Gymnastics: balance, shape and control
Physical Education · Key Stage 2 · The School
What makes a balance hold
Two things. A wider BASE OF SUPPORT is more stable than a narrow one, which is why a shoulder balance is easier to hold than standing on one foot. And the lower your weight sits over that base, the less far it has to move before you topple. Every wobble is your weight leaving the base — the fix is to make the base bigger or bring the weight back over it.
Shapes and what they ask of you
The basic shapes are tuck, straight, straddle, pike and star. Each asks for something different: a pike needs flexibility behind the legs, a straddle needs it at the hips, a straight shape needs tension through the whole body to stop it sagging. Holding a shape still is harder than passing through it, and is what makes it look controlled rather than lucky.
Building a sequence
A sequence links shapes and movements with a clear beginning and end. What makes one good is not difficulty but CONTROL: held shapes, smooth links, changes of level and direction, and a finish that stops rather than trails off. Filming it and watching it back shows what a mirror cannot. All of this is practised with a coach on proper matting — the knowledge is here, the doing is there.
Choose a balance, a travel and a shape: an arabesque, a forward roll, a tuck jump. Now join them so there is no pause and no shuffle between — the end of the roll must arrive already facing the right way for the jump. Perform it three times. If it is identical each time, you have a sequence. Then improve ONE thing: hold the balance for a full five counts.