08/13/2026
Our Advanced Tumbling clinic is sadly coming to an end tonight 😢
The experience has been amazing though, even with only 1 sign up! Our one sign up has gotten a great opportunity for some 1-on-1 training and has progressed greatly since our first day on Tuesday.
She started out with very solid basics and form, and had been working on her back handspring for quite some time. Over the course of Day 1 I noticed she was lacking having the confidence in herself to fully execute her back handspring and was worried about landing on her head.
So on Day 2 we took a step back and ran some training drills. We worked on her back bend, as she was looking over her shoulder to land. We soon progressed into doing a back bend, without looking over our shoulder, and from an 8 inch mat block! This was amazing progress and a great confidence builder in understanding that if we have good power, follow our hands, and keep our elbows locked, that our hands will meet the floor before our head ever does! We learned that gravity can be our friend, rather than our enemy.
We then took some time to work on her front walkover. At first she was having trouble picking her chest up to be able to stand up coming out of the front walkover. We did some drills that focused on leading with our hips and the timing of our feet landing while taking our hands off the floor to stand up. There’s still a little work to do on this, but by the end of Day 2 she had executed her front walkover a couple times, all by herself! Along with doing a few running passes of a front walkover, cartwheel, and then round off. Creating the perfect build up to add her back handspring when she’s ready!
Yesterday was a very successful day in terms of building confidence and executing skills. This combination of successes will help with her frustration of not yet having her back handspring, especially after so long and working with a few other coaches over the past year.
I have quite enjoyed watching this young athlete open up over the course of a few days and become excited again with tumbling! I’m looking forward to what we can accomplish tonight! Fingers crossed that maybe she’ll get her back handspring, but if she doesn’t I’m sure I will be leaving her with the tools and confidence she needs to keep at it!