, it's a whole lot harder on the beam. Consider just this small example I'm going to give you about some of the things that go on in kids' heads. These thoughts are comparing the handstand on floor to a handstand on beam.

Floor handstand will be done on a vast, padded surface and transition into a flexibility skill, pirouette, roll, or some other easy skill.....Handstand on floor beam will be done in a small specific area that doesn't allow for "adjustments", graduate to a height 4 feet off the floor, with a solid object, the beam, to fall on, and a skill following it that seems anything, at this time, but simple.


So is it a mental block, or a case of a child who thinks ahead and wants to make sure each effort is exactly "on" before considering following through to complete the skill.

I don't know for sure, does anybody?
 
In L4 you do not need a complete vertical handstand. It is 3/4 I believe. She does need her side handstand dismount (which is different). I would be careful practicing the handstand on a home beam. It is scary for many kids when learning this skill and you would not want her to fall and hurt or scare herself. The handstand must be done with a straight, tight body, pointed toes, legs together. The coaches should be able to help her. I know at my dd's first L4 meet (practice meet) her coach spotted her on her handstand dismount.
 
Oddly enough she has no fear on her dismount. Her coaches are still telling her its a vertical handstand. One said "Your handstands on floor are great so this is no different." I think she just needs to know how to twist if she arches over but when she is spotted on twisting she freaks out and jumps off the beam.
 
She could be having a hard time deciding which way to turn. Going upside down, for some kids, reverses their sense of direction with respect to turns. I hope her coaches stop saying "this is no different", and start coaching the difference that your daughter perceives.

Have they taught her how to do the pirouette on floor, on a prominately marked-out line to similate the beam. The line/beam will appear, to her, to be turning one direction while she feels herself turning the other.

This is very similar to the sensation that comes to us when we go on rides at the amusement park that have 360 degree loops. If you turn your head to the right as you go through the loop, the horizon tips down left side first, or counter clockwise for the full 360 degree turn. If you turn your head to the left while entering the loop, you'll see the right side of the horizon tip down and continue for the full 360 degrees in a clockwise motion.

So in a sense, your daughter may be getting confused by her upside down horizon, and needs a little more time, coaching, drills, or gradual progressions to figure it out. On the upside.....IMO kids that have this sort of motion sensitivity also end up doing much better than others once they get the skill figured out.
 
Thanks... I had my daughter read the post and she agrees "Its hard to think about so many things when you are upside down. "She hit her handstand on the low beam yesterday and she is working up to a high beam. She twisted off too and understands a bit more. By the way what is a deduction for not hitting vertical handstand? (On the high beam she is close once again like 7/10 of the way up?)
 
Sounds like she crossed a threshold, at least that one time, and has the skill moving in a positive direction. The 7/10 handstand........Consider it a "protection mode" and it will stay that way until she does a bunch more. Sounds like she's pretty typical, getting upside "downish" a little more each time. I call it "nibbling at the skill", and she just may need to nibble a bit more before taking a big bite. No big deal if she nibbles in a disciplined manner, and at a quick pace by trying to get as many handstand repititions as possible into each practice.
 
put the little beam that you have against a wall you don't care about. she should do hanstands facing both in and out of the wall. be careful when stomach is facing wall as she could roll out. a mattress over the beam will be protection enough.:)
 
By the way what is a deduction for not hitting vertical handstand? (On the high beam she is close once again like 7/10 of the way up?)

I could be wrong, but I thought the level 4 handstand wasn't required to be all the way up? Unless it's changed over the years, I think it's supposed to be a 3/4 up handstand. If that's true, then anywhere between 3/4 and vertical there would be no deduction.
 
My DD has the same kind of problem. It isn't exactly the same on the beam as on floor because on a floor you have a better base - hands further apart and fingers spread wide, I guess it feels more stable. I think my DD is also having a problem with her shape, I think she finds it hard to open her hips enough without arching her back.
 
That's great! My DD has also improved and is getting a lot more vertical than before. I talked to her about it and it turns out she was afraid of going right over and landing on her back on the beam. I showed her how she could turn out of it. She has been practising at home a lot using a piece of foam the width of the beam on the floor.
 
One thing that helped my DD when she was learning this was that her coach put a big mat at the end of the beam and she would do a handstand and fall over on purpose. It seemed to really help her not be afraid to go to vertical.
 
Have her do some partner handstands holding and saying in your head "1 one thousand,2 one thousand" try not to balk. the handstand is an easy move once you get it.
 

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