Help girl with cartwheels! Advice?

[Franny1]

hello! My six year old DD (nearly 7) is getting upset because all her friends can do cartwheels and she can’t. I’ve told her she doesn’t have to be able to do them but if she wants to learn it’s just a matter of practice and have offered to learn with her (I could never do them either but it never bothered me!). She both wants to learn but also can’t be that bothered to practice and is quite despondent about it because it’s not coming naturally- she is really struggling to move beyond basic bunny hops! We did gymnastics classes for a bit a while back but the teachers weren’t great to be honest and she and her friend both left.

Does anyone have any really specific/practical advice about how to help her? Ie really good links/instructions about where to start and how to improve? All the YouTube videos I’ve looked at just seem to be for naturally talented gymnasts rather than kids struggling to her beyond the very first level.

To be clear I REALLY don’t care if she can do cartwheels, but I can see that she’s upset about it and wants to learn but isn’t quite sure how to (and I also think it’s a good thing to teach her she can do things that seem challenging if she puts the work in).

Thanks!

Have you got a stable block it makes it a bit easier but not essential.
Step forward with dominant leg. Put hands in front and slightly to the side with fingers pointing outwards ( ie if left leg forward fingers point left)
Jump back leg quickly followed btly front leg and turn as the last leg come over to land in a star shape.
Try stepping through it to begin with, to get coordination. Then put an object for their feet to jump over to get legs higher and higher.
It does take a certain amount of strength, to get the legs up and this is probably why the coaches didn't get her doing it, rather than them 'not being very good'

I remember learning on the school field at primary, I seem to remember the biggest block for me was the fear of hurting myself. So having to throw myself into it a lot more than I was . The other thing is if you look at local gymnastics or dance academy/clubs. The one near me is doing a cartwheel workshop during half term which sounds ideal for your daughter.

My DD6 has just cracked it and the tipping point was practicing on a small bouncy castle! Something about the bounce joined everything up and she can now do them on the grass. ould she practice on a tampoline?

Following because my 4yo is also cartwheel obsessed!

I do think that there is a lot of (shoulder?) strength involved and the only way to improve that is practice practice practice. Then on top of that there is technique.

I think my daughter has the strength past mastered now as she does them all the bloody time, still working on the technique though!

Can she do a handstand and hold it there? She needs upper and core body strength to cartwheel as well as 'the spring'. Get her practising handstands so she gets used to supporting her body weight upside down with the control to straighten her legs. After she can move on to the cartwheel, keeping her core rigid and her legs straight after the push off.

I could never do bloody cartwheels and really wanted to. I should have practiced more

I could do backward walkovers though because that was easier for me

For the backward walkover I practised against a door to train myself to bend backwards till my hands touched the floor Then I practised without the door to flip over.

Thanks! What do you mean exactly by a stable block? Like a yoga block? Your description sounds really useful but I’m struggling to follow it a bit. Do you have any good links?

Good idea thanks! I do think the fear is playing quite a big part actually

I sat with my daughter every evening and got her to practice in a room with a carpet! It really was a case of (a lot of) practice makes perfect. She loved it when she could do them. I could never do them so I knew how she felt.

Thanks! This is what I want to do but just not sure what tips to give her. I’d really love some very practical tips/instructions. Can you share a link or a video at all?

My 5 year old DD watched this video, she doesn’t get her legs quite straight enough yet but she’s getting there. She can almost do a handstand (she does go gymnastics lessons though) but the video helped her understand how to position herself correctly.

We didn't use any....she just tried over and over again. Sometimes her little brother joined in too. We cheered every attempt. Just tried to do 10 mins every evening. I have absolutely no knowledge of gymnastics technique!

If struggling, my daughter learnt to do them at acro dance. Found it better than gymnastics for learning cartwheels and handstands etc as that is basically what acro dance is! If there are any dance schools that do acro it may be worth looking in to if she is interested in things like this