Compulsory vaulting when you don’t have a vault
Today I wanted to do a little breakdown of how you can improve all aspects of your compulsory vaults without actually needing a table. It’s easy to forget how all of the pieces of what looks like such a simple vault work together and how you can break them down so that your kids not only understand all of them but are proficient in all of them.
This first video is a running drill that I really like and have often done. It’s easy to just do the standard running drills that everyone does and not get anything out of them. Remember what happens before the table is often more important than what happens on the table. Make sure your kids can run – FAST. Then vault will be exponentially easier.
This second one is a really lovely drill that is often my first introduction to turning over with a straight body. You can do it with all ages – it’s fun, and it builds good muscle memory. You can also start putting things between their feet to hold etc.
This third video is a really lovely example of transitioning kids from a handstand flat back to a table. Notice they are vaulting sideways over a low resi? That’s a favorite of mine. It builds a ton of confidence and lets them fix lots of things before you get to the vault. Then when you get to the actual table you can put a 4″ over it and it will be similar to vaulting on the resi.
Body tension is INCREDIBLY important for front handspring vaults and this is a great drill to build it. If they aren’t tight during this drill they won’t get any block. It’s a great side station and you’ll see huge strides in your kids being able to maintain their shapes.
