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Deleted member D3987
hi folks, forgot that we have company over tonight. look for my post tomorrow on Sunday. everyone have a good night!
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It's not generally accepted to have a kid who can do things already on the right switch to the left, if that's the question. Usually we evaluate both sides and go with the dominant side cartwheel (does not necessarily correlate to their dominant handedness).
Is your daughter in a developmental program/preteam? When did they start trying to have her switch sides?
Yes. She had done developmental at another gym for about 6 months, then we switched to current gym, she has been there for 4 months and it was when we started at the current gym that they started trying to switch her.
ok, this is what I do with my kids: Take your hands and have them face eachother, then clasp them together, finger over finger. Which ever is the last finger(thumb) on top, is the hand that begins the cartwheel/roundoff. This works with most kids.
ok, this is what I do with my kids: Take your hands and have them face eachother, then clasp them together, finger over finger. Which ever is the last finger(thumb) on top, is the hand that begins the cartwheel/roundoff. This works with most kids.
ok just tried all 3 of these tests for my daughter: thumb test- lefty. spin test- righty. Push test- righty. Dunno, where are you. Wakey wakey.....
Teach a side cartwheel first (should be standard) and then it's generally completely obvious which is the child's dominant side. If this child can do a right cartwheel and a right roundoff, and CAN'T do left cartwheel/roundoff then it's obvious she's right sided. No need to "pick" for her based on twist direction since it would delay her getting to that level at this point.
Another test you can do is have her lie on her back, then shout 'go' and have her roll over to her stomach as fast as she can, stand up and run forwards.
Whichever way she rolls should be her twisting direction.
The thing with a lot of these tests is that you shouldn't tell the gymnast why you are doing them otherwise it could influence their decision!
I think, now kids are starting so young in gymnastics these days, that sometimes a coach might have to "pick". My 4 year old doesn't have a clue which side she prefers, they're equally bad!! Fortunately she's still in rec, in a club that doesn't focus on skills at this age, so no-one cares which side is dominant.
However reading on her I get that some clubs and coaches do teach cartwheels, round off, kick overs, splits, and even more advanced skills at increasingly young ages. If I was less informed and my DD was in a class like that, a coach would have to pick a side to *teach* her her cartwheel on, as she can chuck herself onto her head in either direction, and wouldn't be able to articulate a preference.
In my earlier post^^, I was thinking that maybe an inexperienced or lazy coach might just teach cartwheels to these young kids on the side they prefer. I know I'm a leftie coach, and prefer to spot from a certain side, and find it much easier to teach left hand cartwheels. Then do they cartwheel left because it's truly dominant, or that's what they've been taught and practiced since age 3. So when they come to learning harder skills it emerges in fact the other side is dominant...
Dunno-
Thanks for your very clear explanations. I think I almost understand it. it just scares me for my son who does left roundoff, left twist, and right front handsprings. Sigh. His coach says he can work with it, but I just wonder waht it will look like for him in the higher levels.
like i told you before in that other post, don't worry about it. you can perform any entire men's routine without a front handspring in it without a deduction.