The Contract

Remi is in the level 6/7/8 optional group.  Over the last year, she's been hamstrung by a couple of injuries, including time out from knee surgery.  That sidelined her from competing out of level 6 (her current crop of level 7 teammates are now up-training level 8 skills).  She's been doing well at playing catch-up in some areas; but on bars, she's been struggling.

So yesterday she showed me that she can straddle cast handstand.  That was good enough for me to spot her on giants, which she has been putting off for at least a couple of weeks now, since I started bugging her about stepping it up.

Of all the gymnasts in the gym, I think she has the most gorgeous, natural tap swings on bars.  2 years ago, I had high hopes of her owning a great flyaway and great giant swings.  She has the natural attributes, but lacks the confidence at the moment.

Bars was our last rotation Tuesday night.  I tried to get her to do her giants with a spot, but she wore down the clock.  She said she promised to do them on Friday and I shot back, "I want that in writing!"

Remi, ever with the wry sense of humor, between the end of bars rotation and during some brief strength training before the end of workout, somehow finds the time to grab pen and paper and jot out a "binding" contract.  I was preoccupied with situating the girls to line up over at floor for one more strength exercise when Remi shoved the paper in my face and told me to "sign here."  I glanced at it and smirked; scribbled very quickly without reading it since my mind was on getting the girls over to floor.  Remi got Reanna to sign as a witness, then handed me the paper.  I read it when I got home and it gave me a good chuckle.

She came to practice tonight and bars was our first rotation.  She reminded me that it wasn't Friday.  But I told her she's just going to be scared again on Friday so why put off confronting until then what she can confront now.  I also played her and Amanda off one another (Amanda was diagnosed with scoliosis and has not attempted her giants for about as long as Remi; last year she didn't train to compete but has recently shown some interest in doing so for next season).  In the end, 10 minutes past our bar rotation, Remi put off doing her giant swings; and from Amanda, I salvaged at least getting her to do a few cast handstands into layout flyaways- something she's not done since she stopped trying giants (Time to "Amanda up", as I tell her).

So as you readers are my witness, in 2 days come heck or high water, Remi will go for her giants this Friday (first rotation:  Bars).  How do I know this?  'Cause I have a signed document from her, a binding pact, pledging that she will put on her big girl pants on Friday and come to the edge....(she loves this poem):

“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t.  We’re afraid.”
“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t.  We will fall.”
“Come to the edge.”
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.

-Alternate version of poem by Christopher Logue (popularly attributed to Guilliaume Apollinaire)

In two days...Remi will come to the edge...and I will push her out of the nest; and she will experience the joys of flying around the bar.

Once again, how do I know this?

 Because I have this in writing, making this a done deal.  It's official.  More solid than one of Remi's formal handshakes.  This contract may not be legally binding; but it is morally binding.







*UPDATE 6/01/2012*  Remi fulfilled the terms of her contract and went for her giants today. Here's her first turn:

Clear Hip Drills

There are a number of tutorials out there on the clear hip.  Among the ones that I feel are most useful to our girls (methods they can employ on their own without being spotted):

In addition to the drop to one's back shown at the end of that video, I also like this one (introduced to me by Wade and which I've not seen before):

Another drill which Kort also uses and with which the girls are familiar with, is to kick up to handstand and drop aggressively to the knees, snapping off the hands to emphasize the push-down on the bars and open shoulder girdle (I'll try and capture a clip and add it here, later).  A somewhat similar idea at 1:33.

Jumping from a block (or blocks) might also help give the gymnast a sense of the drop when there is still fear and uncertainty in how to do a "controlled" drop from the handstand:

A common problem with many gymnasts when they first start practicing clear hips is in shifting their wrists too late:

Borrowing the planche-arch-snap sometimes seen in stalders and late toe-on drills and applying them to the drop for the clear hip might also be of benefit; it's an added layer of complexity, but can generate potential for more power on the drop phase, if mastered.

 The following is one of the drills the girls should return back to as one of the floor bar stations; especially when they are working on clear hips, toe-ons, and inside/outside stalders (and even for bails into high bar to low bar transitions):

I like the wall (demonstrated here for castaway kip by Holly July 20, 2011):

But it takes some work to set up a wall like this and we don't always have the luxury of an extra special bar station.

One of the main drills that I feel is the most self-teaching is to work 3 clear hips in a row, with each getting progressively higher (low-medium-high/handstand) until all 3 or more clear hips can be done from handstand to handstand.

It's clear, it's free, and it's hip...

 The clear hip (also known as a "free hip") to handstand still eludes a number of the girls.  The key to unlocking its mysteries is in the drop.  Most of the girls who competed 7 this past season still control the drop too much, with the shoulder girdle collapsed and shoulder angle closed and being too close to over the bar (as opposed to being behind it); and the upper thighs touching on the front side of the bar.  If the thighs touch at all, it should be the lower thighs brushing on the backside of the bar.  Which is why I encourage the girls to think of pushing down and piking their lower thighs/knees toward the bar (and keeping the chest hollow rather than sunken in).

Examine the difference in positions from these motion captures:

 

In the photo above, there is not enough drop happening and The Grabe ends up having to muscle it on the 2nd phase of the skill.

 

The Shaz understands she needs to push the bar down toward her lower thighs; but she has a bad habit of throwing her head back (she does this on stalders as well; instead of the head, she should drive the shoulders back and keep the head neutral). Neither clear hip achieves a handstand. If the correct drop is present, it should fly up to the handstand effortlessly with the right timing on the opening.

Contrast the position of the first two photos with these two level 8 gymnasts:

Sloppy leg form aside, Jado achieves a handstand due to the position in her drop.

 This one is good:

Here is a clip for further comparison on the necessary success of the drop:

C-Sper ends up a tad shy of hitting the handstand in the actual clip; but that's due to a timing issue on the opening phase and not a fault in the quality of her drop.  (And if I were to be picky- which we all know judges to be- she loses her hollow as she opens- not by much, but...gotta be picky).

Hope this helps clarify the clear hip.