Our gymnastics team consists of about 20 young ladies from the ages of 5 - 15.  These girls come to gym ~ up to four days a week, for 3 hours each day, every week out of the year.  These girls throw about 100+ back handsprings per week on average, in addition to much more.  That’s approximately 5,000+ back handsprings ~that’s right FIVE THOUSAND back handsprings EACH YEAR!  Each girl did not magically show up with already having the back handspring.  We taught them all right here in this gym, with the same process just as we do everyone.  So to compare the student who comes an hour (or and hour and a half,) once a week, for one month and then quits, to our average team child, who comes 6-12 hours per week ~ year round, then NO WONDER there is a BIG difference in ability.  It is then easy to see why the gymnastics team has such advanced tumblers.  It is no wonder why some of our students starting out, get so impatient and discouraged.  Some of you see the team tumbling, and have absolutely no idea how many hours, days, weeks, months and years it took these awesome tumblers to learn what they know.  THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS.  You can’t really say “I’ve been coming to the gym for years,” if all you have done is come a couple of months out of each year.  It really doesn’t produce results to come spontaneously.  Every time you come back, is like starting over.  No one is so awesome that they can reach their highest potential in gymnastics, without consistent training. Even the most gifted, self-taught athlete needs training & discipline to grow!
 Some students have shown up at the first back handspring class, and have actually learned how to do one  their very first day, having never done it before.  This is not common, and it is only because this type of student is extremely gifted, but also strong enough, and flexible enough ~just naturally.  Confidence has a lot to do with this as well.  Some students are fearless, while others have no confidence at first.  In order to learn a back handspring, most people do not walk in automatically strong and flexible enough.  Until a student learns it, we have to find exercises, and stretches that are equivalent to what our advanced tumblers experience physically when they practice a great deal of tumbling.  This will prepare your body for what is to come.  I have seen hundreds of girls come in with no more than a cartwheel, and stuck with it until they were among some of the finest, most advanced tumblers in the gym.  I have seen all ages, weights and heights of girls, learn to excel in the gym.  On the other hand, the majority of what I see are girls who only dedicate themselves to this activity one month before cheerleading tryouts, and expect a miracle.  They don’t give it enough time.  They look for short cuts, and ways around the hard work.  They give up too easy and drop out. 
 I challenge anyone who does not have a back handspring, to stick to the program for at least 6 months.  If you attend our program regularly for 6 consecutive months, and you still do not have a back handspring by yourself on the wedge mat, we will refund your gym membership.  This is not for the student who has come off and on, sporadically & occasionally for several years.  It doesn’t even matter if you have had private instruction.  If you do not come year round, you are not going to see the results you want.  You will basically be bored to death because you will be learning, and re-learning everything again and again, instead of constantly building on what you know.
Here is the art of learning how to tumble.  The first stage is a humdinger.  Learning that back handspring by yourself on the wedge takes the longest.  Most everybody can do it in 6 months or less.  After you graduate from stage one, the remaining stages come faster and faster all the time, sometimes flying through three stages in a month, provided that you don’t miss practice often, OR abuse your abilities, like:  getting hurt by doing something you aren’t ready for outside the gym.
Stage one: You will learn a back handspring on a wedge mat by yourself. 
Stage two: You will learn a back handspring directly out of roundoff on the marshmallow mat (at the end of the tumble track.) 
Stage three: You will learn a roundoff back handspring on 8" mats. 
Stage four: You will learn a roundoff back handspring on 4" mats. 
Stage five: You will learn a roundoff back handspring on the floor. 
Stage six: You will learn a standing back handspring on the floor. 
Stage seven: You will learn to connect 2 back handsprings on a wedge, and then tumble track. 
Stage eight: You will learn to connect a roundoff and two back handsprings on the floor. 
Stage nine: You will learn back tucks, both standing and out of a roundoff back handspring on tumble track. 
Stage 10: You will learn how to consistently throw roundoff 3 back handsprings on floor. (Every time, not just some of the time). 
Stage 11: After you have had your back roundoff back handspring, back tuck by yourself on tumble track for at least a month, and you can do three back handsprings on floor consistently, THEN you will be ready for roundoff back handspring, back tuck on floor. 
Stage 12: While learning the back tuck on floor, you work the layout on tumble track. 
(By now, most students have learned a standing back tuck, or are learning it.) 
Stage 13: When ready to throw the layout on floor, you learn the half and then full twist on tumble track. 
Stage 14: Students sometimes throw a full off tumble track for anywhere from a month to a year before attempting it on floor. 
Watch this video to see some of our tumblers doing fulls, who learned it at RGA!  These tumblers all had to start somewhere!


