Turning cartwheels into round offs

I know I did a post on round offs recently, but I think this is such an important skill it’s worth sharing all the drills and info I can. Turning cartwheels into round offs can be really tough in terms of explaining how legs are supposed to snap together late and the chest is supposed to snap up.

This video shows a really innovative way to teach kids how to step together before teaching them to cartwheel step-in. If you’re looking for an intro tumbling circuit this is a really nice one that doesn’t require much by way of equipment. I might throw some lever drills in there – because those are ESSENTIAL.

Once you’ve got a nice cartwheel and kids can step together well this is the drill I would do OVER and OVER and OVER again. The muscle memory of being off balance is great – and when they start round offing their instinct will be to rebound and turn over to their back.

Quick Tips:

1. Make sure their cartwheel has these things before they start round offs 1) lever 2) straight arms 3) straight knees 4) goes over the top. If they can’t do these things the round off is going to have LOTS of problems – and is going to take a huge amount of time to fix in the long term.

2. Drill the step together by itself EARLY. The earlier to can teach them to bring their chest up and their second foot down AT THE SAME TIME, the easier it’s going to be. You can even teach them two kinds of handstands from the beginning.

3. Chalk/props are your friend. As demonstrated in the first video the boxes can be great. Chalk, stickers, whatever you’ve got in your gym to remind kids that the feet come TOGETHER will make you not have to remind them so much.

4. Instill falling backwards (backward momentum) out of the cartwheel step in early

5. When you do start round offing (or even doing CARTWHEEL step-ins fast) do them down. Have them put their hands (and front foot) on a panel and their feet on the floor. Until they learn how to really kick their back leg – this will eliminate a lot of technical flaws.