Gymnastic Classes

Some of the jumps and leaps which are commonly used and which form a fundamental part of the sequence are: 1. Tuck jump. Take off from one or two feet, bring both knees up high in front of the chest and land on two feet. 2. Komat jump. Similar to the tuck jump with knees up in front, but take off must be from one foot only, and the knees come up one after the other. Legs change in the air, so the landing is on the other foot. 3. Split leap. Leap forwards from one foot to the other, legs splitting wide, and reaching a horizontal position in the air, one forwards and one backwards. 4. Stag leap. Similar to split leap, but front leg is bent under, back leg remains straight. Take off and landing can be from one or two feet. 5. Side leap. The difficulty of getting both legs up to the horizontal position becomes very apparent in the side leap. From a forward take off, the body makes a sharp quarter turn and then the gymnast must consciously work to lift both legs at the same time, forcing t …

Wood dowel of 7mm diameter, cut to length between 45cm and 55cm for youngsters and beginners. 2. Curtain hook, such as screw in open ended eyelet for net curtains 3. Swivel, such as fishing tackle safety pin swivel 4. Glue, such as Araldite or similar The dowel is usually available in lengths of 6 or 10 feet from your local DIY shop and once you have sawn it to the required length, the ends can be lightly sandpapered to smooth them down and remove any rough edges. The handle end may be covered if desired with plastic or Elastoplasts tape, or any other suitable covering, but this is not an essential requirement. The swivel is acquired from a fishing tackle shop, and it is recommended that the safety pin type is purchased. Others are available, notably the key ring type, but they have been found to be problematic since the ribbon catches on the sharp ends. The ring end of the swivel is slipped on to the curtain hook which has been prised open sufficiently to allow this. The curtain ring …