Falling off of the beam is devastating regardless, however it’s even more heartbreaking when it happens at a meet. Have you felt like this? We’re pretty sure every gymnast has at some time or another. Lucky for you, we’ve put together these tips for if this happens, particularly at a meet.
So you’ve fallen off of the beam. Now what??
Step 1 – Calming Breaths
First, we recommend taking a few calming, deep breaths. After a fall on beam, you have 45 seconds before you have to mount the beam again; take this time to compose yourself.
Step 2 – Re-Mount Beam and Continue Your Routine
In most cases, after you compose yourself, you’ll re-mount the beam and continue your routine where you left off. There are some cases where you’ll need to repeat the skill, but be sure to check with your coach about this during your 45 second fall time. Most of the time, you can re-mount the beam and just start on the next skill.
Falling on an Acro Skill or a Series
This varies, so as always, make sure to check with your coach during your 45 seconds before getting back on. Here are our tips:
If you land your skill or series with your feet on the beam and THEN fall
just get back on the beam and continue your routine. You don’t have to repeat the skill because you’ve landed your feet on the beam and have received credit for the skill, so no need to repeat it.
If the skill is an individual one that is not repeated anywhere else in your routine and you got your feet on the beam
you should get back up on the beam, and continue your routine from right after the skill where you fell
If it was an individual acro skill that you only have once in your routine and you completely missed your feet
re-mount the beam and repeat the skill attempting it once more to see if you can land it. If your feet didn’t land on the beam, you didn’t get credit for the skill.
If the skill was part of a series and you missed your feet on the last skill,
you probably didn’t get credit for the series and you should probably re-attempt the series. As always, this is something that your coach can advise you on, so make sure to check in before you re-mount the beam. If the series is something like a back walkover-back handspring, then it’s probably worth repeating the series and trying to get credit for it. If it was something like a back handspring-back handspring, be advised that you can only get credit for a skill two times in a routine. This means that if you got credit for your first back handspring during the initial attempted you attempt to complete your back handspring-back handspring again after you re-mount, you wouldn’t get credit for the 3rd back handspring. This is something you want to check with your coach about.
General rule of thumb
A general rule of thumb is that that if you didn’t get your feet on the beam on an important skill in your routine, then you should probably attempt it again so you can see if you can get your feet on the beam to get credit for the skill. If you did get your feet on the beam and then fell, then you probably got credit for the skill and you should resume your routine when you re-mount the beam.
We hope this helps!
Gymnast: @mayaistumbling