A02 Gymnastic Based Sport

Vault: 

Skills

·         The run

When running towards the vaulting table you need to be running at full pace to get the best out of your performance and build up momentum. Start running from as far back as you can and run towards the springboard. Running at speed also enables you to get a higher lift-off from the springboard.

·         The pre-flight

This is the part when the gymnast hits the springboard. To get a higher lift from the springboard they need to be in a tight form because they don’t want to lose the power built up from the run. The gymnast’s legs should be straight and together, with toes pointed. Their arms should be stretched by their ears.

·         Contact with the table

Once the gymnast makes contact with the table they should push off with their hands as forcefully as possible to get the greatest amount of lift into the air. It’s very important that they maintain a tight body position to create a powerful vault.

·         The post-flight

To most people this is the most exciting part because the gymnast has pushed off from the table and should now be doing flips in mid-air. Both height and distance are judged, as well as form such as pointed toes and tight-together legs.

·         The landing

Once the gymnast has finished all of the flips possible they will try to stick the landing. Every gymnasts dream is to stick the landing to get the most marks possible but it can be very hard. They also need to land between certain boundaries marked on the mat.

Techniques – Performing the Front Handspring:

·         The run

If you are going to perform a front handspring the run is fairly straight forward. It should be fast and powerful and should accelerate to the punch on the springboard. The gymnast needs to have strong legs and ankles if they are to develop their running power. A good warm up will include sprints, and a variety of different running methods and jumping methods.

·         Pre-flight

Different coaches have different opinions on what the body position should be throughout the pre-flight. Some say that a strong arched position is correct but others say that a hollow position is desirable. The only thing they seem to agree on is that a piked pre-flight is detrimental. 

·         Post-flight

Some judges prefer to see a tight-arch in the post-flight, some prefer a hollow position. Some gymnasts prefer to keep a dead straight body position in the post-flight. There are many different exercises to practise keeping a straight body position one is where a coach hold your legs straight while you do a handstand. 

·         The landing

The landing is a very hard phase to master but as with all things ‘practise makes perfect’. Many coaches spend excessive amounts of time training the landing of vaults but this just makes less experienced gymnasts put less effort into their vaults. In most competitions:

Perfect vault +average landing = high score

Average vault + perfect landing = low score

Tactics

Run- To achieve a good vault you need to run as fast as you can towards the springboard to build up momentum. If your pace is really slow there is absolutely no chance of you having the amount of energy you need to perform a vault because you won’t have built up enough momentum. Once you reach the springboard you must ‘hurdle’ onto it as low as possible. The springboard is designed to take forward energy and turn it into up energy.

Punch- If you lean too far forward on the board you will smack your face into the vault because of the design of the board. To achieve a perfect ‘punch’ keep your chest up and punch with your feet in front of you.

Pre-flight- Keep your legs together and straight but do not arch. Stay hollow and keep your head neutral as you kick as hard as possible so you can achieve the greatest amount of lift.

Contact- Contact with the table should be as short as possible but your legs need to stay tight as you hit the table, so you can bounce off. The reason why you need to stay tight is so you can just bounce off and not flop to the ground. If you think about it, a pencil is tight and it bounces off the ground if you drop it but a wet noodle will not bounce.

Post-flight- Staying tight, pop your chest and arms into a hollow body position. This action is what will bring you to your feet when you land. This is the most exciting part of the vault so don’t embarrass yourself.

Landing- Although your knees must bend to absorb the shock you must keep your body as tight as possible so you don’t just flop to the ground. This also helps you ‘stick the landing’.

  

  

A02 Athletic Based Sport

Skills

·         Training:

Before a race you should always do some training, this warms you up and wakes your body up if it is tired. If you can, you could do some training exercises the night before as well so your body is fully fit for the next day. If you want to, try to do some training every night a month before the race, and then you will be super fit for the race.

