Rescue Spotting

Jason Mortimer posted this video:




Not standing between the bars for your basic tap swing/counter swing during level 4/5 bars can result in the predictably unpredictable peel:





The following is a reprint of a post I wrote up on my other blog, from 7/12/2013:

Will she catch her Gienger release?  Or will her coach catch slow her fall?

Sometimes a gymnast will say, "Spot me." And when I do just that, get slightly perturbed when I didn't physically touch her.  "You didn't spot me!"  Ah, but I did.

 Great spotting is an art that takes practice.

There are several different kinds of spots.  Some involve actual physical manipulation on the part of the coach, essentially carrying the athlete through the correct pathway of the skill; others involve some physical guidance or assist on the part of the coach, but with the athlete doing most of the skill, herself; then there's a "shadow" spot, where the coach is there primarily as "moral support".  And should anything go tragically off course, there is "rescue" spotting.  This involves the spotter jumping in there to prevent a potential catastrophic injury from an unplanned fall.

This post focuses on the latter.

So how effective is actual rescue spotting?  What are the chances of a coach actually doing it?  Dr. Sands did a study on rescue spotting.  Here, he also defines different spotting purposes:

• Physically demonstrating proper (desired) body positions. 
• Physically identifying important changes in body position or transitions. 
• Reminders or cues to the athlete – use a light touch and/or verbal cues. 
• Physically assisting the performance of the whole (or part) of a skill or series. 
• Motivation - to alleviate fear and build confidence. 
• As a “safety spot” – ready to assist if necessary. (7, p. 3)

It's the last one

that often results in litigation due to accusations that the coach should have somehow managed to snatch the gymnast from the air and prevent the injurious fall.

 This clip at 59 seconds shows Valeri Liukin physically catching his daughter on a missed Gienger.  Although not yet matured in the video, she's still large enough that a spotter's arms could easily be seriously injured.

The expectation for even a physically strong coach to catch a falling body in midair is unrealistic.  The most that a spotter should be expected to do is slow down the descent and insure a "safe" crash; and all missed releases pretty much have anticipatory crashes which the gymnast should expect, and have trained for in the process of acquiring the skill (lots of misses).

But what of the unexpected falls which are unexpected and not so readily predictable?  Such as a peel from bars?



I don't know what the history of this gymnast is (whether or not this kid has peeled on his full spin to eagle grip before; in which case, the coach might already be on the lookout for that); but in the video, the coach looks alert; and when the gymnast fumbles his hand around, it's all the split second the coach needs to anticipate a potential disaster occurring at the bottom of that swing.  The coach was alert and in a good position, ending up making a great save.  Peels like that can send a gymnast flying off the bar with unpredictable landing results. 

One of the most dangerous and predictable peels is in the (old) level 5/6 counter tap swings.  (See here and here).  So much so, that smart coaches often stand in between the bars, looking for it:



This peel occurred in warm-ups and the kid went on to get gold in the competition.  Outstanding catch by the coach.  Compulsory coaches should be able to stand in between the bars during the tap swing- actually, I wouldn't even mind it if it were made mandatory.

 What about human reaction time?

That "uh-oh" moment before the big splat

October 2010- Rotterdam, Netherlands.  Elizabeth Seitz of Germany takes a fall as her spotter is unable to catch her during the women's uneven bars event finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.  Photograph by Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Dr. Sands:

There are several things that the spotter must do before a rescue spot can be effective. Assuming that the spotter has the skill and the strength to catch a falling gymnast, the spotter must be capable of detecting a flawed performance, select an appropriate action, and then implement the action. In motor learning/c ontrol circles, these stages are called the “stimulus-identification stage,” “response-selection stage,” and “response-programming stage,” respectively (6). The area is called “information processing” (6). A spotter must implement the concepts of information processing in order to perform a rescue spot effectively. The concepts of information processing in the case of rescue spotting primarily involve the various types of reaction time. You are probably familiar with reaction time from driver education courses that often provide tables and explanations of how long it takes the driver to hit the brakes once a threat has been identified. Reaction time is important in many aspects of sports, particularly rescue spotting. It simply requires a certain amount of time for a stimulus (i.e., falling gymnast) to be correctly identified by the spotter. Then it takes a separate amount of time to select an appropriate response, finally a third and again separate amount of time is required to perform the movement(s) needed to effectively catch the falling gymnast.

Dr. Sands calculates that within the time that it takes the gymnast to fall and crash, 80% of that time is devoted by the spotter to information processing before he even begins to move in.  Falls- especially bar peels- can happen within the blink of an eye.

I believe that the key ingredient to a successful rescue spot- or successful attempt where the spotter does physically react "on time"- is being mentally alert and anticipating key areas within the routine where the athlete might fall.  The other necessity is being within close enough proximity to be of use.

Dr. Sands concludes:

this information shows that the act of rescue spotting is at the very least extraordinarily difficult. The fact that coaches can perform a rescue spot at all is astonishing(and I have seen some spectacular saves, even been the recipient of a few from my coach a million years ago). However, I believe that the coach, athlete, parent, and legal communities must come to understand the inherent limitations that constrain rescue spotting. Not only is not spotting a fail-safe, sometimes hand spotting of an unplanned fall effectively is IMPOSSIBLE. The impossibility of some hand spotting should be communicated to coaches, athletes, and parents so that all understand the physical and biological constraints on hand spotting and no one expects more from the spotter than the spotter can deliver.

My most memorable rescue spot that comes to mind has to be the first day Abigail came back from winter break and wanted to do a Yurchenko workshop.

She did a few run-bys.  Then it was time for timers.

She's a lefty in her round-off and typically, I'd stand to the right of the table.  For whatever providencial reason, I was standing on the left side, ready to physically spot her timer only if she needed to be touched. 

I stood ready to spot her onto the table if need be; I'm not so sure I was quite ready for what actually did happened.  At least, I wasn't expecting it:  Abigail runs, hurdles, hits the springboard crooked on the side, which makes her bail while in the middle of the air. I manage to get underneath her with both hands catching her lower back and flipping her over to her feet.  She lands completely on the other vaulting runway.

What bought me time in processing and reacting was seeing how crooked she was in her hurdle.  When her hands went down on the hand placement mat, her legs were around the side and not straight over the top.  Both of these observations, I think, alerted me that this timer was not going to end well. 

So when she did hit the springboard, I was ready for...something.  I don't think I quite knew what because there was no way to know what she was going to do in the air, until it was happening. 

It was a scary moment for me, as well as for her (and maybe also for mom sitting in the observation area).  Welcome back from winter break!  At that moment, I think I would have liked to have taken a break...

Rescue spotting is something that neither the gymnast nor the coach should rely upon, as guaranteed insurance for survival.  Before there ever comes the need for it, the best guarantor for the gymnast's safety is perfect consistency in practice (as far as safely being able to do a skill) before ever taking it out onto the competition floor.