Ok first post here. Been reading a lot for a while. My question is... My daughter has a fear of the flyaway and has now for over a year. Coach said this week she doesn't know what else to do to get her to do them. To me this sounded like the coach has given up. I am not happy with that. Also we do not have a pit at our gym. Without adding too many more details what do we do??? Suggestions please. This may make her quit if she cannot get over this fear. She is not out to be an Olympic gymnastic or elite just has always loved gymnastics until now... I am thinking our end time is near and i think she will be ok with that but I would rather she end on a positive year and not have any regrets.
her issue is vestibular. this causes some kids to either 'feel' like they will land on their head OR climb on the swing up and hit the bar.
and i can't recall right now if i have posted this before. maybe i'm just thinking i did. but there is a simple drill and one that the coach can easily spot at first. the coach will still have to be patient though as it may not 'happen' on day 1. this will help everyone else here at this site also and sorry if it is redundant.
you usually set the bar width just as you would do for their bar routines. not everyone has the same bar setting. when they are smaller, the bars are in closer and when taller a little wider. but what you do want is for them to be able to stand on the low bar and be able to easily jump to the high bar in the same way you would do so in the Level 5 compulsory routine. what you don't want is the bars spread out so far that they can't easily reach the high bar or that too much swing is generated. spreading them all the way at first is a bad idea.
so then, the athlete simply jumps from the low bar to the high bar. if they do this correctly, their feet will be behind them as their hands catch the high bar. and when their feet swing thru the bottom and then forward and upward you let go and do a flyaway.
in our gym we call them "jump flyaways". when we start the kids on flyaways we lower the low bar and high bar so that they correspond to each other (FIG). this means that the bars are set in the same position. no lowering the low bar and raising the high bar. from FIG you lower each bar 1 0r 2 or 3 'clicks' downward.
in this way, jumping from the low bar to the high bar creates sufficient swing to facilitate a flyaway. they then can practice keeping their feet behind them as you do when going from a handstand and clear the low bar. this allows them to 'feel' when and how to tap. and because it comes from a lower swing they don't feel like they will climb and hit the high bar. and after they do it a few times, they learn that they won't land on their heads either.
after a few weeks of this the coach can then incrementally spread the bars a little wider each week to simulate more of the same swing they will feel/encounter when they go from a high cast or handstand. this allows the kid to feel the tap and for the coach to stand their and watch the tap and pass their instructions along to the athlete.
this drill is very simple, uncomplicated and very non-intimidating.
finally, the coach has to do very little work. they just stand alongside their athlete and guide them thru the flyaway. additionally, this same drill works for the boys also.