Search - Beginning Gymnastics for Girls: Skills and Progressions on DVD

Excellent! Clear instructions and advice for a beginning gy

Carol C. | Kansas City, MO USA | 02/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This video is very, very good. It's well worth the price for someone wishing to learn basic gymastics skills, learn about the various apparatus used in women's gymnastics, and learn the names of basic skills, stunts, and techniques.

Steve Nunno, a two-time Olympics coach, U of Oklahoma coach, and coach to numerous elite athletes, narrates this instructive guide. He is so pleasant, encouraging, soft-spoken -- and he knows exactly how to talk to and instruct the most inexperienced beginners in the most basic of skills -- it is difficult to imagine that he also coaches the world's finest gymnasts. The only time he seemed anything other than laid back was when he was explaining just how much fun vaulting can be if you understand how to do it. His emphasis is on keeping it fun and helping kids overcome the fear factor.

This video is no-frills and no-nonsense. It shows several young women gymnasts demonstrating skills using what Nunno refers to as "progressions" -- building on skills one step at a time to learn how to perform increasingly difficult skills. Nunno provides clear instruction on proper body position, alignment, and technique.

The focus is on beginning skills. The video covers biomechanics, stretches, and basic floor skills -- forward and backward rolls, cartwheels and roundoffs, and back walkover on floor. On the balance beam, the most challenging stunt is the roundoff dismount. The sections on vault and uneven bars are excellent in showing how to get started on the apparatus, working up to more challenging skills.

There's plenty in here that you could do at home -- and the instructions are so clear and the moves so basic that most kids could follow along on their own. Great video for parents and kids alike."