Anon Backhand spring

[Anonymous (4272)]

Any advice or tips for my daughter she’s been trying to get her backhand spring, when she has a light spot she is able to keep strong arms and land in feet. The minute she does it on her own she doesn’t keep string arms and or she doesn’t land on her feet. She either belly flops or lands on knees. We have her do drills to keep strong arms pushing off the wall and handstand snap downs to try to get her to snap out her backhand spring quicker. If anyone has any other tips or advice we would appreciate it!

 

[gympoppop]

Tough to say without a video but a common problem is that she is jumping straight up rather than sitting it back enough before taking off, getting the center of mass well behind the feet so that it is long and low. If she is jumping up too much she will come down with all the weight over the arms and they will collapse. Turning hands in a bit towards each other also may help because this is a stronger position to block from.

 

[Anonymous (0ceb)]

What does her coach say? Maybe ask for some drills that she can do safely at home.

 

[goldierachie1018]

I think it could be mental if I'm being totally honest. It's even happened to me before. It could be a mental block. That's when you can do something but your mind doesn't let you. I'm thinking this because you mentioned she can do it with a light spot. If it is a mental block mats are very helpful and you keep taking more and more mats away until you can do it on the ground. I don't think spots are good for mental blocks because you can't take more and more of the person away. Also, they are much more trustworthy than mats. Hope this helped!!

 

[Anonymous (0281)]

A lot of young gymnasts hold back on their jump when the 'security' of a spotter is gone. The arm bending/bad landing is likely a symptom of another issue.

I tend to re-iterate that they need to do it 'exactly the same' as when I am spotting.

Some kids do better with a set up that allows them to try without fear of being hurt. This allows them to feel the difference in their jump effort/technique. Downhill on a wedge in the pit is one way of achieving this.