February 9, 2011
Once the gymnast have learned how to perform some basic jumps on floor and have a good understanding of how to land safely, they may also practice basic dismounts. In the tuck jump, emphasis is placed on bringing the knees up close to the chest. For a pike jump, the gymnast brings the legs up close to a horizontal line. The goal is to show a deep pike at peak height. The straddle jump dismount must emphasize hip turn-out so at peak height the front part of the legs are facing up toward the ceiling. We don't recommend half-turn or full turn jumps for novice gymnasts because they are hard to contact and land safely.
January 12, 2011
To begin the backhandspring the gymnast leans back off balance while slightly bending the legs and moving the trunk forward with a straight or hollow chest. From this position the gymnast can make a powerful jump backwards. Back handsprings have two important flying phases. From feet to hands then from the hands back to the feet. /Still 1/ Hollow Chest. /Still 2/ Trunk forward with body leaning back off balance. /Still 3/ Long arch first flying phase. /Still 4/ Short and deep hollow second flying phase.
January 12, 2011
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.
