WAG Back Hand Spring Form Tips

[spgymnastics]

Hi, was wondering if you have any tips on how to help my 8 YO L4 improve her form on BHS. Obviously her coaches are working with her but just wondering if you have any additional advice.. it’s mostly those bent legs of course..

 

[sglemon]

If it is just bent legs, it will come with practice. The key to a good ROBHS is the roundoff. When my DD started level 4, 2.5 years, ago, she already had a ROBHS. Her level 4 coach completely broke it down, specifically working on the form at each point during the skill, emphasizing the roundoff. She completely lost the skill for 2 months and when it came back it was gorgeous.

 

[iwannacoach]

It could be she's at a "stage" in her bhs where she's got too much going on as she does the skill to put form corrections to use. Another likely......She thinks the skill is done more easily with bent knees, and won;t go about working on form until she's feeling solid on the skills. The problem with that logic is that form isn't just a means to a higher score. Straight legs during a bhs make the skill easier, here's the short list.....

A bhs requires a strong jump backwards into the skill, and the follow through to a strong jump is extended/straight legs. Weak jump leads to a weak follow through (bent knees)......a weak jump with bent knees means less "power" to work with, and that usually results in a genuine need to bend the knees, making the skill look even worse.

Bent knees as her hands hit the floor will take away her ability to push up and off her hands to a standing position. I've yet to see, in my lifetime, a "pogo stick" that bends somewhere in the upper half to help it go higher. Maybe if I stick around another 20 years, some opportunistic inventor will come up with a "new and improved" pogo stick that bends in mutiple locations, but until that day you can assume that straight and tight bodies will bounce better than bent and loose ones.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Advice that I'd give to a parent? Step back and let the coaches do their jobs.

I know that sounds obnoxiously condescending, and I'm sorry I can't find any other way of putting it, but it's the best advice I can give. If she feels like there's pressure from you to perform well (and, no matter how you approach it, this is the message that you will send if you try to coach her on her backhandspring), it will make it far less fun for her.

I can only imagine how hard it is for a parent to watch their kid struggle with a skill and not be able to step in and help -- I know it would drive me absolutely crazy -- but standing back and not getting involved really is the best way you can help.

 

[ollieblueeyes]

Hardest advice follow...but I know you are spot on!