·         Stretches:

Stretches are also very important, as well as training, because you don’t want to pull anything during or before your race. However, you don’t need to do any stretches until the day of the race, unlike training where you should do it at least a week before. Always try to stretch before any kind of activity because if you don’t you are bound to lose, and it doesn’t take very long.

  

                                                                                

                                       

Techniques:

Everyone knows that the aim of the 100m sprint is to run as fast as you can and beat the other sprinters but anyone who doesn’t work on their technique will never get the best out of the race as they could. In order to compete at high levels with other sprinters you must try different techniques and practise them frequently. You must work on your start, acceleration and your ability to hold your top speed.

Because the 100m sprint is such a short distance and lasts for just seconds a quick start is vital if you want to win the race. If you want a perfect start you must have your weight evenly distributed over your hands and your feet. On the gun, you must push with your forward leg, straightening it out as your back leg comes forward and begins you drive. Pump hard with both hands, staying low in your stride. Although this technique looks complex and sounds like a slow start on paper it makes a very quick start in real life. Like anything, practise makes perfect! It’s actually a very easy technique once you know what you’re doing.

To achieve a great acceleration phase you must stay low through your first 6 strides. This should take you about 20-25 yards from the start line. Once you have reached your second stride, your front leg becomes a lever that keeps your speed increasing. Gradually, with each stride, you should begin to rise up until you are in a normal running position. Your muscles need to stay relaxed throughout this phase, particularly in your neck and shoulders, and keep your vision focused straight ahead.

Once you have reached your maximum speed your hangs should be swinging back and forward at about shoulder height and when your foot hits the ground just the ball of your feet should make contact. Your forward leg should be reaching upward and outward with each stride and your push-off leg will now be folded back fully, nearly reaching your buttocks.        

Tactics:

·         Start

The best way to achieve a perfect start is to practise before a race, about five times, so you can get used to the sound of the starters pistol. Do not get in the habit of anticipating the starter pistol, because this will lead to false starts, and perhaps disqualification. To get a quick start place your weight as forward as possible on your palms and toes, so you can get off the line as quick as possible.

·         High knees

To achieve a good time in your race, high knees is crucial to a sprinters repertoire. Getting the hang of this is quite difficult so you need to practise during training. The best way of practising high knees is to go to the track and sprint 25m and once you hit that mark change your gait so your knees go up past hip level as you continue to run. Once you have finished this repeat this exercise over and over again. This will help you develop a full stride when sprinting.

·         Strength

The 100m sprint requires a lot of strength in your calf muscles, quads and glutes.  The calf muscles are the most important in getting off to a fast start; the glutes will help you sustain your speed. Weight training will help you get your leg muscles stronger. Work on the clean and jerk, snatch, squat, bench press, and dead lift to build lower-body strength. Lift weights three times per week to get your body strong enough to sprint effectively.

·         Arm action

Most people will say that sprinting is about using your legs and lower body but you also have to use your arms to gain speed. Top sprinters will pump their arms with each stride, this helps you gain pace. Your fists should reach shoulder level as you pump and your hands should be straight with your elbows at a 90 degree angle.

Strategies

·         The start

As with all 100m sprints, the start is where you get into sprinter’s position and await the gun. Once the gun is fired all of the athletes will explode out of the blocks as quick as possible. There is only one primary aspect for training on the starting position: reaction time. A great strategy for improving reaction time is by simulating competitive conditions.   Practice exploding out the blocks time and time again. Get used to awaiting the gun sound. Get other coaches or teammates to help you with this. Each time you get into position, focus on the actual race.

·         Maximum speed

Most sprinters reach their maximum speed around the 40-50 yard mark. The first to get to the 40 yard mark will have the advantage over the other athletes. This is where all the energy is being used to pump your arms and quickly get your feet back to the ground in an intense stride. When training for the 100m sprint you should hit the weights, and then run. While building muscle and tearing tissue, you are focusing on your fast twitch muscle fibres. These fibres are used for quick races. Conditioned sprinters will typically keep their maximum speed for about 30 meters.

