Getting new tumbling skills takes time and practice, it requires transforming your body and its abilities.  In order to achieve a new skill the athlete needs to build muscle, increase flexibility and create muscle memory.  All those things do not happen overnight, and require dedication.  Every child is different, there is no answer on how long each tumbling skill could take to get.  Attending tumbling class multiple times a week can greatly improve the progress of each athlete. 

The Importance Of The Fundamentals In Tumbling

Fundamentals are extremely important in tumbling, because each skill leads into the next.  An athlete will not be able to achieve a skill, if he/she can not properly and consistently perform the fundamentals that directly lead into their goal.  Trying to skip the fundamentals will actually lead to a longer and more difficult journey to their goal, that may never be accomplished if the fundamentals are ignored.  Starting tumbling at a young age will help your child learn the fundamentals and create good habits that will progress them quicker to more advanced skills as they get older.

Consistency Is Key

Performing a skill once, does not mean that the athlete is ready to move on.  Not being able to perform a skill consistently could cause an injury.  It is important for athletes to know that it is common in the beginning stages of learning a skill that sometimes they might be able to perform a tumbling skill without a spot, but that does not mean that they should try it on their own.  A coach needs to make sure that they can perform it consistently before doing it on their own.  It takes time to train muscle memory, but making sure a skill is consistent will help the athlete progress to the next skill easier.  This is especially important with connecting skills.  For example, if an athlete is working on connecting a roundoff back handspring but the roundoff is only correct half of the time, the athlete will not even have a chance at attempting the connection half the time.  The athlete could also accidentally try to connect the skill without realizing that the roundoff was not correct and get hurt. Attending classes multiple times a week will help.

Setting Proper Expectations For Your Athlete 

The day your child gets a new tumbling skill is so exciting and something for them to be very proud of.  However, it is important for both the athlete and the parent to not get too far ahead of themselves, and assuming that the athlete should immediately start moving on to the next hardest skill.  There is a big difference between being able to perform a tumbling skill and being able to perform a tumbling skill correctly.  It is extremely important that each athlete is addressing the issues that need improvement, before trying to progress to the next level.  Performing a skill once, does not mean that the athlete is ready to move on.  Consistency is extremely important in tumbling.  As a parent, it is important to make sure that you are not putting unrealistic expectations on your child. Increased stress on their body causing long term injuries, mental blocks, and immediate injuries that could take them out of their sport for the rest of the season are all negative effects caused by unrealistic expectations. All of these things will end up making their progression to the next skill taking longer. 

Being Able To Use The Tumbling Equipment To Progress Faster

At Challenge Athletics we use more than just a tumbling floor.  We have trampolines, harnesses, air tracks, practice mats and a foam pit.  Each piece of equipment is designed to help your child start to work on progressing to the next tumbling skill in a safe way.  This will allow them to be able to work on multiple skills, without skipping steps and rushing too quickly to the next tumbling skill on the floor.  While they are still in the process of perfecting one skill, they can start the process of learning the next skill.