Roll off bar (rec dismount)

[gym4life123]

This year I started coaching/assisting. I have one girl that refuses to roll off of the low bar. (That's about the best I can describe it, that's what we call it. Sorry if you don't know what I'm talking about.) She is too scared. What kind of drills can I do to get her to do it? Recently she has also developped a fear of pull overs, what kind of drills are there for those? Thanks for you help. No matter how low the bar is she won't do them.

 

[B Gymnast]

I'm pretty sure I know what you mean.. Will she just roll over the bar (so like you're hangong upside down) wthout actually rolling off?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i don't know for sure...but maybe swimming would be better?

 

[gymnastjess]

at our gym with the little kids we get the floor bar and get them to put there hands on the bar while they are sitting on their knees and do a forward roll onto a wedge mat or just a plain mat also if you have a soft box under her so when she hangs down her head is basically toughing the box so then she can just roll onto the box!! i actually have this in my routine and at the end we have to hold it for 3 secs which i have to bounce my feet on the ground and bring them up because im to tall and just cant slowly bring them down lol any tips for this anyone? also getting up from a handstand forward roll? i do lots of candlesticks but same for them i have trouble getting up i normally push myself back with my heels :/

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

use a really low bar, Like a single bar that lowers or a junior bar, then put a cheese mat under neath the bar the big end under the bar, and it getting smaller the way they roll. This should reduce some of the fear because its like rolling down the cheese. Also Spot alot!

 

[BlairBob]

Basic inversion on a low bar. I call them skin the cats but we start with basically holding their feet on the bar while they are in a hang. If they're feet are together, we call it bat hang, and if they are in a straddle, it's called a spider hang. Then from there they get used to being upside down and doing the skin the cat.

From support, we do light switches. They start in support and lean their torsos over the bar until they are horizontal and then push back to support on top of the bar. You can make this easier if their feet remain on a box under the bar so their feet and legs don't go horizontal when they lean over the bar.

 

[momofthreegirls]

My middle daughter was terrified to do pullovers and roll over the bar 6 months ago.

One thing that helped was using a floor bar propped up between two blocks (thus making a very low bar) with a very soft mat underneath. Her teacher uses the same bar setup for pullovers. She puts a set of soft "stairs" in front of the bar, and has them chin up, and try to kick over the bar using the stairs to help.

Honestly, the best cure for my DD's problem has seemed to be simply TIME. A few months ago, something about these skills "clicked" for her, and she does them with no fear now. Her teacher was patient, and didn't make an issue out of it. She encouraged my DD to try, but never forced her.

 

[BlairBob]

I've used the walk up a block or wall for the pullovers. If they are too scared about pulling over, I'm fine if they just get inverted somewhat.

 

[fuzi]

I find that rolling off the bar is a common fear for young gymnasts, especially 4 and 5 year olds.

To overcome that fear, I put the bar as long as it will go. Then we do it REALLY slow. I'll tell the gymnast, "what we are going to do is lean forward so we are hanging upside down with the bar on our belly and our head looking at our knees." Then I promise I will hold on to them (and I do). From that upside down position, I help them slowly lower their legs down.

A lot of it is trust. They have to trust themselves and trust you. Once they can do that on their own, I say, "Okay, we're going to go really slow, but I'm only going to hold on to your wrist/use one hand." Then, "we're going to go really slow and I will be here, but not touch you." They get tired of going slow pretty quickly and all my scared kids have had it within a month.

 

[marie83]

I had a gymnast who was scared of the forward circle dismount too. She literally refused to do it by leaning backwards rather than forwards!
I got her to do it by placing a platform underneath the bar so that she could kneel on it with her hips still on the bar, then forward roll over the bar to a lying position, still holding onto the bar. I gradually reduced the height of the platform (I used a stack of mats and removed one at a time of a number of sessions) Eventually she realised it wasn't as scary as she thought, and was soon doing them on her own.

 

[coachinkal]

I use a lot of padding for the kids who are scared of this. They need to be able to trust that the coach is not going to let them go and will make sure they do not fall. Reducing the height from the bar to the floor helps, usually with mats or blocks.

I have had one boy who has been working on rolling over the bar for almost 18 months. He struggled with fear issues. He almost had it then reverted to refusing to do it. He finally has it now consistantly on his own.