Entries from December 2009 ↓

Kaja is a young Rhythmic Gymnast from Norway who’s video montages have already generated over 6 million views.

Most popular is one called Rhythmics is NOT easy!. Thanks Anastasia Umeh for linking to it.

But I prefer another titled Love for Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This much better explains why a young girl might be inspired to take up the extreme sport of Rhythmic gymnastics.

… The technology provides a training aid that will allow coaches and gymnasts to review performances immediately following their routine or skills. The video training system will make its debut during the national team camp in late January. …

Eight cameras have been stationed around the training gym, and the coverage can be viewed on six, 42-inch plasma screen TVs. The cameras were placed to show different angles of each of the four events. …

details on USAG

I’m surprised it took this long.

Ron Brant has resigned.

Who will replace him?

Gymnastics Examiner posted the best article I’ve seen: Ron Brant: U.S. men’s gold ‘is going to happen’:

… Brant officially left his position of U.S. national team coordinator after the 2009 World Championships in October. …

Since the World Championships, Brant has been working in Colorado Springs as the High Performance Director for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sports Performance Division, helping guide performance initiatives for 10 Olympic and Paralympic sports, including gymnastics.

A number of factors contributed to Brant’s decision to step aside as U.S. men’s coordinator. “Part of it was the opportunity to grow in a profession that’s hard to do,” he said. “I’m in a position that I can still communicate with gymnastics in a different level…but not be involved in the day-to-day scheduling. The part I’ll miss is the competition.”

Although no replacement has been named, Brant said he expects an announcement to be made by the end of the year.

“Nothing’s finalized,” he said. “Obviously it’s a small group of people.” Potential successors include 2004 and 2008 Olympic head coach Kevin Mazeika, or perhaps Men’s Program Committee Chairman Yoichi Tomita, whose son Yewki spent the better part of the last decade on the senior National Team. …

read the entire article – Ron Brant: U.S. men’s gold ‘is going to happen’

I’ve always been a big fan of Ron and his team. He’s a classy guy and an intelligent, knowledgeable coach.

Thank-you for all the good years.

THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF DANCE- THE LXD

The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (LXD) is a troupe being promoted by John M. Chu director of Step Up 2 and Step Up 3D and choreographed by Harry Shum, Christopher Scott, and Galen Hooks.

Harry Chum is the “Other Asian” from Glee.

LXD came to public attention with this astonishing Dec. 3rd performance on So You Think You Can Dance.

Click PLAY or watch them on YouTube.

In 2010 LXD performances will be posted online. Details are vague as yet, but you can follow them by subscribing to John M. Chu’s YouTube channel.

The World’s First Online Dance Adventure.

Here’s a trailer announcing the 2010 project.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m psyched. This looks great.

Thanks Fred.

From MostepanovaFan.

… a montage to celebrate Christmas because I loves it. … features clips from 2009 of many people. I found while making this that 2009 was actually better than it seemed the first time around.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is the first I’ve heard of this catastrophic injury.

A Jacksonville jury awarded a former gymnastics coach $25.5 million today for injuries he suffered at an Atlantic Boulevard gym that left him a quadriplegic.

The bulk of the award is for medical expenses required by Shane Downey, 32, who was injured on a piece of tumbling equipment in 2000, said his attorney, Mitch Woodlief.

Jurors found North Florida Gymnastics and Cheerleading 100 percent negligent for not supervising Downey on the equipment. Downey, who now lives in Texas, fell and broke his neck.

Jacksonville.com

I’m suspicious of the American legal system. Not knowing any of the details, I’m still wondering how the coach can be 0% responsible. Leave a comment if you know anything of this incident.

… a typical Monday morning workout with Coach Helen (Verucchi) which includes ballet training and beam routines.

The workout was filmed on November 30, just over 1 month away from the first meet of the season. ….

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

Helen is the women’s Coach at Eagle Wings Athletics in Texas where mostly focuses on beam and dance. She is a native of Russia which is where she began her coaching career.

With so many clubs reducing or dropping ballet training, it’s nice to see some old school Russian barre work here.

From MunchTheSilivasFan.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gymnastics dance has been in decline. But I still want to see at least one interesting, unique “dance” section in every beam and floor routine.

Nippon Sports Science University (Nittaidai) is the home gym of World Champion Kohei Uchimura.

Sho Nakamuri posted his impressions:

… I was amazed when I saw the training facility. It was probably the biggest gym that I’ve ever been in, and there were multiple equipments for every event! There were also an army of guys on the collegiate team (I think at least 50 on the men’s side) so it was a very different but fun environment to be in …

Visit to NSSU

click for larger version

I spent a week at Nittaidai in the early 1990s. It was the home gym of one of my first coaches, Shiro Tanaka.

Of my many memories the one that stands out foremost is watching the Sumo athletes training gymnastics. Spectacular!

USAG posted a nice highlights reel of their Women’s team at World Championships, London.

It’s not yet been uploaded to their YouTube channel. But you can watch it on their Happy Holidays page.

I assume the Santa caps are Photoshopped.
Nope. The photo is from a competition last weekend.
(via wogagymnastics on twitter)

With a 15.80 on Bars.

Viktoria Komova keeps trying to prove she’s the best young gymnast in the World. What’s it going to take to win the 2012 Olympics … 61.0 ??

Full results.

Photo from Japan Junior International on IG

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook and Marcus )

The Evian Water babies have improved their skate skillz.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Brett MacAuley.

A big theme of gymnastics bloggers is the decline of Artistry in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics since the introduction of an open ended code.

Much less commented upon is the same trend in Men’s Gymnastics, especially Men’s Floor.

A good example is our current Olympic Floor Champion, Zou Kai. I agree with Andy Thornton who compares Kai against the artistry of past champions Artemev, Bilozerchev, Korolev, and Scherbo on his American Gymnast blog.

… Obviously Zou Kai’s tumbling is phenomenal, but I wanted to point out not only how great the Russians above were to watch, but also how TERRIBLE this presentation is from Zou Kai. He mopes around with no regard for how he looks in between his passes, and his jumps in the corner clearly scream, “I feel stupid and I’m only doing these because I have to.” Notice the lack of precision and unsteadiness in his transitions. …

Click PLAY or watch his routine in the Olympic Floor Final on YouTube.

Yes, I know Zou Kai deserved to win that day. But it’s a shame that gymnasts are rewarded now for a doing a maximum of difficulty while taking the minimum risk of deduction in non-tumbling elements.

I was even more disappointed with Zou Kai’s win at the Olympics on Horizontal Bar, by the way.