Vault AO2

The Vault

Skills

The gymnast must be able to run really fast along the runway because this is where all they get all the power for the after-flight.

They have to keep their jump onto the springboard low and long to get forward momentum and not get too far forward on the board.

Their feet should be in front on them when they land on the board

It is important to get their hands on the right place on the vault depending on which type of vault they are doing.

One of the main skills is to keep really tight in the body so that you can bounce easily and fly straight into the after-flight.

On landing they have to keep the knees bent so they don’t hurt their knees and then keep standing with a good finishing position.

The most skilled Vaulters have a very fast run-up, a long, low jump, a tight pre-flight with a quick exit off the vault, an excellent after-flight and a good landing.

Another skill is to make it aesthetically pleasing for the judges so they will give more points.

Techniques

The techniques in vault are to get a good fast run up, to have clarity of shape when in the air, to have good balance when landing and in the air, start and finish positions,  to get good height from the springboard and make sure it is aesthetically pleasing for the judges.

A good fast run up is essential because without it you don’t get much height therefore you won’t get much time in the air to do what you want to.

If you don’t have a good clarity of shape then the judges won’t know which vault you are doing so they will drop points. Also if it is not aesthetically pleasing the judges will drop points. If you mess up the landing or stumble then you will lose points.

Tactics

There aren’t any tactics for vault. You just have to make it aesthetically pleasing for the judges so they will give you more points.

Strategies

There is only one strategy in vault and that is to go for a simpler and easier vault, perfect it and get more points or to try something harder and try to get the highest points.

400 Metre AO2

400m

Skills

400m skills are being able to sprint for long distances non-stop and to not get put off by other runners trying to over-take you.

Being able to sprint for a long time is difficult unless you can build up lactate or lactic acid. For normal people this normally last for about 10 seconds but for good runners it can be up to double that.

Techniques

Techniques in 400m are to get a good start from the blocks to try and gain an advantage, to pump your arms when running and to drive with your leg muscles and get them higher for more power.

Tactics

There aren’t any tactics for 400m it is just to run the race as fast as you can with a good start from the blocks and to save a bit of energy to sprint in the last 100m.

Strategies

It is important to stick with your strategy and not change it half way through the race. You should practice the strategy many times before an actual race. You should always use a block to start the race so you can get a fast start. You shouldn’t clench your fists or have floppy hands but find a middle point – as if you are holding a cup. Don’t let the other athletes dictate how you run your race – KEEP TO YOUR STRATEGY!

There are a few different strategies

Giving It All

Sprint out of the block and run as fast as you can for 200m. You will get tired after 200m but you have to tell yourself to keep going and keep your arms and legs moving to pick up the knees. You will probably get cramp at the end of the race but because you can stay in the lead all the way the other athletes may not try so hard.

50-150-200

This is the most common strategy. Begin by going full out for the first 50 meters. Start to slow down a bit for the next 150m and find your rhythm. At 200m try to sprint again to the finish.

200-50-150

This is more common indoors. Start off by doing the first 200m a bit slower then slow down a bit more for the next 50m. The go for a fast, sprint finish.

Even Pace

This is the simplest and you have to run an even pace for each of the first three 100m of the race. But you can’t really make speed adjustments in this strategy during the race so your need to know your competitors' times before setting your pace.  You sprint the final 100m

Football AO2

Football
Skills

There are many different skills in football but the main ones are passing, shooting, dribbling, heading, tackling and strength. You need more of each skill depending on which position you play in. if you are a striker you are going to need more skill at shooting and heading if you are a defender then you will need more strength and heading. If you are a winger then you need to be better at dribbling or passing and if you are a central midfielders then you need more passing, strength, tackling and shooting.

There are different types of heading; the standard header, glancing header, diving header and a flick header. But all headers need to be struck correctly or the player will get hurt. You have to hit the ball with the top part of your forehead keeping your eyes on the part of the ball that you want to head.

For good passing you need accuracy and power. If the pass isn’t accurate enough then you could pass it straight to the opposition and if it hasn’t got enough power the opposition can easily intercept it.

For good tackling you need to be strong to win the ball and if you are doing a sliding tackle then don’t go in late, studs showing or feet off the ground.

For good shooting you need accuracy and power. You need accuracy because you have got to get the ball into the goal and without accuracy you aren’t going to do that. You need power because if you just shoot lightly then the goal keeper is always going to save it unless you have shot right in the corner where the keeper can’t reach.

