Parents Difficulty with Vaults

[gymnastca25]

8 year old level 5 dd is having difficulty with vault. She does awesome in all other events always getting 9's. She can't break 8.5 on vault. She apparently is having difficulty with her arm swings and timing. Any other girls have difficulties with vault that they eventually overcame? She is feeling very frustrated!

 

[wgymmom]

Following... DD is L5 and has had low vault scores since starting new 4. Between 8.4-8.7. She is petite, but I know that's not always an explanation. The gym spends very little time on vault.

 

[htimcj]

It is very common. There is a reason that vault is done for 3 years at least! It will come.

 

[gymnastca25]

Hopefully it will click soon. It sure is frustrating her. She has short for her age and also has very short arms! It also does not help that they only handspring vault about once a week. They spend more time on doing Yurchenko drills which is good for long term.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

Totally normal. Vault was DDs lowest scoring even all last year at level 4/5

 

[gymnastca25]

Oops forgot she just turned 9 years old! Lol!

 

[beachgirl]

I have a 9 year old that just completed L4. She was also having trouble with the vault. She usually scores around 9.5 or so in everything else and the the vault was ruining her AA chances. I thought that possibly something might not be clicking with how her coach would explain things for the vault. I know as a teacher sometimes it doesn't click with certain students and that someone else can explain it to them better. I checked with her coach to make sure it was okay and then asked the boy's coach for some 30 minute privates. The first 3 meets were 8.25, 8.45, 8.45 and then after the first private 8.7, 2nd private 9.05, 3rd private 9.15. It could be that she was just improving over time, but the boy's coach had her do some things that she hadn't been doing previously. So, what I'm getting at is maybe a new technique or a different perspective helps.

 

[lhmom]

DD struggled with that vault her entire (old) level 5 season. Something clicked the following summer because her scores improved to 9's. I think she finally figured out the whole blocking thing and she also gained some power. Your daughter will get there!

 

[gymnastca25]

They asked her to come in for privates so hopefully that will help. She works so hard at gym and is such a perfectionist that it is driving her crazy to not be able to figure out the vault.

 

[GYM0M]

It does get better. Size has a bit to do with it. Last year, in L4, DD had okay vaults and not so okay vaults. Scores ranged from 7.75 to 9.15! It was all dependent on how low the table would go (she was like 42 inches tall)! Now, as she prepares for her first optional season, she can successfully vault over 3!!! Oh the small victories!

 

[ascarter1]

My dd went from level 3 to level 6 over the summer. Vault was a hate-hate relationship. Awful! Many tears. Had our first meet and she scored 9.325 and placed 2nd! It is a hard thing to overcome but our vault coach stayed on her and it worked out.

 

[profmom]

Try to get her to relax a bit. It will come. If the coaches think there are technique issues, that's useful to solve, but for some of them it is just a simple matter of not being big and strong enough to punch hard. For those girls, time, time, and more time is the only cure.

(DD is now finally flipping Yurchenkos, but her vault coach would LOVE it if she would gain about 5 more pounds.)

 

[esor]

My DD had the same issue with vault at the compulsory levels and even through the beginning of level 7 where she was still only scoring between 8.7 and 8.9. Her coaches kept saying she's little, but it will come. And they were right. She grew a little, and by state at level 7 she finally hit a 9.5. Just in time for level 8 where she now has a great block and flipping her Yurchenkos's and won vault in her first level 8 meet, which has never happened! She is still tiny (only 62 lbs) but gets it now.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

My daughter had a horrible time with her vault in new 4 last year. She was scoring in the 9's on everything and 6's-7's on vault. It killed her self-confidence. By states, she had a mid-8. We ended up switching gyms sort-of-kind-of for different reasons in April and her vault is beautiful now. I am sure it's a combination of a different approach and feeling like her new coaches believe in her.