I am looking to see if anyone has any ideas or drills for strengthening or making the round off on Vault more efficient. I am also very interested in any clinics or presentations that may be downloaded or otherwise transferred via computer. Thank you. Dave

We do power hurdle round-off rebound to a hollow body flat back onto a mat. Make them go for distance so their round-off turns over properly. Also put a line down the middle of the floor so their hands reach straight.  

We do a lot of work on our hurdle... regardless of what vault it is.  I think I have a presentation from Ron Brant from a couple of years ago... I am not sure if it was from Future Stars Nationals or Congress.  If I can find it, I would be happy to burn it to a DVD for you.

One of the things we do (which has helped any of our tsuk/kas guys out, is we place a really high stack of panel mats in front of the board so that they have to "load" themselves onto the board with a higher hurdle and a faster "feet in front of the hips" action.  Although, I was looking some stuff that Roberto had out a few days ago... and I can almost argue that the guys doing Tsuk 2/1 or Kas 1/1 or even Kas 1 1/2 are keeping the high hurdle but loading their feet, hips and shoulders at just about the same time...  Either way, it solves a lot of problems that I usually see if I don't work on the approach and hurdle first.

One the hurdle is refined, it's all about the anchor arm (for kas) or the block (for tsuk) to get the extra power you need.  I would suggest a lot of drills into stacked mats above the level of the table.


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Kevin Preston
Co-Owner, Preston Gymnastics Academy
www.prestongymnastics.com
www.eventsatpga.com

Region 7 www.region7men.org
USAG MD www.mdmensgymnastics.org

What a busy year as we move closer to the Olympic Games. I appreciate the questions coming in and I will provide some input to assist. As an update I am working on a new look and appraoch to help this site grow.
Round Off Vaults and I think we are talking about Kas and Tsuk Vaults. Here are some thoughts:
1. As mentioned above develop a good hurdle and contact to board. There needs to be good rotation off the board.
2. Develop the Handspring vault while building the Round Off. This helps develop more rotation off the board so early turning and round offs
going around the side can be minimized. Also can help eliminate the development of a leg separation on the pre-flight
3. Also mentioned above, work up to stacked mats that are like 2 to 4 8" mats higher than the top as the gymnast gets stronger.
4. I have found internationally that many vaulters spend alot of time (70% plus) working up to mats.
5. Develop a front flip over stacked boxes (horse height) and then over the table. This take time and the gymnast should develop
a tuck front over, then pike front and then a hollow front over the table. You can tell if the gymnast hits the board correctly by seeing when
the rotation is completed. This should take place over the the top of the horse. If the rotation finishes past the horse it indicates that the
gymnast was forward on the board.
I hope this helps to start things

I know this thread is about round-offs, but I wanted to make a comment about hurdles. I was a track and field athlete for a year in college, so this is coming from that experience. A high hurdle is not necessarily good. If your center of mass starts rising too much, you will lose your linear momentum. If by "high hurdle" you mean bringing your knees up high while still maintaining a lot of your linear momentum, then I think that is correct. By raising your knees it WILL help (like you said) to "load" up onto the board. But a hurdle that has a high flight path will not be efficient for your vault. Just wanted to add something to your post Kevin. I appreciate reading your comments.

Dom, If I am understanding you correctly, you are basically saying that the hurdle/hips themselves don't need to be higher but the knees in the flight of the hurdle should be more compressed to "load" the board? I believe in this method. I am also trying to hammer down the most powerful blocking techniques. I have seen many of the highest level vaulters doing "1/4 ons" that look like skewed handsprings more than 1/4 ons. Is this being taught or is it a way that these athletes are finding to get an "edge" out of their handspring block? Dave