Melissa Pierce, doing a "full."
Beyond the full, there are other very fun skills to learn, such as the double back flip, front tumbling and more. If you read the above list and think “I am NEVER going to be able to do any of that,” then you need to come watch our advanced tumbling classes on Monday or Tuesday nights, when girls who started with nothing but a cartwheel are doing full twists, standing back flips, aerials, and more.  Ask any one of the girls in the advanced class if they remember learning their back handspring on the wedge mat just like you are trying to do now.  Ask them how many months it took them to get it, while coming to class every week. 
 What about aerials?  Learning an aerial (a cartwheel with no hands) is simply a matter of learning it off the end of the tumble track first, and working your way down to floor.  We usually don’t work them much until a student has a back handspring on floor.
 Students who try to defy the order of the stages of learning listed above, will experience instability, uncertainty, sudden crashes, loss of confidence, will regress, and will ultimately get discouraged and drop out.  This is the proper order followed and enforced by hundreds of successful gyms.  There is no “fly by night” learning here.  Everything is very systematic, very cut & dry, and very simple!  The process is step by step, and the speed of your learning depends on your motivation, and dedication.  We can help you learn anything you want to learn, and all that is required of you is your regular attendance!
~Frequent common questions/comments I hear, and my response:
“My daughter has been coming here for years!  Why can’t she get it?” 
This statement has lately come from someone’s parent who’s child does not attend year round, but for years has come a couple of months out of the year.  We can only offer guarantees that you will get it, when you come regularly, not just now and then.  Practicing your tumbling at school, or in cheerleading does not really count as gymnastics training.  Trying an occasional back handspring at cheerleading practice doesn’t do a whole lot for anyone.  Even getting it by yourself at cheerleading a time or two won’t really make much of a difference.  Remember how I said that the gymnastics team girls do about 100 back handsprings a week, and more than 5,000 a year?  See what I mean?  Unless your cheer coach is an absolute drill sergeant like me, that makes you do 100 back handsprings a week once you get it, or trains your butt off making you strong enough to get it, you need to be at the gym. 
There is a mandatory consistency to this sport, and doing a random flip or cartwheel here and there simply does not compare to having a coach with 17 years of experience staying on your butt for a whole hour and a half!  Doing a seasonal sport such as cheerleading, can be physically challenging and therefore healthy and good for you, but has nothing at all to do with learning gymnastics.
“Will my daughter get this faster if she takes private lessons?”  I have also heard “We did a ton of private lessons, and she still didn’t get it!”
Private instruction is not really ideal.  Learning with others in a class situation, can provide a student with more time to rest between activities, and students in a class meet new friends, that help motivate each other.  Private lessons can be kind of boring, with no competition for the student.  The competition between students can strengthen their desire to learn.  Private instruction is by no means a short cut to learning anything, and is only advised when a student is already enrolled in every class possible, but is having safety issues, or  trouble with a specific skill that needs attention.  Attending private lessons for a long period of time, can actually cause a child's desire to expire, and nothing is possible when there is no desire.    People get their back handsprings much faster in a group situation.   Learning at a slower pace usually works better, and keeps the athlete interested for more years.  Instead of paying for 3 months of private lessons, save your money and enroll your child year round in the proper class at the gym. 
“Some of the stuff they do in the class, my daughter can do at home.”
The reason we do it in class, is because they AREN’T doing it at home!  If they were, they would be strong enough to do a back handspring right now!  Sometimes it is worth the money to have someone behind them to give them the push they need, so they WILL do it at home!  Once again, if your daughter doesn’t have a back handspring on the wedge mat by herself in 6 consecutive months of regular attendance, we will happily refund your gym membership.
“What does my daughter need to work on at home so she can learn & progress faster in the gym?”
HANDSTANDS.  As many as she can do, wherever she can do them.  Doing back handsprings requires that a human body go upside down, and support the entire body weight with a force of up to twice the weight of the body on the hands.  This is why handstands work, and lead to the learning of the skill.  This is why we do so many of them, even AFTER they learn a back handspring.

Weights: Get a 5 pound weight, and simply lift it slowly above your head with straight arms 50 times a night.
Back bends: Most people can’t do a back handspring because they lack a great deal of flexibility in their arms and shoulders.  Back bends aren’t fun for older girls, but if they will do a few a week, they will certainly see a difference.  If you will hold your daughter in the “banana stretch,” for one minute each day, this would be equivalent to doing several back bends.


Push ups: Just 5 GOOD ones per day would make a world of difference.
Sit ups: Just 50 each day, every other day, or even twice a week outside of practice would also make a world of difference.

“Doggies:” 100 with each leg
Toe Raises: 100 (even better if holding a 5 pound weight)
Hill stretches:  10 with each leg
We do many of the things listed above in class, as most students will rarely work seriously at home when not pushed by an experienced coach.

As each student learns how to do a back handspring, we do less and less strength and flexibility training, and more tumbling.  The advanced classes do 20 minutes of strength and flexibility training, and one hour and ten minutes of tumbling, whereas the back handspring class does the opposite. 

