Many of the best coaches in the world like this drill.
And many do backward layout for Yurchenko.
Personally I’ve never used it. I’m not as much worried about safety of the athlete as a the technical problem of encouraging too high preflight.
I prefer progressions that encourage gymnasts to touch the table as quickly as possible. Low preflight drills.
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I use front tucks (I have no interest in layouts) over the table as “run bys” and there’s nothing dangerous about it anymore than any other skill over a table.
With traditional run bys, beginners will often slow down before hurdling off to the side. I want a powerful hurdle behind as much speed as they can generate to the board. With the front tuck, there is no slowing down. Focus is on acceleration, strong hurdle and strong compression of the board.
The only adjustment I make is I will put the board closer to the table than their vault setting to discourage the desire to lean into the table (punching the board and getting lift with speed behind it is what will get the gymnast to clear the table with distance).
The front tuck isn’t related to their actual forward entry vault. Purpose of flipping over the table is simply to avoid crashing into it. The drill is for the run, hurdle, and board compression.
I’ve thought about it for Yurchenkos (back layout) but as you say, you don’t want to encourage a high preflight.
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