Why We Stand Between the Bars During Tap Swings

Nine years ago I read this blogpost (I think written by either Jason Mortimer or Troy Wright):

https://thegymcoach.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/girls-peeling-off-the-bar-on-a-tap-swing/

And started standing between the bars for compulsory tap swings. I thought it was a good article. Some interesting comments as well.

Looks like the code was updated several years ago as well for the current cycle so that on bars, coaches can stand in there, "just in case", without incurring a deduction:

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2012/11/safety-spotting-on-bars/

Bar peels happen infrequently enough that’s it’s easy to grow complacent, thinking it won’t happen on your watch. And then when they do occur, it sometimes doesn’t result in injury. However, they happen often enough and with severe enough injuries that coaches should consider the wisdom of standing between the bars as often as possible, “just in case”.

Our girls rarely peel. And yet at a recent meet last month, Coach Arielle caught one of her level 4 kids during warm-ups (keeping her from landing on her head) who peeled coming off a massive backhip circle underswing; and the same day, caught an excel silver kid who peeled off during warm-ups on her counterswing. If Coach Arielle hadn’t taken the issue seriously and elected to be there, those two athletes of ours could have injured themselves anywhere from slight to severe.

Obviously cover safety falls and rolls with your gymnasts; and periodically revisit and review and practice how to fall. Tap swings are tough because of the unpredictability in forces at work upon the moment of peel. Teach them to protect the neck/head; protect the limbs. Obviously, teach them how to tap swing with amplitude and also how to avoid the likelihood of peeling off the bar in the back of the swing.

Where children’s lives are at stake, don’t give into complacency, thinking it will not happen on your watch.

A save by Jason Mortimer:

https://youtu.be/19EH5HQsR14

https://www.facebook.com/TroyWright120/posts/10156572828094988

Another save by Jason Ross:

https://youtu.be/76w7opD02Tk

Apologies for freebooting videos off the 'net without proper credit and source attributions.

Please share your experiences and perspective with us and the community.

-Coach Michael

Sunday Funnies

Source

Level 4 dismount spotting method

Old footage from 2011, Colorado Aerials- One method of spotting the level 4 dismount, if needed:

Spotted Tsuk Drill

I won't be spotting them like this that often; but I wanted to try and give Marissa a sense of what it's like. Once they've done enough progressions and get their timers stronger, it should be less of me and more of them, so that anyone could stand in there and spot 'em- easy! Or better yet, no spot. Unfortunately there's not enough space here for them to generate much of a run.

Spotting Method for Pre-Team Chin Ups

  I learned this spotting method from Michael Manzanet at BGS, for spotting chin-ups/pull-ups.
Open hand squeezed between the legs by the gymnast. It helps the gymnast maintain form (like squeezing a beanbag); and the gymnast only gets an assist if she needs it by squeezing the spotter's hand.

This was just a quick take (and the coach in the video is new to this.  The spotter does not grab the gymnast.  The gymnast "grabs" the spotter's hand).  The gymnast can also squeeze with the feet, too, instead of the knees.

Of course all gymnasts want to grow tall!

5-9-2015

A favorite spotting technique: Encouraging the gymnast to grow tall by pushing her toes up to the ceiling, against your hand. If she doesn't push tall, she doesn't feel the pressure of your hand spotting her.

As demonstrated by California Sports Center's Christopher Brown:

Sunday Funnies

International Gymnast August 1986

Spotting Handstand Walks

Wheel barrel walks with emphasis on maintaining shape is great conditioning.

I generally prefer not to have team kids do handstand walks if they can't hold solid handstands; or shoulder/thigh touch with good weight transferring against a wall, while maintaining shape. Still, handstand-walking once in a while is good fun and shoulder-strengthening for the kids.

One problem for strength benefits of course, is that beginners can't stay up for very long because of lack of experience in maintaining balance.

When I do offer a spot, a great method to consider is to have the gymnast squeeze your hand/forearm. That way you're not just holding them up- they are still supporting their own body weight. You're only aiding their balance; and they only get the spot if they are squeezing my arm with their legs. Once they relax the adductors and let go of my arm, they lose the spot-assist.

The Drop

Not my preferred method of spotting clear hips, but this is one way that I don't see used often (I did it on this occasion, due to the height of the bar and my being too lazy to get a block to stand on).

Swing Big! posted on the importance of the drop, recently.  I agree that the drop is vitally important to a good clear hip.  With a proper drop, the clear hip should just fly up to handstand.

Zari's post lead me to TeamCentralGym's channel that I hadn't seen before.  I like the drill at the beginning of this video for clear hips:

It reminds me of a drill Wade Petersen showed me where the gymnast starts in front support, pushes her body off the bar and drops into a pike sit onto a block, with the bar pushed down toward the knees.

I know some coaches don't teach the clear hip as a pike but as a hollow; but sometimes getting gymnasts to think that way helps keep the hips further away from the bar (over-exaggerated corrections can sometimes get you to the end result).

I remember seeing a gymnast with beautiful clear hips, who was clearly using a piking technique over simply hollowing.  I wish I had bookmarked that, to show.

Gymneo's Spotting Jaegers

I have bookmarked Gymneo's old Youtube channel; but only recently realized they have a more current YouTube channel. 

I don't remember if I posted this video before (seen from their Facebook page); but it's the first English translation and example of the quality of their dvd content and production.

