… a staggering decline in student enroll-ment because of the faltering economy has taken its toll on his business, Barlow said. At the gym’s peak, about 700 students frequented the gym weekly for classes. In the past 12 months, those numbers have dropped by more than half, to about 300.
His business has suffered in other ways, too. His pro shop, where he retails athletic gear and clothing, has lost revenue, with sales falling by about 50 percent, he said.
And with so many other options today for kids’ birthday parties, parents have been less apt to book Barlow’s for such celebrations, he said. …
… Barlow’s Gymnastics isn’t the only gym struggling with the recession. Universal Gymnastics, another Annapolis training center, also closed, with 1st Class Gymnastics absorbing almost all of its professional staff and enrollment in January 2008. …
FIG announces they’re still investigating the ages of 2000 Chinese Olympians, Yang Yun & Dong Fangxiao, both of whom have, at various times, admitted publicly to be underage at their Games. (Both later said they were mistaken or misspoke.)
Yang is married to 2008 Olympic champ Yang Wei. The couple are currently expecting their first child.
The two came under suspicion after internet investigators started looking into the age of 2008 Olympian Ke Hexin.
He Kexin on right
The more time passes, the greater the chances are that China will get away with the infraction.
Why did it take so many months to get a legal ruling on whether or not the Olympic statute of limitations had expired?
Certainly the practical solution to prevent age cheating is to eliminate the minimum age of Olympic gymnasts. I don’t have much faith the FIG Disciplinary Commission will bring action.
Aaron Shutway, an 8th grader at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School nails a front handspring to a 3/4 nothing but net shot to send the P.E. class in a frenzy! I haven’t seen Lebron hit one like this!
Georgia gymnastics standout and two-time Honda Award winner Courtney Kupets has been awarded the 33rd annual Honda-Broderick Cup, designating her as the 2009 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
The announcement was made Monday by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program in the Low Library Rotunda at Columbia University. The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic achievement but also team contributions, scholastics and community involvement.
Kupets is the all-time NCAA leader with nine individual championships and was named SEC, AAI National Senior and NCAA Southeast Regional Gymnast of the Year. …
Kupets is a National Honor Society member, was chosen as ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-American and is a recipient of NCAA and SEC postgraduate scholarships. She is also a member of the Blue Key Honor Society and a recipient of the Richard B. Russell Student Leadership Award. She won UGA’s Marilyn Vincent Award as the senior female student-athlete with the highest GPA.
In addition to her athletic and academic achievements, Kupets has also worked with Special Olympians, participated in the “Do It For Broph” 5K Run/Walk and joined in the SEC “Together We Can” food drive.
Kupets is a Housing/Property Management major with a 3.8 GPA.
It’s all the more impressive to me that Kupets achieved what she did in only 3 full years of competition, coming back from two separate Achilles tendon ruptures.
Queensland Workplace Health and Safety says it will investigate the death of a 19-year-old woman in a gymnastics training accident in Townsville in the state’s north. …
… you should treat Mostepanova fan’s montages and code videos as your GYMNASTICS EDUCATION!
… if you want to see some old gymnastics, even just to see how we have arrived at the state the sport is in now (in good and bad ways) Mostepanovafan’s videos show some of the greatest, most innovative, graceful and influential routines in gymnastics history. …
I appreciated the Mostepanova fan videos more than any other montages over the past year or so. You will too if you feel the new code “absolutely murdered the sport of gymnastics“.
Here’s a sample. Kicking it OLD SCHOOL on Bars. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Ask any of the best gymnasts in the world today to WRAP the low bar. And do Tkachev in the same routine. … They will laugh you out of the gym.
Amy Van Deusen on her About.com Gymnastics blog posted an important article.
Important not only because I was quoted in it:
… Kids that start more serious training very young don’t seem to have a leg up on kids that start a bit later — and it may even be to the child’s disadvantage to start early. “The risk of starting advanced gymnastics at a young age is potential burnout as a pre-teen,” says veteran coach Rick McCharles of Altadore Gymnastics Club in Calgary, Canada.
Altadore runs a “Mighty Mites” program in which kids age four to six work on general physical and motor fitness. Then, children progress to a “pre-competitive” training program.
An interesting sidenote: McCharles has noticed a difference between boys and girls. “Girls are on average more psychologically and physically ready for structured training than boys the same age,” he says. …
Leave a comment on that site if you have an opinion.
Just last week I was in the gym with an AMAZING 7-year-old. She did giants to flyaway at age-6, for example.
But the coaches worry that her gymnastics ability is so far ahead of her mental consistency. It’s easy for a developmentally young 7-year-old to get “lost”.
As always with coaching, we have a balancing act trying to ensure that young gymnasts progress at an optimal rate.
And all they get in exchange is hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorships and appearance fees. Certainly Shawn will be a multi-millionaire if she is not already at age-17.
It’s just not fair.
Don’t fret too much for Shawn. She’s getting better and better at being a celebrity. She’s encouraging fans to use photoshop to put together “Vote Shawn” posters. This time for the Teen Choice Awards.
The Nominees for the Female Sports Category:
Nastia Liukin – Gymnastics
Shawn Johnson – Gymnastics
Danica Patrick – Car Racing
Kerri Walsh and Misty May Treanor – Volleyball
Serena Williams – Tennis
