Vault

As I mentioned in my first post, I am going to start going into the details of each event. At competitions, there is always an order of events, so I will begin with the first event in the standard rotation: vault. I'm guessing that even if you aren't a gymnast you have probably seen a vault, either in person or maybe even on television from the olympics (summer olympics, not winter) or other elite competitions that are televised.  And if you are one of the people reading this who have never seen a vault, it's basically a stationary object, made of wood and covered by leathery fabric, that you run towards and, essentially, fly over. As I mentioned in a previous post, you do harder skills as you move up levels. So that principle applies to vault as well. You do a harder vault as you go up a level. I am mostly familiar with vaults done in the Excel program because that's what I have been doing my whole life, so I will tell my experiences with vault and all the different vaults I have done.

The vault is also referred to by coaches and gymnasts as the 'table'. I only mentioned that because, when you start off competing, you don't even use the table when you vault. You are just starting so it is simpler for you because you are learning how to hit the springboard and get enough power and everything. When I started, I had to vault onto a big squishy mat, called a rezzi, rather than the table. When I started, my vault basically consisted of me running as fast as I can towards the rezzi, hitting a springboard, flying through the air until my hands reach the mat and I do something called a 'handstand fall to back". That has a literal meaning: you basically jump into a handstand on the mat and then fall to your back. It isn't that easy for very long, unfortunately.

The second vault I ever learned to do was on the table. And, yes, it was pretty cool to go from the rezzi to the table because you were using  the same thing as the 'big girls' which was pretty cool for a young gymnast. In order to actually make it over the table, you have to have enough power from the springboard when you hit it. So, even if it seems intimidating as you run as fast as you can towards a stationary object, you really do have to run fast in order to perform the vault you hope to perform.

The first one on the table you do is called a front handspring. Also, a front handspring has a literal meaning. You put your hands on the table and then go forwards off of it, landing on your feet. A fronthandspring is tricky for some people because you have a blind landing, you can't see where you are landing when you hit the mat you're landing on, so you could very well fall down right on your butt. But, that doesn't happen as often once you get the hang of it and know what you're doing.

Another vault I have done on the table, which isn't necessarily any harder than a fronthandspring, is called a half-on. You hit the springboard and your hands go half way around (90*), so one hand is on the at the front end of the table and the other hand is at the back of the table. You are essentially doing a fast cartwheel over the table. Once you master the half-on, however, you begin to twist off the table rather than just floating down. You first do a half-half, which is a half-on but you do a half twist down, the opposite way you halfed on. Once you have mastered the half-half, you try a half-full. A half-full is a little easier because you don't have a blind landing, but it's also harder because you need even more height off the board in order to get all the way around in the full. Right now, I switch off between a half-half, half-full, and fronthandspring. There are harder vaults that can be done as well, but as I have mentioned earlier, I have a permenant injury on my shins so I don't really practice vault very much. I usually just vault the practice before a meet and at meets. And, vault was my favorite event for a looonnnggg time, and I bet that if you did gymnastics, you would like it too.

I hope you enjoyed my overview of vault. There isn't much to the event, it's easier than all the others so I tried to think of everything I have done and experienced that I could share with you.

Feel free to leave comments with any questions you have about vault or anything else about gymnastics!

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