Why We Stand Between the Rails on Tap Swings

Nine years ago I read this blogpost (I think written by either Jason Mortimer or Troy Wright):

https://thegymcoach.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/girls-peeling-off-the-bar-on-a-tap-swing/

And started standing between the bars for compulsory tap swings. I thought it was a good article. Some interesting comments as well.

Looks like the code was updated several years ago as well for the current cycle so that on bars, coaches can stand in there, "just in case", without incurring a deduction:

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2012/11/safety-spotting-on-bars/

Bar peels happen infrequently enough that’s it’s easy to grow complacent, thinking it won’t happen on your watch. And then when they do occur, it sometimes doesn’t result in injury. However, they happen often enough and with severe enough injuries that coaches should consider the wisdom of standing between the bars as often as possible, “just in case”.

Our girls rarely peel. And yet at a recent meet last month, Coach Arielle caught one of her level 4 kids during warm-ups (keeping her from landing on her head) who peeled coming off a massive backhip circle underswing; and the same day, caught an excel silver kid who peeled off during warm-ups on her counterswing. If Coach Arielle hadn’t taken the issue seriously and elected to be there, those two athletes of ours could have injured themselves anywhere from slight to severe.

Obviously cover safety falls and rolls with your gymnasts; and periodically revisit and review and practice how to fall. Tap swings are tough because of the unpredictability in forces at work upon the moment of peel. Teach them to protect the neck/head; protect the limbs. Obviously, teach them how to tap swing with amplitude and also how to avoid the likelihood of peeling off the bar in the back of the swing.

Where children’s lives are at stake, don’t give into complacency, thinking it will not happen on your watch.

A save by Jason Mortimer:

https://youtu.be/19EH5HQsR14

https://www.facebook.com/TroyWright120/posts/10156572828094988

Another save by Jason Ross:

https://youtu.be/76w7opD02Tk

Apologies for freebooting videos off the 'net without proper credit and source attributions.

Please share your experiences and perspective with us and the community.

-Coach Michael

Sunday Funnies

Source

One method of spotting the level 4 dismount

Old footage from 2011, Colorado Aerials- One method of spotting the level 4 dismount, if needed:

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:

Read more »

There's no help quite like self-help....

...or in this case a self-spot (Mismo Gymnastics):

The Week in Rescue Spotting *UPDATED*

Hat tip:  GymnasticsCoaching.com




Also, watch Armen Astoian show off this one-arm catch.

Both of these rescue spots were posted on the same day.

*UPDATE* 09:37

And another one from HighPoint Gym.  (Hat tip:  Gymnastics Progressions).

Spotting Method for Pre-Team Chin-ups

  I learned this spotting method from Michael Manzanet of Broadway Gymnastics School, for spotting chin-ups/pull-ups.
Open hand squeezed between the legs by the gymnast. It helps the gymnast maintain form (like squeezing a beanbag); and the gymnast only gets an assist if she needs it by squeezing the spotter's hand.

This was just a quick take (and the coach in the video is new to this.  The spotter does not grab the gymnast.  The gymnast "grabs" the spotter's hand).  The gymnast can also squeeze with the feet, too, instead of the knees.

Memory Monday

2011?  Not even sure what year this was.....

All gymnasts want to grow tall!

5-9-2015

A favorite spotting technique: Encouraging the gymnast to grow tall by pushing her toes up to the ceiling, against your hand. If she doesn't push tall, she doesn't feel the pressure of your hand spotting her.

As demonstrated by California Sports Center's Christopher Brown:

Tight Drills

A few spotted tight drills:

Great spotting or predictable good spotting?

A number of people seem to be praising this- non-gymnasts and gymnasts alike- due to the fantastic rescue spotting being performed....twice:

Italian gymnast Sara Berardinelli had a bit of trouble with the uneven parallel bars at the L’International Gymnix competition in Canada, but fortunately her coach was there to bail her out of trouble. When Berardinelli just missed clearing the bar, sending her spinning to the ground, Berardinelli’s coach stopped her momentum just a few inches from the mat.

Berardinelli reacts to the fall like a total pro. Despite nearly landing on her head, she immediately pops up without missing a beat and gets ready go back on the bars. She made the same mistake again, but her coach was in the right place at the right time.

 That she does this a second time and that her coach catches her a 2nd time, makes one wonder if Berardinelli hasn't hit the bar like this before during practice and he already was anticipating what might happen that first time.

Some commenters also question the coaching judgment, wondering that she shouldn't be competing this; but spend more time on practicing the technical aspect. 

The problem in my opinion is that improving upon the technical aspect of this technique isn't the primary problem:  It's teaching this kind of technique, itself- the swing through bail with no real tap and up to handstand, arch and sit-up then dump yourself over the bar kind of technique usually only seen in women's gymnastics; as opposed to the technique taught "men's style", push away from the bar and open on the bail, kick forward early and pull down on the bar, stop the feet and throw.  This type of technique is more a "true" Tkatchev, generating strong counter-rotation and not just a sit up, fall on the other side of the bar with no swing.

 Even in prelims, you can see she barely scrapes over the bar:

I know a lot of girls are successful with this kind of technique (maybe Berardinelli herself, usually has a hit more than miss percentage, too); but I think it's bad technique.

Spotting Handstand Walks for Beginning Team

Wheel barrel walks with emphasis on maintaining shape is great conditioning.

I generally prefer not to have team kids do handstand walks if they can't hold solid handstands; or shoulder/thigh touch with good weight transferring against a wall, while maintaining shape. Still, handstand-walking once in a while is good fun and shoulder-strengthening for the kids.

One problem for strength benefits of course, is that beginners can't stay up for very long because of lack of experience in maintaining balance.

When I do offer a spot, a great method to consider is to have the gymnast squeeze your hand/forearm. That way you're not just holding them up- they are still supporting their own body weight. You're only aiding their balance; and they only get the spot if they are squeezing my arm with their legs. Once they relax the adductors and let go of my arm, they lose the spot-assist.

The Force is strong in this one....

I wonder what else Coach Vader can spot?  :p

Another post on clear hips

Not my preferred method of spotting clear hips, but this is one way that I don't see used often (I did it on this occasion, due to the height of the bar and my being too lazy to get a block to stand on).

Swing Big! posted on the importance of the drop, recently.  I agree that the drop is vitally important to a good clear hip.  With a proper drop, the clear hip should just fly up to handstand.

Zari's post lead me to TeamCentralGym's channel that I hadn't seen before.  I like the drill at the beginning of this video for clear hips:

It reminds me of a drill Wade Petersen showed me where the gymnast starts in front support, pushes her body off the bar and drops into a pike sit onto a block, with the bar pushed down toward the knees.

I know some coaches don't teach the clear hip as a pike but as a hollow; but sometimes getting gymnasts to think that way helps keep the hips further away from the bar (over-exaggerated corrections can sometimes get you to the end result).

I remember seeing a gymnast with beautiful clear hips, who was clearly using a piking technique over simply hollowing.  I wish I had bookmarked that, to show.