How much air should there be in a ball?

[Kaja =)]

What do you guys think?
Look at this:


There must be no air in it all! I know in "the old days" the balls were pretty hard!
For a while our group had a trainer who hasn't really coached many people since she was a gymnast herself, and she thought our balls was way too "soft" and she wanted to pump some air in them. She did, and she made them so hard we hard we had to sit on them to get them "softer"!!!!
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And those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music

[NikkiNoo]

There is another photo similar to this of Alexandra Orlando where the ball looks the same - they have to be a certain 'pumped up' according to the FIG rules (not entirely too sure the exact amount but I know with the sasaki and other balls of this type that you want a little bit of 'squishyness' in them in order for them to roll properly. The test we used to do was holding the ball in the palm of your hand with your arm straight out at shoulder height. You then turned your hand over so the ball falls down to the floor and is not pushed at all. Then you watch to see where it will bounce too - we often aimed for it to bounce up around the knees (generally only 1/4 of the distance). If it bounced higher then we would take more air out of the ball but if it bounced lower then we added a bit more air.
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NikkiNoo

el canguro español

[anjie]

When a ball hits the floor it will be squeezed together because of something I don't remember (anyone studying physics here? i stopped taking classes with that last year..)
it's supposed to happen, because if not, the ball will just lie there (how much does a bowling ball bounce, in comparation?), and I think the photo was taken at that moment.

It's the same with golf balls; the moment the stick hits the ball, it will react this way: First it becomes completely flat, and then it pops out and that's the reason it flies away

[rhythmicprincess]

Anjie is right.
But on the subject of how much it should be blown up...We mostly do them until their pretty full. Although, some teams have them like half empty, because they say the handling is easier. I dont know if everyone would think the same though. I like mine mostly full, that way it will bounce and such.