Somersaulting at an angle

[Lee]

Hi, i'm just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with somersaulting at an angle.

All my front somersaults seem to be taking-off at an angle, sometimes even facing the corner of the trampoline. My straight bouncing is fine and i don't have a problem with my back somersaults, it's only my front summis that seem to do it.

I had this problem last summer but it gradually went away but its started to come back again recently.

I've tried lots of different ways of fixing it. I've tried changing my spotting points & re-learning crash dives in the hope that fixing the take off will help my front summis. But none of these seem to have worked !. Someone suggested that i may just have one side that is more powerful then the other and to try strengthening up the other side, but wouldn't that cause my back somersaults to take off at an angle too ? :confused:

Has anyone else had this problem before ? if so what did you do to thelp fix it ?

Thanks

[Kelly Jordan]

Hai Lee!

Quite a common problem you've got there mate! I've got no quick-fix, but some things for people to look out for, for you ...

1) When you bounce, see if one foot is maybe slightly infront of the other - or just when you go to take off for front somies.
2) Does one arm drop when you take off for front somies?
3) Do you pull one shoulder back/push one shoulder forwards slightly on take off for front somies?
4) Do your hips twist at all on take-off?

You might only be very slight off-balance, but if you times that by the height you bounce and power you put into a somersault, it can throw you off quite a bit.