Multi-Motion Image Capture

A feature on my Casio EX-FC150 High Speed EXILM that I've been experimenting with.

Physio Ball Bounce Handstand Station/Drill Idea

I was moving mats before team camp started, and this idea just occurred to me. I had played with the balls spaced further apart before with hollow tight arch drills; but then I thought why not put together two drill concepts into one (bungee/physio ball cast handstands & tramp bar)? So I grabbed a level 4 kid who arrived early to test it out. After only briefly spotting her to make sure it was safe, I just let her play on it without really coaching her through.

We have a single rail that's a bit high off the ground that might be able to slide through under it (velcros to the ground), but haven't experimented further with this. Might just be a fun handstand station for rec, I dunno....

Could encourage cast handstands, bails and uprise, candle-shapes on the way up for giants; developed further, maybe even blinds and pirouette drills? If nothing else, I think it'd be a fun way for developmental girls to practice their handstands as a side station.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe even just a handstand hold conditioning station; if you fall down one way, you can just bounce back up and try to find the balance position again.

This is the Way Gymnasts Do It

Batmanning is for the dorsiflexion-obsessed and won't stop crime; and planking is for the weak. How about...

Flagging:

April 5, 1998

and Planching:




That last photograph is of Brian Ginsburg in Rio de Janeiro, taken sometime in the 80s. It hung on the wall in the Yates Gym and I made a copy of it.

The first photo I wanted to submit to The Gap, back when I did security work for them. Taken by Greg Umphrey down the block from one of our many apartments in the area of Westwood Village.

Oh, and of course there is handstanding happening on all sorts of likely and unlikely places.

National Gymnastics Day!

Michael Sanders, circa 1990-92 handstanding atop the UCLA Bruin Bear

¡puɐʇspuɐɥ ʎddɐɥ ɐ ǝʌɐɥ

Simplify

Sometimes I think we get bogged down by an overabundance of drills with elaborate setups, trying to break things down too far. When someone is having a specific issue, that's when pulling out a specific drill to address the specific problem might be beneficial. In some cases, I think too much emphasis on drills rather than emphasis on the actual skills can create a Rube Goldberg situation where the shortest distance between two points becomes an unnecessary, complex maze.

Here is a very simple progression for acquiring the front layout whip:





With minimal coaching, I find that this setup is pretty much self-teaching.

Other than what's shown in the video, I also like having gymnasts start out doing layout fronts with the arms pinned by the ears and staying in a hollow without releasing the heels. If they can do this and flip all the way over to their feet, releasing into a tight arch is no problem.

I also don't like over-emphasizing the arms out to the sides, initially. Just a small arm circle at first to encourage the arms to be above horizontal, ready to set again for the next salto.  

*Update September 21, 2011*: 

Rick linked to this and a reader noted: 

The most interesting thing is that in the performance of the drills with supporting block the slightly hollow shape in the first part was obvious, since the gymnasts had to put their hands on supporting block. Once the block was removed, the somersault turned to the most common slightly arched layout forward. Actually, it was nothing left from the technique of whip salto forward.

The two older gymnasts shown at the end without the block in place did not go through this progression from the beginning. Their old habits of the earlier heel release and arm movements are still there, but these two are showing improvements in what they were like prior. Sorry for the confusion in presentation and video edit. If I had thought this through better, I should have filmed gymnasts who went through this progression from beginning to end result.

Ouch!

Gym private early Saturday morning:

Thea: "It's cold in here!

Me: "That's 'cause you're wearing a leotard and haven't warmed up yet."

Thea: "At least you have clothes on!"

Me: "Yeah, thank God I don't have to wear a leotard."

Thea: "Yeah well, we can ALL thank God for that one!"