Round-off, back handspring, tuck: the standard tumbling combination. Which level allows it, prerequisites, coached build-up, landing data and typical errors.
Round-off, back handspring, back tuck is the standard combination in cheer tumbling: from a run-up you do a round-off, add a back handspring and finish with a somersault in the tuck. The terms are precisely defined in the rulebook: in a flip the body rotates hip over head without contact with the floor or a base; in the tuck the body is bent at the hips and the knees are drawn to the chest [3].
The honest answer to "From when may I do this?": as a running pass at ICU level Median, CCVD level 3 and USASF level 3 — and only in the tuck and only from the round-off or from round-off back handspring [1][2][3]. The rulebooks allow a tuck from a standing start only from level Advanced or level 4 [1][2][3]. How long the way there takes depends on strength, body tension and coach; it cannot honestly be promised in weeks or months.
Important: this guide describes rules, prerequisites and safety data, but no somersault technique. You learn somersaults only with a coach who masters spotting and methodology. The CCVD module "Tumbling Basic" of the coach C education (eight teaching units) covers floor gymnastics up to the back handspring [4] — ask your coach where his or her qualification for somersaults comes from.
Round-off and back handspring sit: same run-up length, same landing, no falling back. Milestone: ten round-off back handsprings in a row with an equally soft landing (practice value).
You learn the somersault rotation in an environment that forgives mistakes, for example on a tumble track, air track, trampoline or soft mats, and with trained spotting. Which aids and which stages, your coach decides. Milestone: the coach confirms that the rotation is safely spotted and lands under control.
Only when round-off back handspring and the spotted rotation are secure does the coach connect the two, first spotted, then with gradually less help. Milestone: five spotted passes in a row without coach correction.
You land on both feet. After a flip, no further tumbling element is allowed at level 3; if one follows, at least one step must lie between; a step out of the flip still belongs to the same pass [1][2]. Two flips directly after each other are not allowed in standing tumbling at level 4 [1][2]. Milestone: you know the rules of your level and your choreography keeps them.
Watch every pass afterwards: landing, rotation, repeatability. Milestone: the coach releases the combination for the routine, not you.
This guide explains and motivates but does not replace supervised training. Somersaults never without a coach, never without a cushioned surface, never alone.
Film the pass from the side and freeze the landing. Ask yourself: same foot position left and right? Does the somersault travel equally far every time? A repeatable pass is a safe pass; a pass that works sometimes and sometimes not goes back to the build-up. That is coaching experience, not a study.
A tumbling combination from a run-up: round-off, back handspring and a back somersault in the tuck. The somersault is a flip in which the hips rotate over the head without contact with floor or base; in the tuck the knees are drawn to the chest [3].
In a running pass at ICU level Median, CCVD level 3 and USASF level 3, but only in the tuck from a round-off or round-off back handspring [1][2][3]. The rulebooks allow tucks from a standing start only from level 4 [1][2][3]. Layouts, whips and x-outs are not allowed at level 3 [1][2]. Which level your team tumbles at is set by your competition category.
Not at level 3: after a flip no tumbling is allowed unless at least one step separates the passes; a step out of the flip still belongs to the same pass [1][2]. In standing tumbling at level 4, flip-flip combinations directly after each other are not allowed [1][2].
It cannot honestly be promised. It depends on strength, body tension, experience and the quality of your coach. What matters is the order: first the round-off back handspring secure, then the secured rotation, then the combination, always with trained spotting and a cushioned surface [5]. Anyone who takes shortcuts risks head, neck and back.
Layout in Cheerleading: Stretched Somersault, Rules and Prerequisites