Coaches Vault- Front handsprings that twist

[CoachTodd]

I'm just really curious about something after watching some kids do their front handspring full vault. I guess it also applies to 1/2 on 1/2 off, 1/2 on 1/1 off and so on.

Is this actually a useful progression? I originally thought it would be good for twisting the front handspring front but now I'm not so sure. It seems like the gymnast has to kill their rotation too much to stick the vault. I guess I kind of see it like a round off dismount for beam. If you don't block, you get a deduction. If you do block, you can't stick the landing.

Any thoughts?

 

[gymdog]

I don't see it as a drill or progression for front front twisting really (double front 1/2 out or so off springboard maybe). Most girls do it as an alternate vault. I have seen a couple handspring double fulls in NCAA or level 10, but being able to fully complete it, land well is unusual.

But I mean, I can flip vaults (well, could) and I know I can't do a handspring double full. Never even tried a handspring full, which I expect I could attempt but not really do that well.

 

[iwannacoach]

I think that a handspring full has no use other than as a destination skill or an incremental step to a handspring 1-1/2 or 2/1 twist. I had a kid with a 2/1 and she stuck it all the time, but to do that she had to "soft block" and let her feet trail as she left the vault. I think she was able to do this vault because she had much narrower hips than most gymnasts, but fantastic core strength. This enabled her to decrease her twisting radius much more than a girl with normal width hips. If you do choose to coach it, you'll have to get rid of the normal "drop an arm" method of initiating the twist, because it will increase the handspring roation and take too much time in the air before the twist actually starts.
I don't like to define a child's ability to learn any skill, but this is a skill you should explore only for "potential". If a particular kid shows promise, pursue it to see if they make progress on the twist, then worry about killing the handspring rotation so they can land it. One draw back to this skill is you have to work on such a lazy block and kill the heel drive when you train it, and probably won't be able to train any other "straight to hands entry" vault skills in the same training cycle.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

they both have distinct techniques. they don't lend themselves to each other. for many of the reasons described above by iwannacoach.

 

[CoachTodd]

I don't teach handspring fulls for the very reasons listed by iwannacoach. I'm a bit partial to powerful vaults that flip.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

If I were to teach twisting handsprings, I'd teach them not as a progression from a handspring but as a progression from a Yama****a. With this in mind, you don't necessarily need a "soft" block -- you can still block in such a way as to get decent height, you just have to kill your rotation.

I still prefer to avoid these vaults, though. So much easier to get good value with a postflight salto.