Tricker Mackensi Emory is just goofing in this photo …
Mackensi Emory
But it’s a great example of the worst possible landing in acrobatic sports, the ‘scorpion’.
As a coach I do everything I can to prevent this landing. It happens most often when over-rotating forward somersault (missing the feet). … It’s just as deadly when under-rotating a multiple forward somersault, though.
I ask young kids not to do this contortion position for fun, even if they are flexible enough. I don’t want them to have any muscle memory of the ‘scorpion’ shape, just in case.
How can we prevent ‘scorpion’ landings?
First, teach falling and landing skills to gymnasts at a very young age. They need be expert so as to know what to do when something goes wrong unexpectedly.
Illustration from Gymnastics Foundations – available from the Gymnastics Canada boutique $75
Next, we need be super cautious with multiple forward salto drills and skills. This girl is an accident waiting to happen.
Most of the catastrophic injuries I’ve reported over the past number of years have been on forward somersaulting skills.
On May 12, 2006, Drew Donnellan at Tucson’s Gymnastics World and did a single front flip, a skill he’d done daily for seven years.
He over-rotated and fractured two vertebrae, damaging his spinal cord. He was paralyzed at age-16.
Drew in 2008
Paralyzed gymnast’s promise: No self-pity (2008)
Drew’s coach is one of the best in the business, Yoishi Tomita.
It can happen that quickly.
The most common mistake I see in gyms is coaches letting kids who don’t need them do double (and triple) fronts into the pit. … For fun.
That’s too risky. There are a hundred other things they can do for fun not nearly so dangerous.
One coach I know banned all double fronts, … unless it was a necessary drill for an advanced competitive gymnast. Good and gutsy idea.
7 comments ↓
I think banning is a bad idea. Coaches should be able to recognize when their gymnasts are good forward performers and let it go. Actually, trampoline is a great tool for double saltos preparations
It is an incredibly scary accident and injury.
A few weeks ago a gymnast of mine who has been catching her Shaposhnikova transition for over a year just barely undershot it and peeled off backwards into the pit and scorpion-ed. Thankfully she wasn’t terribly hurt, but it stunned her.
I don’t see the problem with double fronts into the pit. The only injuries that I have seen into the pit involve twisting, hit your face with your knees, or hitting the bottom of the pit. The 2nd problem can be prevented by cowboying until you are ready to keep your knees together. The 3rd can be prevented by having a deep enough pit. In addition putting soft mat underneath the pit is a good idea just in case (even in addition to the nets that many pits seem to have these days).
The “safety” factor of a pit connot be overestimated Bob. Although definitely safer no pit completely mitigates the chance of a catastrophic injury. With well conditioned athletes this risk can be hugely minimized but unfortunately many of the people attempting these skills are poorly conditioned snowboarders, cheerleaders and just about anybody who happens through your doors during drop in classes. Any forward landing head first is dangerous, period, and needs to be avoided at all cost for all but well conditioned athletes with appropriate coaching and ability level. I’m with you on this one Rick…
Sorry, not implying that it’s OK for even those athletes to go in head first. Hope that was understood…
“Falling is inevitable but injuries are preventable”. A quote from Dr. Max of Hawaii rings so true. Fall training is a part of his training and development program. At a minimum we should all train/educate our athletes in safe falling practices, break falls, how to land and roll, how to stop bounce from height. We do safe falling as a warm-up once every couple of weeks, at least, and review all our safety expectations all the time.
For trampoline the ability to perform our fundamental landing positions with control from full height, safely and sometimes quickly can truly be a lifesaver. If our charges are afraid and or unprepared to do front drops and back drops from skill height the safety margin is not what it could be. Likewise confidence in a controlled frt ¾ or back ¾ with a half twist can end a skill error with a smile on the athletes face versus x,y or z.
Escape routes is what we use to call many of the Level one skills. Likewise in the build ups for more advance skills the more confidence with the more variations, the more likely the athlete will successfully deal with a learning error. The more progressions the merrier.
I found it interesting from Jamie Atkin’s verbal report on the FIG three trampoline course that the Russians feel it is totally normal to do a double front on trampoline to a throw mat as a lead up for a tuck half out but think it is crazy to do a ducked progressions to flat back for various skills as lead ups. I would suggest that a combination of both plus xyz is likely the smartest; however it would possibly take more time to cover all the development basics.
In our NCCP and similar courses I think the most important message that needs to be fully understood is that the key to smart, safe coaching is good decision making.
The definition I use for a “good decision” in skill progression is quite simple. When the decision is made to move on to the next level of progression, there should be a virtual guarantee that the athlete will be able to try again after the attempt with no physical or mental injury possible.
Double fronts should never be underestimated. Broke my neck between third and fourth vertebrae doing an under rotated double front into the pit.
More serious injuries come from double front compared to double backs. I agree to say that they should not be encouraged until really required.
What we do sometimes is attending diving classes to teach the kids the double fronts. From different heights you can do double fronts, 1 1/2 etc. This helps a lot to get a feeling for the motion and condition the skill.
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