VAULT - JUMPING OVER

Vault is probably one of the easiest gymnastics equipment. It's really fast, and not many judges at the competitions are able to see every little mistake you do, so if you don't fall, vault is usually the part of the competition where you can get the highest score. Every skill you can do, has its own specific difficulty value – the harder the exercise, the more valuable it is. Then you have the execution score, which is based on how well you can do the skill that you are performing. The E score is always starting at 10 points, and can only go lower. There can be some form errors like not pointing your toes, or not straightening your knees etc., which are like -0,1 to -0,5 point, to big errors like falling which is -1 point. The total score is the total of the D + E score.

Vault is the literal definition of a dynamics. It requires a combination of speed, power, and precision. There is a 25 meters long strip of carpet where you have to run as fast as you can, then jump on the springboard, push off the vaulting table with your hands and do some kind of flip before they land. The vaulting table is 1.25 meters high and it's wide and kinda soft, so gymnasts can generate the power and their skills safely.

The most common exercises on vault are the big three – yurchenko vault (a round-off onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the vault, followed by flips and twists), tsukahara vault – my personal favorite (a half-turn onto the vault followed by a backflip and possibly twists), and handspring vault (a direct front handspring onto the vault followed by flips or twists).

I think that this is quite enough for today about vault. If you're interested about the other equipment or gymnastics, definitely stay turned, for the other episodes of this series.

See ya soon,

With love, Anna <3