Women Beam leaps

[BarCoach]

How can I make them bigger? Drills? Overcoming fears? They all leap fairly well on floor.

 

[Dizzy]

With the smaller gymnasts I put foam brick shaped blocks on the beam, sometimes I stack them, and make them jump/leap over them.

 

[GymCoachR2]

I tend to try and get high numbers in, but vary it a lot. Ie. leaping onto the beam from a panel mat, leaping off of the beam onto a panel mat. Doing them (leaps) on those pre-school foam beams (like the crayon ones), sissones (I like these a lot, find them very helpful), general running/leap runs on the beam. Basically make them as comfortable as possible working on the beam by varying what they do.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

^^^^ agree with the above, especially the sissones. I also have a leap champion each week for those who are competitive enough to overcome a bit of fear. I also work a lot of straight leg hops. The expectation is to swing and hold the leg horizontal while landing. If you can't hop one leg to horizontal, chances are you won't be able to leap with full split. Another thing that can work is getting them to land on two feet to gain confidence with the landing.

 

[ABCTechnique]

Alot of "De-construction" Tackle the obvious first "Confidence" I break the leap down on low beam ... we do a lot of "How far can you leap (lot's of those) then we do "How high can you leap" only focusing on How high NOT how far ... we do lot's of those then we put them together ... then we work on leap holds ... I stack 2 or 3 foam blocks high on the low beam, have them stand with one leg extended over the blocks (leg parallel to the floor-at horizontal) and I have them push from the support leg to a leap hold. Think of as many ways you can break that leap down on low beam and practice ... then progress to medium beam, and high beam "only when ready! Tackle CONFIDENCE and your 75% there. )

 

[iwannacoach]

Convince your team to realize these simple truths........

push to go up, and wait to go down vs. reach to go up and reach to get down

falling off and climbing back up are just as tiring as doing the skill correctly with maximum effort

spotting (ballet style) has *not* gone out of style

the energy spent trying not to fall exceeds the energy spent moving confidently while working hard to keep centered, aligned, and maintaining good posture

every moment counts


Nail your warm-up drills........

Convince them the drills done at the beginning of beam workout provide the foundation for working confidently on beam, and that every moment can, eventually, be done exactly as well as can be imagined. Preach to them that every hop, skip, jump, and running step includes a take-off and a landing, and the sooner they perfect their warm-ups...... the sooner beam will make sense and become an easy event to hit and score on. Really, when you think about it, most kids learn their beam skills, on floor, 1-3 years before they ever train them on beam.

So come up with 15 minutes of simple drills that require little height, but still put them into leap/jump take-off and landing positions. Require, during warm-ups, that no one stops for water, questions, or chatting, and that includes every coach in the gym, because you can't ask the kids to make it "special" unless you and the other coaches in the gym make it "special" by focusing only on those drills.

Sorry if that got a bit rant-ish, but there's no way you can get kids who flop through their drills to learn solid skills.... including leaps.

 

[BarCoach]

All great ideas. Thank you.