Coaching Corner
Learning to tumble is done by progression. You must learn and perfect the basic before you can perform the harder skills. Most people don’t learn a back handspring in a lesson. Some do but most don’t. I am asked all the time what does it take for my child to learn to tumble, so I am going to attempt to give you some to the things that will help you learn to tumble as soon as possible.
1. Learn a handstand. You can practice against a wall or a door. Make sure you are always watching your hands. The handstand is the basics for all tumbling. If you can do a good handstand you can do straight cartwheels and round offs.
2. Learn a good bridge up. The bridge up is the basic position in a back handspring. You need to learn a bridge up with your arms straight and your legs straight and together.
3. Learn a back bend kick over, tick tocks and back walkovers. We practice these at the gym in every class. A good place for your child to practice them at home is the couch or a bed. They can lay down bridge up and kick over (watching their hands) off the couch (Move the coffee tables!!! ) . Once they can kick over start tick tocks and back bend kick overs. Our goal is for them to be able to do a back walkover on the ground. (We teach them to do a kick over on a mat with their feet elevated, it is easier to kick over with their feet elevated.) Your child needs to gradually work their way down from the couch to some pillows to be on the floor as soon as possible.
4. Learn a round off with your arms up and landing in a up right position. We will teach them to round off shoot back on a mat while we are teaching them to round off back handspring. The perfect round off actually lands in a leaning back position so you can go straight back into your back handspring. We also want you to land your round off with as little bend in the knees as possible. This will help you develop power when you tumble. (The bigger you sit the slower you will tumble)
5. It is safe for your child to work round offs, bridge ups and kick overs at home this will greatly increase their learning time. Please do not let them work back handsprings and round off back handsprings at home until they work them by themselves at lease 4 days in a row at the gym.
Your child’s safety is our greatest concern. I have 30 years of expertise of knowing when your child is ready to do things by themselves. Please help me keep them as safe as possible, by letting me tell them when they can perform the skill by themselves at home or somewhere else.
I am going to answer some questions that I am asked all the time.
1. Do I need one, two, or three days a week to get my back hand spring?
Answer: One time a week is just four times a month. It is very hard for anyone to learn a back handspring very fast coming one time a week. Some kids can learn coming one time a week but many can’t. I suggest at least 2 times a week. Learn what you want to get and then you can step down to one time a week to maintain your skills.
2. Do I need private lessons?
Answer: It is good to have a coach all to yourselves to correct some technique that you are doing wrong. It is also good to help some children who don’t work well in a class environment. I suggest private lessons to some kids who can not break a bad habit or who want to work on a specific skill, but learning is repetition. You must spend the time in the gym to get better. If you think just a private once a week without any other practice will get you better it usually will not. I suggest classes and privates. Privates are to fix any problems and classes are to work on the repetition it takes to perfect the skill.
3. Strength work? What do I need to do?
Answer: Being strong helps you from being injured. You need to do 3 sets of 30 push ups, and 3 sets of 30 jackknives every day. You also need to do 20 toe touches and 3 sets of 10 popcorn toe touches ever day. Ten back bend kick overs and ten tick tocks are also something you can do to get you strong enough to get your back handsprings. I get my kids to do strength work for popsicles. I have a 6 year old that will do 100 pushups for a popsicle.
4. How do I make my jumps better?
Answer: See strength work above(#3) because this will help you get strong enough to make your jumps good. We will correct anything they are doing technically in practice. Most people need more flexibility and strength work. Make sure they work on their splits holding them for 90 seconds each 5 times a day (right, left, and middle). They also need to sit in a straddle and put their head on the ground. These and other stretches we do in class will help them get the flexibility it takes to get better on their jumps. I tell kids to stretch while doing homework. Sometimes you need to be creative when trying to find the time to stretch and do strength work.
Learning to tumble is done by progression. You must learn and perfect the basic before you can perform the harder skills. Most people don’t learn a back handspring in a lesson. Some do but most don’t. I am asked all the time what does it take for my child to learn to tumble, so I am going to attempt to give you some to the things that will help you learn to tumble as soon as possible.
1. Learn a handstand. You can practice against a wall or a door. Make sure you are always watching your hands. The handstand is the basics for all tumbling. If you can do a good handstand you can do straight cartwheels and round offs.
2. Learn a good bridge up. The bridge up is the basic position in a back handspring. You need to learn a bridge up with your arms straight and your legs straight and together.
3. Learn a back bend kick over, tick tocks and back walkovers. We practice these at the gym in every class. A good place for your child to practice them at home is the couch or a bed. They can lay down bridge up and kick over (watching their hands) off the couch (Move the coffee tables!!! ) . Once they can kick over start tick tocks and back bend kick overs. Our goal is for them to be able to do a back walkover on the ground. (We teach them to do a kick over on a mat with their feet elevated, it is easier to kick over with their feet elevated.) Your child needs to gradually work their way down from the couch to some pillows to be on the floor as soon as possible.
4. Learn a round off with your arms up and landing in a up right position. We will teach them to round off shoot back on a mat while we are teaching them to round off back handspring. The perfect round off actually lands in a leaning back position so you can go straight back into your back handspring. We also want you to land your round off with as little bend in the knees as possible. This will help you develop power when you tumble. (The bigger you sit the slower you will tumble)
5. It is safe for your child to work round offs, bridge ups and kick overs at home this will greatly increase their learning time. Please do not let them work back handsprings and round off back handsprings at home until they work them by themselves at lease 4 days in a row at the gym.
Your child’s safety is our greatest concern. I have 30 years of expertise of knowing when your child is ready to do things by themselves. Please help me keep them as safe as possible, by letting me tell them when they can perform the skill by themselves at home or somewhere else.
I am going to answer some questions that I am asked all the time.
1. Do I need one, two, or three days a week to get my back hand spring?
Answer: One time a week is just four times a month. It is very hard for anyone to learn a back handspring very fast coming one time a week. Some kids can learn coming one time a week but many can’t. I suggest at least 2 times a week. Learn what you want to get and then you can step down to one time a week to maintain your skills.
2. Do I need private lessons?
Answer: It is good to have a coach all to yourselves to correct some technique that you are doing wrong. It is also good to help some children who don’t work well in a class environment. I suggest private lessons to some kids who can not break a bad habit or who want to work on a specific skill, but learning is repetition. You must spend the time in the gym to get better. If you think just a private once a week without any other practice will get you better it usually will not. I suggest classes and privates. Privates are to fix any problems and classes are to work on the repetition it takes to perfect the skill.
3. Strength work? What do I need to do?
Answer: Being strong helps you from being injured. You need to do 3 sets of 30 push ups, and 3 sets of 30 jackknives every day. You also need to do 20 toe touches and 3 sets of 10 popcorn toe touches ever day. Ten back bend kick overs and ten tick tocks are also something you can do to get you strong enough to get your back handsprings. I get my kids to do strength work for popsicles. I have a 6 year old that will do 100 pushups for a popsicle.
4. How do I make my jumps better?
Answer: See strength work above(#3) because this will help you get strong enough to make your jumps good. We will correct anything they are doing technically in practice. Most people need more flexibility and strength work. Make sure they work on their splits holding them for 90 seconds each 5 times a day (right, left, and middle). They also need to sit in a straddle and put their head on the ground. These and other stretches we do in class will help them get the flexibility it takes to get better on their jumps. I tell kids to stretch while doing homework. Sometimes you need to be creative when trying to find the time to stretch and do strength work.