WAG Cartwheel on Beam - anyone seen this before?

[avggymmom]

So my daughter is doing her L5 cartwheel on beam and lands it about 50% of the time. What I mean by "lands it" is that she doesn't fall off. The problem is that I noticed that she is the only kid in all of the meets that we have been to so far that lands her first foot on the beam, but then instead of landing her back foot behind her, it swings around and she lands it in front of her first foot, sometimes she keeps her balance and sometimes she falls off, but I am sure she is getting a deduction for it either way, and I have never actually seen her land it where she gets her 2nd foot down behind her first...does that description make sense to anyone? Sorry I don't have video...beam makes me nervous... I am just looking for general ideas of what might be happening here. Thanks!

 

[bogwoppit]

She may want to practice on a line on the floor. Practice makes perfect. Nothing is really "happening", she just needs to focus on doing the cartwheel correctly. It probably is a deduction in your compulsory system. Though in optionals that skill is handy as it is how you connect cartwheels together.

 

[avggymmom]

Thanks! Oh yeah, that is the other thing. When she does it on a line on the floor she always lands it correctly...that just makes it more confusing to me. I suppose it is just nerves when she gets up on the beam to do it.

 

[Amber]

So my daughter is doing her L5 cartwheel on beam and lands it about 50% of the time. What I mean by "lands it" is that she doesn't fall off. The problem is that I noticed that she is the only kid in all of the meets that we have been to so far that lands her first foot on the beam, but then instead of landing her back foot behind her, it swings around and she lands it in front of her first foot, sometimes she keeps her balance and sometimes she falls off, but I am sure she is getting a deduction for it either way, and I have never actually seen her land it where she gets her 2nd foot down behind her first...does that description make sense to anyone? Sorry I don't have video...beam makes me nervous... I am just looking for general ideas of what might be happening here. Thanks!

My DD is doing that too! She does the exact same weird foot placement on beam, but a normal cartwheel on floor. It is so awkward looking, I thought maybe the coaches are making her do it that way....

 

[Deleted member D3987]

She may want to practice on a line on the floor. Practice makes perfect. Nothing is really "happening", she just needs to focus on doing the cartwheel correctly. It probably is a deduction in your compulsory system. Though in optionals that skill is handy as it is how you connect cartwheels together.

that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[JBS]

Ahhh yes...the "make it half way through and freak out cartwheel". Agree with bog...cartwheel on a line and on a floor beam to gain confidence. Keep that cartwheel going until it is finished in a lunge...don't let it die.

And yes...very useful for optionals.

 

[iwannacoach]

It's that darn slow motion skills for beam curse. In your dd's case she's going so slow there's not enough momentum to carry her past the handstand position. The crazy thing about it.......she'd never do a cartwheel at this pace unless required to do so. Why? Because the normal pace cartwheel is easier to do on floor, and on beam, and on beam, and on beam.

Ya ever notice how quickly the best beam kids tumble. It's for a reason, and the reason isn't to seem more accomplished by going faster......it's because going faster (okay...to a point) makes tumbling skills easier.

 

[avggymmom]

Thanks for all the great insight! Good to know she's not the only one and that it's probably not something technically "wrong". I'll just encourage her to keep on plugging away!

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

My DD does a CW/CW series on beam currently for X-Cel Platinum when she is balking at the BWO and will probably do a CW/RO when she moves to L7. The way your DD is landing the CW will make connecting it to a series much easier. However, it does make it harder to land and may be a deduction in the Level 5 routine.

 

[iwannacoach]

My DD does a CW/CW series on beam currently for X-Cel Platinum when she is balking at the BWO and will probably do a CW/RO when she moves to L7. The way your DD is landing the CW will make connecting it to a series much easier. However, it does make it harder to land and may be a deduction in the Level 5 routine........AlexsGymmyMom

It may seem like a good idea/observation/strategy........except the whole idea of learning a cartwheel is to, well, learn a cartwheel, enjoy the confidence boost of getting a new skill, and acquiring the sense of what it takes physically to move along the beam. For those reasons I'll come out and say it would be a mistake to capitalize on this mistake with-out learning a solid cartwheel. Or, as dunno would say Nooooooooooo