Front Handspring Drills

[CoachAngela]

Looking for front handspring drills that 6/7 year olds could do.

They are just starting and tend to land in a squat. So far: I've been spotting them thru the motions slowly, been having them try them off a panel mat or crash mat onto the floor, been having them do flysprings on tumble track.

They just tend to be not looking at their hands long enough and landing in a squat low to the floor. Or twisting, some of them will try and twist out of it and leave one hand back.

GAH, I hate teaching these things. Any tips or good drills would be appreciated

 

[BlairBob]

They work the post flight from the table to the landing mats. Sort of a front limber. You don't necessarily need to use the table as it could simply be down on/off a block.

Front tucks off a board, front layouts. Before these, I teach a 3/4 front layout to back using a hollow shape. I would like to teach a tight arch but it doesn't land well on mats. Mastery of a simple flyspring is useful in this regard.

 

[AerialGirl]

Try having them do it over a barrel

 

[marie83]

Front limber - tell them to look at their hands for the whole thing - support lots and keep reminding them to look at their hands - their head should be the last thing to come up.

Handstand Jumps

Supported handspring from a handstand jump - as soon as the gymnast's hands leave the floor, coach lifts them up by hips to stand

Loads of handsprings with the hands on a raised platform such as a springboard or wedge

As far as technique is concerned a long low reach into the handstand phase, fast kick to handstand and an early block off their hands are all needed to do the skill properly.

We have a suspended pit at our gym and I've noticed that my gymnasts are able to do lovely front handsprings into it but not on the floor - when I ask why, they tell me they aren't afraid of it hurting their feet when they land in the pit! Perhaps putting a splat mat down will make a difference?!

Good Luck!

 

[tough gymnast]

Funny thing we worked on fronthandsprings today at practice.

put a firm 8 inch. mat the short way and have them do handsprings off of it (run put your hands on the mat and land on the ground.. )
If you want them to do stuff out of it then put a port-a-pit or a stack of soft high mats on the other side of the 8 incher (about 3 ft away from it) have them go to handstand to their backs, next step: do a flyspring out of it , next step: front tuck out of it next step: layout out of it

hope this helps!!!

 

[gymdog]

Bridge in front of wall (hands on floor, chest to the wall). Walk up the wall to stand. Make sure they spot the wall then the ceiling, don't duck the head. Keep legs together and straight. Finish by snapping up to a stretched body on toe.

For the actual FHS I generally find they need to do a million off an elevated surface that makes the proper positions "easy". Otherwise it's easy to form bad habits.