To be a good winger/wide player then you need to be able to dribble and to do that you need pace, close control and a little bit of skill. You need pace so you can beat most defenders running to get the ball or when you have the ball. You need close control because if you have the ball and you are running with the defender and you don’t have good ball control the defender can just take the ball from you.


Techniques
The techniques in football are just variations of the different skills for example for passing there is lofted passes, one touch passing, through ball, crosses and long passing.

A lofted pass is where you chip the ball in the air and for the ball to stay in the air for a reasonable amount of time so the attacker has time to run onto it or take time to control the ball. One touch passing is where you just pass it with one touch. Long passing is just when you pass the ball along way, either in the air on along the ground. Crossing is when you are in a wide position and you have the ball and you pass the ball into the box so that an attacker can try to score from this. A through ball is when you try to set up one of your team mates to try and score. You pass the ball behind the defenders for your team mate to run onto.

The different variations for shooting are fineness shots and power shots. A fineness shot is a shot that has been place with good accuracy so the keeper can’t reach it and not too much power but enough to be able to reach the goal and beat the keeper. A power shot is just a powerful shot on goal that the keeper can’t reach it and if he can then hopefully it will have too much power that the keeper can’t stop it.

Tactics
There lots of tactics for football they are counter attacking, route one, using the wings and possession football.

Possession football is where you keep the ball and try and work the ball into the goal with quick passing and trying to catch out the defence.

Counter attacking football is when your team het the ball in defence after the opposition have attacked and you attack quickly before all their defenders get back from trying to help out with the attack.

Route one is easy, simple and effective if the person receiving the ball has good ball control. Route one is where someone in defence kicks it up the pitch to an attacker to try to control the ball and set someone else up or go alone and try and score.

Using the wings is easy and effective. If the winger gets the ball they can cut inside the defender and then have a shot or cross it in or they can try to run at the defender and try and beat him or they can cross the ball to try and set up an attacker.

Strategies

4-4-2 formation

There are offensive, defensive and neutral strategies and formations. An attacking formation may be 3-5-1 or 2-1-4-1-2. A defensive formation may be 5-4-1 or 6-3-1(not that many teams use this one). Some neutral formations are 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. These two are the most common but it all depends on the opposition you are playing against. If it one of the top clubs in your league or Europe then you would probably use a defensive formation or a neutral formation if you manager thinks that you might as well have a go even if you probably aren’t going to win. If it is a not-so-good team in your league or Europe then you might play an offensive formation to try and get the win.

You can change strategies throughout the game for example if it is a cup game or an important one in the league and you are losing then you might turn to an offensive formation to try and get the win, but if you are winning you could use a defensive formation to try to hold your lead.

Vault AO1

The Vault

The Vault is a gymnastic event and part of the artistic gymnastic events. This a series of different events performed on various bits of apparatus and on the floor.  Men and women both take part in vaulting.

It is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) but most countries also have their own regulators such as BAGA in the UK.  It is a popular spectator sport with lots of different competitions and at the summer Olympics where it is usually the first event to sell out of tickets.

Equipment

The gymnasts vault over a piece of apparatus called ‘the table’. Originally it was known as the ‘horse’ and looked a bit like a pommel horse without handles. This piece of equipment was used in the Olympics for over one hundred years starting at the first modern games in 1896 when Carl Schuhman of Germany (right) won the Gold medal and ending at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia when Gervasio Deferr of Spain won gold.

For men it is set up the long way along the track and for women the short way.  The horse has been blamed for a number of bad accidents. In 1988 Julissa Gomez of the US was paralysed and died three years after her accident and in 1998 Chinese gymnast Sang Lan also suffered paralysis from a spine injury.  In 2000 the horse was too low and there were a number of accidents and after this the FIG decided to change to the ‘table’.

The table has a large, flat, cushioned surface and it slopes downward at the end nearest the springboard. This is a platform with springs that the gymnast jumps from onto the table. The table must have a cushioned surface that isn’t slippery or rough and the top of the table must be able to absorb shock so that wrists and shoulders are protected.

The size of the table differs for men and women. It is 125cm high for women and 135cm for men. It is 120cm long and 95cm wide. The runway (usually a padded carpet) for the vault event must not be longer that 25m and it is 100cm wide and not more than 2.5cm high. It must have a start line for the gymnast to know where to start the run. The springboard is 120cm long, 60cm wide and 20cm high. There is a landing mat behind the vault that mist be 6m long and 2.5m wide.

