WAG FHS Vault -- starting measurement?

[vans2]

I have to admit I was cringing when I read your post. How can you have a chance at having good vaults without knowing your number? My DD is just finishing up lvl 6 and is a 2x state vault champ so I like to think we have some valuable input for you.

At one of our recent meets our coach tried to move her back and her steps were WAY off and so was the landing. And this was result of just changing her number a tad. What if you had no idea what your number was or where you should start? Not only will affect the vault but you could get hurt (like running into the vault table - seen it!).

I would definitely take the advice posted here and ask the coaches or the owners about their true policy behind picking/showing "your number".

I wish you luck!

 

[gymdog]

I mean I could run from somewhere random and do a front handspring vault. I did the other day. It's not the end of the world, I'm just not sure why you would do it if you were competing/practicing it. Dangerous seems like a bit of an overstatement though. My feelings on it more are just like why practice something 20 times a day like that just to compete it randomly. As long as she has a general idea of her number she should have some frame to adjust during the meet though, so I like the advice of seeing how many steps from 50 her starting spot at the gym is.

 

[strawberries]

I cannot conceive of having up to L7 compete vault with no set steps.

 

[gymmomx2]

I mean I could run from somewhere random and do a front handspring vault. I did the other day. It's not the end of the world, I'm just not sure why you would do it if you were competing/practicing it. Dangerous seems like a bit of an overstatement though. My feelings on it more are just like why practice something 20 times a day like that just to compete it randomly. As long as she has a general idea of her number she should have some frame to adjust during the meet though, so I like the advice of seeing how many steps from 50 her starting spot at the gym is.

It would be dangerous for MY kid LOL. You're an adult with experience and weight. DD is short, weighs next to nothing and relies on speed + hitting the springboard at precisely the right spot/angle to make it over (and it's not that pretty even if everything goes right). She just doesn't have the experience to make any adjustments on the fly so yeah....it'd be dangerous for her I've seen girls run into the vault table, girls miss their hands entirely (thankfully into the pit) etc. Vault scares me LOL.

 

[Flyaway]

It would be dangerous for MY kid LOL. You're an adult with experience and weight. DD is short, weighs next to nothing and relies on speed + hitting the springboard at precisely the right spot/angle to make it over (and it's not that pretty even if everything goes right). She just doesn't have the experience to make any adjustments on the fly so yeah....it'd be dangerous for her I've seen girls run into the vault table, girls miss their hands entirely (thankfully into the pit) etc. Vault scares me LOL.

Ditto! We've had our fair share of vault crashes this season. And that's WITH knowing her number and steps. She's still figuring it out. Scares me every time!

 

[gymdog]

It would be dangerous for MY kid LOL. You're an adult with experience and weight. DD is short, weighs next to nothing and relies on speed + hitting the springboard at precisely the right spot/angle to make it over (and it's not that pretty even if everything goes right). She just doesn't have the experience to make any adjustments on the fly so yeah....it'd be dangerous for her I've seen girls run into the vault table, girls miss their hands entirely (thankfully into the pit) etc. Vault scares me LOL.

Right, they do that all the time even with supposedly having a number. I'm pretty sure your daughter does tons of drills at her gym where she has to run from someplace random and hit the springboard. There isn't enough space to set the drills up with 60-80 feet of run.

 

[suebee]

I asked my dd and she does have a starting number. I've asked her before and she said she didn't, but I guess she did not understand what I was asking due to my choice of words.

However, she said she does not count steps. Do all girls count steps? Are they supposed to?

 

[suebee]

And now my dd just said she does not always hurdle with the same foot. She said she usually hurdles with one side, but she feels she can do it just as well on the other side, and she hurdles with whichever side is the one she should use depending on where she ends up.

Now I see why she might be having trouble with the FHS vault. Ugh! I probably need to ask the coach ...

 

[Bess]

Little Bit has known her "number" since she was 5 and competing L2. Granted that number has changed over last few years but that is the first thing they look for when they rotate to vault before they start warm ups. Each kid is lined up on either side of the runway next to their number waiting for their turn in the warm up rotation.

 

[Ms.Pak-Man]

Very interesting, I need to ask my dd about this number thing. Related: is the springboard kept at the same distance from the vault table for all the kids, and does this make a difference, too? I never see dd's coach move the springboard (forward or backward) for FHS for any of the kids who vary quite a bit in height (ages 8-13).

