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NOTE:
This class is for a child over 6 years
of age who has at least a cartwheel, and attends back handspring class every week for 6 months, she will have a back
handspring on the wedge mat. You can't miss class!
ADDITIONAL
NOTE: Although gymnastics does improve overall health in many ways, a severely obese child should not be enrolled in gymnastics.
Only children at a safe weight, should be enrolled. Check with your doctor if you are uncertain.
Gymnastics improves
flexibility, which is wonderful for a child's developing skeletal structure. However, if a child is overweight, does
gymnastics, there can be a risk of permanently damaging the joints, and at greater risk for other injury. Gymnastics
is a weight-bearing exercise. Overweight children should participate in other non-weight bearing activities, such as
swimming, to achieve a proper weight before attempting gymnastics.
After years of coaching gymnastics,
I feel confident enough to share many thoughts, opinions and experiences that you as a parent, or you as a student may not
have considered.
I have the art of teaching a simple back handspring down to a very exact, precise, and
organized process that I will now try to convey to you. I sincerely hope that parents will offer patience, support and
encouragement, and that our students will be patient with themselves.
Tumbling has become more and more important to the sport of cheerleading. These
days some of the most difficult gymnastics skills have become a requirement for squads to compete well. Many of the
ADVANCED tumblers you see either in the gym, or at the cheerleading competitions, have most likely been attending regular
gymnastics classes weekly, for several years. Attending a gymnastics program year round, (at least 50 weeks out the
year), is crucial to learning the more difficult skills you see being done, or even a simple back handspring.
Every year we get a flock of young girls who come into the gym in hopes of getting that back handspring, a MONTH BEFORE
CHEEREADING TRYOUTS! Enrolling in a class for one month out of a year, especially the month before an important tryout,
is not an ideal learning situation. It takes most girls several months to complete the first stage of learning, which
is to learn a back handspring by yourself on the wedge mat. Not by yourself once, or every other time, but every single
time you attempt it. If you are out of shape, it takes about 3 months to get in proper shape to try out for cheerleading.
If you are out of shape, trying to get into shape at the last minute will prevent you from doing your very best at tryouts,
as your body will not have recovered completely yet from the increase in physical activity.
Parents puzzle me who fail to exercise patience through
the learning process of gymnastics. It is the quiet support a parent lends that sometimes makes all the difference,
no matter how many months it takes. If a girl wants to learn a back handspring, and IF she is willing to attend classes
regularly and work hard, I guarantee that this goal will be reached. I have never seen a girl work hard, and come regularly
who has not reached this goal. I have seen some of the weakest, most uncoordinated girls learn a back handspring and
more. Patience is MANDATORY on both the part of the student and parent. People give up on themselves too quickly,
and they get discouraged if they do not see instant results. Consistent training is the key to success.
Our gymnastics team girls throw about 50+ back handsprings per week on average, in addition to much more.
That’s approximately 2500+ back handsprings - that’s right TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED back handsprings EACH YEAR!
Each girl did not magically show up with already having the back handspring. We taught them all right here in this gym,
with the same process just as we do everyone. So to compare the student who comes an hour (or and hour and a half,)
once a week, for one month and then quits, to our average team child, who spends hours in the gym each week and comes year
round, then NO WONDER there is a BIG difference in ability. It is then easy to see why the gymnastics team has such
advanced tumblers. It is no wonder why some of our students starting out, get so impatient and discouraged. Some
of you see the team tumbling, and have absolutely no idea how many hours, days, weeks, months and years it took these awesome
tumblers to learn what they know. THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS. You can’t really say “I’ve been coming
to the gym for years,” if all you have done is come a couple of months out of each year. It really doesn’t
produce results to come spontaneously. Every time you come back, is like starting over. No one is so awesome that
they can reach their highest potential in gymnastics, without consistent training and discipline to grow. Even the most gifted,
self-taught athlete needs training & discipline to grow!
Some students have shown up at the first back handspring class,
and have actually learned how to do one their very first day, having never done it before. This is not common,
and it is only because this type of student is extremely gifted, but also strong enough, and flexible enough - just naturally.
Confidence has a lot to do with this as well. Some students are fearless, while others have no confidence at first.
In order to learn a back handspring, most people do not walk in automatically strong and flexible enough. Until a student
learns it, we have to find exercises, and stretches that are equivalent to what our advanced tumblers experience physically
when they practice a great deal of tumbling. This will prepare your body for what is to come. I have seen hundreds
of girls come in with no more than a cartwheel, and stuck with it until they were among some of the finest, most advanced
tumblers in the gym. I have seen all ages, weights and heights of girls; learn to excel in the gym. On the other
hand, the majority of what I see are girls who only dedicate themselves to this activity one month before cheerleading tryouts,
and expect a miracle. They don’t give it enough time. They look for short cuts, and ways around the hard
work. They give up too easy and drop out.
I challenge anyone who
does not have a back handspring, to stick to the program for at least 6 months. If you attend our program regularly
for 6 consecutive months, and you still do not have a back handspring by yourself on the wedge mat, we will give you free
classes until you get your back handspring on the wedge mat. This is not for the student who has come off and on, sporadically
& occasionally for several years. It doesn’t even matter if you have had private instruction. If you
do not come year round, you are not going to see the results you want. You will basically be bored to death because
you will be learning, and re-learning everything again and again, instead of constantly building on what you know.
Here is the art of learning how to tumble.
The first stage is a humdinger. Learning that back handspring by yourself on the wedge takes the longest. Most
everybody can do it in 6 months or less. After you graduate from stage one, the remaining stages come faster and faster
all the time, sometimes flying through three stages in a month, provided that you don’t miss practice often, OR abuse
your abilities, like: getting hurt by doing something you aren’t ready for outside the gym.
