Gymnastics Skills
In this section we look at the following key gymnastic skills:
1. Basic jumps
2. Sideways Roll/Pencil Roll
3. Curled Roll/Egg Roll
4. Shoulder balance
5. Head stand
6. Jump / land / roll sequence
7. Forward roll
8. Backward roll
9. Hand stand
10. Cartwheel
11. Jump for height
1. Basic Jumps
There are five basic jumps that we will look at here:
Skill Name: Two feet-Two feet jump
Learning Cues:
1. Basic jumps
2. Sideways Roll/Pencil Roll
3. Curled Roll/Egg Roll
4. Shoulder balance
5. Head stand
6. Jump / land / roll sequence
7. Forward roll
8. Backward roll
9. Hand stand
10. Cartwheel
11. Jump for height
1. Basic Jumps
There are five basic jumps that we will look at here:
Skill Name: Two feet-Two feet jump
Learning Cues:
- Bend knees into a crouching position
- Swing your arms back and then quickly forward to gain momentum
- Explode forward from the crouching position
- Use your toes to push yourself forward, the toes are the last part of your body to leave the ground
- Land with heels first on two feet (knees bent to absorb the shock) as shown below
Skill Name: Two feet-One foot jump
Learning Cues:
Learning Cues:
- Bend knees into a crouching position
- Swing your arms back and then quickly forward to gain momentum
- Explode forward from the crouching position
- Use your toes to push yourself forward, the toes are the last part of your body to leave the ground
- Land with heel first on One foot (knees bent to absorb the shock) as shown below
- Extend arms outwards if necessary to steady yourself and regain balance after landing
Skill Name: One foot-Same foot (hop)
Learning Cues:
Learning Cues:
- Bend knees into a crouching position
- Swing your arms back and then quickly forward to gain momentum
- Explode forward from the crouching position (One foot first) with knee slightly bent
- Use your toes to push yourself forward, the toes are the last part of your body to leave the ground
- Land with heel first on the same foot as the last foot to leave the ground (knees bent to absorb the shock) as shown below
- Land on same foot (hoping action)
- Extend arms outwards if necessary to steady yourself and regain balance after landing
Skill Name: One foot-One foot (Step)
Learning Cues:
Learning Cues:
- Bend knees into a crouching position
- Swing your arms back and then quickly forward to gain momentum
- Explode forward from the crouching position one foot first
- Use your toes to push yourself forward
- Extend one leg as far as possible forward as shown below
- Extend arms forward to gain momentum at first then drive arms behind to propel yourself forward
- Land with leg bent heel first on one foot (Knee bent to absorb landing)
Skill Name: One foot-Two feet (Jump for height)
Learning Cues:
Learning Cues:
- Bend knees into a crouching position
- Swing your arms back and then quickly forward to gain momentum
- Explode forward from the crouching position one foot first
- Use your toes to push yourself forward toes leaving ground last.
- Bend knee at take off
- Extend body and arms as far upwards as possible to gain maximum height
- Land with leg bent on two feet heels first (Knees bent to absorb landing)
Images courtesy of http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/pe/pssi/pdf/gym/gym_b_1.pdf
2. Skill Name: Sideways roll (Pencil Roll)
Learning Cues:
2. Skill Name: Sideways roll (Pencil Roll)
Learning Cues:
- Lye on mat facing up with body tucked in tight
- lift your arms above your head straight up so that the top of your arms or shoulders are close to your ears
- Put your hands together and point upwards as if making the point of the pencil
- Stretch the body as much as possible always reaching at full stretch towards the point
- Roll shoulders to gain momentum and travel down the mat as shown below
3. Skill Name: Egg Role (Body Curled)
Learning Cues:
- Lie down on your back on the mat, with your body perpendicular to the path you plan to roll
- Bring your knees up to your chest and hold them with your hands. Lower your chin toward your knees as much as possible
- Keep your elbows tight to your side
- Rock back and forwards until you have enough momentum to carry you onto your side. Keep that momentum going and roll until you're face-down, then onto your other side, and back onto your back. You will need to push off the mat slightly with your legs and arms to keep going.
- Roll down the mat until you reach the end as shown below
4. Skill Name: Shoulder Balance
Learning Cues:
I have linked below a video from youtube showing the shoulder balance in action
Learning Cues:
- Lie flat on your back with your legs straight and toes pointed
- Bend your knees and bring them up to your chest as far as possible. Keep arms on the floor and at your sides for balance
- Rock back and forth if necessary until you get enough momentum to roll back onto your shoulders and lift your body up.
