using the overhead belt on trampoline has been interesting. it was only through being bored with barrels and pac-men, or tired of hand-spotting and killing myself (as you said- “especially for older athletes”, i.e. bigger people), that I experimented with it. I hadn’t thought of using it before, because I like to be able to manipulate body positions in the air- something I can’t really do with the belt. But I’ve grown to really like it, as I’ve had some successes with it. I had a couple of kids who just would not do the backhandspring by themselves; they wouldn’t be weened off of handspotting; and they would not “go for it” just by me taking the harness off of them. But the way I got them to eventually do it, was when I knew with certainty that they were safe and could do the skill safely, I’d slowly make it more obvious that I was not holding onto the rope (for some reason, they just don’t believe me when I tell them that I’m not manipulating them in the air), until finally my hand isn’t even there. Two girls I can think of who were terrified of trying it by themselves built up the courage by doing it in the belt (without anyone even holding onto the rope!!); I then took the hooks off of the belt, but left the belt on; and then finally the belt came off. I was amazed at how easy the transition was with this method. It’s fun to come up with different methods for different folks, since “not one size fits all” when it comes to teaching. I also gained confidence in the safety belt still being able to act as a spotter, after the gymnast lands, because if the athlete is under-rotated on her feet and starts to be pitched forward off balance, the safety belt still catches her, because it will only allow her to travel a certain distance forward and backward on the trampoline. (When I have the gymnast start, I have her start by standing at the front end of the trampoline, then sit/fall back and jump).

Thanks for the link up, Rick.