Gymnastics Coaching.com » floor tumbling

Kytra Hunter – Floor – American Cup

coach Rick — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:02:56 +0000

Andy Thornton asks a good question: “… it seems like girls just don’t tumble like they used to. What happened to huge double layouts and full-in dismounts?”

It’s even more true on Vault. That apparatus has seen very little progress over the past 20yrs. Yet Men’s Vault and Floor tumbling are insane in 2010.

Kytra Hunter’s demo Floor at American Cup shows impressive tumbling.

Click PLAY or watch Kytra on YouTube.

In the past, powerful gymnasts could do 3 apparatus and get away with relatively easy Bars. (i.e. Romania)

Today, in my opinion, coaches must select gymnasts first for Bars and Beam. And try to develop tumbling and vault difficulty later. Nastia would be one prototype.

(via About.com Gymnastics)

Barkalov in 1st at Russian Championships

coach Rick — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:27:44 +0000

UPDATE: Barkalov Wins Russian Championship

From The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook:

1. Barkalov 88.300; 2. Gogotov 87.400; 3. Cherkasov 86.550; 4. Olennikov 86.500; 5. Pakhomenko 86.400

Complete results (Russian)

I don’t know much about Barkalov, except that he was picked as one of 20 gymnasts to watch in 2010 by Gymnastics Examiner.

Click PLAY or watch his Floor (2008) on YouTube.

Update: Barkalov’s Pommels.

how important are handsprings?

coach Rick — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:35:57 +0000

Taucer started a good thread on the Chalk Bucket forum:

… handsprings (both forward and backward) … are becoming less and less important to the construction of high-level routines. The front handspring seems all but extinct at the top levels of the sport (especially on the men’s side) and even back handsprings are becoming less common.

Front saltos are, more and more, being done from a punch (or connected from a backwards skill with a forward landing).

Backward saltos are, more and more, being done directly out of a roundoff.

There are a number of clear advantages to this. …

Click through to read responses and/or comment: The role of handsprings (both front and back) in development of high-level gymnasts

Patti's All-American

Some very good points. Still, I doubt you’ll find many coaches who have stopped training handsprings with developmental gymnasts. Girls need them for beam, certainly.

Olympic Floor Champion Kyle Shewfelt insists that Forward Handspring step-out > Handspring two foot > Flyspring is an essential tumbling pass for those wanting (later) to compete forward salto series. There are many mid-level gymnasts, on the other hand, for whom I’ve given up on forward handspring. And a few … very few … with whom I’ve given up on backward handspring.

What do you think?

best triple back on Floor

coach Rick — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:06:54 +0000

Don Eckert nominates Eddie Crane.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube (2008).

Eddie was a Team Gattaca gymnast. Leave a comment if you know what he’s doing now.

Charlie Tamayo goofing

coach Rick — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:40:56 +0000

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Don.

Hey, he’s launched a website called Flip For Charlie:

… my most important challenge- making the 2012 Olympic team. Despite the obstacles I may face, I know with your support my Olympic dream can be kept alive. I would like nothing more than to give back to a country that has already given me so much.

Sincerely,
Charlie Tamayo
2012 Olympic Hopeful

FlipForCharlie.com

Gymnastics Montage – Fresh Feeling

coach Rick — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:56:13 +0000

Somewhat random WAG clips. It kept me going right to the end.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Quitters Try)

detailed review – GymDrills.com

coach Rick — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:08:18 +0000

This is a follow up to my first glance review from December.

I spent many afternoons looking through hundreds of video clips. This site has a TON of content. Amazing.

One of my favourite clips is this progression for forward whip on Floor. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

One more. A great drill to improve sole circle low to high. The clip shows what happens when the girl misses.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Instead of using elite demonstrators, the performances are realistic to the level of the girls appropriate to each drill. (The clips are not so intimidating when you bring your laptop into the gym and show a drill to your kids.)

Bottom line: GymDrills.com is an excellent new resource for WAG coaches. A good investment for club owners:

• Free per 7 Days (Trial)
• 3.99 USD per 1 Month (Monthly Membership)
• 35.00 USD per 1 Year (Year Membership)

You can now add your own videos to their database.

If members upload 2 approved drills a month or 20 for the year they can get a free membership.

Congratulations to Will Vaughn for putting this together. I’m a fan.

GymDrills.com

Charlie Tamayo at Winter Cup

coach Rick — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:57:36 +0000

Many have been waiting years for this. Former Cuban World Championships medalist Charlie Tamayo competed as a “guest”, scoring 13.100 on Floor (with problems) and 15.8 on vault. Tamayo defected to the U.S. during 2003 Worlds in Anaheim and is seeking U.S. citizenship.

From Don Eckert:

Charlie is coming off an injury and wasn’t able to train like he wanted but his talent is obvious and I would love to see him train the way that other have the privilege in this country because of their college/parent or help from USAG. I really believe he could help the USA team but has to prepare properly to do so.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

He certainly doesn’t look 100%. But I’m glad he finally competed in an American meet.

Charlie is a superb coach. Living now in San Diego, he’s available for camps and clinics.

Floor gasm – video

coach Rick — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:09:00 +0000

Some gymnastics “Floor Exercises” I’d never seen before. This is the kind of creativity no longer rewarded in Artistic gymnastics.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Comment on that post from explodingp:

… Next video Floorgy?

Alexandra Raisman – 3 1/2 twist

coach Rick — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:56:49 +0000

Wow.

She makes it look easy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Alexandra is a junior international elite who trains at Brestyan’s Gymnastics in Massachusetts. Alexandra turned elite in 2009. See an August interview with her on Gymnastike.

Thanks MostepanovaFan.