To begin the backhandspring the gymnast leans back off balance while slightly bending the legs and moving the trunk forward with a straight or hollow chest. From this position the gymnast can make a powerful jump backwards. Back handsprings have two important flying phases.
This talented young gymnast is making a nice effort to emphasize a chest hollow position at the beginning of the skill. The objective of this action is to create a feeling about the shape of the body on the second flying phase. Nowadays she still has some troubles to hold a hollow position on the turn over from hands to feet and pikes down instead.
Back handsprings can be spotted with one hand on the lower back and the other hand on the closer hamstring. If the spotter stands on the left of the gymnast the right hand goes on the back and the left hand on the nearer hamstring. During the second flying phase the hands switch the left to the abdominal area and the right to the lower back to assist with any problems during the landing.
A short first flying phase from feet to hands makes it difficult to create an effective second flying phase from hands to feet. Short undercut first flying phases cause the hands to touch the floor with poor body angles to make a quick arms repulsion into a powerful turn over to the feet. Before bad technical habits get too engrained it is wise to spend time reviewing basic drills.
On the next few clips a different gymnast offers examples of some of those basic back handspring mistakes already mentioned. /Undercut with poor blocking repulsion and pike turn over. /A much longer and nice back handspring example with good hands to feet turn over. /Second flying phase example with an incorrect pike turnover.
If the gymnast is having problems showing a tight arch and the coach is confident of being able to handle the gymnast's weight he places a hand on the upper back reaching toward the further shoulder area while keeping the other hand on the hamstring. When the gymnast jumps back the coach stops the motion in mid air to allow the athlete to position her body into the correct shape.
Starting to teach back handsprings without arm swings may help the gymnasts to get used to keeping the arms closer to the head in the early learning stages plus it can save the coach a couple of face slaps. Place the gymnast on a position as if they were coming from a round off or another back handspring.
When spotting new gymnasts on backhandsprings we must keep our head further back away from them to avoid getting hit if they open the arms too much.
Once we are relatively sure that the gymnast is not going to throw the arms out too open we can add the arms swing to their spotted back handsprings. This gymnast is trying to master a hollow turn over second flying phase instead of just piking it down. Coaches may use every training opportunity to help establish good posture habits like standing up with stomach area in and buttocks tucked in too.
Swinging both arms tilted to one side and twisting the body on that direction as if the gymnasts were trying to look over their shoulder to see where their body is going instead of keeping it square is another common back handspring mistake. Barrel back handsprings may help the gymnasts to work out the problem emphasizing to feel their backs landing on the barrell square and without turning the head sideways.
Once the gymnast has a fair snap down from folding mats, they can begin practicing back handsprings with a spot. This is a good introduction to connecting a handspring from the hands-to-feet flying phase and is very helpful as initial preparation for roundoff back handsprings.
The snap down back handspring is a very helpful progressive step toward the round off back handspring. Advanced gymnasts may practice this combination to refine some back tumbling technical details such as turning over from hands to feet on a hollow single body unit and rebounding with a tight arch first flying phase while the shoulder area is open.
Save 10% or more on EVERY Order + FREE Shipping on Grips, Wrist Supports & Grip Accessories!