The back handspring class does 20 minutes of tumbling, and 1 hour and ten minutes of strength training.  HANG IN THERE, IT GETS MORE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“My daughter had a back handspring on her own before, so why won’t she do it now?”
There are many reasons why people lose skills.  If a girl learns a back handspring, but doesn’t do one for several weeks, or several months, it can be like she never had it to start with.  It is harder to do things after growing several inches taller, or gaining several pounds in a normal growing process.  That is why consistent training is the key to avoiding injuries, regressing and getting discouraged. 
My question for you is “How many times did she do it by herself?  ONCE?  TWICE?  I only count a skill as being LEARNED, when a girl has it every single time for several practices, not just once, twice or sometimes.”  Again, doing something once in a while at cheer practice does not count for much unless you practice it consistently like we do here at the gym.
The moment a student learns a skill for the first time, such as a back handspring or an aerial, does not constitute a goal achieved.  It is only when they learn how to do it consistently that they should really say, “ I got it!”
 Usually, in the case of any skill, most often the student will learn it, lose it, learn it again, lose it again, and then finally learn it for keeps.  This is a normal process.  The students with parents who are impatient, will see skills lost more then skills gained.  When a student first learns a skill, that is not the time to quit: it is when they really need to work harder than ever to make sure they don’t lose it, and to learn to be able to do it consistently. 
“My daughter made the squad, so why do we need to keep coming?”
Unless your daughter can do a roundoff, back handspring, full twist, there is always room for improvement!  Advanced skills like this are possible for those who keep coming!  If your daughter is on JV, there is always a possibility that someone will be moved up during the school year due to a Varsity Cheerleader dropping off the squad.  Try to be prepared for this possibility and always be caught in the best shape you can be!  If you are on Varsity already, there is room for improvement unless you can do a full.  I have also never met a gymnast or cheerleader that could do a full twist consistently that wasn’t in the gym practicing it on a regular basis.
“How long does it take for someone who has no skills to become an advanced tumbler?”
The most advanced tumbler I have ever taught out of all my 17 years of coaching, was Kaitlin Bloxsom.  She learned a back handspring, and 4 years later, was the most advanced tumbler I have ever had.  She trained consistently year round. 
“What is the most miraculous thing you have ever seen while coaching gymnastics?”
The most miraculous thing I have truly ever seen, have been the girls that come in the gym, and can’t even do a bridge, or barely a cartwheel, and they walk out a year later doing roundoff back handsprings all over the football field.  I have learned to “never say never.”Once again, the requirements of a back handspring are strength, flexibility, endurance, and above all consistent attendance, effort, and PATIENCE. 
 Finally, I have an axe I would like to grind with any parent who says the following. “Well you did it on that wedge thing, now go right now and do it on the floor.”  Please don’t be fooled into thinking that the wedge mat and the floor, are one in the same!  The wedge is a huge incline, minimizing greatly the force of gravity.  Girls don’t learn a standing back handspring on floor if you will notice, until STAGE 6.  It is easier to do a roundoff, back handspring on the marshmallow, the 8" mats, the 4" mats, and even the floor before they learn to “just do a standing one.” 
 Leave the coaching to me!  Be patient and you will not regret it!  Even though something may not appear to make sense at the time, TRUST ME; IT WILL MAKE SENSE LATER!  Children are reluctant to believe parents know anything, especially about the dynamics and complexities of gymnastics.  Even if you know a lot about it, your coaching tips will stimulate a possible rebellion, or even a loss of interest, while mine will demand performance & discipline.  Children even as old as high school age, want parents to be shocked, amazed, astounded, and spell bound, not a question or criticism of their every move.  They don’t need a disappointed looking parent, while they proceed through a normal process of gaining and losing skills.  Hey, my class is not easy!  I have also learned, it never works to criticize them unless you can show them that you can do it too, and do it correctly.  They won’t buy any advice from anyone but a drill sergeant coach who simply demands it of them.  Beyond that, they just need a “good job,” from a parent, or a look of sheer amazement once in a while.  Acting like you know nothing about it, and being impressed that they do, always makes them want to learn it more.  Offering encouragement, and holding back on the coaching is always the best suggestion I can offer to parents, no matter what the personality and relationship of the child or parent. 
 I teach back handsprings in such a way, as to get the student to learn it in the least amount of time possible, with no injury, and the least amount of boredom.  To question my techniques, is to question 17 years of studying the sport, and a great deal of hard work.  I have taught literally thousands of girls how to do a back handspring.  Instead of having my students throw a million back handsprings each class, I will have them throw enough to get the feel for it, while concentrating heavily on exercises that will give them the strength & flexibility to accomplish the skill successfully.  Don’t get me wrong, they need to do a million of them, just not a million in each class.  They won’t gain the strength as quickly throwing a million of them every class, as they will, doing the strength training to enable and prepare their bodies to do it.  Plus throwing a million of them in a class will be boring.  Zzzzzzzzz Over time they will begin to hate doing it, if we overkill something.  Trust me folks, in reality, it simply takes time.  Give me 6 months minimum to teach someone a back handspring.  Even the weakest, most uncoordinated child can usually learn it easy with 6 consecutive months of hard work.  I hope I have shed light on some aspects of learning, that will help you to understand the slow and tedious process of gymnastics better.
Consistency and PATIENCE is the key to success!

Happy training,
Donna Hughes  (Coaching Champions since 1989!)