Falling safely: back and side
Ready when: Rolls: pencil, egg, teddy bear (b3) started.
What you are learning
Falling backward and to the side without hurting the head or wrists: chin tucked, head off the floor, and both forearms slapping the mat flat to spread the force. Gymnasts fall often; practised falls stay safe.
Words on this card Shapes, Long sit, Squat, Vault
- Shapes
- Body shapes. Tuck: knees hugged to the chest. Pike: legs straight, folded at the hips. Straddle: legs straight and wide apart. Star: arms and legs spread wide. Straight: the body long and tight.
- Long sit
- Sitting on the floor with the legs straight out in front.
- Squat
- Crouching with the knees bent and the bottom near the heels.
- Vault
- Artistic apparatus. Vault: running and springing over a padded table. Bars: swinging on high bars. Beam: a balance beam 10 cm wide. Floor: a sprung square for tumbling and dance.
Set up
A mat, a folded duvet or soft grass; nothing hard nearby.
Weather: dry ground
Show it first for the one teaching
- Lie on your back, lift the head and tuck the chin. Slap the mat with both forearms and palms, arms at about 45 degrees from the body.
- From a long sit, roll back with the chin on the chest and slap.
- Side fall: from a long sit, fall back diagonally to one side, slap with one arm, the other hand on the belly.
Your part while they practise
Give the signal; watch that the head stays off the floor.
Step by step
- Lying on the back, head lifted, slap the mat with both forearms and palms.
- From a long sit, roll back with the chin on the chest and slap.
- Then from a squat.
- Side fall from a long sit, each side.
- One new step a week.
How much: 5 of each fall 8 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Signal falls
On "back", everyone falls back at once with one loud slap.
Who plays: 1 or more children; you call.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Children sit in a line on the mat, a body length apart
- Call "back", "left" or "right"
- Everyone falls that way with one slap together
- 10 calls
- Fair play
- A younger child falls from lying only.
- Points
- 1 point for each fall the right way with the head off the floor; 1 bonus point when the whole group slaps as one sound.
- Fouls
- No point for that fall
- The head touches the floor
- A hand reaches back to catch the fall
- Falling the wrong way
- Winning
- Beat your best from 10 calls.
- 5 points for 1 star
- 8 points for 2 stars
- 12 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Lying only.
From a half squat.
What you will see, and what to say
- the head touches the floor
Chin to chest, look at your belly
The head stays up. - a hand reaches back to catch
Slap the floor, arms flat
Whole forearm down.
Self-check
5 backward falls in a row with the head off the floor.
Stop and get a coach when
Neck or wrist pain.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains falling safely.
awiseathlete.com/sports/gymnastics/gymnastics-b5