Women Vault question-is yurchenko always better choice?

[GymBeeMom]

Is the yurchenko considered the most difficult and most desirable vault at the highest levels of gymnastics? It seems that the tsuk is prettier (in my opinion) and FHS vaults have some pretty amazing levels of difficulty when you think of the power it takes to do it with the flipping elements. Our vault coach seems to put a premium on the yurchenko but is it always the best choice at the higher levels?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

It depends on the gymnast. Front entry vaults require a lot of power, but are not as dependant on strong technique. Yurchenkos require strong technique, but don't require nearly as much power. And tsuks are in between.

Which is best depends on the strengths of the gymnast. Generally, female gymnasts tend more towards yurchenkos (since they tend to have less power but cleaner technique), and front entry vaults work better for most male gymnasts (because they tend to have more power but not be as clean in their technique). But these are broad generalizations, and like any such generalization there are TONS of exceptions.

 

[JBS]

Our vault coach seems to put a premium on the yurchenko but is it always the best choice at the higher levels?

For girls...right now...yes...and I'm really into traditional forward entry vaults.

The Yurchenko is more technical...work it until you get it.

Hand fronts and kasamatsus are power vaults.

Twisting tsuks are junk...but necessary sometimes (yes...I consider a twisting tsuk and a kaz to be different vaults).

I work all gymnasts on at least two families of vaults. Yurchenko and kaz are my first choice...the trampoline work that is done for the after flight of a twisting yurchenko and a kaz are very similar...cruise turns.

 

[iwannacoach]

I like the tsukahara as an initial vault because it gives me an idea of what they can do when they leave the board facing the table. I get an idea from that trial whether I want to go further with developing the forward to the table family of vaults.

The Yurchenco drill work can continue during the tsuk development for thise kids who are able to keep their steps straight and show that a short run into a Yurchencko drill isn't going to things up.

As far as which seems better.......

I think if a kid has enough flexibility through their upper back and shoulders they'll get the biggest bang for their training buck with a Yurchencko...... if they have the patience to pay attention over a sustained training period.

 

[profmom]

The girls at my kids' gym almost all compete Yurchenkos, but rumor has it that the vault coach may start experimenting with Tsuks. I sure hope the rumors are right, because DD is very blocked on her Yurchenko right now, but I think she could get there if the pressure were off and she could just take however much time is necessary to get it back. The rationale as I understand it is that while the Tsuk may be a little easier to get as a simple tuck/pike/layout, once the Yurchenko technique is mastered, it's an easier vault for the girls to build up into twists. But this is all hearsay.

The boys do a bigger variety. DS's L8 and L9 teammates last season competed Yama****as, Tsuks, and I think at least one Yurchenko. Can't remember if there were any fronts beyond the Yamis. But I'm not yet all that good at identifying the variety of upper level vaults, since I only have one child training them! I just hope that if the plan is for my son's group to compete Yurchenkos when they are 9s, they start the preliminary drills really early, as the gym does with the girls. Scary Yurchenkos are scary!

 

[JBS]

Not really sure why so many girls teams are locked into only one family of vault. Our compulsory girls all compete a front handspring...work Yurchenko drills...and do tsuks into the pit.

We also do lots of trampoline...cody's for flipping...cruise turns for twisting...crash dive into ball out for great hand front drills.

 

[profmom]

DD's coach does do some work on Tsuks, but once they are optionals, it's almost all Yurchenkos all the time unless there's some kind of problem. It is kind of frustrating because DD, who has (what looks to my not-knowledgeable eyes to be) a lovely Tsuk timer and who did flipping Tsuks with a springboard into the pit while on summer vacation at a different gym feels ashamed to be doing what she sees as a remedial vault. She says that she "sucks at vault" because her coach backed her up to Tsuk timers until she quits this balking thing. But our upper level girls do very well on vault, so I just gotta trust that this will all work itself out eventually.

 

[GymBeeMom]

Tsuk is definitely undesirable at our gym but I like watching them.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

If NCAA required teams to have a variety of vaults, you would probably see more different vaults in JO. I don't think making the vault values lower would help (range of issues) but perhaps a small deduction for have more than three of the same vault in a team comp would encourage variety at the top end and filter down to JO. A small deduction would be enough to make a difference for the top teams but not hurt teams that struggle to put up six 10 start vaults in the first place.

 

[aerialriver]

All of ours do Yurchenko drills but seem to only flip Tsuk's. I think the coach maybe finds the Tsuk easier to teach/spot? I have only seen one girl ever flip a Yurchenko at our gym and it was a tuck. I have never seen a girl do a layout or twist. Kind of odd.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

JO does give a one tenth bonus for 10 vaults that are not yurchenko full. So there is a motive to work other families.

 

[LMV]

JO does give a one tenth bonus for 10 vaults that are not yurchenko full. So there is a motive to work other families.

This was one of my daughter's arguments (or perhaps justifications because she truly loved that vault and wanted to compete it) for competing a Tsuk layout full in her first season of L10. Her coach allowed this but also required her to continue training other entries as well.

 

[CoachTodd]

Sort answer to the OP NO. In women's Gymnastics, the highest value vault I know of (unless it's changed since I looked) is a front handspring / double front

 

[Sparky]

Our club regularly trains Tsuk, front HS, and Yurchenko entries. Most of our higher levels can do some form of all three - variety is the spice of life!