You should have been around when we had to coach squat-thru vaults. That was an ugly time for gymnastics and an even uglier vault
Wasn't too long ago...there was a squat through vault in USAG level 4 basically up until we got the table in JO...must have been like what, 2002? You could do a squat through or a front handspring in level 4. I was a late starter and competed in the cycle of compulsories after most girls I did optional gymnastics with - basically the early part of the cycle we had before the current one. I only did one level 4 meet, but I can still remember learning the squat through.
As far as dive rolls, I don't know, people are always down on them but my feeling is when I was a kid I did mainly rec gymnastics for awhile and we did all sorts of stuff that is like, frowned upon today (headsprings, etc) and I was still able to do proficient handsprings once I learned them. I feel like they learn a dive roll eventually and they need to be able to differentiate between that and a front handspring. Some people might say it is too early and a dive roll shouldn't be introduced until they have a front handspring vault. That's a valid argument, although I can't say in my experience I feel it matters that much. Usually the issue with closed shoulder/rolling action is lack of block preparation and body tension (not to mention speed and board strike), not that they think they're doing a dive roll and I also think dive roll over something for distance is a good way to introduce stretching and not being afraid of vault. I first learned to do a dive roll over the vault, and later the table. Then we learned bounder over the table to stacked mats (hands on mats not on table). After that we learned a front layout over (turns over faster and not on the other side of the table, but I still think all the years of learning to go over the table without touching it was great preparation as we never hesitated or had problems or injuries really).
This was all done in conjunction with many blocking drills. It produces good results. Needs to be done safely which could be an issue in some gyms. Was never a safety issue at my gym. But that was the style of coaching, very aggressive and kinda if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. And heaven help you if you decided to get "confused" between a dive roll and a handspring - sorry, not happening. We used to do a block drill where you blocked off the table onto a block higher than the table, and then to your feet. Well one time when we moved onto front handsprings someone double blocked on the table and it was made very clear that you think before you go and you know what you're doing, and if you get "confused" then you will not be doing any more that day. I feel that was appropriate to the level and age at the time, front handsprings were not new to us then. In some places the coaching philosophy is a little more precious, which is what I deal with now and it's not really my thing, but that's a story for another day.
Basically, I think anything could be used or misused, so to speak. It really depends on the overall strategy and picture. If the coach is a technical vault coach and teaches a good approach, conditioning for speed, body tension, the vault is going to come, dive roll or not.
...................