The table was first used at the 2001 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships in Belgium and although it seems to be safer than the horse in 2007 a junior Dutch gymnast, Imke Glas, was seriously injured after he fell.

How to do the Vault

The gymnast has to run down the runway and spring from the springboard onto the table. They may then just leap over the table or perform a variety of different twists and turns landing on the mat on the other side of the table. There a five moves or ‘phases’:

1. The Run – the gymnast can choose how far to run as long as it is not more than the length of the runway. They run faster and faster until they are about 2m from the springboard when they do a low jump onto it.
2. The Pre-flight – this is the time between hitting the springboard and the table. Their legs should be together and straight and pointed toes and arms should be stretched out by their ears.
3. Contact with the table – They touch the table and then push off with their hands to propel themselves into the air. They have to keep very tight to create as much power as possible.
4. The Post-Flight – this is the best bit of the exercise and they can perform different moves. The height and distance achieved are both judged as well as how they look.
5. The Landing – They land on the mat behind the table. They should land between lines marked on the mat and standing up straight without moving their feet.

There are different styles of vaulting and these are determined by the action performed and also if they are a man or woman.

 

Men	Women
Direct Vaults	Handspring, Yamashita, round-off with or without longitudinal-axis (LA) turn in 1st and/or 2nd phase
Vaults with 1/1 turn in the first flight	Handspring forward with/without 360° turn in 1st flight phase, somersault forward with/without LA turn  in 2nd flight phase
Handspring and Yamashita style vaults	Tsukahara style vaults ( half turn off the springboard onto the vault table, then a push backwards, usually into a back somersault)
Tsukahara	Yurchenko style vaults (round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the horse or vaulting table. Then a somersault which may range in difficulty from a simple single tuck to a triple twist layout.). You have to use a safety collar. If you don’t the vault is invalid
Yurchenko	Round-off with ½ LA turn in 1st flight phase, somersault forward with or without LA turn in 2nd flight phase

Gymnasts in competitions will usually try to do the most complicated vault so that they can get more marks.

Here are some videos of different vaults

·Tsukahara Double Pike

·Yurchenko 2.5 Twist (called an Amanar)

Scoring and Rules

In competitions, men and women will do one vault in qualification, team final and all-round final. In the apparatus final they have to do two vaults and for men these must be from different groups and women have to do two but with two different post-flights. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is VT. Gymnasts used to try to get a perfect 10 score but in 2005 the scoring was revised by the International Gymnastics Federation.and now they have two types of score:

·         The difficulty score (D) which starts at zero and increases with more difficult moves

·         The execution score (E) which starts at 10 and goes down as they make errors.

This means that they can get much higher scores and today scores can be as high as 16 -17.
To get a good score gymnasts must:

·         Land cleanly with no hops or steps and within the landing zone. This is called a ‘Stuck Landing’

·         Demonstrate good technique

·         Look as if they are in complete control

·         Have pointed toes, straight arms and legs

·         Look as if every move is planned

·         Travel a good distance from the table

·         Have a routine that is different from other gymnasts.

The gymnast loses marks if they:

·         Fall or step off the mat

·         Don’t have enough height or distance off the table

·         Don’t show the vault number on the electronic screen

The gymnast gets zero if:

·         They don’t touch the table

·         Receive assistance from their coach

·         They don’t land on their feet first.

·         They touch the springboard but don’t do the vault (however, women can have a second try if they haven’t touched the springboard first time but they only have 30 seconds to get back to the end of the runway)

Kit

Men wear a singlet or vest and a pair of shorts and will have a track suit for warming up and afterwards. Women will wear a leotard and a track suit. In major competitions their clothing will have their county or logo on them.

They can wear ‘grips’ which are leather straps to protect the hands and wrists and they wear a thin shoe a bit like a ballet shoe. They may also use chalk to give them more grip.

The Best Female Vaulters in the World

·         Cheng Fei (China): 2005, 2006 & 2007 World Champion (right>)

·         Alicia Sacramone (USA): 3-time World Medalist

·         Oksana Chusovitina (Germany): 2003 World Champion; 8-time World Medalist

The Best Male Vaulters in the World

·         Marian Dragulescu (Romania): 2001, 2005 & 2006 World Champion (right>)

·         Leszek Blanik (Poland): 2007 World Champion; 2008 Olympic Champion

·         Gervasio Deferr (Spain): 2000 & 2004 Olympic Champion