Coaches My Child Cannot Straddle Jump

[Empowered]

The title of the thread says it all. My child is 2 weeks from the end of her L5 season and she just struggles mightily with this jump. It appears to be so unnatural for her. She had one meet early in the season where it was like she had an epiphany and had this beautiful straddle jump, but every other one in competition since has been weak.

She tries to practice them at home often, but with just a carpeted floor she ends up frustrated since there is no spring and I don't want her to hurt herself.

Do any of you coaches have any exercises she can do at home to help with this skill? Her coaches have told her the standard leg lifts but I am trying to think outside the box here.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

how old is she?

 

[Empowered]

She is 8, will be 9 in a couple months.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

well, she's still young. she could practice them on a trampoline or a tumbl trak if your gym has one.

or, and under the supervision of a coach, she can attach theraband material to both ankles and do sets of straddle jumps. 5 in a row and 5 sets would be sufficient for that age. and done 3 times a week. and no more than that.

 

[Linsul]

I like therabands for these too. I've had girls hang from the bar with one on and snap to a straddle, then legs back together again. Therbands have helped alot with strength and quick leg action, love them!

 

[Aussie_coach]

Often it is because they lack the right type of strength and flexibility.

To perform a good straddle jump they need good dynamic flexibility, this is the ability to throw the legs into a flexible position as opposed to static flexibility which means just sitting in splits for example. To increase dynamic flexibility she can do a few exercises. A good one is kicks, just hold onto a barre or rail and do high fast kicks to the side, if this is easy put small weights on the ankles (don't exceed 1 kg for a kid her age). Also she should hang from a bar (like the high bar where her feet can't touch the ground) and practice quickly throwing her legs up to the straddle position several times, again it can be done with light weights on the ankles. Dynamic flexibility training should be done every day she trains.

She can also practice this jump on a trampoline, tumble track or a spring board. If doing it on a spring board have someone hold both her hands to keep her in place.

If its not the dynamic flexibility it may be the muscle sped and strength in the legs. Work lots of box jumps, continuos tuck jumps (on a thick mat) and sprints.

 

[Empowered]

Awesome ideas, thanks for the tips all. She's excited to try these out in open gym since many of these are not exercises done in their standard conditioning circuit.