Quick Tip – Eliminating Back Walkover Fear

Hi All,

Today’s quick tip is my favorite way of eliminating fear in back walkovers. The biggest thing that I find when gymnasts are afraid of their back walkovers is that they aren’t confident in their ability to get their hands on the beam. Really, this often translates to a lack of confidence controlling the first half of the back walkover. They feel like they are just falling onto their hands rather than controlling where they put their hands.

This very simple drill does a lot to help gymnasts feel in control. I’m spotting these, as this was the first time this gymnast had done this drill but after the first few I generally have gymnasts do these by themselves. Another variation of it that I like is to have a gymnast stand on either side of a floor beam (one foot on each side), and then back bend and put their hands on the beam and stand back up. It’s slightly easier, but still does a great job of helping gymnasts get confident in placing their hands.