Level 5 vault question

[kimskids]

My daughter just turned 10 and is a level 5 gymnast. She recently (5 weeks ago) switched gyms and is now at a gym with a little more serious program. At her old gym vault was not practiced much. She has never been strong at vault and weighs about 54 lbs. My daughter is beginning to get frustrated with vault. The girls at her new gym are very strong at vault and they vault over these huge piles of mats. Even after 5 weeks it is very rare for her to even make it over the mats. I believe the coach has the level 5 girls vaulting at a 4 at competitions while my daughter was vaulting at a 0 at her old gym.
I am just wondering if there is hope for her with vault? I know this sounds bad but watching practice (which I do from time to time b/c of the drive) I feel so bad for her and can see how down she feels as time after time she can't make it over. Anyone have daughters who started off bad with vault and eventually "got" it? I am very positive with her and tell her that in time she will get it but I am feeling very concerned myself!! Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Natasha]

My dd struggled with vault all through L5 and L6 and 1/2 of L7. the "block" literally just clicked with her one day during the season this year. She came home from practice one day and said "I fixed my vault today." Sure enough, the next meet she got a 9.25. I about fell out of my seat. She ended up getting 2nd place at state. After 2 1/2 seasons of her vault score bringing down her AA, it ended up being her highest score at state.
She was on a team with mostly older and bigger girls who all had great vaults. They vaulted on 4 or 5 as well and I watched my dd struggle at practices. She is now training the tusk and Yurchenko and is coming along very well on both.

 

[iwannacoach]

One thing that's bound to help......turning 11 and weighing 63 lbs.....turning 12 and weighing 76 lbs........

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

My little one was a teeny tiny L5, 6 in those early years, she barely weighed 45 lbs and had alot of trouble with L5 vault. Coaches said it had less to do with body weight and more to do with her learning how to block and use her body. As she got older she "figured it out" and worked her way up to scoring 9's by the end of level 6 (4th year with same vault because she also did USAGIC Bronze as a L4). Like Gymtigermom's DD, my kid is now a very strong vaulter, scoring mid-9's on her tsuk and now training Yurchenko's. She's still on the small side at 4'6" and 70 lbs at 11 yr old.

 

[kimskids]

Thanks for the encouragement. It is so hard to see all the other girls sailing over the vault and my little one trying and trying and not even getting over most of the time. I guess I kind of expected her vault to improve overnight when we switched gyms! LOL! I honestly just hate seeing her discouragement and I will sit there just praying for her to make it over those darn mats! LOL!!!

 

[flipflopcrystal]

we have a tiny one (9 yr old, 47 pounds...how do I know? she tells me all the time...LOL) who is having trouble with vault. she runs pretty fast, but loses all her power through the spring board and up to handstand.

she just has to figure out the board technique to transfer her speed (assuming she runs fast) through to the block. that's where our girl has trouble and she can't make it over. she hurdles too high and all her run speed goes straight down into the floor. when you are that small and can barely punch the board as it is, it's almost like the board isn't even there....

however, there is hope, we have another TINY TINY one who had trouble with it for a LONG time, now she has a pretty decent vault for her size, once fixing her technique. (level 6, 50 pounds)

be patient! all kids dislike/feel discouraged with certain events for one reason or another, and that changes like the wind! keep her focus positive.

 

[storms06]

When i was first starting my level 5 vault was awful! but my coach really helped by telling me that when you hit the board you should not be leaning forward you should be strait up and down or even a little bit backwards. this helped a lot! and to get use to how it felt i kept trying different angles just jumping on the board over and over again. hope all works out!