- Point your legs and toes upwards to the ceiling and hold
- Hold your hands under your mid-back for support
I have linked below a video from youtube showing the shoulder balance in action
5. Skill Name: Head stand
Learning Cues:
- On your knees extend hands forwards shoulder width apart. With hands facing forward.
- Lean head forward and point downwards on the ground so that head and hands is in a triangle shape.
- Elbows should form a bridge, raise both knees and rest them on the bridge you have created with your arms and elbows
- Continue until a tuck handstand is formed
- When you feel up to it raise legs into full hand stand position
- Try to keep your body as straight as possible
- Make sure you keep triangle position of hands and head, pressure should be exerted to hands and not head,
- Keep your body tense
6. Skill Name: Jump/Land/Roll sequence
For our Jump/Land/Roll sequence we chose the Two Feet-Two Feet Jump and Land followed by the Egg Roll.
We chose this because we thought students could find this sequence doable but challenging as well as the fact that we have not yet looked in depth into the forward and backward roll to add in after landing.
The students would enjoy this sequence as there is also the "Don't crack the egg" challenge of keeping yourself tucked into the egg while moving after landing which could generate some added interest for the students.
Both Movements of the sequence are described in detail above...
7. Skill Name: Forward Roll
Learning Cues:
- Stand with feet apart placing hands flat on the mat with the fingers pointing forward.
- Raise your hips and tuck your chin into your chest as much as possible (similar to starting position for the Egg Roll)
- Bend your Knees
- Lower your head and push off from your feet
- Roll onto your shoulders and upper back avoiding contact with the top of the head.
- Continue rolling until you come to your feet.
- Stretch your arms upwards to regain balance and come to standing position.as shown below.
8. Skill Name: Backward Roll
Learning Cues:
- Stand with feet apart as you would start the forward roll except with your back facing the mat
- Drop your hips back down towards your heels, you will find the momentum starting to carry you back
- Begin to tuck your chin into your test like you did with the egg roll and forward roll.
- Raise your hands up alongside your ears with your elbows pointing toward the ceiling.
- When you begin to roll continue to push with your shoulders and hands
- Avoid contact with the neck and head to avoid injury, this can be easily done by focusing the movement and work on your shoulders and hands rather than other parts of your body, natural momentum should carry you across.
- Begin to straighten the arms until your hips begin to straighten back up thus rolling you all the way over
- Continue rolling until you come to your feet.
9. Skill Name: Hand Stand
Learning Cues:
- Stand straight up with your hands above your head
- Keep your arms straight, you should feel them touching your ears (similar to pencil roll position of arms)
- Kick one of your legs out forward as far as it will go comfortably (Large step)
- Lean forward all the time keeping your body straight
- Lean across the outstretched leg
- Keep your body straight as possible at all times.
- Keep your arms perfectly straight, bending elbows will result in falling and risking injury to the neck and head
- Focus weight and pressure to the hands and finger tips
- Straighten out completely, if necessary have a partner or teacher catch you at full extension for you to build your confidence
- When you feel confident enough, attempt hand stand on your own without the aid.
I have linked below a demonstration from youtube of the hand stand at a more advanced level so you can see what this looks like (More advanced level of gymnastics)
10. Skill Name: Cartwheel
Learning Cues:
- Stand straight up with your arms lifted facing along the mat
- Take a long step off on one foot while the other stationary foot begins to push off
- Reach the arms and hands out
- Place hand on the floor in line with stationary foot
- Place your other hand beyond the first hand
- Throw the legs over in a wheel shape
- Push on from the second hand
- Land back on wheeling foot as shown below
11. Skill Name: Jumping for height
Learning Cues:
- Stand straight up with your arms loose and ready for movement
- Bend your knees
- Lower yourself into a crouching position
- Explode upwards from the crouching position
- Swing your arms upwards quickly
- Pick out a target above your head and reach to grab that target
- When landing bend knees to absorb shock of the land as shown below
References for Gymnastics skills:
www.ppds.ie - Gymnastics strand of curriculum
www.sportnz.org
Various images used in this portfolio are a combination of photos taken ourselves in teaching, the ppds website and from google images.
Videos included are all linked to youtube.