Game version
Skill-card game: pick a card with a skill you already know and show it with your coach nearby. The pair collects five clean skills together.
Back Handspring Drills with a Coach
Learn the sit, swing and push of the back handspring in pieces, with your coach spotting.
By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated October 30, 2026
Set up
Practice the sit-back position against a wall with arms up.
Core: Your usual skill. Move up only with your coach’s OK.
- Ages
- 14 and up
- Time
- 15 min
- Space
- Gym or court
- Bring
- Barrel or mat roll, mats, coach
- Level · skill
- Advanced · Tumbling & Vault
The steps
How it works
- Practice the sit-back position against a wall with arms up.
- With your coach, roll back over a barrel to your hands.
- Snap your feet down to the floor from a handstand on the barrel.
- Do 8 of each piece only while your coach spots.
Coaching point
Sit, swing, push, snap.
Safety: Only in a gym with a qualified coach and proper mats. Never try this at home. Pain in your lower back, worse when you bend back, is never normal: stop and tell a parent or coach. Keep back bends few and gentle. If you hit your head, or feel dizzy or headachy after a fall, stop, tell your coach, and do not train again until a doctor says you are OK.
Make it fun
Play it, don't drill it
Challenge
Pick a level: Less (a shape or roll), Core (your usual skill), More (a clean skill with a stuck landing). Move up only with your coach’s OK.
Story
You are a circus star performing your favorite act.
My best
Beat your own count
Move up only with your coach’s OK. Only your own number counts: today against last time.
Practice makes progress
Print it now, or save it free
Free for families and teams
Save this drill to your child or team, free
Sign up and the free gymnastics week for this age opens in your child's planner, kept to healthy limits. A coach can send this drill to the whole team as homework, and parents see every session logged.
14 days free for a family, no card · Running a team is always free
Does your child's coach know about this?
An email from you to the coach, with the words ready. Nothing is tracked and nobody is rewarded.