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By Rick McCharlesPreventing “Barani Confusion”Rick McCharles has coached Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics invarious places throughout Canada (including the Altadore and TaisoGymnastics Clubs), as well as in Christchurch New Zealand. He is a Level4 NCCP coach as well as a Level 3 course conductor. Currently, Rick issomewhere in the high Andes of South America, spotting his backpackover a 15,000 foot pass.Many gymnasts have puzzlingproblems when learning twistingforward somersaults. Especially thosewho use a “contact” twist, from thefloor, to initiate rotation around thelong axis. In this article I will try toanswer some frequently askedquestions concerning twisting. I’ll offersome suggestions to prevent the dreadBarani Confusion.What is Barani Confusion?Confusion about the actual directionof twist on a Barani (forwardsomersault with half twist) is a realand common problem. Manygymnasts twist in the wrong directionwhen learning Barani; that is, agymnast attempting to twist to the leftactually twists to the right!What Causes Barani Confusion?Visual information when upside-downis disorientating — the perception isexactly opposite reality. Try thisexperiment. Find a swiveling officechair and spin yourself around incircles. Compare your view of thefloor with your view of the roof. Notethat, relative to your point of view, thefloor spins in the opposite directionthan does the roof (i.e. if the floorturns in the clockwise direction, theroof will turn in the counter-clockwisedirection.) It is no wonder that thegymnasts get confused. The visualinformation when upside down(looking at the roof) is reversed! I’veseen, sadly, some gymnasts learnBarani as a round off with no hands.This is the worst possible progression.It usually results in Barani Confusion.How can I be sure which direction thegymnast twisted?When observing twisting skills watchwhether the athlete turns chest or backto you during the first half twist. If theLEFT shoulder is moving backwards,it was a LEFT twist. And visa versawith the RIGHT shoulder. This is aquick and easy way to determinewhether the twist was initiated to theleft or to the right, regardless of thecomplexity of the skill. With a littlepractice you can easily decide thedirection of any twist at a glance.There is no Barani Confusion for theobserver.Why does it matter which direction youtwist?1) Safety!2) Skill LearningIt is important that ADVANCEDGYMNASTS TWIST IN ONLYONE DIRECTION. We want noconfusion to arise regarding whichdirection to twist while learninginverted skills. A fall on the head canGym Coach Quarterly Page 4 November 2004