Landing On Knees in BHS

[Danica76]

Hi all I am going to give you some background first. I also wish I had a video to post because I know it makes it a lot easier to give skill advice when there's one. Maybe I will try and take one tomorrow at the gym.

My DD has been having issues with her RO BHS for awhile now. My guess that it is mostly mental because for awhile there she was doing that lovely RO B-headspring thing So, she stopped doing that, but is now landing on her knees instead of her feet half the time! She actually has a really pretty one with a nice rebound when she does onto the resi. But, as soon as she takes it to the floor, she starts to do the landing on the knees thing. Many times, her coach will yell, "No knees!" and she lands on her feet.

Do you think this is a mental issue? She was scared of landing on her head for the longest time and now I think that she has gotten over that fear, she is "saving" herself by landing on her knees. Maybe she is not blocking enough to get back on her feet. What do you guys think? (Her coach is working with her on this, I will not be relaying any "advice" to her. This is purely to satisfy my own curiosity.)

 

[gymnastbeth]

Are her legs bent in the handspring? That would be the most obvious thing, she could just be never straightening them so her feet never have the opportunity to hit the floor. A video would definitely help

 

[Danica76]

Her legs are straight and together out of the RO but, I am thinking that maybe she does bend them after the HS/beginning of the snap down phase, which is why she is landing on her knees. If only her coach could yell, "No knees!" on Friday at her meet and save me the stress headache I inevitabily get until floor is over When she's in a high pressure situation, she usually pulls it off fairly well (i.e. "throw your RO BHS onto your feet in warm-ups or scratch floor). I am going to either video or watch closely tomorrow at practice and let you know.

 

[bogwoppit]

It'll come with more time. Lots of kids go through this phase. The coach is aware and dealing with it.

 

[BlairBob]

It's just a head issue.

Commit to landing on your feet. Don't give up.

Easier said than done.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

just tell her i said to put her feet down.

 

[Kiwi]

My DD is going through similar issues. I posted here a while back about how she was bending her arms because of fear. She worked through that and was able to do BHS with a spot on tumble-trak, and after a lot more work she can now do them by herself on tumble-trak quite nicely. She has now moved to floor/mat and once again head issues are causing problems. Without a spot she has fear and is doing horrible ugly bent-leg bent-arm collapsing things that don't look at all like the lovely BHS she can do on tumble-trak. With a spot she is starting to make some progress with keeping arms straight. Other girls in her group are at various stages, some better and some worse than her. I'm guessing they'll all get there eventually with good coaching and lots of work.

 

[Danica76]

Yes, easier said than done, I am sure! LOL, dunno - so simple, yet so hard at the same time

I am very proud of how hard she's worked and how far she's come since last year at this time. She's 8 and will be repeating L4 next season, so we are chalking all of this up to a learning year. Her HC feels she has a lot of components that are really great, they just haven't all come together yet. I know she will get there. She is one of those "bouncy" gymnasts - like she bounces around on that floor in between almost every skill and boy do those tenths add up. I do not emphasize scores with her - I just keep complimenting her progression and improvements and continue to to tell her that I believe in her. Her goal is to throw her best RO BHS ever this Friday at her meet.

Nicki - I remember your post a few months back, because I commented on it It's definitely a process. Glad to hear your DD has been making progress on the TT! The mind is a powerful thing!

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

My DD has a "frog leg" ROBHS. For a while she was either hitting her knees or over compensating for not hitting her knees and doing a really ugly layout instead of a handspring- like she was getting her butt too high in the air. She now lands on her feet about 90% of the time- still not pretty though. All I can say is practice practice practice and tons of corrections will eventually work. Hers also looks best on the tumble track- she can focus on the pretty legs better on there for now. With strength, training, and experience she will get there. Half of DDs team has a beautiful one now and half are still froggy.

 

[Danica76]

Just wanted to share a quick update - DD did approx. 10 ROBHS onto her feet last night at practice on the floor, with a rebound and everything...under threat of push-ups for every time she landed on her knees (HC knows she can do it, knew it was mental and apparently giving her extra conditioning is the trick to make her think about what she needs to get done - lol). She was super excited and proud of herself. And all her teammates cheered and gave her high 5's. Let's hope it sticks this time...but, even if it doesn't, it was wonderful to see her realize that if she believes in herself and sticks with it, she can accomplish it