The Wo skill is technically a travel from one end of the horse to the other, with two Russians in between. The skill starts in front loops and finishes with back loops. The roth skill is basically one Russian circle , incorporated into the full travel. Both skills are performed without placing the hands onto the pommels. The Wo skill starts with a stokli placement of the hands in between the pommels. The Russian circle continues with the placement of the hands on the saddle until the first Russian circle finishes in front support longitudinal with the hands in the middle of the horse. The second Russian continues with a quarter turn stokli, and placement of the hands at the end of the horse, passing the second pommel. The second Russian circle continues and finishes in front support, ready for a back loop. The roth move is easier, in the sense that the gymnast should incorporate only one Russian, basically performed in the middle of the horse between the pommels. One modification of this skill is to perform the skill with the stokli between the pommels. A similar move is to have the second stokli on the second pommel. The tong fei skill is similar to the technique mentioned above. The gymnast performs the travel with half of a Russian circle, the quarter stokli though is done over both pommels, at the end of the horse. The skill finishes in front support, ready for the front loop. In all of these skills the gymnast should follow the technical rules of the Russian circle – the center of gravity (hips) should be between the arms, the gymnast should lean forward with the shoulders, squeeze their glutei and push the horse away (“planche move”).
This Russian circle should start and finish in front support. There should be a 360º turn in one circle. It should be accomplished with 4 hand placements (or 2 hops). In the beginning, the first arm should reach forward to the third quarter. The second arm should then quickly reach under to the second quarter. At this point, the gymnast should conclude the ½ circle position with a half turn. The next half of the skill is the same as the first (the first arm should reach forward to the first quarter. The second arm then quickly reaches under to the fourth quarter) finishing the Russian in front support with a full turn. The Russian circle could start with a ¼ reverse stockli action (90º turn). If this is the case, then there would only be 270º of a wendeswing turn, finishing in front support with a total of a full turn.
The gymnast should become familiar with where to place their hands during the skill. They should walk themselves through the Wo skill several times until they understand.
When the gymnast has become familiar with the Wo skill. They should attempt it on the pommeless horse. When this has been improved, some foam blocks can be attached to the horse in place of pommels.
Integral part of gymnastics coaching process are skill drills. They help gymnasts to learn easier and technically correct. With GYM DRILL PRO you will find variety of ideas for the most the basic gymnastics skills. There are plenty of images with skill drill progressions. It is intended to support explicitly the qualified coaches in their daily coaching business. DO NOT practice without the guidance of proper professionals.