How long to learn ROBHS?

[UnoMas]

My older dd is a new L4, and she is working on the ROBHS. She's needing a pretty heavy spot at this point, but she looks like she's kind of getting the idea. She was very afraid to even try it with a spot before she started L4, so I am glad she's at least jumping and trying it with the spot. She practices 14 hrs a week. How long does it typically take to get this skill? It just looks so hard, I can't imagine her ever doing it on her own! I think this is because my gymnastics skills end at a roundoff, so I don't have any idea what it takes to do it. Thanks for any thoughts, I know all kids are different, (one of her new L4 teammates got it the first week!) but I'd love a general idea!

 

[ffliwt]

What's a ROBHS?

 

[gymkat]

RO BHS = roundoff back handspring

Can she do a good standing BHS with or without a spot, and does she get a good rebound from her RO? It took me about 2 months to learn a non-froggy RO BHS without a spot from when I first started trying them on tumble track. I've seen kids learn a good RO BHS in less than a week, while others take 6+ months. Some kids are more comfortable with throwing themselves backwards and upside-down. However, I think that the biggest difference in the amount of time to learn a RO BHS comes from the RO. You have to jump so much harder if you pike down out of your RO than if you can block off your hands and pull your feet through.

 

[ffliwt]

Make sure she's getting enough rebound and speed out of her roundoff.
The girls in my gym when theyre learning them put a crashmat behind them and have to do a roundoff then jump backwards onto their back on the mat so they're lieing down flat. At first they're really uncomfortable with it thinking it'll hurt and cause they're scared of going backwards, but after a while they get used to it. Make sure the crash mat is a good soft one though! It'll help her getting used to going backwards by herself.
It can take absolutely ages to get it, but as said before the key point is probably the roundoff rather than the bhs.

 

[UnoMas]

Sorry about the abbreviation!

She's got a good solid roundoff w/rebound that she learned in L3, but no, she can't do a standing BHS yet. The roundoff into crash mat sounds like a great idea! They had them jumping up and back from standing onto a wedge and backward rolling down as part of their rotations.