by site editor Rick McCharles
I hauled out one of my most popular articles the other day, recommending to coaches of kids who do not yet twist to take care to prevent the dread Barani Confusion.
Confusion about the actual direction of twist on a forward somersault is a real and common problem. Many gymnasts twist in the wrong direction; that is, a gymnast attempting to twist to the left actually twists to the right.
Best practice is to post the linked series of charts on the gym wall near tramp, monitoring your new twisters closely. Especially on forward twisting.
Even better practice would be to ask a trampoline expert to help you evaluate your kids, deciding on direction of twist for each.
Download the article and charts – Preventing “Barani Confusion” (PDF)
3 comments ↓
I find that barani confusion comes from kids doing a front half with the same feeling for a round off. If you get them to do a front half as a front tuck, then open, then half twist, they generally have no problem with the direction that they twist and can add more twists easily.
As a trampoline coach, I was taught that the easiest way to test twisting direction in young gymnasts and beginners was to lightly push them forward and see which foot they stepped on to, to stop themselves falling. (please be ready to catch as I’ve had some children go crashing face first on to the crash mat as they didn’t put a foot out to stop themselves…. )
I used this a lot when trying to work out which direction they should be twisting for seat halves and swivel hips etc. It’s a pretty good measure when you’re running a rec class and don’t have a lot of time to test everyone with lots of twisting exercises.
Just ran in to this last night (our last class before summer). A whole group of young boys who haven’t been taught twisting suddenly wanted to show me their “Front 1′s”. Turned in to a lesson on twisting direction and correct progression to learn good technique (emphasis on late twist). Tried to show them that twist and round off aren’t related and doing a round off in the air will probably lead to problems later on. I hope they listened well… but don’t doubt there’s going to be trouble in the fall when they all come back to the gym after a summer of backyard trampolines. Boys…. can’t live with em… can’t shoot em ….. Happy Summer!!!
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