Expert: Chris - 3/24/2010

Question
Hi:)
I'm a first year cheerleader, and a flyer. I LOVE it, and I haven't missed a practice. I try as hard as possible at EVERYTHING. Sometimes though, when I try new things, I get them perfect the first time, and after that I get a mental block and can;t do themn anymore. It's not that I'm scared, I just cant do it!
For example, the very first time I tried a twist, I did it absolutely perfect and I was really happy! The coach said it wa amazing. Then, my group dropped me (not very hard, it didn't hurt) and it must have scared me a little? So now, whenever I go to twist I either stop myself halfway or just straight cradle. I'm so mad at myself. I'm not scared they're going to drop me again, because it didn't hurt that much and I don't really care. I know I can do it, but I can't make myself! ALso with back handsprings, mine were getting really good with a spotter, and I had them almost ready to try by myself. Then I started sitting down way too low for the sit, and I can't do it anymore!
Thanks:)
Bethany

Answer
Wow, I've had this EXACT same problem! It wasn't when I first started cheering, but it was when I first started twisting (because for a while it wasn't legal in Pop Warner) and doing back handsprings. It's really frustrating because you know you can do it physically.

I'm not sure what to tell you about the back handspring. I haven't figured that one out yet. As for twisting, the biggest advice I have for you is to never just straight cradle. I know that's easier said than done. But I started to get scared all the time for no reason and I would just straight cradle. It took me years to get over that "fear" that I had because I always bailed out and did a straight cradle. I coach little kids (9 year olds) and I told the ones that were afraid to never straight cradle. For once they listened to me and I think it really helped them.

If you're telling yourself that you always get scared (even though you're not scared, but I think you know what I mean) and won't do the twist down you're pretty much ensuring that you won't. Your brain interprets this "I'm not going to do it" as an actual instruction so you've told your brain to straight cradle. Even though part of you knows that this isn't true, there isn't much you can do about it once part of your brain has decided not to twist. This all goes for back handsprings too. Visualize yourself doing perfect twist downs (or back handsprings). It actually does help. Somehow your brain can't tell the difference between imagining it and actually doing it. So when you do visualize it it's almost like practicing. This is great because you can do it at home by yourself when you're not at practice. It gives you a lot more time to work on your twist.

I really hope this helps. I know how frustrating this can be. I used to have a back handspring. Then it really started to hurt my wrist. I found out I had a ganglion cyst (which is apparently really common and almost everybody has them, but they don't usually bother people) that was in a really bad spot. Whenever I put weight on my wrist it hurt terribly. So I quit tumbling because the only other option was surgery. About 3 years after I quit tumbling I got surgery. My wrist is better and it's been almost a year since the surgery. But I still don't have my back handspring back. I get ready to do one and then I just don't. I've done it a few times, but never consistently. I'm not afraid to do it, but for some reason it just doesn't happen. So trust me, I know exactly what you're going through. I hope that this helped and that you can work through this. Please keep me posted and let me know how it's going. I might be able to help you more too since I'm literally working through the same thing (at least with the BHS) right now. I've gotten much better with my twist downs, so it IS possible.