The Front Handspring        ◄  TO PAGE ONE

CONTINUED ►    transfer two:  The block

This transfer represents the exact center of the front handspring vault.  It is also where many gymnasts go wrong.  Without a proper block, the forward momentum coming from the preflight will continue solely as a forward momentum in the postflight.  As gymnasts develop more complicated vaults, adding twists and flips to the postflight, a strong block becomes essential.  As with all transfers, strength, and use of that strength, is the key.

Just before the block, the body is traveling forward, and rotating as well.  The feet are over the head, and the body is approaching a handstand position.  Following the block, the body has rotated further, past vertical (handstand), but the momentum is largely now upward.  So, the block is designed to keep rotation moving, and to transfer a great deal of forward power into upward power.  But how?

Coaches often tell their gymnasts to push against the table “through” their shoulders.  As with all transfers, substantial bending of any part of the body will impede the transition, so the athlete is asked to use the very strong shoulder and back muscles to propel the body upward.   At Gymnastics Revolution, there is very little change in body line during the block – the tight arch remains throughout.  The only change, visible only to the trained eye, is in shoulder angle.  At the start of the block, the shoulder angle is obtuse, and the arms are coming upward from the aforementioned “arm circle.”  At the end of the block, the shoulders have completely straightened, leaving no angle at all.  In essence, this IS the block – the lightning quick straightening of the shoulder angle.  If performed properly, and timed correctly, this will have the desired transfer effect.

Handstand “hops,” or “pops,” in which the gymnast bounces in a handstand position, or spotted handstand bounces on a springboard are good drills for helping the block.  There is a great deal of carry over in this quick transfer to skills on floor exercise, as well, so the block is exercised in many other tumbling skills.  Suffice it to say, though, that if the preflight is incorrect, the block will more than likely also be flawed.

phase three:  postflight

Once the block has been performed, the postflight begins.  Many variations exist, even in the front handspring vault.  Some judges prefer to see a tight-arch in the postflight, some prefer a hollow position.  At Gymnastics Revolution, we strive to keep the body perfectly straight in postflight.  Later vaults will require many different positions.  For instance, vaults that flip in the postflight most often require an arched position before the flip, and vaults that twist often should be hollow.  But, for the Front Handspring, we have had great success with a completely straight position. We spend far more time on the earlier phases and transfers of the vault then on postflight.  This is because a good postflight really is a result of all of the other pieces of the vault being performed correctly.Aside from body position, the only real efforts we expend on the Front Handspring vault postflight are in arm and head position.  In the early years, as the vaulter is developing her power and abilities, we keep the arms directly overhead, and the focus in the postflight is on the ceiling – just as in a front handspring on the floor.  Later, as the gymnast becomes stronger and more able, we allow her arms to drop slightly to the sides, forming the letter “Y”, and still keep the head up.  This subtle variation exaggerates the block, and better shows off the height of the gymnast’s body during the postflight.

Here is another very tricky transfer – the landing.  All of the cumulative and retained power of the vault is left in the mat and the body of the gymnast during this transfer.  As much as 80 feet of sprinting power, and the rotation and height of the vault all are absorbed with the landing.  Clearly, the body must be strong.  The back cannot bend, or injury could result.  The ankles, knees, and hips of the gymnast must be aligned and healthy to absorb this kind of impact.  And the legs must be strong enough to cushion the body, and stop it in its place. 

Many coaches spend inordinate amounts of time training the landing of vaults.  They have their athletes jump down from the vaulting table to “stick” their landings.  They call out “Stick!” as their kids are vaulting.  They have their gymnasts vault onto semi hard surfaces to practice landings.

At Gymnastics Revolution, we feel that landings, especially in vaulting, create two main drawbacks.  First, we fear that a gymnast (especially a younger more inexperienced gymnast) who is trying to “stick” her vault will not fully commit to the vault.  In other words, she’ll hold back, exerting less effort, hoping to better “control” her vault.

We would rather see 100% effort and a landing that takes a step or two than 75% effort and a stuck landing.  This is true even in competition.  More than likely, the better vault with an imperfect landing will be more impressive than a low, slow vault with a perfect landing.

Secondly, gymnastics is known to be a physically demanding sport, and landing repeatedly on unforgiving surfaces certainly doesn’t help the body to stay healthy.  We almost always vault onto safety pits and skill cushions, rather than onto hard landing mats.  This is in an effort to minimize stress on the joints of our young athletes, and to extend their training time.  Again, we will sacrifice one stuck landing for three more turns during a workout.

Only after the gymnast has become very proficient at the front handspring vault do we begin stressing the landings.  This approach has served our gymnasts well over the years.  Proper head and body alignment will help the gymnast to land.  We believe that the eyes of the gymnast, despite the head being lifted upward, should focus in front of her,  either to a wall, or so that she can just see the floor.  The visual cues of the blue mats or the wall will help her to adjust her body minutely to help in executing a perfect landing.

There is no substitute for repetition, so the key is to repeat landing as much as possible, with as little stress as possible.Whatever the coach’s beliefs, the landing IS the final part of the front handspring vault, and a stuck landing is always a good thing in gymnastics.

SUMMARY

TO PAGE ONE  ►

In closing, the Front Handspring Vault is a great place to start when developing a knowledge of the event.  Many more difficult vaults stem from it, but it is almost always the first “real” vault a gymnast learns.  Early in this article, a good vault was simply described as having two characteristics:  it has to be fast, and it should maintain a fairly straight line.  These are quite simple, in theory, but quite complex in practice.  A vaulter must be powerful enough to give her body the potential to do great things, and she must be trained in how to use that power to make her vault spectacular.  Is it as simple as being fast, strong, and straight?  To many, it is, but always remember, gymnasts train for hundreds of hours to perform on this event for a mere 3.5 seconds.  It probably isn’t as easy as it looks!