Women Distance of spring board for vault

[flicflac24!]

I teach handspring vaults with the board relatively far away to prevent gymnasts from dropping their chest on the board and rushing to get onto the vault, therefore compromising the first flight. One of my gymnasts drops her chest, and rushed to get onto the vaulting platform no matter where the board is placed. Does anyone have any advice? We often introduce a small block at the front of the table to encourage her to create the first flight and reach onto the table in an aligned body position however as soon as I remove this, her vault reverts back. This has been on going for months.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I sometimes like the board far back for kids who are just learning handstand flatbacks, to encourage a good stretched body position in preflight; that said, the closer the board, the more power is available for post flight, so once they've got the general idea I like to work with the board closer.

Generally, I aim to have the board somewhere around 2-2.5 feet from the table for handspring, etc. Obviously this can vary depending on the specific athlete, though.

 

[trackandfield6]

I put the board at 2 for most kids.... obviously that is tougher for the little ones. I put it at least at 2, because I want the kids to get preflight. Unfortunately once kids learn how to run, hurdle, and punch the board incorrectly you find them leaning, and thats really hard to get rid of. There are so many good drills for trying to correct it though. I wish I could remember the really good site but I don't. One thing I have tried is to work on the hurdle on the floor ex mat. I use a giant pint mat with an 8 Inch on top, then I put a fold up, against the mat, prior to the board, then I set the board at 2 feet out ( including the foldup measurement) I then measure from the mat to 10 feet out, and place the back end of the hand mat at between 10- 12 feet out. and tell them that their last step has to be prior to the handout. That seems to help some.. At first no one can do it ... then the aggressive kids get it. Most think its funny and/or funds that helps. There are some great u tube videos though on this.