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BACK
HANDSPRINGS!
Extreme
Gymnastics Back Handspring Seminar Overview
The back handspring is one of
the most fundamental and important aspects of tumbling. The seminar held
at our school encompassed exercises, drills, and the proper body positioning
necessary to ensure that this skill was done in the correct manner, and
more importantly, was done SAFELY! From start to finish, the back
handspring was broken down into each phase of the movement, so that all levels of students
could begin to gain an understanding of how to gain proficiency of this skill
and move towards higher progressions of tumbling!
This
clinic was in our minds, a big hit as
we had lotz of kids eager to learn and workout. The coaches went thru so
many drills and exercises, that the seminar probably could have lasted
another couple of hours! We are planning another one of these awesome
clinics in the very near future so please keep an ear open for that
announcement. Here at Extreme, we believe we have the very best facility
in the area to accommodate students interested in gymnastics, or those
involved in just tumbling. From our
full, Olympic sized, spring-loaded floor, to our 24-foot “tumbl-trak”,
the 2 resi-pits, one above ground, the other in-ground that we
have, the 3000+ square feet of carpet-bonded foam flooring in our warm-up/energy/tumbling
room, and, probably most importantly, the 30-foot, 12-foot deep,
padded foam pit for tumbling into, which gives opportunity to
facilitate tumbling skills in a much safer manner, our
school has everything that our gymnasts, or any tumbler needs to
work on floor skills.
In
addition, we have exceptional coaches here, teaching with a sound
curriculum based around fundamentals and progression of skills done in a
safe manner. In
any event, besides the physical portion of the seminar, the following is
excerpts from some of the paperwork that was handed out, which
hopefully, can help separate REALITY vs. PERCEPTION
concepts, when it comes to any of the skills involved in gymnastics or
tumbling. It is increasingly frustrating from our standpoint to see
other schools, groups, or organizations that advertise, “Get your back
handspring here now”, leaving kids and parents with false
hopes and expectations, that this skill is magically going to
happen immediately!
Truth
be told, it takes a lot of effort…
COMMITMENT and
DEDICATION
- Getting into physical shape, where one can start to see results, can
take up to 3 months. Accomplishing and perfecting a skill can take 6
months, a year, sometimes longer! Year round training,
practicing, and exercising are the only ways that an athlete can become
stronger; stay strong, be more proficient at learning or perfecting
skills, while having successes towards reaching their goals. The very
best tumblers in our school are our gymnastics team girls, who come
between 9 and 12 hours every week, to workout, condition,
exercise, and train. They probably do around 80+ or so back handsprings
every week, about 350 per month, or, approximately 4200 back handsprings
a year, all, in a controlled environment! That’s in addition to
their other gymnastics training, and more importantly, their
conditioning, strength training, and stretching, which encompasses one
third of their total time in the gym! Bottom line is that coming into a
gym a month or so before a “tryout” and “expecting” to master a
skill in a couple of weeks is unrealistic and virtually impossible to
achieve, regardless of how gifted the athlete may or may not be.
Enrolling in a class for one or two months out of the year is not an
ideal learning situation. There are no short cuts, nor ways around the
hard work that goes into preparing one’s body for the tasks or goals
ahead.
PATIENCE-
Skills,
as mentioned, take time, and a lot of time to practice. Don’t expect
them to be “gotten” overnight. People tend to get discouraged easily
and give up on themselves too quickly if they do not see immediate
results. Everyone progresses
at different levels. The more time that children are in an environment
such as ours, obviously, the stronger and more flexible they will
become, their proficiency of existing skills will become better,
while certain skill progressions will not only happen faster, but become
easier as well! Be
patient, as the key to success is consistent
training!
GYMNASTICS
CLASSES-
Nowadays, many, if not most of the tumblers or cheerleaders that
one sees at high-level competitions or in college, have gymnastics
backgrounds. The taking
of regular gymnastics classes can benefit even those just interested in
tumbling or cheerleading. Vault enhances speed, power, and
“blocking”, bars incorporates upper body strength, along with
timing, technique, and "air awareness", beam accentuates
poise, posture, balance, and focus, while floor encompasses each and
every one of the tumbling elements. All of the above combined, will make
a child stronger overall. With ALL tumbling skills, upper body strength
is critical, as athletes need the ability to support their body weight
on 1 or 2 arms, with gravity working against them! A stronger athlete
will not only be able to do the bigger skills, but also be less
susceptible to injury. Success at any level is very much
predicated on health and being injury free. So we want our kids, ALL
kids, strong, with lots of successes! Please take this into
consideration since it has been our long-term experience where
exceptional cheerleaders or tumblers, were usually good, or at the very least,
decent gymnasts!
ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR
SUCCESSES!
BE
EXTREME AND CALL TODAY! 1-609-978-9909!
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