Coaches BHS help please!

[justcallmecoach]

So I have two gymnasts that just don't arch in their BHS. I have done the sit jump back to a tight arch on their back onto a porta pit and cheese mat folded up. I have used the resilite rolls and in both of those drills they arch nicely. It's just when we bring them to the cheese mat they jump straight to pike. I can even push on their hips to 'remind' them to arch and nothing. Both have very nice BWO's so I am looking for some advice from some older and wiser coaches!
Thank you.

 

[marie83]

I only have time for a quick post at the moment:

- Take it back to the lean/jump to land on a porta-pit stage.
When you are happy with this, do exactly the same thing, but rather than have them land on the pit, catch them. They should be in a nice tight arch. Place their hands down and have them do a donkey kick/Courbette (not sure what you call it, but the snap up phase from hands to feet)

I think the cause of the problem is not enough lean or reach backwards.

When you take it back to the cheese, place something soft infront of where the gymnast is standing. They will think they are going to hit it, but if they have the correct technique, they shouldn't be able to.

They key to learning a good bhs is lots and lots of repetition, and shaping so even if you have to correct them 100 times, you will get there in the end!
Good luck!!!
Hope something I've said helps!
Marie

 

[ryantroop]

Ive done it in the past where I tell the gymnast to "reach" for a tape line behind them, so they are forced to travel. Having that visual reference sometimes helps them see how far they need to go to make that stretched position.

At this point, they are more concerned about their hands hitting the floor before their head - they don't understand that proper technique also means highest chance for safety. It's like the old addage says - if it ain't broke, don't fix it! We see it as broken. They see it as "Ive done it this way and Im intact!"

Help them get over that by showing them how good a "right" flipflop feels.

 

[BlairBob]

I tell them to reach their hands till they are in a bridge. This is why we do all the back bends, kickoves, and back/front limbers.

 

[justcallmecoach]

Thanks! I will try those next week when I have those girls again and I'll keep you updated.

 

[KAQuinlan]

I have had a few girls that have done all the drills perfectly only to get to the actual BHS and do the pike that you are talking about. If they haven't done the drills above, those may fix the problem, but there are still one or two that I have done all the drills with who would jump right to a pike. If the gymnast is small to medium, then you can try spotting this way. Spot the lower back with your strong arm. With your other arm, grab her ankles with your palm up and a finger or two in between. As she jumps, you hold her legs back from piking. If she is too large to successfully spot this way, then try spotting the back as normal while the other arm catches the legs as they come up too soon. You need to do this on a soft mat as the BHS will not be successful, the gymnast will fall to her back after you stop the legs. After she does that a few times, she probably won't like it, and she'll begin to pay attention to what it feels like. That's probably clear as mud! I hope the drills work for you.

Also as someone mentioned, have them reach for a line. We do this on an appropriately sized wedge and have them reach past the seam.

 

[justcallmecoach]

Ok. So recently I have gotten a new assistant and today he goes to spot her on her BHS and I have warned him about it., but he wanted to see it. Today it just finally clicked!! She didn't pike and had it by herself by the end of practice! She even tried a RO BHS with no PIKE!! I was super pumped and so was she. So let's hope we did enough to have muscle memory!

 

[marie83]

That's great! Well done! Sometimes all it takes is another person to say the same thing you've been saying for months, in a slightly different way, and it just clicks! Kind of annoying sometimes too!

One of our gymnasts is learning shoot front dismount from bars and for months her coach was saying 'stay tucked longer'
One day her coach left the room to make a phonecall and another coach shouted across the gym 'open out later' and voi la! From that day on the gymnast could do the skill! Her coach came back in and was gutted that she had missed her first one, and that another coach got the credit for it! (The gymnast was old enough to realise that her coach had put in the majority of the hard work though)