introducing Yurchenko vault

6 comments ↓

#1 Cam on 08.28.10 at 6:30 pm

One thing I was taught and that I’ve ALWAYS done since is when introducing the Yurchenko, have the gymnast practice the round-off onto the springboard with the collar around it. Have a strong, sturdy coach behind the springboard to spot the rebound of the gymnast and bring them down safely onto the springboard. This should be done in conjunction with a few of the drills shown in the video, most importantly the round-off to back-handspring on raised mats.

I would allot two to three weeks at each height in order to adjust, starting at 8 inches, then working incrementally to 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, etc., until vaulting height is reached. This should take a minimum of 12-15 weeks (3 to 4 months) to adjust safely to the new technique and new skill.

The round-off onto the springboard drill helps to ease the gymnast into becoming comfortable with the surface height difference of spring board and to rebound strongly following the round-off in preparation for the back-handspring motion onto the vaulting table, as well as provides a frame of reference when moving through the different mat heights.

If your gymnast has a problem with landing her round-off out of alignment due to hand placement in the round-off, you can adjust the run-up and hurdle preceding the round-off to either side of the vaulting runway to help the gymnast stay square upon landing the round-off on the springboard.

A small piece of tape on the edge of the lowest end of the springboard or a small chalk mark on the runway provides a visual reminder of the horizontal plane where the hands should be placed in the round-off.

A sample week:
Week 9 –
-Continuation of round-off onto springboard (with collar) to spotted rebound drill
-Introduce the new mat height of 18 inches, have the gymnast round-off in front of the mat, then back-handspring onto the mat stack
-Introduce pulling the legs through to land in tight, hollow position on their back.
-Perform two sets of eight repetitions for both the round-off onto springboard and the round-off to raised back-handspring to pull through.
-REMEMBER: Adjust the hand placement on the run-up as necessary to keep gymnast squared with the vault upon landing the round-off on the springboard.

If you have any more questions or need more specific pointers, please feel free to contact me.

#2 coach Rick on 08.29.10 at 11:56 am

Thanks Cam !!

#3 Coach S on 08.29.10 at 3:17 pm

“If your gymnast has a problem with landing her round-off out of alignment due to hand placement in the round-off, you can adjust the run-up and hurdle preceding the round-off to either side of the vaulting runway to help the gymnast stay square upon landing the round-off on the springboard.

Wouldnt it be better to fix the round-off insteadÉ

#4 Cam on 08.29.10 at 5:40 pm

Coach S-

Fixing the round-off is definitely a place to start. I have had two gymnasts in the past who had excellent round-offs when tumbling on the floor or on the beam, but when it came to learning the Yurchenko-style vault, they were so pre-occupied with making sure they hit the board that their round-off ended up incredibly wonky.

We adjusted to one side or the other in order to keep them centered because no matter what we tried, they couldn’t reproduce a round-off from floor or beam on the vault runway. It was rather strange.

I simply offered as a suggestion to a problem I’ve had.

#5 Amy on 08.29.10 at 10:37 pm

Cam, I actually had an issue with the roundoff at first! I was landing it really far on the side, and I could sense that it was off so I kept doing incredibly awkward cartwheels followed by hilarious falls. At least everyone else laughed, haha! Anyways, I just started running more to the left side of the runway and now I land perfectly in the middle. For me that was the easiest solution, I think I have a decent roundoff anyways so I’m not sure why I was landing to the side. But…problem solved!

Here is my Yurchenko history:
2 weeks ago: Did approximately 5 carthweel-things onto the board, fell back onto a mat. Did 1 proper roundoff onto the board, fell back onto a mat.

1 week ago: Figured out my run and did about five good roundoffs onto the board with jumps back. Did 1 roundoff onto the board, back handspring off onto one 8 inch mat.

So tomorrow I have class and I’m planning on doing several more RO BHS onto the 8 incher then adding another 8 incher and doing several more that way. I tend to move quickly since we have class only once a week and I am not a total beginner so I pick things up relatively quickly.

So far I’m loving Yurchenkos!

#6 Stacey on 08.30.10 at 1:46 pm

Try the UK compulsory vault when you get a bit further on.

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