Round off drills for little ones

[gymnastgirlaz]

Hey! I coach a developmental group for 3 and 4 year olds and I want to start teaching them round-offs. However most of the drills I know wouldn't work because they are too little or just don't have enough body awareness due to their age. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for drills I could do with them.Thanks!

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

If they do not have the body awareness for the drills perhaps you should stick with perfecting cartwheels till they are a little older.

 

[gymnastgirlaz]

They have good cartwheels though. Its not like they have no body awareness, just not to level where most drills are.

 

[AmandaLynn]

Round offs are actually quite a complex skill. I prefer not to teach them until kids have the ability to at least understand the technically correct way of doing them. Once they get in the habit of doing a "cartwheel-bring feet together-pike down to floor" roundoff, it is difficult to fix. I can't imagine any 3 year old that I've ever seen that is developmentally ready to do round offs.

 

[Esoteric]

on tramp you could have them do the donkey kick looking drill where they go from knees to hands while maintaining a hollow and ultimately straightening legs out as they land on hands, then snap back down to knees and so on and so forth as they progress down the length of the track. Also, handstand blocks with just a controlled step down will get their shoulders used to that movement. Just teaching them a tight hollow is the best I could imagine for that age. Best of luck.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Hey! I coach a developmental group for 3 and 4 year olds and I want to start teaching them round-offs. However most of the drills I know wouldn't work because they are too little or just don't have enough body awareness due to their age. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for drills I could do with them.Thanks!

3 & 4 year old kids are not old enough to understand the complexities of a sound round off. stick to PERFECT cartwheels till about 6.

 

[marie83]

Just here to echo the others really...
Stick to cartwheels and variations of cartwheels - Side to side, Cartwheel 1/4 turn inwards, 2 cartwheels linked together etc. Not only is the roundoff very complex but at such a young age, they shouldn't really be doing lots of rebounding work.

 

[CoachGoofy]

Front to back cartwheels with heads in until they can do them in their sleep. A roundoff is HARD to get right. Good handstand shaping too. That icky cartwheel pike down thing is...well...icky. Keep it from happening!

 

[BlairBob]

In an ideal world, I might never even introduce a round-off until Front Handspring Step-Out is learned effectively. Concentrate on front to back cartwheels and handspring development (which in their case, just means handstand development and maybe handstand over a barrel). Don't forget side cartwheel at this age. I seriously doubt they are physically prepared for Handstand snap-down/thru progressions besides maybe on the end of a trampoline as in donkey kick to handstand connected.

 

[niklum]

Cartwheels and FUN! They're little and they need games and fun ways to learn their body positions and basic skills. I agree with everyone else who says that roundoffs are too complex for this age. I think that developmental gymnasts at this age should be learning about body control, tight, positions, and basic skills. Once those are mastered, the sky's the limit. Read up on developmental milestones that are typical of this age. While they may be advanced, there's still something to the information.

 

[gymnastgirlaz]

Okay. Thanks!