Parents Is BHS a difficult skill to learn?

[gymhorsemom]

Another thread I started made me wonder about this. DD (7 and on pre team) has been working on BHS for a few months now and is doing them with coaches help now. Of course "doing with help" is not at all the same as "doing" I had assumed she was close to the skill but some are saying it's a skill that can take a long time to acquire. What was your child's experience with learning BHS?

 

[MILgymFAM]

I think it varies pretty greatly. The bhs and the kip seem to be the two things that are all over the place in terms of how long. Then there is the difference in how long to learn it vs how long to perfect it, such as a particular gymnast will ever perfect these skills.

My DD got her bhs after two long and frustrating weeks but still doesn't do it even close to perfectly about six months later. She got her back tuck in about ten minutes and it was almost immediately nicer than her bhs. My other DD took two long years to learn her bhs without a spot, but it was beautiful from the first day she got it.

You just never know, but try not to worry. With proper coaching it will come, and it will eventually clean itself up. It may also go on vacation occasionally, but it always comes home.

 

[billise]

My DD is a young 8 year old. Her ROBHS has come and gone several times over the last year and a half (one week she can do it without a spot, next week she's back to needing a spot). She's doing great with it at the moment....

 

[Shooosh]

I, personally, think it has a lot to do with the coaching. Most gymnasts can probably 'get' their BHS pretty quickly if the coach really doesn't have a lot of standards. Some gyms definitely work under the 'let the kid do the skill and THEN we'll clean it up/correct the technique' kind of rule. My son can do a backhand spring but it's the the most gosh awful one ever. They haven't done them at practice yet. He was just messing around. I do not like that idea. It's such an important fundamental skill that I truly believe that it should be taught correctly the first time. As in, not even done until it can be done right. This is a constant battle with my girls in my class because they all think they've 'got' they're BHS just because they can not break their necks on some friends backyard trampoline. I won't let them do them alone at all yet at our gym. Too much jumping up and not enough backward motion, etc...
On a funny note: if I had a dime for every time a girl told me "coach $$$! I got my back tuck!!" (Because they were trying BHS on a backyard tramp and jumped 'up' to much and somehow missed their hands before they landed...)
BTW...these are rec girls who are still working on their round offs. They are just over excited with getting BHS.

This totally didn't answer your question. Apparently I needed to vent.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

My oldest it took forever , dd2 it took a little bit but not as long as some and dd3 it's taking her time but she is close .

I think like someone else said coaching makes a huge diff, it also depends on the kid , meaning some skills will come easy and some not so easy.

 

[myliljunebugs]

DD was close last fall then they just stopped working them in practice for over a month and she lost them. She's just now getting them back. If she had been in gymnastics since she was itty bitty this probably wouldn't be as difficult for her (I'm assuming here) but she didn't start until she was almost 8 so this is all pretty new to her.

 

[juststartingout]

I don't think it's a hard skill to learn but I think it is extremely hard to perfect.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

I think it varies pretty greatly. The bhs and the kip seem to be the two things that are all over the place in terms of how long. Then there is the difference in how long to learn it vs how long to perfect it, such as a particular gymnast will ever perfect these skills.

My DD got her bhs after two long and frustrating weeks but still doesn't do it even close to perfectly about six months later. She got her back tuck in about ten minutes and it was almost immediately nicer than her bhs. My other DD took two long years to learn her bhs without a spot, but it was beautiful from the first day she got it.

You just never know, but try not to worry. With proper coaching it will come, and it will eventually clean itself up. It may also go on vacation occasionally, but it always comes home.

Arrrrrr...the kip.......

 

[Amusibus]

My kiddo has just started doing them solo down a cheese mat, but still with a spot on the floor. They started her over the barrel, then on trampoline, then on tumble track, now on the cheese mat. So next is on the floor I guess. She first tried it alone on a trampoline at home. That was six months ago. Her BHS on the cheese mat unspotted looks ok, but much nicer with a spot than without. So yeah, seems like it's easy to chuck but hard to get just right.

 

[Becauseisaid]

Took our team girls forever it seems, but they were learning proper form at the same time. And there is a big difference between being able to do a BHS on the trampoline (in the harness or not) and being able to do one on floor. DD has been able to do a BHS for 2 years now and is STILL cleaning it up. Darn those bendy knees!

 

[mommyof1]

It is definitely a process full of ups and downs. My daughter took maybe 6 months to do her first solo BHS on the fluffy mat, then it disappeared for 4 or 5 months before returning. 3-4 months later, she had some sort of tumbling epiphany and suddenly blew everyone away with gorgeous ROBHSs with straight legs and straight arms on the tumble track. A couple more weeks and it was ROBHSx2 on the tumble track. 2-3 months later, her ROBHS on the tumble track is now looking rather froggy and she still hasn't been allowed to try BHS or ROBHS unspotted on the floor.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

I think a bh can be easy to learn-or nearly impossible. I learned mine in a month, but it takes some girls 2 years. It all depends on the kid. Then again; it took me nearly 4 months to get my kip-and 7 months later (after suffering from a fracture in my finger and a torn tendon in my hand) it still isn't perfect. It depends on the strength and coachablity of the kid.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Y'all are making me nervous now. My dd is a level 2 training for level 3 now. They have to have their level 3 skills by May in order to move up. They've been doing drills for the back handspring since January, but don't seem all that close to actually letting them attempt one. Hopefully the coaches know what they are doing. j/k. But seriously I didn't realize it was something that would take that long to learn.

