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Couch Gymnast #6

Note that some old links to specific Technique articles no longer work.

A feature discussing the reasons behind China’s slow, though deserved rise in the sport.

Interview: Chris interviewed ex-Romanian beam coach Maria Cosma, responsible for the routines of legends Aurelia Dobre and Daniela Silivas.

Interview: Marlies Rijken, Dutch National beam and floor champion talks about her life in the sport.

Justin Caouette analyses the potential of gender neutrality in gymnastics.

Interview: Meet Gina Robertson and find out what it is like to raise an international elite gymnast and keep a normal, happy family together as she talks about her daughter Brittany.

A profile on the career and potential comeback of everyone’s favorite absentee, Anna Pavlova by Suna.

Ashlyn discusses Colombia’s improvement in the sport, particualrly its two young stars, Natalia Sanchez and Jessica Gil Ortiz.

Amy is back and training again. This time at Texas Dreams. Catch up with her latest gymnastics adventures in her gym diary.

The List: Tom Lane’s late and great gymnasts of bygone days.

Italy report: Giuly witnessed some spectacular gymnastics from Italy’s 1995 babies in a recent competition.

Romania- Bea takes a look at the next batch of juniors on the way up the Romania ranks.

table of contents

… Can you do it?

I couldn’t.

provenance
noun
the place of origin or earliest known history of something

On the internet that means trying to “source” where a video, photo or idea started. At minimum, you should link to where you first saw it. Best practice is to link to the original and where you happened to see it first.

On this blog I’d say I’m about 90% successful in crediting a source. Not perfect. But not bad.

Tara Sickmeier of International Gymnast Hot Headlines is the worst gymnastics blogger I know. If she ever credits where she finds a story it’s only by accident of linking to the originator. If she sees something on Gymnastics Coaching, there’s never a (via Gymnastics Coaching) link on IG.

I’ve several times sent messages to Tara on her unethical blogging behaviour. But have yet to get a response.

Forward a link to this post if you know her personally.

(via Buzz Machine – New rule: Cover what you do best. Link to the rest)

The Trying Times of Ksenia Afanasyeva

Quiz – test your gymnastics knowledge

The Couch Gymnast – Issue #4

Good call. Ivana Hong is cover girl.

Inside Gymnastics

Dwight Normile’s review on International Gymnast:

Click through to read the rest: June – Chalk Talk – ‘Championship Gymnastics’ Scores Very High Marks

That link takes you to the online magazine.

I’ve talked to several coaches who bought a copy. Reviews are unanimously good, especially for the illustrations.

They grumble about the price ($79) … but agree the 280 page text is excellent.

Order it from the official website – Winning Gymnastics. Or phone 888-796-5229.

Or you might try to catch Dr. George at one of his seminars this summer.

Or … you could get the dead tree June edition of International Gymnast magazine.

Komova’s on the cover. Good call!

Shane Womack:

I have to strongly disagree with this article. Unfortunately she has gotten some wrong information…

Therefore, here are some of the points that didn’t make it into the article.

The role of cheerleading:

The first is the issue of the role of cheerleaders and stunting. Most school cheer coaches recognize that their primary role is to lead the crowd at athletic contests. They can better fulfill this by doing basic “game stunts” like the thigh stands, elevators, extensions and yes – even some basket tosses. The game is going on behind the cheerleaders and the crowd is seated in high-rise bleachers. Stunts get the attention of the crowd, so that you can draw their focus to the cheer team in order to better lead them. Signs are more effective when they can be seen and partner stunts can accomplish this. In addition, the skills the cheerleaders do can build a rapport with the crowd and help them be a conduit between the crowd in the stands and the athletes on the field. As we teach, it is important to recognize that there are times for “game stunts” and that the more intricate type of skills that help attract great athletes are better reserved for entertainment-style routines at halftime or for competition.

Risk Assessment:

While there are difficulties in doing some risk assessments due to participation figures, there are in fact places where we can do risk assessments, particularly in high school cheerleading. The data from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injuries Annual Report shows that in 2007-2008 there were 3 high school catastrophic injuries and approximately 400,000 cheerleaders. That puts the risk of catastrophic injury per 100,000 participants at .75 but as the article does mention, that doesn’t account for the fact that cheerleaders participate all year. That means that the number of injuries for cheerleading took multiple seasons to accrue and to “normalize” the data to compare it to other sports you would have to half the risk level. That puts cheerleading at around .375 catastrophic injuries per 100,000. In simplest terms comparing it to other high school sports, that means there are 10 sports that have a higher risk of catastrophic injury than cheerleading – including 3 girls sports – ice hockey, gymnastics and soccer.

