This article is about teaching the Shikoku to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “What number of jumps is best to start with?” You can never have enough solo jumps to practice agility. One good starting point is four jumps. This is the fewest count of jumps that we recommend.
Teaching the Shikoku jumping: Start with 4
You can teach a Shikoku a plethora of exercises, skills, and drills with four jumps. 4 jumps will let you develop on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can position a “box” with your jumps and practice 270 degree jumps, collection, and handling. You can teach your Shikoku jumping left and right. You can be outside the box and send your Shikoku or you can handle from the inside of the box. Your jumps could be staged in a lateral row, so you could practice serpentines and threadles.
Teach a Shikoku 8 Jumps
Take the next logical step and work on eight jumps. Now you can position 2 boxes with one starter jump. You’ve now increased your drills that you can work on with your Shikoku. Your jump grids can be of recommended size and quantity of jumps. You can even position your jumps in a circle with the jump bars normal to the circle or on the circumference of the circle. This pattern also enables you to work on a variety of drills.
Teach the Shikoku Double and Triple Jumps
Your next step is a double jump and a triple jump. You can position 2 or 3 solo jumps together to make your expanded jump, however having double and triple jumps in your course work is really helpful to work on. We’ve seen many Shikokus run a flawless course and the last obstacle is a triple and the Shikoku is not ready to do it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Shikokus.Was this post helpful? If so, please take a minute to Tweet and Share below on Facebook. I would also love to know your thoughts so leave me a comment 🙂
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