 

[HoldThePhone]

It varies greatly from gymnast to gymnast. Took mine less than a month to have a pretty decent one, while others on her team took several months. Many girls have them come and go as well (with decent form anyhow).

 

[gymhorsemom]

Thanks for all of the responses. Does anyone know what strengths tend to lend themselves to having an easier time with this skill? My daughter naturally gravitates towards good form -pointed toes and straight legs seems to come easily so far -everyone comments and it's probably the main reason she even made pre team. She is also the most flexible in her group but the weakest. Is strength or flexibility more important for this skill.

 

[Shooosh]

Y'all are making me nervous now. My dd is a level 2 training for level 3 now. They have to have their level 3 skills by May in order to move up. They've been doing drills for the back handspring since January, but don't seem all that close to actually letting them attempt one. Hopefully the coaches know what they are doing. j/k. But seriously I didn't realize it was something that would take that long to learn.

I think you'll be surprised! It may look to a parent as if the coach's are really holding gymnasts back by not allowing them to attempt BHS on their own but often, all those drills will culminate in a nicely executed BHS when the time comes.
(It's similar to taking 6 months to teach a 6 month old to use a spoon, or just taking 2 days to teach a 2 year old- the 2 year old has all the basics and strengths and movements and just has to put them all together. )

 

[Deleted member 17723]

It's a little bit of back and shoulder flexibility, and arm and leg strength. Since she has such good form, she probably will learn quickly. In my opinion at least.

 

[mommyof1]

Does anyone know what strengths tend to lend themselves to having an easier time with this skill? ... Is strength or flexibility more important for this skill.

I am not a coach, just a mom, but from what I observed at my daughter's old gym it really seemed to be a mental thing more than anything else. There were a few naturally strong and fearless kids who very quickly started chucking BHS with poor form (the kids whose mothers put them in gymnastics because they were trying to do back tucks off the sofa at age 4), but the others caught up with them and even surpassed them in time. There was one very strong little girl who didn't understand the mechanics of the BHS very well, jumped too high, and kept missing her hands and doing what I think is a whip. Another girl who was a little older and an extremely hard worker took a while to learn, but as soon as she got her BHS it looked beautiful because she understood the skill well (e.g., jumping back instead of up). This child is now competing L3 and outscoring the little phenoms who picked up BHS and ROBHS right away. With my kid, the BHS issue was mostly one of confidence. Her coach would say over and over "she understands it and she CAN do it, she's just scared." The confidence issue was addressed with lots of drills, repetition, and patience. Her ROBHS, on the other hand, suffered from conceptual problems with the roundoff. Once she understood how to do a genuine roundoff, connecting the ROBHS came naturally.

At her new gym, my daughter is the only one in her L2 preteam group who can do a BHS independently on any surface. They spent the fall focusing on conditioning and body shapes and only started teaching BHS a couple of months ago. They expect all the girls to have ROBHS in time to compete L3 in the fall. This system seems to work, because the current L3s have what look to me like very nice ROBHSs.

 

[gracyomalley]

Be patient - better to take the time to learn it right and later be able to add tons of other tumbling on floor to it, as well as do it plus lots of stuff on the beam - then get it fast, "move up" and get hurt or later hit a wall. DD learned hers on her own at home, then was told to stop doing them until taught properly at gym - so I really can't say how long it took her - her gym concentrated on form, strength and technique at your DD level (no competing until old L5 (new L4), so they were "working on it" from hot shots at age 5...she competed ROBHSBHS easily with good form at age 8....would that be 3 years to learn? LOL! (but they were clean and transfered to BHSBHS on beam at age 10 without issues and great scores until she hit the "I'm scareds" at age 11! DS chucked his on his own at gym at age 6 after being on team for less than 6 months - and got a "good" ROBHSBHS about 6 months later....DS the elder took a couple years to get his BHS - but he's doing it with a tumbling pass so long I can't write it all out now and winning floor at big meets as a Level 7....And he NEVER did a bad one - just took forever to do any at all.

Each kid is different. The one thing I've learned is as long as they are having fun and working on strength, form and progressive skills, the pace of learning/moving up changes so much if your kid sticks with it, and what's "hard" at one point may be easy later on and vice versa. Remember - L2-3 are very basic, but those skills do need to be clean....wait until she's learning kip, then giants, series on beam, flipping vaults - get used to encouraging and waiting for things to click!

 

[xpink-princessx]

My daughter took about 9 months to learn hers x