·         Maintaining your speed

Separating the men from the boys is the last 30 meters of the race. This is where the race gets interesting because this is where all of the sprinters start to slow down. The winner will be the sprinter who can maintain the most speed throughout the last 30m. To maintain your maximum speed as long as possible practise during training. The best way to do this is by concentrating on maximum running throughout the entire race. Practise this over and over, practise makes perfect. Gradually you will get better and better and soon you will be up in first place.

  

A01 Gymnastic Based Sport

 VAULT:

The vault is performed by both male and female and as you can see in the image above it involves lots of concentration. As well as the vault being a skill performed by many gymnasts, it is the name of the apparatus used. Performing a vault is very easy but perfecting a vault is very hard. In recent PE lessons I have performed a ‘gate vault’, ‘through vault’ and a ‘hand spring’. When I was trying the through vault for the first time I accidently did a ‘straddle vault’. It’s very easy to understand but doing it is the tricky part. I don’t think my vaults were aesthetically pleasing.  

The ‘Vaulting horse’:

Originally the vault was performed on a ‘horse’, a ‘pommel horse’ without the handles, but was changed because it has resulted in many serious injuries. For women gymnasts the ‘horse’ was set up perpendicular to their run but for men it was set up parallel. For over century the ‘vaulting horse’ was used in the Olympics up until recently when it was banned and replaced by the ‘vaulting table’. Introduced in 2001, in the ‘world artistic gymnastics championships’, made by Dutch gymnasts, the ‘vaulting table’ is a much safer apparatus than the ‘horse’.

Dimensions:   

The vaulting table is:

·         120cm long

·         95cm wide

·         135cm high (men)

·         125cm high (women).

The run up area is:

·         2500cm long

·         100cm wide.

How a vault is performed:

·         The Run:

The gymnast may choose how far they want to run as long as it is within 82 feet from the table. Although the run is not judged it is best that you run as fast as you can towards the spring board to build up momentum for the vault. Once the gymnast is within 3-6 feet away from the spring board they must jump onto it, or round-off onto the springboard. 

·         Pre-flight:

The pre-flight is the phase when the gymnast hits the spring board and makes contact with the table. This is a very important part and easy to mess up. The gymnast does not want to lose the momentum built up by the run. The gymnast’s legs should be together with arms stretched up by the ears.

·         Contact with the table:

This phase involves the gymnast pushing off the table with his/her hands as forcefully as possible to get the best amount of lift. The gymnast needs to stay as tight as possible to create a powerful vault.  

·         The Post-flight:

The post-flight is the part of the vault where the gymnast has pushed off from the table and is in the air. To most people this is the most exciting bit because the person doing it is usually performing flips and twists before they land. However, the post-flight is very easy to go wrong. The judges will mark you on distance and form; this will include pointed toes and legs tight together.

·         The landing:

Although this is the end of the vault the gymnast must make sure they ‘stick’ the landing, or make sure they stay on their feet when they hit the mat. Boundaries will be marked out on the mat and extra points will be awarded for landing inside the boundaries. The person should also put up his/her hands to show they have finished they’re vault. This is usually for just a few seconds.

Scoring and Rules:

Most rules are the same for both men and women but some can be a little bit different, for example if women stop on the runway for some specific reason they are allowed 30 seconds to go back to the start of the runway and given a second chance but men are not given a second chance they get 0 marks.

Landing a vault with a hop or step will result in a deduction of points whether they’re male or female. Gymnasts are expected to land cleanly. In qualification or team final events both male and female gymnasts performs one vault unlike Apparatus Finals where they must perform two vaults. For men these two vaults must be from different element groups but for women they must use different repulsion from the ‘table’.

The image above is taken from behind the ‘vaulting table’. You can see the start of the runway and how far you have to run. Obviously this isn’t a professional gymnastics place but it is certainly used for events and club contests. As I said earlier in this guide the gymnast can start from anywhere on the runway and they usually run as fast as they can towards the spring board. After they have completed their vault they land on the mat that you can see after the ‘vaulting table’. Always know which vault you are doing before you start running! The worst thing that could happen is for you to change your mind just as your about to get onto the springboard.

