Coaches Difficulty Jumping

[coachmolly]

I feel silly asking this question, but I am puzzled by these 2 kids and need some feedback. Both are very strong, very talented girls however they are struggling with jumping/punching/rebounding. Doing tuck jumps they can barely leave the floor. Split jumps are pitiful despite the fact that they both have beautiful splits on the floor. Both are very close to a standing bhs with a tiny jump and I know they would be beautiful if they would actually use their legs.
We have done LOTS of conditioning to try to help- just punching on the floor (fowards and backwards), box jumps (forwards and backwards), jumps on a squishy mat, lots of reminders to push through their toes rather than off flat feet/heels- and I just feel like something isn't clicking. Just wondering if anyone else has ever seen this or has any tips or conditioning to combat this?

 

[GymRays]

I have had a couple kids like this. We do the same conditioning and drills you mentioned. One had it just click with her and is much better now. We are still working at it with others. There are a couple "pushing through your feet" drills we do with panel mats. I'm hoping with time it will click with them too. Wish I could have been more help.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

slow muscle twitched kids...

 

[GymRays]

slow muscle twitched kids...

Ways to improve this? Other than things mentioned.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

no

 

[Shooosh]

no

This just about crushes any gym future my daughter may have
She's not particularly flexible and she's def a slow twitch kid.
She's been invited to the pre pre-team but I think it's mostly because she uses pretty hands and can keep her legs very straight when instructed to. And she's REALLY small for her age.
Oh well. She kind of wants to dance instead anyway. LOL

 

[coachmolly]

I can see slow twitch being the issue with one girl, the plan for her is to compete Xcel so I think she can still be successful on some level, I'll just need to figure out ways to work around it.
The other girl I'm not so sure that is the case, though it's definitely a possibility. She is 8 and has some focus issues and difficulty knowing what her body is doing in space. When she does focus, she does great stuff but it's a constant work in progress. So I was wondering with her if perhaps a drill or a change in the way I word what I want would be helpful? Or is it just something that is there or isn't?

 

[flanny2112]

Have you tried having them do a tight arch jump back into a pit mat? I usually use these while my kids are still trying to get the timing of the arm swing down, but most of them think its fun and makes it a little easier to jump hard when they do the actual skill.

Just a thought. Hope it helps!

 

[BarCoach]

We have two kids like this on our preteam. We've found with one that it seems to be a lack of ankle flexibility (though it could be strength or something else preventing ROM). When she is on full releve (with heels pressed forward) she can not straighten her legs, and when her legs are straight, she can only lift her heels maybe an inch off the ground. The other girl has feet that turn in and roll toward the inside (big toe). One foot is worse than the other. It has been A LOT of reminders, physical manipulation by us, tons of drills, and we're still not seeing a ton of improvement. They can do minimum skills and are strong in other areas but I think ultimately these issues will limit how far they go in the sport.

 

[coachmolly]

Thanks, I will have to look at ankles and feet. These girls are on an Xcel team, so while I know it will ultimately limit them, it won't be too much of an issue at the moment as we can work around it reasonably well. I just want to make sure I do everything I can for them.

 

[gymjunkie]

A slow twitch kid can certainly learn a BHS & some of the neutral muscle fibers can be trained to act as fast twitch through plyometric training (which you are already doing). Keep up the plyos & add jumping rope. They may never be fast kids, but they can get faster. Kids like you are describing need a target, so until they get the mechanics of jumping (which is clearly an issue if they are punching off of flat feet) always make them work uphill when you are spotting, them downhill when they try it themselves. they will get it, it will just take longer than naturally springy kids.

 

[coachmolly]

Than you, gymjunkie! I actually just bought jump ropes to try out with them over the summer months. And I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the girls mentioned do a very nice rebound out of a round off last night, so progress is being made!

 

[titanic]

I've seen a drill on SwingBig where they sit on a slider and push off of a floor beam with their feet to see how far they can go. It makes them push thru the toes and use the most of their legs to get the farthest. Maybe this can help?

I have one girl who is slow twitch and you can definitely help them gain decent ability. She does RO + Back Tuck, Front Tuck, Front Pike for her tumbling passes. The best thing I did with her was to make all her tumbling go uphill onto mats. If we didn't do that every day, she would barely punch and end up not making her passes. If we did though, she would make all her passes easily.