Ask Pinkpiff

Dear ~Pinkpiff~,

Our squad has tried and tried liberties with a certain girl flying but she never stays up! Can you tell me what she or we are doing wrong?

Sarah,

She might just be scared. Make sure she has it solid on the ground. If she goes all the way up, but doesn't stay long, try having her go up with to straight legs instead of one in the lib position. When she's ready, she can pull it up. I had this same problem and this really helped me.

~Pinkpiff~,

We have been working on a basket toss this summer. The throwing part is going great, but the catching is really bad. Everytime that the flyer is caught, she is about one inch from touching the ground. The bases seem to fall with her. I need any kind of help that I can get. What are we doing wrong? Thanks so much.

Donna,

Seems to me like your bases need to catch higher. After they throw, they need to interweave their arms and try to catch above their heads and absorb it until it's waist level. Or the flyer might not be catching herself. Make sure she's tight and wraps her arms around the base's shoulders. Hope I helped!

~Pinkpiff~,

Can you tell me how to get a standing back handspring? I am a beginner. My friend taught herself how to do one without gymnastics help. She learned it in 3 weeks. Do you have to be strong to do one?

Anonymous,

First of all, you have to have upper body strength or else your arms will buckle and you'll fall on your head. Not fun. Your friend must be a haus to do one by herself, and very brave! I would recomend working on back bends. If you can't do one, then do bridge-ups. When you feel comfortable, try doing a back bend standing up. After all, a back handspring is a fast back bend. Just keep speeding up your back bend and then just jump and there you have it, a back handspring. I recommend doing it on a trampoline because I wouldn't want you to fall on your head.