In this image you can even see the judges beside the springboard. They need to be by the ‘vaulting table’ because this is the part that they judge.

This image shows a clear view of the runway leading up to the spring- board. From this angle we can see how tall the ‘vaulting table’ really is. The spring board doesn’t look as though it will give much lift but if you push down with your knees you will go quite high. 

National Organizations:

·        NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships:

http://www.nawgj.org/ncaa_gymnastics_rules.htm

The link above will bring up a page all about the rules of the National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships. This will include how many points a certain type of vault is, for example a FHS (onto board) Handspring – 1/1 twist off is worth 9.30 points. It also includes special requirements, like the 1.00 deduction for touching the vault table with only one or with no hands. As well as this it includes more complex rules such as:

·         Floor exercise special requirements

·         Element values different from level 10

·         Connection value exceptions

As well as gymnastics the NCAA are involved in:

·         Baseball

·         Basketball

·         Cross country

·         Fencing

·         Football

·         Golf

·         Ice Hockey

·         Lacrosse

·         Skiing

·         Rifle

·         Soccer

·         Swimming

·         Diving

·         Tennis

·         Track and Field (indoor)

·         Track and field (outdoor)

·         Volleyball

·         Water polo

·        

     Wrestling

·         Field Hockey

·         Fencing

·         Rowing

·         Softball

·         And even bowling.

·        NAWGJ National Association Of Women’s Gymnastics Judges:

http://www.nawgj.org/

The link above takes you to the NAWGJ homepage which has lots of useful information about the association and how to join them. Down the left hand side of the page are useful links including:

·         Education corner

·         Email updates

·         How do I become a judge?

·         Gymnastics links

·         And Official documents.

Down the right hand side of the page you will find some useful ‘what’s new’ links. This may include tournament results or new rules or meetings:

·        National High School Gymnastics Association:

http://www.nationalhsga.com/

The link above will take you to the NHSGA homepage. If you scroll down to the bottom you will find the different events they do. Now click on Vault. This will take you to a page with very long list of names, their schools, their state, their grade, their average and their coach. 

        The UK National Governing Body For Gymnastics:

http://www.british-gymnastics.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

The link above will take to The UK National Governing Body for Gymnastics homepage. On this website there is so much information about the Governing Body and what they do. You will find gymnastics news, information about gymnastics, recent uploads and down the left hand side will be a number of links to different areas on the website such as: ‘about BG’, ‘club support’, ‘coaching’, ‘membership’, judging’ and ‘leisure centre’. Near the top of the homepage in the red bar click on ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’ to get some information on the different gymnastics they do and some information on the vault.    

Founded in 1888, known as British Amateur Gymnastics Association, BG is a member of the World Governing Body for Gymnastics (FIG), the European Governing Body (UEG), the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR).

·       


        Federation International of Gymnastics (FIG):   

http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/vsite/vtrial/page/home/0,11065,5187-187975-205197-45048-285446-custom-item,00.html

The FIG logotype

Note the above text, highlighted in yellow, is taken from the following link: http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,5187-188373-205595-44660-282829-custom-item,00.html

The circle represents unity. Its line never ends a perpetual new beginning. It also represents the space in which time and events take place.
The circle represents the world. Thus, the unity of time as well as that of space and the actions which take place within it express the universal nature of gymnastics. The sphere is crisscrossed with longitudinal and latitudinal lines, messengers of physical and spiritual development through the practice of gymnastics, by virtue of the FIG's fundamental principles as described in its Statutes. The Federation adds its signature, the FIG mark, to the universal nature of gymnastics. This mark is a reminder that the universe of gymnastics works within its own rules, which are contained in its Statutes and recognised at all levels of its federation structure. The foundation date lies behind the symbol and gives it the authority and credibility inspired by the year 1881.