Flyaway in a Day

I like the setup I used with the resi today, for Abby's half-hour private; call me crazy, but I think it'd be even more interesting if I stacked two resis. It would force the gymnast to have to ride the swing up and learn how to pitch it out. Like the mountain wall setup, the gymnast can then roll off backward. Would definitely try it if I had a pit under the bar; but even without one, spotted....I think it'd be ok with a spotter. It'd serve the same function as a slant wall. The gymnast's goal would be to land on her back on the top resi (unlikely without assistance- especially if the resi is setup far enough away for swinging with straight legs); or, land candlestick shape on the edge of the resi, roll off backward.

Of course, this is assuming they'd all do the drill correctly. I'm sure someone can find a way to splatter wrong; so I still have to think this through and realize possible outcomes from the one desired.

...one of the things I hate most is when the gymnast lets go early. I'd think having a "wall" there would "disincline" the gymnast of having this problem, and she'd aim to land her back on top of the two resis instead of sailing feet first into the resi wall.

New Toys for the Gym!

Always fun to get new things to play with. Egbert is our maintenance guy and will be constructing a frame bar for our tumbletrak, hopefully a portable handstand wall bar (like the one Al built), and a hollow-arch body shape strength machine (Home Depot's just around the block).



Mike approved a work order for octagonal-end floor bars. I talked to Jaime about making them yesterday, and this afternoon he already had two made, plus made an extra one which he gave to me as a personal present.



Jaime Villalobos is a former UCLA gymnast and he works for his brother-in-law's cabinet business which is right next door to BGS. His niece, Sara, was on SMGC team and sometimes volunteers work at BGS.

Hopefully the bars work. I had a couple of level 5-going-on-7's test 'em out. I think it might be a matter of them getting used to the bars, as both had difficulties at first. The one who kept testing it got better at it.



My one concern is whether or not they are safe getting to a handstand position with stable wrists and not let the bar roll back the other way. Might be a good idea to practice rolling back down from a handstand safely before letting them try to pop it open to a handstand, unassisted.

I would have tested it out myself....but then thought, "Naaaaah....."

I really liked ET's video, "Bars: Must Drills for Beginning Optionals". I liked the emphasis on the dish shape over the bar in the 3/4 giant, since I see so many gymnasts arching on the way up to the handstand in their giants.

I started out teaching Izzy on her giants, this way, using the low bar. When it came time to start actually doing giants, she had trouble opening up her shoulder angle to get to handstand because she was used to swinging to the 3/4 giant/hollow push-up shape. And now, because I haven't gone back to re-emphasize the scooping action as a drill, she's been developing the habit of peaking too early with an early wrist shift, and a bit of arching at the top of the swing.

*UPDATE*

07/26/2010

The 5's and 6's had trouble with the prototype, so Jaime cut it down (I think the bar was too high off the ground). Edie tested it out, and she said the one on the left- the new one- works much better.

*UPDATE II

7/28/2010

This is the final version (notice the difference between the ones on left and right?). I've had a lot better success with these 3.

Blocking Drill for Backhandsprings

Backward Roll Ending in Hollow Push Up as Flyaway Drill

I just watched the following backflip ("leaf drop") introduction for little kids, uploaded by Al Fong:

I once did a similar drill setup for a guy who came into LASG for a private lesson on learning a standing back tuck. I believe I started him out with backward rolls on the cheese wedge since he had zero tumbling experience- not even rolls (rather uncoordinated person). Eventually, one of the stations I set up was to put a big octagon barrel in front of the pit and had him jump onto it, landing on his back and rolling off backward into the pit to get used to the sensation of jumping and spinning over backward.

It was my lazy man's way of spotting a "big kid" like him who had quite a ways to go, yet.

When I visited Aerials Gymnastics, Tom Forster showed me from his laptop a similar drill like this for flyaways.

Strangely enough, Thea and I got around to filming the drill just this afternoon:

She isn't executing it perfectly, but we were on our way out the gym when I remembered I wanted footage of this drill. So she dressed back down in her leo and we did a quick take with no rehearsal and only a brief, generalized description of what I wanted; but you get the idea.

Not sure how much I'd actually incorporate this drill into teaching a flyaway. I just found it interesting and might make for a nice additional station. I suppose its value is in emphasizing body shape on the release and open shoulders.

It's reminiscent of the back extension roll on a panel mat, only higher up. I believe Tom's instructor Zach might have come up with the exercise. The emphasis is on getting the gymnast to hit the candlestick shape and pop the shoulders open to simulate the release of the bar. The gymnast lands in a hollow pushup position. I think Tom told me that one drill Zach does for layout flyaway release is when he spots them from the bar, he'll have them land in a hollow push up there as well. There is no concern on the drill for landing on the feet. Just body shape on the release and through the air.

I think another compliment to this would be George Hery's suggestion of using gainers on trampoline as flyaway drill.

Put the two concepts together, and you have your flyaway mountain wall...and also something else that your coach probably shouldn't recommend you try, since we have this thing called "litigation" in this country.

This is what happens when you have too many spotters

Source: Cisco Pimentel from the album "Muscle Beach 1980's"