WAG Getting hands higher on the table

[BarCoach]

What actually makes the hands get far enough back on the table? I have a gymnast with a pretty good little vault (good run, good shape, good block), but her hands are always very close to the front of the table. I know a video would probably help, but I'm not allowed to record her, let alone put it online. She's not my daughter. She is a short 9 year old who vaults with the table at 105 and the board at 1'10". Any ideas? What should I be telling her?

 

[CoachTodd]

Tell her nothing. If she's blocking near the front of the table and doing everything else correctly, it just means she wants to flip her front entry vaults someday.
If she isn't clearing the table, I'd check to see what angle she's hitting the table and teach her to control her post flight.

 

[AmandaLynn]

A lot of kids beginning front handspring vaults tend to reach down for the table, breaking their shoulder angle and, thus, ending up with their hands on the front of the table.

However, if her shapes are good and she is actually blocking, this is likely not the case. she probably just has a much more efficient turnover than the others in your group. I do tend to have the board a bit closer than that (closer to 1'2"-1'4") with my younger/shorter kids, but as CoachTodd stated, if she is blocking sufficiently to clear the end of the table, I would not mess with the vault at all, honestly. Including the board setting.

 

[fliptwisttwirl]

I know this isn't really going to help with the technique side of it..but if you put a little mat or carpet square on the front of the vault and tell her to reach over it then it should stretch out quite a bit.

 

[flips123]

She may need to get her chest up more as well, I second the putting the mat in front of the table drill as this really helped me get my chest up.

 

[Newandlovingit!]

I know this isn't really going to help with the technique side of it..but if you put a little mat or carpet square on the front of the vault and tell her to reach over it then it should stretch out quite a bit.

Yes, like fliptwisttwirl, I would say draw a box or something towards the front (front? Back? You guys know what I mean) of the table so that she has a 'target' to reach her hands into. I have just started front handsprings actually, and this is something the coach did for me...seems to be helping

 

[BarCoach]

Ok, I won't mess with it too much. Her shoulder angle is good coming in, though that is the most common reminder I have to give her. Her chest is not perfect but not leaning terribly forward. My reason for wanting her vault stretched out/reaching longer is that she often hits the table closer to handstand than I'd like, meaning she flips too much and over rotates, almost always having to take 2 or more steps after landing.
I like the idea of putting something on the front of the table so I'll try that but not put it too far back. I don't want to change it too much if it will serve her well in the future.

 

[CoachGoofy]

That sounds like a not terrible problem to have. I mean, it's a ding on scores in level 5-7, but in the long run, doesn't that mean she'll have an easier time doing handspring front? Unless she's belly flopping at the end or something of course.

 

[CoachTodd]

Ok, I won't mess with it too much. Her shoulder angle is good coming in, though that is the most common reminder I have to give her. Her chest is not perfect but not leaning terribly forward. My reason for wanting her vault stretched out/reaching longer is that she often hits the table closer to handstand than I'd like, meaning she flips too much and over rotates, almost always having to take 2 or more steps after landing.
I like the idea of putting something on the front of the table so I'll try that but not put it too far back. I don't want to change it too much if it will serve her well in the future.

If she's hitting at or past handstand, raise the table.

 

[BarCoach]

We did try raising the table but then her hands were even closer the the front, and the over-rotation even worse. She also seemed too close to the back for it to be safe. So we put her back down for now. We'll keep working it.

 

[Brandon]

I had the same problem when I learned. What my coach did was take some of the little orange rubber 'pies' and put some near the from of the table. They would slip if you hit them, presumably making you crash.

Best incentive ever. Never hit the table low again.

 

[CoachTodd]

We did try raising the table but then her hands were even closer the the front, and the over-rotation even worse. She also seemed too close to the back for it to be safe. So we put her back down for now. We'll keep working it.

See if you can get a video. It sounds like she may be putting her hands down instead of bringing them up as she leaves the board.
If she's getting more rotation and flipping too fast, you can teach her to pull her toes into a hollow shape as she gets the block so the skill floats out a bit more. That may be easier to train using the level 4 system turned sideways.

 

[BarCoach]

CoachTodd that's exactly what we've been working on. She has very slow arm lift in to the table so we've corrected the over rotation for now by having her hold hollow coming off.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Echoing everything Todd's said.

Hitting close to the front of the table is completely fine as long as she's getting enough distance, and in fact for tsuks and handspring fronts, hitting close to the front is preferable to hitting near the back.