WAG Cartwheel on beam - realistic goal?

[LiveLoveTumble]

As some of you may have read, my coach is leaving soon. I have been working on a bunch of skills with her, and it makes me sad to think that she won't be here to see me get them. I've decided I want to get one more skill with her before she leaves, and I think the one I am closest too is getting my cartwheel on the high beam. I have gotten it on the medium beam before, but lately I've been having a bit of trouble with them and don't even make a whole lot of them on the low beam. I have 2 more practices with her before she leaves, and we usually are on beam for about 20 minutes. Would it be possible for me to get my cartwheel onto the high beam before she leaves? Also, is there anything I can do at home do help me get it besides doing them on a line?

 

[Gymmom495]

My daughter struggled with this skill. It baffled her coaches and us, she can do her back walkover back handspring connection and now has even recently landed her back tuck on beam but still till this day struggles with the cartwheel. I know this is probably not what you want to hear but if this skill is something you struggle with try something else you may surprise yourself. I'm not saying you will never get your cartwheel but 2 sessions at 20 minutes on beam is not very long.


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[SuperGirlmlm]

Do good form cartwheels at home, assuming you can safely do them, so when you get to gym, your ready to moveright up to the beam

 

[iwannacoach]

I'm going to answer your question after I ask a few questions, just to make you think about how you do your cartwheels.

1st question....... What's easier to do? A cartwheel done correctly, or a cartwheel done incorrectly?

2nd question....... Do you have a good carthweel on a line that's done at a normal cartwheel speed and rhythm?

3rd question....... Cartwheel attempts on the beam done at a speed and/or rhythm than your floor line cartwheels?

4th question....... Have you figured out, yet, why I'm asking the first three questions?

Well, if you haven't figured it out, then I'll spell it out for you. You probably do your floor line cartwheels at a reasonable speed that allows your body to move comfortably through the skill, but go an itsy bit slower than the floor line speed when you do them on the floor beam, and slower still when you do them on the medium beam. Are you thinking, as you read this, something like "Well duh! I have to go slower because I gotta give myself more tiume to get my first foot to the beam." If not that exact thought, is there a similar strategy that you use when you do them anywhere but the floor line? So here's the deal.....

Many, like most, young gymnasts get tempted to "play it safe" when they move from the line to the floor beam. I get why that happens, and certainly don't blame anyone for it, but isn't a slow cartwheel kinda awkward? I mean really..... if I told 10 girls to do 100 stuck cartwheels on a floor line, I'd see 1000 total cartwheels done at a normal speed with normal rhythm because none of the ten girls want to do 100 the hard way. Like, who would do that?

So think about it as you warm up on the floor line, and ask yourself if the slow one is easier than the regular speed. If the regular speed is easier, and easier is safer, doesn't that mean that the regular speed is safer and will give you the best chance of staying on?

 

[Gymmom495]

Mr. Miyagi strikes again.. He really is so wise.. Listen to him.. Not me!


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[CoachTodd]

To kind of add to the idea of iwannacoach. Keep kind of a dance rhythm to the cartwheel. Most kids change the speed on been. Instead of lung..T..hand..hand..foot..foot, they tend to go luuuung.....tttttttt..handhandfootfoot. If that makes any sense. I kind of keep it to the beat of a waltz. Nice and smooth. Look for your foot placement under your arm and not over your shoulder, this also helps.
Good luck

 

[LiveLoveTumble]

I MADE IT!!!! After only one week too! Thank you all for your suggestions, I tried more to focus on keeping it at a normal speed instead of going really slow. What really helped was for me to pretend there were walls on both sides of me so I would kick straight over the top instead of off to the side. As soon as I started to visualize that, I started making almost all of them! I'm still shocked that within 10 minutes, I went from missing a lot of them on the low beam to making almost all of them on the high beam... just goes to show how unpredictable gymnastics can be!

 

[iwannacoach]

I'm delighted for you, and impressed that you added to all our advice the missing link...... imagining the walls on each side. You also got another thing right when you said it made you kick straight over the top. That's the reality of beam in a nutshell, because you can only finish a skill as well as you start it. Sure, you can always add a little patchwork after a bad beginning, but it's so much easier to finish a skill that has a good beginning.

That's a good bit of work you did there!

 

[sleeplessinnewyork]

Congratulations on making your cartwheel! It must have been really nice to make a new skill that you've been working on with your coach before the coach leaves. I'm also certain that this made your coach really happy!

 

[roll123]

Can I ask what is the proper way to have your feet positioned when you land your cartwheel? Or doesn't it matter?