Front Handspring Vault- next step after flat back on stacked mats?

[tbake]

Hi everyone,

I coach rec gymnastics and have most of my girls succesfully doing handstand flatbacks on the vaulting table. Some of them are ready to move onto the next step. What can I use as a drill for front handspring vaults before taking away all the stacked mats (and making it a true front handspring vault)? I want something that will especially focus on the post-flight and shoulder popping action. They are already doing lots of front handsprings off a block and as a dsmt from the beam with a light spot.

I remember competing front handsprings myself but I can't remember how we learned them! My gym had a very "chuck it" approach and so I don't really want to emulate how I was taught anyway.

Thank you in advance

 

[nevertooold]

FHS over the resi/level 4 mat turned sideways.

 

[gymnastbeth]

Put an 8 inch mat over the table, and a mini tramp instead of a board.

 

[coachinkal]

You could try the handspring to land on their feet with the mats built up. Our girls coach uses this drill. They have to shoulder pop to land on their feet this way. I did not have a lot of sucess with this drill for my boys.

I prefer to work on body shaping with a lunge handstand from on top of the table. Focus on body tension in the handstand and popping to land on the mat on the one crashy on the ground. The hardest part is keeping that handstand position and body tension in the post flight rather than a bendy back thing over the table.

 

[slkbeambabe07]

We handspring over a cheese mat (wedge) folded up--- it is the SAME width of the vault even though it looks deceiving! Also, we just had our girls just go over the table after showing good blocking progression and having a coach stand in both front and back.

 

[BlairBob]

Handspringing onto a mat stack to feet is a good progression if you ever want to create a decent Hand-Front, Tsuk, Cuervo, etc.

For gymnasts of that age, it's also important that they learn how to do a front tuck then layout off the springboard. First to back, then to feet. This teaches them how to run and punch the board, something that is neglected in the L4 vault too often.

Popping off the table is merely about being tight in the HS.

 

[tbake]

Thank you for your replies Blairbob, slkbeambabe07, coachinkal, gymnastbeth, and nevertooold.

I am having a little bit of trouble with your jargon as I am in Canada and thus don't know what the level four vault mat is etc. However I get most of what you have suggested and will try them out! Unfortunately this session just ended so I won't be back in the gym on a regular basis coaching again until the fall.

Blairbob, I totally agree with what you mentioned about teaching a good punch off the board. These are rec gymnasts though and they have not learned saltos of any kind yet. A good high dive roll would probably work the same principle though.

Maybe I didn't explain well, but they are already doing run down the vault runway, one foot on beat board, two feet jump off mini-tramp, then jump to handstand on vault, fall to flat back. For the more advanced girls they are 'popping' off the vault and thus landing their flat back in a pike sit position.

Anyway, thank you for the suggestions everyone.

 

[BlairBob]

The L4 vault system in the US is basically 32-48" of matting. Basically 4-6 8"ers.

Generally I like for gymnasts to work doing straight jumps up to mats as high as possible.

I also work 3/4 layouts to back. Preferably these are at shoulder height or higher.

Another drill is to create a mat stack roughly shoulder to head height and have them to do a forward roll on top. They will have to punch up, then place their hands and forward roll. You can adjust the height of the matting by using a wedge mat at the top to introduce proper front tuck salto height.

Before they work the 3/4 layout, I teach them the handstand flatback. From there, it's simply not using their hands.

It's all pointless if they cannot run fast and punch the board hard enough to begin with.

For tiny kids (5-7yo), I prefer them to run 20m in under 4.5s. This is actually something I came across in the TOPS testing.

Once they hit about 8 or older, I prefer them to be able to run it under 4s bare minimum.

Most of my guys around 8 and up can hit 3.5s.

I've yet to see any gymnast in a gym that can hit 3s but I hope to. As well, I'm pretty close at 5'+ tall though I think in years past I may have been able to hit 2.9s 5'+ is a common height for many pubescent gymnasts of either gender.

If they can run this fast, they can typically hurdle long and put a lot of force into the board. If they cannot run fast or run slow due to fear issues or problems such as weak ankles or knees or running on their heels, well-there you go.

They will learn what it is to get their feet in front on the board by how far their front salto goes, be it to back or feet. If it goes long, they are doing something wrong as we want height and "float" as I call it.

 

[tough gymnast]

FHS over the resi/level 4 mat turned sideways.

it depends if they are small keep it like that ^ but if they are tall or can do that very easily turn it the long way we have little girls that go the long ways

 

[lavinmeg]

handstand back down from the table

 

[Aussie_coach]

The kids should be working front layouts before going onto the Front handspring vault. Do front layouts on the trampoline or tumbletrak and off a board onto one to two crash mats before working any full handspring vaults.