All-Star Tumbling Advice Please

[Melissa Starke]

Hi all,

I've always been terrified to do any kind of acrobatics/tumbling due to having balance issues as a child.

I've been cheering for about 1,5 years now, and at my gym,we are starting to focus more on tumbling.

It took me roughly about a year to
" get over "my anxiety and I am now able to cartwheel. It isn't perfect yet but it's a big step for me.

Now that I'm not longer scared of doing cartwheels,I find that being unable to do handstands due to being terrified of them is holding me back.
And it's frustrating to me, because I Know, I'm holding myself back and honestly I don't know what to do about it.
On a good day I can attempt them and get as far as kicking up both of my feet, on a bad day I won't try because I'm freaking myself out, and knowing that I'm doing it. :/

Are there any coaches on here,that have worked with older athletes (I'm 21) and having to start tumbling from scratch ?
Do you have tips, drills to practice, any advice is greatly appreciated!

I have acces to an trampoline park near my house,but at practice we only have a tumble mat, like shown on the picture.

 

[cpersichilli]

Hi all,

I've always been terrified to do any kind of acrobatics/tumbling due to having balance issues as a child.

I've been cheering for about 1,5 years now, and at my gym,we are starting to focus more on tumbling.

It took me roughly about a year to
" get over "my anxiety and I am now able to cartwheel. It isn't perfect yet but it's a big step for me.

Now that I'm not longer scared of doing cartwheels,I find that being unable to do handstands due to being terrified of them is holding me back.
And it's frustrating to me, because I Know, I'm holding myself back and honestly I don't know what to do about it.
On a good day I can attempt them and get as far as kicking up both of my feet, on a bad day I won't try because I'm freaking myself out, and knowing that I'm doing it. :/

Are there any coaches on here,that have worked with older athletes (I'm 21) and having to start tumbling from scratch ?
Do you have tips, drills to practice, any advice is greatly appreciated!

I have acces to an trampoline park near my house,but at practice we only have a tumble mat, like shown on the picture.

I recently started tumbling too, and I'm 20. The thought of handstands still terrifies me a little bit haha, i was taught how to do a cartwheel and round off last year, and at first i was terrified, i thought my arms were going to give out, i sometimes still think they will when i do handstand snap downs. honestly, i think the only way to get over your fear is to get used to doing them, the more i did cartwheels and round offs, the more comfortable i got being upside down, since then I've progressed to doing back walkovers and backhand springs, I'm still scared sometimes, but you just have to think, the worst thing that can happen is that I fall. and if you have a good coach, they will teach you how to properly fall, so you don't hurt anything. thats the first thing my tumbling coach did when we started back walk overs. I know how frustrating this must be for you, but positive thoughts will go a long way and practice makes perfect! good luck!

 

[dat.jpp]

Hi all,

I've always been terrified to do any kind of acrobatics/tumbling due to having balance issues as a child.

I've been cheering for about 1,5 years now, and at my gym,we are starting to focus more on tumbling.

It took me roughly about a year to
" get over "my anxiety and I am now able to cartwheel. It isn't perfect yet but it's a big step for me.

Now that I'm not longer scared of doing cartwheels,I find that being unable to do handstands due to being terrified of them is holding me back.
And it's frustrating to me, because I Know, I'm holding myself back and honestly I don't know what to do about it.
On a good day I can attempt them and get as far as kicking up both of my feet, on a bad day I won't try because I'm freaking myself out, and knowing that I'm doing it. :/

Are there any coaches on here,that have worked with older athletes (I'm 21) and having to start tumbling from scratch ?
Do you have tips, drills to practice, any advice is greatly appreciated!

I have acces to an trampoline park near my house,but at practice we only have a tumble mat, like shown on the picture.

maybe just be like "f*** it..." then just go for it! that's what I do

 

[Alexx]

When I first started cheering I wouldn't put my hands on the ground. They would stack folded panel mats so my hands werent as close to the ground and i would do cartwheels over them. As I got more comfortable with that, they would slowly remove stacks until my hands were on the ground.

 

[auscheerflyer]

I started very late (about 25) and took ages to get over the fear! The best thing to do is drills. Forget actual handstands. Work bunny hops, l handstands, kick ups to a mat, dish holds, handstands against the wall etc. The more comfortable you get with the shapes your body needs to be in and the stronger you are the safer you will feel holding yourself up.
Be kind to yourself tumbling takes a lot of time and repetition but if you persist you will get there. I had zero experience but I'm 30 and just got jumps tuck so anything is possible lol

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

[WinstonsGirl]

Another old starting tumbler here. I worked for years, but never got over the fear of tumbling. It took me realizing that if I wanted to keep cheering, I needed to start tumbling. Even now, throwing a newer skill in class/tryouts, I have to psyche myself up. In the car on the way to class, I'll talk outlaid to myself (cos I'm a loser like that ), saying that if I want to make a certain team, I better pull it, get over being stupid, since my coach isn't really spotting anyway, and I'm basically doing the skill on my own with a coach standing beside me, etc.

Basically, how bad do you want it? If you want it bad enough, you'll start running drills and progressions enough so that you eventually get past your fear, but you will actively work for it. Keep repping your drills until you feel more comfortable with everything you are pulling. And it will likely take a lot of reps to get there

 

[Michael White]

I started at 20 and while I didn't really have a fear, I learned pretty fast that falling isn't the worst thing in the world. Falling happens all the time, even with advanced tumbling. The sooner you can accept that you will fall, and that it'll be ok if you do, the easier you will be able to move forward in your tumbling.

The next advice I give every one of my lessons is to get strong. The stronger you are, the easier the skill will be. Technique is obviously the goal, but strength will help you overcome small technique issues. When I started cheering, I was in very good shape, and I was in the gym (weight lifting gym ) 24/7. I'm 100% sure my rapid progress was because I was strong.

 

[Melissa Starke]

Thanks for the shared stories and advice everyone, it's appreciated!

Since posting my questions, I've made some progress since last week I've started practicing some of the things you mentioned with another athlete who is also struggling with handstands.
That alone made a huge difference, 'cause for once I wasn't told to just "get over it" by others who are further along in their tumbling adventure.

Anyway,she pushed me and I pushed her, and Monday I worked on them for a while and am almost touching the wall
Now of course my form isn't perfect yet, but it's a start, at least. And while I was at it, I realised that handstands aren't scary to me anymore! The repetitions are paying off cause it's becoming muscle memory.

I'M SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Never imagined this day would come,but it has

I'll keep working hard on it, and gonna post an update every now and then.