A Study on the Development of the Back Salto Dismount Skill on Uneven Parallel Bars:

Focusing on Environmental Factors

Abstract

　The current Code of Points for women's gymnastics includes over 500 skills as a result of skills development conducted by gymnasts and coaches till date. While in 1968 there were only two difficulty levels, medium and high, the difficulty scale has now been expanded to cover levels from A to J, indicating the development of more advanced skills. This study focuses on the back salto dismount within the salto skill group on uneven parallel bars. Based on an analysis of its relationship with environmental factors, the study objectives primarily include improvements in scoring regulations and apparatus as well as changes in apparatus standards in order to suggest directions for future skills development and provide basic data for preliminary consideration in advancing the historical study of skills development on uneven parallel bars.

　The study can be summarized as follows.

　1．In the late 1970s, Natalia Shaposchnikova and others performed the back hip circle, leading to the development of the back salto dismount as a concluding skill.

　2．In the 1980s, the quality of the back hip circle improved along with the expansion of equipment regulations, with the development of the back salto dismount skill proceeding further under the influence of the Code of Points.

　3．In the 1990s, equipment standards led to increased distance between the bars and made the bar shape thinner and rounder, promoting further development of the back hip circle skill as an approach skill and of the back salto dismount.

　4．In the 2000s, the trend shifted to a new sense of value that could be called the “pursuit of difficulty.”

　Based on these trends, skills development through added structural complexity has been promoted by changes in apparatus standards and the influence of the Code of Points. Skills development is thus likely to proceed further through the “pursuit of difficulty.”