The term "acrobatics" is of Greek origin (translates roughly as "climb up" or "go on tiptoe"). This is a complex of various gymnastic exercises. Acrobat, according to the explanatory dictionary, is not only one who is engaged in this sport, but in a more general sense - a very fast and dexterous person.
Modern acrobatics includes sports (primarily gymnastic) exercises - single and group, walking on a tightrope, studies on the trapeze.
Who are acrobats?
Sometimes acrobatics is mistakenly identified with the circus genre, which is fundamentally wrong. Despite many similar elements, this is still a separate art. For sports acrobatics, good coordination of movements, the ability to concentrate, a sense of balance and considerable strength are required.
Often the word "acrobat" is used, emphasizing a high degree of sports training. Classes in this complex and spectacular art lead to a significant improvement in physical capabilities - speed, agility, general endurance. Acrobatic exercises in gymnastics are used for special training and are the main component of floor performances.
They are basically movements with a coup d'etat over the head. Possible rotation around the longitudinal, transverse or anteroposterior axis, as well as their combination.
Classification of Acrobatic Exercises
There are three main groups. The first is acrobatic jumps: rolls, somersaults, coups. The second is balancing. This includes shoulder racks, shoulder blades, and arms (including one arm). Here are exercises in pairs and group exercises. Usually acrobats make pyramids, the number of participants of which is from three people.
The third group includes throwing movements. What are they? The name speaks for itself - it is a tossing of a partner with a transition to the shoulder or arms (with a grip on the thigh, lower leg, foot or hand) or landing.
Good preparation of this type is necessary when performing exercises on gymnastic apparatus.
Acrobatics is also included in the high school physical education program. In the lessons, children learn to perform somersaults, rolls, a variety of racks, a bridge and much more. This allows them to better own and control their own body. Acrobatics helps to physically develop and overcome fears, develops willpower.
Conditions and inventory
Acrobatic training should be conducted in a safe environment to prevent injury to athletes. Places of employment require systematic monitoring.
Acrobatic exercises in physical education classes in schools necessarily require the maintenance of equipment and equipment in good condition. This is an important condition for successful work.
Some elements (balance, twine and half-twine) are mastered directly on the floor. To perform individual jumps, a springboard or a standard gymnastic bridge is suitable . Inventory before class is checked for malfunctions and roughness. A prerequisite for its use is an organized cleaning after the lesson.
Organization of educational acrobatic classes at school
Acrobatic exercises in physical education classes at school begin with the general construction and report of the person on duty. The teacher explains the main task, checks for the presence of the form, notes the missing ones.
Acrobatic exercises for children are contraindicated in cases of malaise, overwork or apathy. In such situations, the teacher should be able to understand the state of the student and, if necessary, temporarily suspend from class.
During the lesson, close attention should be paid to insurance, especially in risky elements. Already in the first lessons it is important to develop self-insurance skills in children, to teach orientation in space and ways out of risky situations.
At the end of each lesson, construction is carried out again, the teacher voices the conclusions and comments. Unorganized completion of the lesson is not allowed.
Now we will consider and systematize the types of acrobatic exercises.
Groupings
This is a bent body position. When grouping, the elbows are pressed to the body, the knees are pulled to the shoulders, the hands are wrapped around the legs. The back is rounded, the head on the chest, knees slightly divorced.
The most typical groupings are on the back, sitting or in a squat. The main requirement for their development is the speed of action. So, from a rack with arms raised they quickly squat and group, from a supine position they go to a group with a nape touching the floor, etc.
Rolls
This acrobatic exercise is a rotational movement with the obligatory subsequent touch of the support. When rolling, overturning over the head is not performed. It can be auxiliary in nature or be an independent exercise. Sometimes rolling is a connecting link between the main elements.
Roll back is performed as follows: from the main rack are grouped and rolled back until the back of the head touches the floor. Keeping the grouping, they return to their original position.
Another way
Option - taking the main stand, lean forward, hands behind the bottom. Leaning on the floor with straight legs, bend, grabbing your hands under your knees and roll back gently, touching the tips of the floor socks behind your head. Then roll into the gray position.
When rolling to the side, the body is out of balance in one of the sides (right or left). Shoulder and forearm consistently touch the floor. The roll is carried out in the opposite direction, then the starting position is taken.
There may be a roll to the side of the gray (the so-called steep roll) with legs together or apart. Its other form is a roll to the side, bending over (done from a prone position on the stomach or back).
The necessary insurance at the same time is standing on the side, supporting the person performing the approach under the thigh with one hand and the other under the shoulder.
Somersaults
A somersault is an acrobatic exercise in the form of a rotational movement of the body with a flip over the head. Its peculiarity is the successive touching by different parts of the body of the support.
Flip back can be in a grouping or bending over. The first is done, crouching in focus and resting his hands on the floor. Strongly pushing his hands, you need to roll back and roll over your head, then return to the squat.
Bending over somersault - having accepted the main rack, lean forward, sit down, keeping legs straight. The movement continues rolling backward through the back. Then go to the main rack.
