Quick Tip: Training turning jumps early

Hi All,

Today I wanted to share a drill I love to do on tumbl trak with my kids. I have them do one, take three steps forward, do another etc. It’s even something I include (and may even do more with) with my little rec kids. It’s how I start training turning jumps, but it’s also fantastic for coordination and keeping their brains engaged and focused. Here are videos of two different examples. I usually only use tuck and split with rec kids. I leave the wolf jumps for team.

After they’ve mastered this step. You can take out one of the straight jumps. Ie. instead of going 1/2 turn, tuck jump, 1/2 turn. They got tuck 1/2, 1/2 turn. Then once they can do that proficiently, they can start doing tuck jump 1/1s.

Of course your rec kids have a while before that skill will be useful (if ever), BUT, there are a whole bunch of other benefits to these drills. For instance getting kids to understand what direction they are turning. The first time your gymnasts try this a whole slew of them will probably jump 1/2 turn, tuck jump, and then jump 1/2 back the way they came. It’s a great way to get little ones to focus because it’s often hard for them to keep track of three things in a row.

Try out this drill and let me know how it goes!

Train hard!