Teaching forward rolls during Primary School
Many parents put their children in gymnastics classes when they are very young. Its an excellent choice for little ones. Gymnastics teaches gross motor skills, flexibility, perseverance, dedication, hard work, time management skills, and so much more. The forward roll is one of the most basic elements in gymnastics and one of the first learnt. It’s not very difficult to teach it, however, it’s always necessary to be extremely careful when dealing with children of such a young age.
To begin:
Stand behind your student and have them standing up facing away from you. Say, “Reach for the sky!”, and lift their arms high up straight over their head. Next, help them bending over and putting their hands flat on the floor. Tell them to look at their bellybutton. This will help them putting their head down (Tucked chin), in the correct rolling position, so that they don’t injure their neck. Once they are looking at their bellybutton, gently lift them up from the back of their thighs or their hip area, and slowly roll them over onto the back of their shoulders and then back. As long as they keep looking at their bellybutton, they should roll smoothly, without flopping onto their back.
Repeat these steps until you feel that your student is getting the movement on their own. Then, loosen your grip a little, and allow them to try to push off of the floor and begin the roll on their own. Be ready to catch them though, if they start toppling over or not having their head perfectly straight, as this could cause neck injury.
We often start our students in the art of the Forward roll, straight from a slop, as it will be easier for them to roll with the momentum. After that, they go straight to flat while doing it on a mat. After these they get a bit more adventurous and go right onto a bench and finishing off on the top of a vaulting box.
Common mistakes while doing a forward roll (at least 90% of what you’ll see during a class): Finishing off the roll with straight legs, dropping themselves right onto their backs, rolling on their heads instead on their shoulders and back, and finally using their hands to stand up. I usually play a game with my students to help them encourage keeping their hands off the floor after a forward roll: I tell them that after they roll forward, the mat will become very hot and it will burn their hands if they touch it. So this way i try to make them thinking about getting their hands off the floor right after they push the floor to roll onto the back of the shoulders.
To make things funny, i even tell them that i will give a score to each one of them, the person with the least burns will win the game. Every time i see one of them putting their hands on the floor i will immediately should BARBECUE which always generates tons of laughter among the kids.
Soon, your student will be able to roll all by themselves, but until then, always spot them, and be sure their chin stays tucked down to their chest as they roll.
