Women falling safely from high bar

[mommyof1]

My kid, who has her L4 bar skills and is working on the L4 routine, has had a few falls off the high bar that sound like narrowly averted disasters, including one fall that she broke with her nose and another where she put her hand down. In the gym I see the optionals using various strategies to fall safely out of higher level skills, but my daughter claims no one has taught her how to fall properly on bars. Other than "don't put your hands down," what does she need to know?

 

[ayyyrial]

I can't see how L4 skills would lead to those sorts of wild falls. Typically, scary falls happen when kids are just starting to use the bars - i.e. in rec classes or when they first jump to the high bar. If your child is confident with jumping to the high bar, that's probably not the case. At the upper levels, strategies used to fall out of skills usually involve ways to safely get out of a missed handstand, or safe ways to miss a relief move. Those are also probably not applicable to your daughter's L4 skills.

I'd imagine she's falling on tap swings, the undershoot, or the L4 turn dismount thing. With skills like those, you should more or less be falling feet-first. The main safe falling strategy is, if you're falling backwards, to do a roll to candlestick with your arms across your chest so that you don't hurt a wrist or arm. It sounds like your daughter knows to do this since you mentioned she knows she shouldn't put her hand down. So she may just need to practice doing some tap swings, letting go, and rolling to candlestick.

If you're falling forwards you may catch yourself on your hands and knees - not ideal since you can hurt your knees - or run/stumble/fwd roll out of it. I'm imagining that when your DD broke the fall with her nose, she probably was falling forwards and belly-flopped? It's not great, it's better to try to turn to your back, but it does happen sometimes in gymnastics. It's usually more funny than it is dangerous.

 

[mommyof1]

She hit her face peeling at the top of a tap swing and hit her wrist when she put her hands down after slipping off during the L4 dismount. She says she slips off a lot on the dismount. I don't think they've taught her to roll to candlestick--I will ask her about this.

I don't think the falls are particularly wild, it just doesn't sound to me like she is breaking them properly. I only see her in the gym for about five minutes a week, so I didn't see any of the falls.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

We teach all of our kids to fall

 

[Flyaway]

She should be taught how to fall. And a few "narrowly averted disasters" sound a bit wild to me for level 4 skills. Is she using grips?

 

[ayyyrial]

If she's the one reporting these to you, it's also possible she's telling them in a slightly exaggerated way, maybe because they scared her.

Some slippage when beginning tap swings and the L4 dismount is common, especially at the end of the routine when tired. But, yes, learning how to break the fall (rolling to candlestick if falling back) is important.

Other things that can contribute to avoiding falls on these kinds of skills (especially tap swings) are things like good bars-focused conditioning to ensure they have the upper body strength and grip strength, ensuring good technique is happening in tap swings, and making sure they know how to keep weight on the bar during the tap. As well as grips if she needs them, which would be a question for the coaches.

 

[duyetanh]

According to my kid, you can definitely peel off from impressive tap swings....
If she truly hasnt been taught how to fall, it is time to ask.

 

[gymbeam]

ugly tapswing fall.

 

[tpMom]

ugly tapswing fall.

Oh my goodness! Was she okay?

 

[Deleted member 14190]

ugly tapswing fall.

Nice spot ....

 

[coachmolly]

When kids are first doing tap swings I always keep a hand on them and am prepared to catch. As they get better and more consistent I take the hand off, but I am still positioned and ready to catch. It drives the kids nuts that I spot them on what they think is such a simple skill, but I've seen too many things like the above video to mess around. I have some pretty good tap swingers who I still will not let swing completely on their own. Because weird things can and do happen, and knowing how to fall is not always going to help in a situation like the above.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Bad peel at our gym once brought an ambulance.

 

[gymbeam]

Oh my goodness! Was she okay?

the comments say she was just sore, thank goodness!

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

I fell once and hit the low bar with my back. Couldn't walk for a week.

 

[CoachTodd]

1. they should periodically go over how to fall
2. peeling in a tap swing is usually a shape or timing problem that needs to be fixed before moving on
3. Coming down falling forward or backward on the level 4 dismount is also a tap / timing / shape issue

Basically, hit the right shape at the right time and you don't fall. If you do fall, know how to .

 

[stacy]

My daughter broke both bones in her left forearm and her right elbow on the high bar doing a tap swing.The coach told me had she straightened her arms it would have been much worse.She did it in December and have been in four casts since.Shes now finally been allowed to do some conditioning and is getting physical therapy for the elbow.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

1. they should periodically go over how to fall
2. peeling in a tap swing is usually a shape or timing problem that needs to be fixed before moving on
3. Coming down falling forward or backward on the level 4 dismount is also a tap / timing / shape issue

Basically, hit the right shape at the right time and you don't fall. If you do fall, know how to .

Just to add, use enough chalk as Well. All the peel offs at our gym were when people had little-no chalk

 

[gymisforeveryone]

Oh the tap swings... They look easy and not that hard or dangerous, but a simple mistake can cause a disaster. Just yesterday I had two girls peel off the bar when practicing the swings. Luckily we were on a pit bar and I was holding their one arm all the time and the girls were so little that I could save them from falling. They are starting to use grips and that is one of the risk factors. New grips that are not broken in yet are another risk. Falls happen also when they do a really high underswing and throw the head back and cannot re-grip the bar properly on the back swing. Bad shapes and the head position on the back swing are also risk factors.

We go through the safe falling patterns every now and then. Even if they know how to do it properly, they might not be able to do that when they actually peel. It happens so fast and usually when you are not expecting it to happen that they have no time to react. You can practice falling from tumbling, from handstand on bars etc but it's not easy to actually practice falling off the tap swings.

I'm one of those irritating coaches who always stands between the bars and I'm ready to spot during squat on jump to the high bar and tap swings between bars. I do this as long as they are in the D which is our equivalent of level 4 USAG. I let them do swings on the pit bar or with a soft crash mat under the bar on their own thought. I've seen too many broken arms and other limbs caused by these two skills to not stand between the bars. The latest tap swing injury was a broken leg and that happened to one of our gym's top gymnasts during her PE class at school. The stupid teacher made the kids swing on a metal bar without straps or even chalk and she peeled, hit her leg on something hard and the bone broke badly. She missed at least 3 months of training AND national championships. So far, my own gymnasts have never broke anything in these skills. I hope that they never will.

 

[mommyof1]

Wow, great discussion. Tinker Bell wears palm guards and expects to be put in dowel grips in a few weeks after she is done competing L3. She is one of three kids competing the kip. The other two are in dowel grips but for some reason she is not.

She doesn't seem to fall often except on the dismount, which I think has some technique issues. I expect falls to happen, but I don't like the fact that she is putting her hands down.

 

[CoachTodd]

Just to add, use enough chalk as Well. All the peel offs at our gym were when people had little-no chalk

My daughter competed giants with no grips and very little chalk. I think it all depends on the person. The only reason she started wearing grips was that it was a pain to clean all the chalk off the bars at meets.