How to Earn a Star for a Forward Roll

 

 

 If you have ever attended a tumbling class with Varsity, you know we track the tumbling skills earned by each of our Rec. Team, Beginning Cheer Youth, Beginning Cheer Jr./Sr. and 12 week recreational tumbling class athletes. For each tumbling skill earned, the athlete is able to place a star on our skills tracking sheets, which are displayed in the gym for everyone to see.

 

 

Evaluations and report cards were handed out last week, and some athletes may have gone home with fewer stars then they were hoping for. Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when doing your forward roll, and how you can earn a star during the Summer Session.

 

 

Keep your Head off of the Floor and Land on your Shoulders

 

In a forward roll, your head should never touch the floor. Think about keeping your chin to your chest and looking foryour belly button. As you reach forward for the ground, keep looking at your belly button to keep you head down. As you push off of the ground, land on your shoulders, while keeping your knees tight into your chest. Putting your head down on the floor in a forward roll is not proper technique and can lead to injury.

 

 

Use Both Feet to Push Off of the Ground

 

Make sure to squat down onto both feet. Sometimes athletes make the mistake of putting their knees on the ground when doing a forward roll, which takes away the athletes ability to drive their hips over their head. Keeping your feet on the ground allows the athlete to push through their feet, creating forward momentum. Think of pushing off of the ground with both feet to drive your hip over your head. A great drill to practice this motion is the hip up drill.

 

 

Reach Forward to Stand Up

 

After the forward roll is completed, some athletes have the tendency to put their hand behind them to push off of the ground to stand, or to bend on leg and put a knee on the ground to stand. Again, while this may make it easier to stand, it is not proper technique. Athletes need to remember to reach forward to stand, keeping their knees closeto their chest. As they reach forward, they will bring their chest over their hips, over their feet, making it possible to stand. This sets athletes up for success when learning higher level tumbling skills, such as front limbers and front walkovers.

 

 

Remember, here at Varsity we practice “Perfection before Progression”, which means we want athletes to perfect the technique of one skills before moving onto new skills. Also remember, the forward roll must be performed with the same, correct technique every time to earn a star. By perfecting your technique with the beginning level tumbling skills, you are training your muscles to be more successful with more difficult tumbling skills later on.

 


 

Author, Britney Willer, has been involved in cheerleading fornearly nine years. She has been an instructor for Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) for eight years, while being a Head Instructor for four years. She was the General Manager of Mile High Elite in 2011 after graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder. In addition, Britney is USASF, AACCA,NFHS, and First Aid/ CPR certified. Britney is a cheer instructor in Varsity China currently.

 

 


 


Varsity Cheerleading Academy

华思提运动中心

地址：广州市天河区(珠江新城)马场路庆亿街1号珠光新城国际中心A座4楼（地铁5号线潭村D出口，珠江公园东南侧）

电话：020-37031336

网站：www.varsity.com.cn

微信号：varsitychina

Address: Zhuguang Newtown International Center Block A, 4th Floor

Tianhe District Guangzhou City.

(Metro Line 5 Tancun Station, Exit D, next to Zhujiang Park)

Tel: 020-37031336

Website: www.varsity.com.cn

www.varsity.com