Will be offline Nov. 11-28 trekking the Everest region of Nepal.
site editor gone hiking
November 10th, 2009 — Blogs
mini-Supermen
November 22nd, 2009 — Gymnastics, physical preparation
Strong young gymnasts from GK Gymnastics, Fort Collins, CO.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
more great videos on the saltocafe YouTube channel
the Heart Attack Grill
November 21st, 2009 — humour
Could you finish a Quadruple Bypass Burger?
8000 calories.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Heart Attack Grill is a fast food hamburger restaurant in Chandler, Arizona …. It has courted controversy by serving unashamedly high-calorie menu items with controversial names. The establishment is a hospital theme restaurant: waitresses (”nurses”) take orders (”prescriptions”) from the customers (”patients”). A tag is put on the patient’s wrist showing which foods they ordered and a “doctor” examines the “patients” with a stethoscope. …
Thanks George.
extreme street acrobatics video
November 20th, 2009 — Circus, parkour (free running), tumbling, twisting
A long (10min 25sec) highlights reel from many disciplines, including contortion. Some new (to me) footage of Junior.
bboy, power move, acro, punisher, the end, cico, guillaume, demon, dahma n, kheiro, junior, tricks and combo, brazil, breakdance, gymnas tics, sport, thomas, flare, air flare, vrille, marcio, superphazers, morgan hamm
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Thanks bboysistou.
gymnastics training in China – bar basics
November 19th, 2009 — Gymnastics, bars, judging
The best bars video I saw in 2008 was edited by Michel Arsenault of Champions Gymnastics in Canada.
It’s a DVD with lengthy accompanying notes called:
2006 Gymnastics Study Tour of China
Michel was partly funded to travel to China by Gymnastics Alberta and Alberta Lotteries (Above and Beyond program).
Visiting gyms in Beijing, KunMing and ZhengZhou, Michel wrote a report of what he saw. Here are just a few note I took while reading the document:
(Canadian rules are the most complex, the most frequently revised, and the most poorly understood in the world, so far as I know. It certainly does a disservice to athletes, coaches and judges.)
VIDEO
Available free to Alberta coaches through the library at AGF.
If you want a copy, contact Michel directly through his club. He’s the host of the excellent Wild Rose competition, incidentally.
tough love good for children
November 18th, 2009 — ethics, psychology
Preaching to the choir …
A study from the U.K. says “parenting style more influential than income” for raising kids.
Children brought up according to “tough love” principles are more successful in life, according to a study.
The think tank Demos says a balance of warmth and discipline improved social skills more than an laissez-faire, authoritarian or disengaged upbringing.
It says children aged five with “tough love” parents were twice as likely to show good character capabilities.
Report author Jen Lexmond said: “It is confidence, warmth and consistent discipline that matter most.”
read the article on BBC – Tough love ‘is good for children’
I’m sure my buddy Markos Baikas, Men’s Head Coach of Taiso Gymnastics in Saskatoon, Canada, would agree.
Marcos’ is a great coaching success story, actually. An immigrant to Canada from Greece, he was chosen Jr. National Coach of his adopted country just a few short years after being recruited by Dana Brass. She met him in a Pizza restaurant.
great Anna Bessonova photo
November 18th, 2009 — Rhythmic, photos
One of International Gymnast Magazine’s PHOTO OF THE DAY series.
IG posted this one on Facebook.
Anna on Wikipedia
sole circle
November 18th, 2009 — Gymnastics, bars
It’s amazing how important this family of swings has become in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.
flickr – original
Yang Wei – 6yr-old niece gymnast
November 17th, 2009 — Gymnastics
A badly translated but cute article from China.
… Yang Le, deeply influenced by Olympic champion uncle Yang Wei, was fascinated with gymnastics. Her passion for the gymnastics led her to this school when she was only 3 years old. …
Future star of gymnastics: Little girl’s champion dream
video – Athletics in Jamaica
November 16th, 2009 — ethics, psychology
An inspiring documentary. The values taught by sport.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the small island nation of Jamaica won 11 track and field medals, including 6 golds — the most first-place finishes for any country in the world except the United States and Russia. For a country with a population smaller than the city of Chicago, to accomplish those feats while also breaking three world records had the rest of the world asking, “What makes Jamaicans so fast?” …
PBS Frontline – Rough Cut
Jamaica: Girls on Track
Click PLAY or watch it on PBS.org. (12min)
confirmed – Gymnastics course Bangladesh
November 16th, 2009 — Coach education
by site editor Rick McCharles
I’m leading an Olympic Solidarity course for the International Gymnastics Federation in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec. 1-10.
