How to do a Back Handspring on a Foam Mat

Video Transcript

"Hi, I?m Mandy Butler on behalf of Expert Village, I?m going to be taking you through some backhand spring drills and some techniques to help you on your way to mastering the backhand spring. Now I added a foam mat to the tumble track just to give me a little bit more of an idea of what the floor is going to feel like when I finely go over to it. Now I tell my athletics that typically your competitions if you are an all-star all of your competitions are going to be on a spring floor. Most competitions are very rarely these days would your athletics be force to tumble on a foam mat without springs underneath it. So I tell my athletics that the tumble track is similar to the springs. The foam is like the floor so if you can do it on here you can do it on the spring floor. The only difference is you usually feel a lot more comfortable and confident on this surface so I bring here first. Because it is not a huge leap to go from just tumble track to foam mat on top of tumble track. The technique is the same; it is really going to get you ready for going over there to the floor. Now again you are really going to want to keep your elbows straight. This is a more forgiving surface then the floor, less forgiving for the tumble track so you do have the potential to hurt your neck if you bend your arms. Very important to block with your shoulders. This is a backhand spring on a foam mat place on top of a tumble track."