Sometimes gymnasts that are beginning to learn Kasamatsu or Tsukahara type vaults may get confused and go for a landing on the knees instead of the feet. This is a serious mistake that can cause a knee injury on a hard surface. Before the gymnasts try on a regular vaulting surface or even on resi mats over the pit, they must demonstrate a consistent ability to land feet first in loose foam.
"Throwing the head out" is a very common mistake that does not add any technical or presentational value to this skill.
A short first flying phase from feet to hands makes it difficult to create an effective second flying phase from hands to feet. Short undercut first flying phases cause the hands to touch the floor with poor body angles to make a quick arms repulsion into a powerful turn over to the feet. Before bad technical habits get too engrained it is wise to spend time reviewing basic drills. Like this one and many others. / Coaches must train their eyes to catch all kinds of big or small mistakes. In these undercut examples the gymnast shows more turn over power. He is still missing a proper hands placement to block and repulse the floor effectively. Even minor mistakes deserve time and effort to be corrected. Every skill must be refined to the maximum. /Deep squats slow down and diminish the explosive power to begin the back handsprings. Though there are slight personal differences in general the bend in the knees must not even reach a 90 degree angle. /Deep squats and undercuts together weaken the back handspring immensely. Serious basic drill reviews must be a priority. Notice that there is not a second flying phase due to the lack of blocking and arms repulsion.
On the next few clips a different gymnast offers examples of some of those basic back handspring mistakes already mentioned. /Undercut with poor blocking repulsion and pike turn over. /A much longer and nice back handspring example with good hands to feet turn over. /Second flying phase example with an incorrect pike turnover. /Much better hollow body turnover /Deep squat with very poor blocking and arms repulsion. /Still 3/ Deep squats slow down and weaken the jumping power. /Though it looks somewhat better still the power damaging mistakes must be adressed and corrected. /Deep squat and undercut. A Much better slight bent knees power jump and a longer handspring. / Another undercut example. / Deep squat and no arms block or quick repulsion. /Still1/ Squat. Still2/ the body is to far pass the vertical to block off the floor with effective arms repulsion and hollow turn over. Still/ Due to technical mistakes the legs are coming down but the body has not moved up for effective follow up connections tumbling. /Check this much better second flying phase turn over. Still 1/ Preparation. Still2/ Tight arch first flying phase. Still 3/ Deep hollow second flying phase.
When spotting new gymnasts on backhandsprings we must keep our head further back away from them to avoid getting hit if they open the arms too much. The gymnast may get used to keeping the arms closer by practicing swing drills and some spotted standing backhandsprings without swinging the arms.
Swinging both arms tilted to one side and twisting the body on that direction as if the gymnasts were trying to look over their shoulder to see where their body is going instead of keeping it square is another common back handspring mistake. Barrel back handsprings may help the gymnasts to work out the problem emphasizing to feel their backs landing on the barrell square and without turning the head sideways. / Also training back handspring set ups with a spot can help to solve the problem. /Double bouncing forward to begin the back handspring does not add any significant power. It complicates the skill and detracts the gymnasts mind from focusing on the correct body motions to accomplish the skill. In this slow motion replay notice several other mistakes such as elbows bent when the arms swing and when the hands touch floor and of course there was no blocking and arms repulsion. /Coaches must always search for and apply a variety of drills to enrich the gymnasts learning process increase their growing body awareness and their skills' execution mastery.
