T&T Settle this for me! Is it okay to look down?

[aerialriver]

For trampoline and if you were doing dismounts off the double mini is it acceptable to glance down and back up. Down when your feet hit? I know you can't stare at the ground but I have a coach that is obsessed with never ever looking down. I guess it is habit no one else has ever said anything. I was doing double backs last week off the double mini, which were fine until she started in about the looking down thing and would not let me. I felt disoriented and like I was going to fall off and I did not flip another one. So is it alright to glance down or not?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

well, you have to look down when your upside down in order to see the landing when performing backward somi. but when you have completed any somi you should be looking out in front of down because you are seeing on a horizontal plane. so maybe she means your head is buried to far in?

 

[aerialriver]

Thanks for answering Dunno! She was talking mostly about the take off. I know you can spot your landing and then lift your eyes. I tend to glance down each time my feet hit the double mini, then I look back up. I guess I am making sure my feet hit and they are in a located where I can safely flip, when your doing dismounts off double mini it is easy to start traveling and end up taking off the very end. I do also do this to a lesser extent on the trampoline.

I tried only looking straight ahead and it really threw me off. I felt lost and like I would not make 2 rotations. Not really sure why. But I want to know if doing this is normal and if it is acceptable. I feel like at this point it would take a lot to change it but if it is a bad habit then I guess I need to.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

well, on some things i'm of the opinion that if it ain't broke don't fix it. if what you are doing effects the next step, say a full in or full out, then maybe you need to work on it for that end. if you're never going to do something like that, why bother?