Gymneo in English

Now I'm tempted to invest in their product when the English version is completed:

Spotting techniques for the Jaeger. Watch a preview of the fourth video of our training on this uneven bars release move. (www.gymneo.tv)

Stage 1 : The spotting technique for the Jaeger salto stretched, completely taken apart.
Stage 2 : The full spotting at normal speed.
Stage 3 : Spotting the Jaeger in hard landing, in a competition situation.
Stage 4 : What do you do when the gymnast doesn’t catch the bar?
Stage 5 : The typical spotting for hard landings.

This excerpt marks the official inauguration of the start of the translation of our trainings and our site into English . . .

Post by Gymneo.

A Strapping Idea

Sometimes coaches use a belt harness when spotting certain skills on bars so that they don't get pulled off balance in the middle of spotting.  Since I never liked having one of these cut into my gut, and when we didn't have any such belt, a couple of years ago I began improvising straps that were strung together into a belt I could loop around my leg and hook onto the bar.




Here is Nick Blanton offering up some other ideas for the non-orthodox usage of straps:

Rebuilding from scratch

The place I'm at now is in a rebuilding phase.  The team was pretty depleted of all their upper level gymnasts after the gym had fired its head coach (and still does not have a head coach).  So I'm investing in a group of 4 Hot Shots; and then we have about 7 level 3s. 


We hit a headspring circuit about once a week where I have a spotted station; a place where they can do headstands to bridge; handstand push-ups in a pike; set of stomach rocks; and downhill into the pit where they can have a go, on their own.

Headsprings are a good place to start in developing front tumbling and connected front tumbling.


As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm modeling much of how I approach backhandsprings now with the progression method (and technique) that I picked up from Wade:


I wanted to blend Wade's slide ups for the purposes of long backhandsprings that don't arch early with them being able to actually get into the stretched handstand position (essentially borrowing in part from the octagon/pacman/boulder drills, but eliminating the jump).  I also wanted them to get used to staying tight when impacting onto their hands and shape-changing from stretched to hollow shape.  So this is what I experimented with:



Sheesh...I sound a bit grumpy and a real curmudgeon in that last clip.

The poor kids might have to put up with me for a few more years, yet.

Round Off & Backhandspring Progression

Vertical Push-Up Position

This is an old video that was once available for viewing on the British Gymnastics website:





I'm glad it's reposted to the British YouTube channel. 

Coach Wade once mentioned (might have been in a clinic) not to be overly concerned with kids piking down if the goal is to connect a ro bh when they are not physically strong enough to actually snap off their hands and get the chest up (where most coaches seem to place emphasis). 

I think the tendency of some coaches is to expect kids to connect a RO BH when they aren't physically positioned/ready for it.  What usually happens is a gymnast who has a weak round-off tries to go immediately into the backhandspring when the chest is still down and the feet are landing behind the hips.  The result is undercutting with knees buckling forward past the toes, head throwing back and chest out early.

Similarly, beginners are often made to do handstand snap-ups and told to keep the ears covered.  The problem is with lack of physical preparation, gymnasts will not be able to keep the ears covered AND get turned upright correctly.  The coach in this case is placing emphasis on desired outcome rather than adapting the technique to accommodate the reality of the gymnast's present physical strength.  I think the emphasis should be on "direction of arm-push" as it relates to where the gymnast's body is when getting off the hands.   Weak gymnasts who are told to keep the ears covered at all times end up pulling their arms off the mat/block/floor as they fall/pike down to their feet, resulting in throwing the chest out in order to also stand upright fast. 

 As crazy as it sounded to me at the time (which made me doubt if I heard him right), Wade seemed to encourage allowing kids to pike down in a round-off with the goal in mind of having the novice gymnast end up with the hips behind the feet and the chest staying in as long as possible (discourages throwing the head back and arching too much and too early rather than just stretching).

Coach Ben seems to be of a similar approach:

A reminder of Wade's method of teaching the round-off and backhandspring.

Wade tells me that he teaches both pike down and chest up for two different purposes.

He teaches chest down first (piked-hollow) to place the focus on the beginning phase of a round-off- the strong lunge, staying square long, 1/4 turn, hand placement/direction...

After that is "mastered", the next phase is then learning to push off the hands. 



Cartwheel step-ins with the 3s:

All other problems aside, what I liked here was that these level 3s were starting to delay their backhandspring until they felt off-balanced.  Our focus that day was to lengthen the backhandspring:

Let Your Handstands Grow

This is one of my favored ways to spot a handstand:

Nouvelle formation au sol: Le double salto

Yurchenko Spotted Flipping Drills

Caption This

Source: Cisco Pimentel from the album "Muscle Beach 1980's"

Trusting the Process

Eddie Umphrey:

Bail work. Being very hands-on and not rushing the process. Being patient to decrease the force and stress when catching in handstand while also building the athletes awareness and confidence.

Eddie is a stickler on shapes- you can see it simply on the way he has her jump back from the low bar to the high bar, having nothing at all to do with the skill they are working on.  He is reinforcing good habits at every opportunity.

Revisiting Clear Hips

 I began this blog on clear hips (very first post).  Today will be all about more clear hip drills (most probably nothing new that hasn't already been covered here).

Gymnastike's Technique Tuesday, posted September 9, 2009:

Coach Jason Jarrett demonstrates the stages of spotting you should go through when teaching a clear hip on uneven bars. Footage is from the Hands On Spotting session of the 2009 GAT Convention.

Same idea: