Parents Vault and tiny gymnast

[Fierystar]

My DD(8) seems to struggle with vault. She is all of 3 1/2 ft and weighs about 36 lbs. She doesn't seem to get much height off the springboard and tells me it doesn't move very much when she jumps on it. I'm not sure if she is not running fast/well enough and her timing is off hitting it, or if it is because she is so light, or a combination of those things. I was thinking of setting up a few privates for her to work on it with her coaches. I was wondering if there is anything else she can do to help her other than that? Jumping/hurdling exercises maybe? Or might this just be a struggle until she maybe sorts out the technique better and gets bigger and gains more muscle (although I don't know when or how much bigger she might get)?

 

[Flyaway]

Ah yes. I could have written this post.

Time. Time to grow, time to learn technique, time to figure it out. Time is about the only thing that will help.

Depending on her level, she may be able to use a mini springboard at meets. My dd did this for level 3 because she just COULD NOT make the regular sized springboard move. The gym is responsible for bringing the board themselves, I believe. You might check with her coaches on getting that accomodation.

Otherwise, just stock up on patience, because it's gonna take time.

 

[Fierystar]

Ah yes. I could have written this post.

Time. Time to grow, time to learn technique, time to figure it out. Time is about the only thing that will help.

Depending on her level, she may be able to use a mini springboard at meets. My dd did this for level 3 because she just COULD NOT make the regular sized springboard move. The gym is responsible for bringing the board themselves, I believe. You might check with her coaches on getting that accomodation.

Otherwise, just stock up on patience, because it's gonna take time.

Thank you, I think her size must be a factor in this. I feel bad for her. She does so well in everything else and then just has the challenge with the vault and it makes her inconsistent. I didn't know about the mini springboard option, which I looked up and she could use now and at the next level as well. I'll ask her coaches about it and inquire about a private or two which I figure couldn't hurt.

 

[GymDadWA]

You are not alone my little DD had/has similar issues.

Getting her to sprint was really hard, she would say she was sprinting, but from coaching her in soccer I knew she was not sprinting. She had a coach finally convince her to go all out and immediately flew over the table into the pit, so she gets how valuable sprinting and not slowing up is.

I'll leave the coaching to the coaches, but can just say for the longest time she treated the spring board as a ramp and would just kind of run up it never really trying to bounce/block into the board itself.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Yes! We're in our 8th competition season and vault is by far her worst event. She's 14 now and only weighs 85 lbs and has the lean legs and arms. She barely gets much power from those little stick legs! But, I feel that's the thing with gymnastics, everyone has to work with their own weaknesses. The ones that had big muscular legs lacked when it came to bars (not saying this is true with everyone), the ones like my daughter were way better on bars than vault. Time, growth and learning to work with what you've got is the key. My DD still struggles with really running hard so she's always lacking the power. She might figure it out one of these days but I'm not convinced at this point, after this long, it'll ever happen!