Entries Tagged 'bars' ↓

gymnastics training in China – bar basics

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:

  • unwavering commitment to extreme quality and basics
  • children are allowed to quit gymnastics at any time
  • at some schools parents must pay a small fee for training. The governments pay most costs, however.
  • exacting training begins at a very young age
  • all gymnasts train twice / day
  • compulsory routines until age-11. The entire document for coaches and judges is simple and only 11-pages-long! For comparison, here’s just a tiny portion of the over-complicated Gymnastics Canada regulations posted on a gym wall:
  • Canadian-judging-rules1.jpg

    (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.)

  • very few girls wear handguards (none at all at the Beijing Provincial Training Centre)
  • when a coach speaks to a gymnast they must stand motionless listening to the coach intently. That said, the coaches are quite quiet. Gymnasts work independently from 6 to 8-yrs-old.
  • very few drills are done with high repetitions
  • coaches are paid $3000 – $4000 / yr. Average annual salary in Beijing is about $1500 / yr.
  • training gymnasts did not all have “a perfect body type”
  • Michel concluded that the good results in China are as much a result of the coaching “system” as talent identification
  • VIDEO

  • very specific technique on the descending and ascending swings of free hip
  • high priority on hitting a balanced handstand – for pirouettes
  • 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.

    sole circle

    It’s amazing how important this family of swings has become in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

    sole-circle.jpg
    flickr – original

    gymnastics – Overshoot on Bars

    Overshoot Drill: One Arm Drop

    In this week’s gymnastics technique video, Ryan Snider of Aerial Athletics shows the drill he uses to teach an overshoot on uneven bars.

    Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike Technique Tuesday.

    Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

    Dave Adlard convinced me that this controversial drill works well. I’d used it for twisting backward flyaways, but was (for some dumb reason) reluctant to use if on Shoot Half.

    Pak salto – Anysia Unick

    Anysia Unick, from Stampede City in my home town Calgary, finished 7th in the Jr Pan-Am all-around competition and was the only Canadian member to qualify to all four event finals on Sunday. She won the bronze medal on beam.

    Congrats to Anysia and her coaches Dave and Judy.

    Pak-salto

    Thanks Chrissy.

    Def on Bars – MostapanovaFan

    A great skill named after a man, French gymnast Jacques Def, on Horizontal Bar is named after Snejana Hristakieva, on Assymetric Bars. She’s woman who competed it first, so far as I know.

    Yet I’ve never heard a WAG coach who did not refer to this skill as “Def”. It’s so much shorter and easier to pronounce.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    (via Full In Full Out)

    related post: Def on Bars (video by Andrew Thornton)

    who won Bars at the 2008 Olympics?

    Here’s how Andrew Thornton ranked the Final based on his personal code of points:

    1. He Kexin 9.3
    2. Nastia Liukin 9.2
    3. Yang Yilin 9.0
    4. Beth Tweddle 8.9
    5. Ksenia Semenova 8.7
    6. Anastasia Koval 8.5
    7. Dariya Zgoba 8.3
    8. Steliana Nistor 7.7

    Isn’t is a relief to see scores out of 10 again?

    Bars-medalists

    His personal code assesses Difficulty, Execution, Artistry, Originality and Virtuosity.

    Click through to see each routine and Andy’s assessment – American Gymnast – Our first routines under Andy’s COP: Women’s Uneven Bars

    gymnastics – when Bars were close

    It’s always fun to look back at the amazing and innovative skills gymnasts did when the rails were narrow enough to “wrap”.

    Click PLAY or watch Bars developments (50s to 2005) on YouTube.

    (via Couch Gymnast)

    young Nastia Liukin in competition

    Show this video to your girls.

    They need to see that even future Olympic Champions make mistakes. At some meets, many, many mistakes.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    pirouette drill – Mizoguchi

    Here is an interesting and difficult drill from Hideo (Mizo) Mizoguchi to improve pirouettes on uneven and high bar.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    He Kexin Gold Bars World Championships

    Wow.

    Only Nastia and other Chinese gymnasts can hope to challenge the Olympic champion. She’s so solid and consistent now.

    Click PLAY or watch her winning routine on YouTube.

    finals results (PDF)

    … Her difficulty score of 7.1 is, simply, monstrous, with most routines ranging from 5.9 to 6.2. So when she got through her routine without any major issues, the gold was essentially hers. …

    AP – China makes it 3 wins in a row with gold on rings

    Beth Tweddle fell on Bars

    Too bad. She missed her insanely difficult routine in front of the home town crowd.

    … first thing I knew about it was when my head hit the floor. …

    Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2009 - Day Two

    Beth Tweddle’s world title defence comes to disappointing end when she falls in qualifying

    Happily, Beth did qualify for the Floor Final.

    gymnastics – toe-on Shaposhnikova

    A good orientation drill for a near essential skill in elite gymnastics. From Gymnastike’s excellent Technique Tuesday series.

    Coach Jeff Beal owns and operates OHG in Buda, Texas.

    Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

    Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

    Prerequisite would be a very strong toe-on, toe-off series, of course.

    Yaeger to Pak – Zhang Yufei

    Andy Thornton has relaunched his Smooth Skills video blog on American Gymnast. (He formerly posted on the currently defunct Gymnast.com.)

    In Episode 2 he looked at the Mo Salto (Gaylord 1 for Men) on Bars, comparing 4 different Chinese gymnasts who competed it.

    One of those was Zhang Yufei, a name I only barely recognize. She was an amazing gymnast but her only big international meet was the 2005 World Championships.

    Check her bars. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    …love the Yaeger to Pak salto! It’s amazing how we NEVER see this combination anymore (except from He Kexin), and I don’t understand why. Everyone in the world is doing these Pak saltos from a cast handstand nowadays, and I’m sick of seeing it! So many Chinese gymnasts in particular are doing these huge Yaegers but for some strange reason don’t do the Pak salto immediately out of it – this reminds us how much better this looks when done connected.

    Does anyone know what happened to this amazing gymnast?

    Click through to American Gymnast to see her other apparatus. And the 4 Mo saltos, including the one competed by Zhang Yufei.

    Smooth Skills Episode 2

    Hey, I’ve heard a rumour that an American Level 10 female gymnast will be competing Kovacs this season. That would be a first worldwide.