WAG FHS vault, not clicking

[wgymmom]

DD has been having a lot of trouble with the FHS vault. Her scores have been 8.6, 8.5, and two 8.4s, in that order. So they're going in the wrong direction too. Her coaches always give her corrections, but it seems like she trots right back up the runway and forgets everything. HC gets visibly annoyed with her. Any ideas or hints for her?

 

[cbifoja]

I think you should let the coach deal with it. You are paying money for instruction so stay out of the way and let him/her instruct.

 

[gymmomtoo]

I'm with cbifoja--let the coach coach--just remind your DD to listen and pay attention to her coach.

 

[LizzieLac]

How old is your DD? It may be hard for her to make the corrections in a meet environment. The real work on improvement needs to happen in the gym anyway. Are they giving this event as much training time as the other events?

 

[htimcj]

And there is a reason that this vault is done for 3 YEARS! DD is on the third year and still only gets 8.6 at best.

 

[ejmjpr]

This vault is terrible I have done it for the past 4 years and just this week I have clicked. I don't no what it was but now I can do a lovely pop off into my dish. It will take time and is up to her not her coach.

 

[gymmutti]

Htimcj is exactly right! It takes some kids several years for it to click. This is our third year of the vault and the first time I'm actually looking forward to her scores in competition. She only made 9.0 once in her first 2 years of competing it.

 

[wgymmom]

How old is your DD? It may be hard for her to make the corrections in a meet environment. The real work on improvement needs to happen in the gym anyway. Are they giving this event as much training time as the other events?

She's 10. And some days they don't even do vault! Only one girl has even gotten a 9 this year, so that surprised me.

 

[Quadqueen]

She's 10. And some days they don't even do vault! Only one girl has even gotten a 9 this year, so that surprised me.

Vault does not need to be done every day...I don't think that was what was meant by "giving it the same amount of time as the other events." At my DD's gym, they do bars and beam every day, and alternative floor and vault - less pounding on their bodies.

That being said, sometimes it just takes time to get the FHS vault. What level is she and how long has she been doing the vault?

 

[wgymmom]

I think you should let the coach deal with it. You are paying money for instruction so stay out of the way and let him/her instruct.

Well, no I am not doing any sideline or lobby coaching. I can't even do a back handspring. Maybe I was looking for some insight as to why this is giving her particular trouble.

 

[LizzieLac]

Vault does not need to be done every day...I don't think that was what was meant by "giving it the same amount of time as the other events." At my DD's gym, they do bars and beam every day, and alternative floor and vault - less pounding on their bodies.

That being said, sometimes it just takes time to get the FHS vault. What level is she and how long has she been doing the vault?

I don't mean that they need to literally run down the runway and do a FHS vault as often or as frequently as they might work another event. However, there are lots of drills for body position, to teach blocking off the vault, and how to come off the vault that can be done - particulalry if you have a pit to take some of the stress of landings. But as a general observation, if coaches only work on it once a week for 20 minutes, I don't think huge improvements will be made.

 

[LizzieLac]

She's 10. And some days they don't even do vault! Only one girl has even gotten a 9 this year, so that surprised me.

How do the other levels do with vault?

 

[wgymmom]

Well, there are no other girls competing the FHS vault but the L4s right now. There are no 5's or 6's and only 2 7's, one injured. And I think the 7's are mostly uptraining vaults.

This is her first new L4 season, so she's had 4 meets competing it. They started going over the table in April, I believe.

 

[Quadqueen]

It's not surprising that she's having trouble this early in her L4 season. I think very few kids start out doing the FHS vault perfectly in their first season.

The L7s should still be working on the FHS, in addition to any uptraining they're doing.

However, it sounds odd that you have so few gymnasts above L4. Do you have L8s or 9s?

 

[wgymmom]

There are 3 L8's and 3 L9's plus one L10.

 

[curlygirls]

You never know what can happen throughout the season. My dd is just finishing her level 4 season. She went from scores in the low 8s at her first few meets to having a score well above 9 and taking 1st place on vault at her last meet. One day the corrections her coach was giving just clicked. Even by the end of the season, though, we only had about 5 out of 12 girls on the level 4 team who could score above a 9 on vault (and 2 of those were repeating). The FHS vault just seems to take some time to master.

 

[coachmolly]

The FHS vault is tricky and takes a while to get it looking great. Her scores aren't terrible, especially for her first year competing it, and though you say it has gone down over the course of the season, they are all within the same general range. The drop in scores could just be indicative of coaching differences rather than her VT getting worse. Give it a little more time, but it really doesn't sound like she's struggling. Eventually it will click. for some kids that happens in level 4, others in level 7, and some just take off running when they get to harder optional vaults without ever really mastering a 9.6 worthy FHS.
Is your DD on the smaller side? Vault can be especially hard for lighter girls who have a harder time really pounding the board.

 

[CoachTodd]

You could ask her what corrections the coaches are giving her and have her think about it to see if she's understanding them. This might make her look at the skill a little differently.

 

[gymdog]

First of all, is your daughter a visual learner? Does she usually do well with verbal instruction? Think about all her past educational experiences and what makes her tick.

Then you have two options:

1. Let it go. If she's content, then her scores indicate basic proficiency with this vault, if not mastery. It's not unusual for vault to be the lowest scoring event for level 4s. It takes time and confidence to do a correct approach to the vault, which comes from repetition.

2. If it bothers her, approach the coach in a supportive way. Say you have noticed the coach attempt to correct DD, but she does not implement the corrections. Share your observations about her learning style (possibly she needs a more visual approach) and ask if the coach recommends a private for her to do some more basic drills without the stress of the class. Or maybe he can recommend a video about FHS vault technique that she can watch to try to understand better.

Every child is different and you have to approach this with your DD as the guide. If she's not upset, don't add pressure. She'll improve over time.

 

[raenndrops]

OG competed the FHS for basically 3 seasons (old L5, Old L6, a 1/2 season of Xcel Gold last year and 2 meets this year)
First year - 9 meets - Low: 7.55 ... High: 8.30 ... always right around 3rd place (1 1st and 2 5th... and a 10th out of 21 girls at districts)
Second year - 8 meets - Low: 7.60 ... High 8.50 ... fewer competitors, usually finished middle to back of the pack.
Third year - 4 meets - Low: 8.175 (at Nationals... out of 25, she finished 20th) ...High: 8.60 (6th place out of 9) so middle to back of the pack.
This year SOMETHING clicked - 2 meets - Low: 8.70 (2nd out of 8) ... High: 8.80 (2nd out of 14).
After the 1st meet, she started training 1/2 on - 1/2 off. Decided not to compete it at 2nd meet (Had only worked on it for 5 practices... and vaults that on a lower setting than her handspring, so she didn't want the complication of having to change the vault in between if it didn't go well). 3rd meet (after Thanksgiving week off, not being in the state for Open Gym on Black Friday, and missing gym on that Monday... she had 2 days of practice AND I took her to Open Gym (a gym nearby has regularly scheduled open gyms and they have pits and an in ground tramp). She was able to run through her floor routine and "play around with her 1/2 on - 1/2 off into the pit ... of course the vault was on a lower setting, but it made her think and actually HELPED at the meet - She got a 9.0 - her first Vault 9 EVER! And the judge was being tough on the Handspring Vaults - only 4 9s in L4 + for Handsprings ... L6 and L7 and Xcel Gold and Platinum doing other vaults had a fighting chance at least