Technique Point: A Case Study on Taylor Houchin

Since we’re about halfway through the 2020 season, I thought I would switch things up a little bit and focus on one athlete who demonstrates high-level technique on every event.

While there were many to choose from (and Kyla Ross being perhaps the most obvious), I ended up with Nebraska’s Taylor Houchin because it’s almost impossible for me to watch her gymnastics without admiring her technique. She is really purposeful with her positioning and emphasizes it in a way that not many other athletes do.

Here are some things I notice on each event: 

Vault

Many collegiate gymnastics fans have heard of Houchin because of this event. At the end of last season—and then again just a few weeks ago—Houchin nailed her Yurchenko 1.5 for a near-perfect 9.975. 

https://twitter.com/FloGymnastics/status/1115298776028200960

Although many fans—myself included—thought the above vault should have scored a 10.0, Houchin said one judge took off for direction. This means the judge perceived that the landing veered to the left or right of the table. (Normally directional movement occurs when the vault twists a tad early instead of blocking first.) 

I want to first start by pointing out the technique Houchin uses on her hurdle, which is the same on beam and floor. 

The skill is very quick, which helps her effectively transfer the speed from her run into her round-off. But more importantly, it’s the position she holds in the hurdle that really stands out.

Houchin keeps her arms super close to her ears with her head tucked between them and her chest in a nice hollowed position. The narrow arms help her maintain a straight body line, with all of her momentum moving in the same direction on the same plane (remember, if one arm or shoulder drops more than the other, your balance can easily be thrown off).

This is a really nice shape to hold in preparation of the round-off, and Houchin does it perfectly every time. Other gymnasts utilize similar shapes and positions in their hurdle-to-roundoff, but Houchin’s is stricter and more purposeful.

When Houchin’s arms hit the mat on her round-off, they’re perfectly straight, which allows her to maximize her shoulder block. This is something her narrow arm position also helps with; the wider your arms are, the more likely they are to bend.

Houchin is then very quick with her snap back to the table after the round-off, hitting the table at a great angle with her head neutral, arms locked out and shoulders open. She does twist a little bit early off of the table but still gets more than enough distance and rise from her block.

You can see Houchin spotting the ground until the very last second, which helps her find that stick. She finishes twisting when she’s above parallel with the ground—a product of the enormous height on the vault—and flares it just a tiny bit to control the landing.

Bars

Houchin keeps her arms narrow on bars, which is a technique I really prefer, especially on this event. It helps keep the arms strong and locked throughout, while making the body shape aesthetically pleasing.

Her strong technique is evident right from the very first skill in her routine. 

Houchin casts to handstand and then moves her right arm in toward her left in preparation for her blind full. Her right arm will effectively be her pivot arm, and by shifting it closer to the left, she makes it easier for herself to transfer her weight onto that arm.

If her arms remained shoulder-width apart, she would have to do much more work to lean her body over and initiate the turn. This way, she’ll have to use much less energy on the skill while remaining more stable and aligned on the bar (less movement = less room for error).

Every good blind turn begins with initiation from the toes, which is really noticeable in Houchin’s. You can see her toes turning before the rest of her body does, and her body stays nice and tight throughout.

Houchin employs the same technique on her overshoot, too, with her toes initiating the turn. 

Some gymnasts initiate the overshoot turn by releasing one arm off the bar before the other, but I like Houchin’s technique because her body line (with both arms up by her ears the whole time) stays nice and tight. It looks prettier and more fluid.

Beam

Beam can sometimes be shaky for Houchin, but when she hits, it’s gorgeous. You can see she’s aware of her arm placement on many of her skills and making sure they’re even (see last Technique Point for reference).

Back handspring layout step-out

Front aerial to beat jump

But perhaps my favorite part of Houchin’s beam routine is her dismount, where her technique really shines. 

Or from another angle.

Houchin uses the same hurdle for vault, which really helps her on beam, where going in a straight line is very important. Her head is tucked in, which also helps her go up and over on her round-off (think of a rainbow) instead of leaning to one side. 

She waits on her set, and her head stays in a great position during her twist. When Houchin lands, she’s almost perfectly straight with little directional movement.

Floor

On floor, you can see Houchin use the same hurdle technique into her round-off back handspring. 

Her first pass is a back 2.5, which has that “floaty” effect in the air. This is because she really stands tall on her set, holding it until her last toe leaves the ground. It’s a marvelous position for her to be in, and better than that of 99% of back twisters I’ve seen before.

Houchin has also mastered the set on her double pike. 

A lot of gymnasts truncate the set on this skill in a rush to get to a piked position, but not Houchin. She allows her chest to rise before piking, and does a great job keeping her head in instead of whipping it backward.

While there are many NCAA gymnasts that exhibit flawless technique, Houchin is a personal favorite of mine because her positioning is so deliberate. Tweet me your favorites at @ktgymnastics!

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Article by Katie Norris

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