Connecting your gymnastics series’ is important but can be challenging at times. It’s difficult to understand sometimes what judges count as a connected series and what will receive deductions. There are several different components to this that we’re going to go over in this post.
Every gymnastics level requires different connections for a gymnast to meet the requirements. So refer to this list of gymnastics level requirements to figure out what you need.
What is a Gymnastics Series?
A gymnastics series is the connection of two (or more) different gymnastics skills. There are two types of connections: directly connected and indirectly connected. Most gymnastics routines require between 1-3 acro series’ and at least one dance series.
Directly Connected Gymnastics Series
For a gymnastics series to be considered connected (and for the gymnast to receive credit for the requirement), the skills need to be connected without the following:
- pausing
- hesitation
- repositioning
- extra steps
- moving of the feet between skills
- legs completely straightening and then bending again to initiate the next skill
- kick or leg swing above 45º leading into the next skill
Indirectly Connected Series
Series can have indirectly connected skills too. This is most often seen with dance series where a step may be required after completion of the 1st element prior to the 2nd element. For example, a split leap-step-straight leg skip series. Even though there is a step between the skills, the step is required in order to complete the 2nd skill smoothly and the step would not be hit with a deduction as this is an indirectly connected series.
Next, let’s look at the different types of series: dance series and acro series.
Dance Series
Most gymnastics levels require a dance series on both floor and beam. A dance series can include leaps, jumps & turns.
Acros Series
An acro series is a connection of multiple acro skills. One common example is a Round-Off – Back Handspring – Back Layout.
What happens if your series isn’t connected?
If a judge decides that a series isn’t connected, you will lose the value of the special requirement–in most cases .5. In some cases you can also receive a rhythm deduction (up to .2) for a connected but slow series.
Can all skills be connected?
No, not all gymnastics skills can be connected in a series. For example, a back-handspring (land on two feet) to a round-off cannot be connected because you need to step into the round-off and you will have landed your back-handspring on two feet. When you are trying to directly connect skills you need to think about how you land the first skill, to make sure that you can do the next skill without taking a step or moving your legs.
Tips for Connecting your Gymnastics Series
Here are some tips for connecting your gymnastics series:
- Choose skills that can be connected seamlessly – If one skill lands with two-feet, the next should take off with two-feet. If you land the first skill on one leg, that leg needs to be the take-off leg for the next skill.
- Practice your arms- Make sure you don’t have extra arm swings, or other arm movements that would break the connection.
- Do leg strength exercises (like we do in SkillTrakker) to help you to immediately push through your legs when you land the first skill to initiate the next skill. Examples are calf raises, squat jumps, sumo squat jumps, mountain climbers, etc.
Making sure you successfully connect your series is an important part of performing well at your next gymnastics meet! Improve your connections this month by joining our Confidence & Connections SkillTrakker challenge.