Quick Tip: Presentation on Beam

Hi All,

Today I’m going to share one of my tips for developing presentation on beam with little ones. We all know developing presentation in young gymnasts can be difficult, they just have SO many things to think about that developing good habits about stretching feet and thinking about fingers can be hard. So this is one of the drills I like to use.

For this drill you can take jump ropes or therabands (or even large hula hoops), have the kids put them behind their legs and pinch them between their thumb and middle finger (this gives that pretty fingers look). Then have them lift up. Make sure their hands are far enough apart so that they don’t get stuck half way. Honestly I prefer the really thick rope jump ropes. They are the easiest for young gymnasts to hold in that way and create the best feeling. But if you don’t have those regular jump ropes will do.

Once you’ve got them in this position just work on walking. For a LONG time. You can even make it so that they do their walks every day with a rope, because then it gets in their brains really well. This will help your gymnasts understand what their hands, shoulders, and back are supposed to do while on beam. It will also control a LOT of the wobbling. Make sure they are consistently stretching their fingers sometimes they get a little lazy and just start holding the rope, this should be an ACTIVE finger activity.

Just for another cute picture, this is me trying to explain how fingers are supposed to stretch and why it’s so important.