One of the mandates of the International Olympic Committee is to help grow Olympic sport around the world. To this end they budget money to support the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in building sport programs.
I did a similar course in Cambodia 2008. Volunteering in developing countries I find very rewarding.
a visit to the F.I.G. offices
November 15th, 2009 — Gymnastics, Rhythmic, acrobatic gymnastics, aerobics, judging, product endorsements, trampoline, tumbling
by site editor Rick McCharles.
The International Gymnastics Federation moved from Moutier to a new building in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this year.
It’s conveniently located close to the train station.
This past summer, on recommendation from Keith Russell, I visited the new digs. And was very impressed with the operation.
Meike Behrensen, F.I.G. Media Operations Coordinator, gave me a tour.
(You’ve probably noticed how well and widely Meike has been getting information out to the world in recent months. I’m getting updates every couple of days from multiple sources. Thanks.)
I felt a bit sheepish entering the lovely historic building after all the less than positive things I’ve had to say about F.I.G. over the years. But you won’t find Bruno Grandi at the FIG offices. Nor
Nellie Kim.
Here the FIG employees work frantically trying to keep all the events and programs worldwide on track.
It’s not easy.
I was impressed with everyone I met: young, enthusiastic, energetic, multi-lingual. To survive working for FIG you must have a lot of good qualities.
On this blog we mostly cover Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. But in Lausanne they administer Trampoline Sports, Rhythmic, Aerobic, Acrobatic, Gymnastics for All, … and much, much more.
Consider this a shout out for the F.I.G. Staff. We really appreciate what you are doing for coaches and athletes.
Related:
drills for the recreational gymnastics
November 14th, 2009 — Gymnastics, recreation
Nicole Miller is the Recreational Gymnastics Coordinator at Lakewood-Trumbull YMCA in Connecticut.
She’s posting her coaching notes online. Drills and Skills. So few Rec coaches do this that I linked to her site from our right hand navigation under Recreation Gymnastics.
It’s divided into sections based on competitive apparatus. There’s a glossary page and links.
Check it out. Or send the link to your Rec Director.
Gymnastics Skills Coaching Handbook
It’s a work in progress. Nicole will be adding more over time.
Note that this is a “Google Site“, a simpler alternative to blogging software. Easy to update.
coach found guilty of sexual offenses
November 14th, 2009 — ethics, psychology
ONE of Scotland’s top gym coaches has been jailed for three years for a series of sexual offences, committed over a period of more than 20 years, against young girls he was training.
…
The fifty-one year old, a former Performance Director of the Scottish Gymnastics Association, was found guilty last month after a five week trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court of three charges of sexual assault and seven of lewd and libidinous behaviour against girls aged between six and 16.
The girls were all training … between December 1986 and February 2008 – a 22 year period. The offences occurred in the gym; in Lasswade High School; his former home in Loanhead; his car; and a caravan at Seton Sands in East Lothian. …
His victims, some of them now in their late twenties and early thirties, described in their evidence how “Mitch” as he was called, would kiss and cuddle them, have them sit on his knee and make sexual and inappropriate remarks. He would also use inappropriate coaching techniques, touching their breasts and buttocks.
jailed for 3yrs
Dolphin, who denied all the allegations, claimed the girls often came and sat on his lap as part of the “family atmosphere” he was trying to create. He also said that cuddling young gymnasts as an encouragement or reward for a good performance was commonplace throughout the gymnastics world.
Defence agent, Vincent Belmonte, said Dolphin continued to deny culpability for the offences, but the jury’s finding had already caused him considerable financial hardship. “He has lost his home, lost his employment. Lost a career he has been involved in for nearly 30 years at the highest level”. …
read more details – Top gym coach jailed for child abuse
I can recall a few male coaches in 1980 who had a lot of physical contact in the gym with female gymnasts. It was a different era. But this statement he made is clearly wrong:
… cuddling young gymnasts as an encouragement or reward for a good performance was commonplace throughout the gymnastics world …
Around 1980 in Canada we entered the era of shaking hands with gymnasts. Or “high fives” at line-up at the end of work-out.
Hugs became rare. Or became the awkward “side hug”.
The Bela Karolyi bear hug in competition was reserved for a particularly wonderful performance. Our coach education clinics all added an Ethics module sometime in the 1980s. We made a point of informing immigrant coaches of ethical expectations in their new country.
Obviously male coaches must minimize physical contact with all gymnasts, male and female. Keep professional distance. Never be alone with a gymnast in the gym or anywhere else.
