The gymnast should twist right if his right hand touches the vault first, and twist left if his left hand touches first. It's usually a good idea to attempt most of the vaulting repetitions on soft surfaces to reduce the chance of injuries.
To perform Kasamatsu vaults, the gymnasts do not execute a complete round-off over the table. Instead, they should repulse the table sideways and continue twisting. Observe in this slow motion example how the gymnast leaves the table sideways. By the time he stands up vertically, he is already facing away from the table. For a regular Kasamatsu, or a Kasamatsu full, this amount of twist will suffice to complete the skill. At this point, the gymnast should have accomplished at least another quarter twist for a Kasamatsu double-full. To measure his ability to land the skill safely on a regulation mat, this gymnast is training the Kasamatsu full on a resi mat placed higher than the competition requirements.
Successful vaults come from mastering certain vaulting components along with personal power. These components are:
To perform this combination the athlete must have mastered tumbling double fulls, beam back handspring to two feet landings, and progressively learn to connect the back handsprings to back tucks, and layouts to full twist dismounts. The gymnast must also develop an increased in speed and power while practicing those combinations. Notice how the gymnast punches the back handspring to the double full dismount with one foot slightly in front of the other.
To reach this level of front dismounts, as with any other gymnastics activity, the gymnast must progress step by step from the easiest basic skills to the most difficult ones. In the case of front dismounts, they must develop increasing confidence and balance to be able to run across the beam and punch the dismount takeoff. Gymnasts must also get used to punching with one foot in front of the other, and first learn each dismount into a pit until the skill can be performed safely and consistently.
Once a gymnast has mastered a fair layout gainer, they can progress to a gainer full. Gymnasts should start practicing this skill from an elevated surface to a loose foam pit. The gymnast must focus on creating a good rotation during the layout. To create the desired rotation, the gymnast must swing up strongly with the free leg.
The gymnast demonstrating this combination bails over with a little arch to begin the inside endo, but then shows a good compression, and on the swing up and comes out of the skill with the correct hip roll-out action. On the pirouette to mixed grip he again has a slight arch that could be refined to a straighter position and keeps his head slightly out to maintain visual contact with the rail during his pirouette which helps him to regrasp the bar more consistently.
In general, one of the most common learning mistakes of either straddle or inside endo to full pirouette is to swing down crooked after the pirouette. The reason for this mistake is an excess of support transfer to the post arm. The gymnasts shift their weight like they were going to perform the regular front pirouette that they have learned before, and that really requires a support transfer beyond the vertical of the post arm to finish square in a different bar position. The full pirouette ends with the hand re-grasping the bar in the same area that the skill begins so the weight support transfer to let go of the hand must be minimum and momentary, and must not go beyond the vertical like this correct example shows. Still 2 - Notice how the hand re-grasps the bar in the same area that it let go of the rail. In this far view example the gymnast could pull stronger to support to flow without pause and pirouette straighter. In this other example the endo to pirouette should flow without a pause in between. Last clip - The combination flows much better here.
As mentioned before for the endo to mixed grip full pirouette combination, some of the gymnasts' main goals are to clear the rail, to flow from the endo to the pirouette without a large pause, and to swing down square. Notice how the gymnast keeps his eyes on the bar during the full pirouette.
