Taking a Step Back to Move Two Steps Forward

Thea's competed her shootover to handstand last season; but she's never done it extremely well; and since recovering from her wrist stress fracture, has been sloppy on her high to low bar transition.

She has been turning early through the bottom with a form break and releasing with her chest out.  So I thought we'd spend the time to walk it back through, from the beginning.

 Thea's gotten bigger in the last 2 years and i can no longer simply hold her suspended and paused in the air by using the typically seen spotting method (hand support on hips/waist/thigh).  So I thought I'd try using a technique I'd normally do on the low bar from tap swings as part of the introduction to bails.  I had never tried doing this all the way through from cast handstand, swing down, one-arm drop with pause, carry to low bar.

The great thing about this spotting technique is that It works with larger, older gymnasts (Thea's about as tall as I am now, and densely packed full of muscle) if all you want to do is a drill.

Basically, as she swings down, starting at her wrist, I slide my grip down her forearm, upperarm, over her shoulder to finally catch her under her trapezius when she's semi-inverted.  My arm is buttressed like a shelf so that her body weight is stacked on top (with some of it supported by my other hand on her thigh) and I really don't have to exhaust very much of my bicep strength. 

It's a little tricky at first, and I practiced a few times with her on the low bar before I took it to the high bar and from a cast handstand (and only after I made sure I understood how to get a secure hold on her did I allow her to release with the 2nd hand so that I could complete a full, simulated bail- although I'd say that carrying her to the low bar like that is not necessary).

Eventually, I'll probably hand-spot her with the more conventional method when she's comfortable and ready to release right away again (without the technical flaws and form break). She still needs to improve her consistency on a smooth swing down.