A drill to improve an athlete’s round-off
by Craig Callaway
photo credit: photos by curtis callaway
CBN Feb/Mar 2010
One of the most common problems an athlete can have with her round-off is not pulling her legs together quickly enough. This can cause her to tumble crookedly or lose power. Here’s a tumbling drill that will help prepare your athletes for a round-off.
1. LUNGE
Have the athlete start in a lunge with her good foot forward. Arms should be straight up and by her ears.
2. KICK
As the athlete leans forward and places her hands on the floor, her back leg should kick up. Her front leg should be used for power, bend and push. NOTE: The athlete’s body should be in a straight line from her wrists to the ankle of her back leg.
3a. CLICK
At the very top, the athlete should click her heels together into a handstand. She shouldn’t stop in this position.
3b. HAND PLACEMENT
While in the handstand, the athlete’s fingers should be pointing forward. In a round-off, her first hand should point sideways and her second hand should point back toward the first hand. NOTE: Don’t let her point the fingers of her second hand in the direction she’s going.
4. STEP OUT
As soon as she clicks her heels together, she should split them open again. Her lead foot should lower toward the floor. This is probably the most awkward part of the skill.
5. LAND
As her first foot approaches the floor, she should push off the ground with her hands in order to stand up. She should be careful not to bend her arms and pull away. Instead, she should push through her shoulders. This is called “blocking.”
6. LUNGE
The athlete should finish in a lunge facing in the direction she came from.
“The round-off is the key to everything. It’s key to the height of the third skill in a tumbling pass and to the speed. If you don’t keep a straight line throughout the skill, then the rest of the pass isn’t going to reach its maximum potential. Most of the time, when I visit gyms to help athletes with their double-fulls, the trouble they’re having is due to the round-off. Once I fix that, their double hits. It’s become the nature of the sport—people want to continue to look at the ‘in’ skill, and they forget that this basic skill is usually where the problems lie.” —Debbie Love, renowned tumbling instructor
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