Research on the history of salto skill development on the balance beam

Abstract

　Currently, there are over 500 skills categorized in the scoring rules for women’s gymnastics, as a result of continuous skill development by athletes and coaches. To reorganize the results of such skill development, it is necessary to study changes in the scoring rules and improvements made in equipment and consider how they relate to skills. Studies that focus directly on sports movements and explore the technical aspects of sports, rather than investigating the general history of sports development from a sociocultural perspective, are centered on the historical development of skills (Kishino and Tawa, 1972).
　Such studies are now commonplace in gymnastics research but are based mostly on men’s events. This study examined the developments made in salto skills on balance beams from the 1960s to the present day, highlighting the changes in skill development triggered by new scoring rules and improved equipment and shedding light on the future direction of skill development in gymnastics.
The results of this research are summarized as follows.
　1. In the 1960s, salto skills for the balance beam were identified and were performed only during dismount.
　2. From the 1970s to the 1980s, many salto skills were developed owing to improvements in balance beam equipment as well as the program component system of scoring rules and the point adding system.
　3. Since the 1990s, owing to rule changes and a lack of any change in the width of the beam, almost no new salto skills have been developed.
　4. Since the 2000s, owing to a change in the height of the balance beam, having a mat placed on the ground for safety, and a scoring rule focused on high difficulty, the development of dismount skills has progressed.
　In relation to the future of skill development, this can be summarized as follows.
　1. Development of balance beam dismount skills with complicated structures that are similar to those in floor exercises is likely to occur.
　2. We can also expect the development of different salto skills on the beam relative to floor exercises, such as a modified salto with a one-leg jump and one-leg landings that can be performed on the width of the balance beam.