Stage one: You will learn a back handspring on a wedge mat by yourself.
Stage two: You will learn a back handspring
directly out of round off on the squish mat
Stage three: You will learn
a round off back handspring on the floor.
Stage four: You will learn
a standing back handspring on the floor.
Stage five: You will learn
to connect 2 back handsprings on a wedge, and then the squish mat
Stage six: You will learn
to connect a round off and two back handsprings on the floor.
Stage seven: You will learn
back tucks; standing, out of a round off and round off, back handspring.
Stage eight: You will learn
how to consistently throw round off 3 back handsprings on floor. (Every time, not just some of the time).
Stage nine: After you have
had your round off back handspring, back tuck by yourself on for at least a month, and you can do three back handsprings on
floor consistently, THEN you will be ready for to move on to stage 10
Stage 10: While learning the back tuck on floor, you work the layout off stacked mats
(By now, most students have learned a standing back tuck, or are learning it.)
Stage 11: When ready to throw
the layout on floor, you learn the half and then full twist with a spotter or in the twisting belt.
Stage 12: Students sometimes throw a full with a spotter or in the twisting belt for anywhere
from a month to a year before attempting it on alone.
Beyond the
full, there are other very fun skills to learn, such as Arabians, front tumbling and more. If you read the above list and
think “I am NEVER going to be able to do any of that,” then you need to come watch our advanced, novice or team
classes, when girls who started with nothing but a cartwheel are doing exciting skills. Ask any one of the girls in
the advanced, nocice or team class if they remember learning their back handspring on the wedge mat just like you are trying
to do now. Ask them how many months it took them to get it, while coming to class every week.
What
about aerials? Learning an aerial (a cartwheel with no hands). We usually don’t work them much until a student
has a back handspring on floor.
Students, who
try to defy the order of the stages of learning listed above, will experience instability, uncertainty, sudden crashes, loss
of confidence, will regress, and will ultimately get discouraged and drop out. This is the proper order followed and
enforced by hundreds of successful gyms. There is no “fly by night” learning here. Everything is very
systematic, very cut & dry, and very simple! The process is step by step, and the speed of your learning depends
on your motivation, and dedication. We can help you learn anything you want to learn, and all that is required of you
is your regular attendance!
Once again, if your daughter doesn’t have a back handspring on the wedge mat by herself in 6 consecutive months
of regular attendance, we will happily give you free classes until you get your back handspring on the wedge mat.
The
most advanced tumbler I have ever taught out of all my years of coaching learned a back handspring, and 4 years later, was
the most advanced tumbler I have ever had. She trained consistently year round.
“What is the most miraculous thing you have ever seen while
coaching gymnastics?” The most miraculous thing I have
truly ever seen, have been the girls that come in the gym, and can’t even do a bridge, or barely a cartwheel, and they
walk out a year later doing round off back handsprings all over the place. I have learned to “never say never.”
Once again, the requirements of a back handspring are strength, flexibility, endurance, and above all consistent attendance,
effort, and PATIENCE.
Finally, I have an axe I would like to grind with any parent who
says the following. “Well you did it on that wedge thing, now go right now and do it on the floor.” Please don’t
be fooled into thinking that the wedge mat and the floor are one in the same! The wedge is a huge incline, minimizing
greatly the force of gravity. Girls don’t learn a standing back handspring on floor if you will notice, until STAGE
4. It is easier to do a round off, back handspring on the squish mats, and even the floor before they learn to “just
do a standing one.”
Leave the coaching to
me! Be patient and you will not regret it! Even though something may not appear to make sense at the time, TRUST
ME; IT WILL MAKE SENSE LATER! Children are reluctant to believe parents know anything, especially about the dynamics
and complexities of gymnastics. Even if you know a lot about it, your coaching tips will stimulate a possible rebellion,
or even a loss of interest, while mine will demand performance & discipline. Children even as old as high school
age, want parents to be shocked, amazed, astounded, and spell bound, not a question or criticism of their every move.
They don’t need a disappointed looking parent, while they proceed through a normal process of gaining and losing skills.
Hey, my class is not easy! I have also learned it never works to criticize them unless you can show them that you can
do it too, and do it correctly. They won’t buy any advice from anyone but a drill sergeant coach who simply demands
it of them. Beyond that, they just need a “good job,” from a parent, or a look of sheer amazement once in
a while. Acting like you know nothing about it, and being impressed that they do, always makes them want to learn it
more. Offering encouragement, and holding back on the coaching is always the best suggestion I can offer to parents,
no matter what the personality and relationship of the child or parent.
I teach back handsprings in such a way, as to get the student to learn it in the
least amount of time possible, with no injury, and the least amount of boredom. To question my techniques, is to question
years of studying the sport, and a great deal of hard work. I have taught literally hundreds of girls how to do a back
handspring. Instead of having my student’s throw a million back handsprings each class, I will have them throw
enough to get the feel for it, while concentrating heavily on exercises that will give them the strength & flexibility
to accomplish the skill successfully. Don’t get me wrong, they need to do a million of them, just not a million
in each class. They won’t gain the strength as quickly throwing a million of them every class, as they will, doing
the strength training to enable and prepare their bodies to do it. Plus throwing a million of them in a class will be
boring. Zzzzzzzzz, over time they will begin to hate doing it, if we overkill something. Trust me folks, in reality,
it simply takes time. Give me 6 months minimum to teach someone a back handspring. Even the weakest, most uncoordinated
child can usually learn it easy with 6 consecutive months of hard work. I hope I have shed light on some aspects of
learning that will help you to understand the slow and tedious process of gymnastics better.
Consistency
and PATIENCE is the key to success!
Happy training
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