At the same time, insurance is provided, helping at the time of a coup with one hand over the shoulder, with the other under the back.
It is more difficult to perform the same somersault with a roll over the shoulder. It is performed, as a rule, from gray, with legs joined and arms apart on the sides, by rolling back.
When touching the floor with your shoulder blades, you need to straighten up sharply, with your legs up. At the same time, turn your head to the side and lean your hand next to it. Roll through the chest, then through the stomach. Straighten your arms and then raise your head.
The coach, when the student performs the exercises, stands on the side and insures for the lower legs.
There is also a somersault back running over the shoulder.
Flip-flops forward are similarly divided into those that are carried out bent over in a group, the so-called. long from a jump or from a headstand - the latter option is more often studied by young men.
Rack
This is the name of the acrobatic exercise, in which the body assumes a vertical position with its feet up in focus. This is a kind of limited equilibrium. There may be different categories of difficulty. The emphasis is on the shoulders, shoulder blades, arms, head, etc.
The main option is a rack on the shoulder blades. The support in this case is on the back of the head, neck, elbows and shoulder blades with lumbar support. The coach at the same time insures the side of the leg.
The stand on the arms and head (at the same time) is made from the crouching or gray heel rest, as well as from other positions.
A handstand is difficult to perform due to the need to maintain balance, often accompanied by a fall back or forward. Equilibrium is achieved by pressing the fingers or palms on the floor. Such a stand can be performed with a swipe or a push of the legs.
During its implementation, insurance is strictly required by holding the legs and thighs. The person performing the fall should rearrange his arms or lower his leg so as not to hurt himself.
For babies
The methodology of teaching acrobatic exercises for students in schools from the first to eleventh grade involves taking into account the individual and age characteristics of children. The tasks and content of classes change as they grow and develop.
Acrobatic exercises for young children are not very difficult. In the first grade, they study the technique of groupings and rifts. To maintain interest in learning, you can invite children to portray a bun or any animal. Each exercise is fixed by repeated repetition.
Older kids learn somersaults back and forth, "bridges", racks on the shoulder blades.
For teens
In the fifth and eighth grades, the technique of acrobatic exercises is complicated, which is associated with improving students' physical abilities. The number of elements and their diversity increases, additional movements are introduced, the intensity of the load increases.
The complex of acrobatic exercises for children at this age includes several flip-flops in a row with rumbles, racks on the head and arms, half-twine and an upward jump with a deflection.
For high school students
Closer to high school, the program for boys and girls begins to vary. Boys master a handstand and other elements that are more complicated than tasks for girls.
A set of acrobatic exercises for girls consists mainly of flexibility exercises. They are obliged to "overpower", for example, the "bridge" with lowering back, etc.
Acrobatics as a sport
Acrobat athletes compete in single jumps (both men and women), in paired exercises (a pair of men or women or a mixed pair) and a group. At competitions, acrobats demonstrate jumping combinations as well as floor exercises.
Groups of acrobats perform an artistic composition of throws, balance elements and jumps.
In gymnastics training, acrobatics plays a large role. Jumping is the most difficult in floor exercises, and many of the elements on the gymnastic apparatus are similar to acrobatic ones.
Basic jumps in acrobatics
A coup is most often done with a run after a jump by the sweep of one of the legs and the push of the other. Hands are always straight. They are placed on the floor as far as possible from the leg that serves as a jerk.
The coup jump begins with a take-off after a two-leg jump with one (the so-called attack). In this case, an energetic push is immediately made with both legs with the movement of the body and arms underneath, swing back with your feet and a sharp braking.
Rondat - this is the name of the acrobatic exercise, which serves to move from a run to exercises with your back forward. The whole jump depends on the quality of its implementation.
A wheel flip does not have a flight phase, unlike a jump. It is produced by rotating around an imaginary transverse axis while swinging one leg and pushing the other.
The backward flip is done in two stages: after the foot push and after the manual one. The duration and height of both phases are almost equal. Of great importance is the rapid bending of the legs, followed by braking before landing.
Other acrobatics
There are other types of acrobatic exercises, one of which is half-turns. Most of them are more complicated than coups, only a few are quite simple and serve as auxiliary exercises.
Lifting by bending is done by energetic swing with both legs, braking, pushing with hands and landing on straight legs.
Kurbet (a jump from hand to foot), somewhat reminiscent of a coup, or rather, its second half. By swinging one of the legs and pushing the other, a handstand is performed. Without completing it, you need to bend, quickly bend your knees, also quickly unbend and brake.
Somersault is the most spectacular, but also the most difficult of jumps in acrobatics. It is done by rotating back, forward or sideways. It can be front, fly - requiring special flexibility, as well as rear from a place.
Bending back somersaults is a complex element; before studying it, you need to master the grouping well. Its version with rotation is done with additional rotation and straightening of the body.
Pirouette, or a flip with a full rotation (360 degrees), exists in two versions. In the first of these, the rotation begins even in the support position, in the other, in the free (unsupported) stage.