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Daughter doesn't count steps. Her number is an estimate.

 

[raenndrops]

I asked my dd and she does have a starting number. I've asked her before and she said she didn't, but I guess she did not understand what I was asking due to my choice of words.

However, she said she does not count steps. Do all girls count steps? Are they supposed to?

Not all girls count their steps. We have a few girls that can't count and run at the same time. They slow down if they have to think about anything other than "the line" ... See the line. Hit the line. Hurdle. Land on the line on the springboard. Vault.

 

[raenndrops]

Very interesting, I need to ask my dd about this number thing. Related: is the springboard kept at the same distance from the vault table for all the kids, and does this make a difference, too? I never see dd's coach move the springboard (forward or backward) for FHS for any of the kids who vary quite a bit in height (ages 8-13).

Our coach knows where each girl needs the springboard. She measures it with her feet. Luckily, she and the other coach that does vault wear the same size shoes... In the past, the second vault coach had bigger feet and a couple (old) L4s got scared because it was "too far" for them.
On our team, the adjustment from closest to farthest, not including for Yurchenkos, is about 2 inches.

 

[coachmolly]

Our level 3 vault set-up doesn't have a tape measure, but the girls all have an approx. starting point, generally at the back of the runway. This particular group can lose track of what they're doing between the start of the their run and hitting the springboard, so adding numbers into the equation would intensify the chaos. We will work on it this summer as they start transitioning to the real vault. I do keep track of where their board goes- girls line up with closest board setting to farthest. First 4 girls are in roughly the same place, then it's moved back a bit for the last 2 who are much stronger vaulters.
From then on most of the girls know their general start number plus or minus a few inches but can adapt pretty easily if needed. But they are also still in the learning phases of vaulting correctly, so we play around a fair bit. I can imagine it would be more of a problem for girls who have competed the vault for multiple years and have things dialed into their brains pretty precisely.

 

[CoachTodd]

My kids all knew their starting point, board position and table height just in case I wasn't the one coaching them at their meet on vault. If there isn't a tape measure at the meet (odd to me but I guess it happens), I would walk off the distances during warm ups and mark them.
By the way, girls can run past the board and table without deduction and get another try. They can only do that once.

 

[vans2]

And now my dd just said she does not always hurdle with the same foot. She said she usually hurdles with one side, but she feels she can do it just as well on the other side, and she hurdles with whichever side is the one she should use depending on where she ends up.

Now I see why she might be having trouble with the FHS vault. Ugh! I probably need to ask the coach ...

We were told hurdling on the same foot every time is how it should be done in. My daughter will balk the vault if she ends up with the wrong foot on the hurdle. Now that she is in lvl 6 it's not so much of an issue anymore, but in lvl 3 and 4 it was - they were still trying to figure out which would be the best foot for the hurdle. It's not the same for each athlete. Hmm, I am not sure if that is her "good" foot or the bad one? I should ask her. That info might be helpful to you.

 

[gfgymnast]

I would suggest knowing an approximate area to start for meets, but in reality you should be able to do a fhs vault on either foot because it is a two foot punch. at my gym we were expected to go over the table even if on the wrong foot because it really shouldn't make a huge difference. once you begin flipping vaults you need to know where a spot to start because that would be extremely dangerous and if your gym has higher level optionals flipping vaults without knowing where to start I would mention it to a coach or owner.

 

[Taxidriver]

My dd has always known the number where to start.
I won't forget on one of her very first competitions where I was watching her compete a handstand flatback but her vaults looked very hit and miss and I could see her last few steps didn't look right and I couldn't work it out. After the comp I asked her about vault and she told me the tape measure didn't go up to her number so she was struggling with where to start so was having to correct her foot placing in the last few steps, I told her if that ever happened again she must let the coach know as the coach would be able to help her work out the extra distance and chalk the runway for her.
I can't imagine her always competing and it being a guess as it made a huge difference to the quality of her vault even a very simple vault.

 

[H.J.]

Thanks so much to everyone for your responses - very helpful and interesting. Our competition season just ended so I decided to let it go for now but will prob broach it again at some point. I just can't help but think some consistency would help, but who the heck knows.

 

[mobeans]

My DD knows her number, in fact I think they've had their "numbers" since they began vaulting in L2!