Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Cartwheels Again???

One of the most frequent complaints I hear from parents is "They're (the class) working on cartwheels again and my kid can do cartwheels so I need to move them to a different class." While it may LOOK like your child isn't learning anything new, trust me LOOKS are VERY deceiving! And 9 times out of 10 your child really doesn't need to be moved.

There are so many different components to this one skill. The coaches are looking to see if ALL parts of the cartwheel have been mastered. Are your feet and hands pointed in the right direction when beginning and ending the skill? Are the hips square? Are the toes pointed...the whole time? Are the legs straight? Did you end with your arms up in the air? Was there length in the cartwheel? Did it start with a hurdle? Was the hurdle correct? Etc...

Coaches know how to work on all the different areas with different drills. And Coaches know how to make a cartwheel easier for beginners and harder for those who need to be challenged. Adding length, one handed cartwheels, and wrong handed cartwheels (cartwheels done with the far arm)  add a lot of difficultly to the skill. Even the easiest skills take 800 repetitions to master so your child is going to have to work on the same skills for a significant amount of time.

If you feel your child is not being pushed enough, I suggest that before you ask to have them moved to a different class, that you first talk to your Coach. An open dialect with your teacher will help you understand how your child is progressing. We want your child to excel just as much as you!

So, YES, the class is doing cartwheels...again. And it's not bad a thing!