And this bears out our own experience. While articles are quick to point out common sports injuries like ankle sprains or the occasional knee brace, they have a hard time finding a program where they can point to a pattern of more serious injuries than other sports such as soccer, baseball, track, etc.

Decrease in Injuries:

Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the entire article however is that it ended with the idea that recent improvements in cheer injury statistics are due to coaches somehow “hiding” injuries. This improvement can more likely be attributed to a concrete set of circumstances than to an unsubstantiated comment.

In 2006, the NCAA working with AACCA required that all of their college cheer programs would have to be supervised by a safety certified coach in order to retain their catastrophic insurance coverage. In addition, the AACCA required that our safety rules had to be followed by these programs or their certification could be revoked. It is important to note that prior to this requirement, cheerleading made up 25% of their catastrophic claims. Since this requirement, there have been no cheerleading catastrophic injury claims with the NCAA.

Since 2004, 12 state high school associations have required their cheerleading coaches to complete the AACCA Safety Course.

In 2006, the AACCA removed basket tosses from the basketball court surface for colleges and high schools and further restricted colleges from performing 2 1/2 high pyramids on the basketball court. Further rules restrictions regarding surfaces have been implemented by both the AACCA and the National Federation of High Schools since then.

In 2004, the United States All Star Federation (USASF) was formed to provide a framework to support non-school cheerleading known as “All-Star”. They have a skill-based leveling system for rules and a credentialing program for coaches and gyms.

These efforts on the part of the NCAA, the National Federation of High Schools, the US All Star Federation and the AACCA are much more likely the reason for increased safety than the idea that cheer coaches have started hiding injuries, and it is unfair to all of the great coaches that work tirelessly to provide a safe environment for their teams.

We do commend the Journal for pointing out that the risk of cheerleading is actually closer to that of soccer than of football which has the vast majority of high school and college catastrophic injuries. However, when the true successes that have been achieved aren’t reported, it is hard to continue those successes and help them spread to other states and organizations.

Why this information was left off I can only speculate. My conversations with the reporter where very good and her questions showed a genuine interest in digging down to the real facts. There were quite a few cheer issues addressed in a short space and the article included some cheerleading history as well. Perhaps there just wasn’t room to get it all in, and unfortunately this was the part that was not included. There are many factors that go into what makes it into an article.

Regardless of the reasons, these are important safety improvements and we hope the record can be corrected.

What do you think? Are you going to be the one to go tell this athlete her sport is too dangerous?

Leave a comment.

Question of the Month: Defining Gymnastics Moments

The Return of Russian Artistry- An Interview with Anastasia Grishina by Chris

The problem with F.I.G- World Gym Rank creator, Matt Esler, tells the Couch Gymnast his candid opinion of the state of gymnastics.

A New Gymnastics Star- the story of Jennifer Khwela

Doing it “the Russian Way”-The life and philosophy of Leonid Arkaev by Ashlyn.

Romania: Improving with Age- Some delicious insight, analysis and funny anecdotes from the Romanian International by Bea.

Snapshots of Jesolo- Some impressions of the Italian performance at Jesolo and what it means for Italy’s future prospects. by Giuly.

A New Era for Portugal- The story of Portugal’s attempts at qualifying an Olympic team, by Ines.

China Learns to Shine- A brief history of the evolution of China on floor from Suna Sekioglu.

Amy’s Gym Diary- Amy is still plugging away in the gym and getting flown around the countryside to film for Gymnastike!

The List: Lost Girls Part 2- The remainder of Bea’s list of Romanian talents who never got to truly shine.

Photo Album- Some pictures from Jesolo, some more Grishina Photos and Bea’s snaps from the Romanian International

The Quiz- test your gym knowledge.

PHOTO FUN- More laughs from this months Pac Rims.

check it out – #3 – The Couch Gymnast magazine

Congrats to Kristina and her coach Elena Davydova. Getting on that cover is a minor kind of gymnastics immortality.

My first reaction is to be cheered that International Gymnast is covering international gymnasts.

Gymtruthteller posted quite a compelling conspiracy theory about that cover, however:

… has decided to further its own agenda by putting the winner of the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational on the cover instead of either winner of the of the Scam Cup.

Canada’s Kristina Vaculik won Nadia fluff competition. I have nothing against Kristina I was as mad as everyone else when Canada cheated her out of her Olympic experience in 2008 and I would have no problem if Kristina being on the cover at any other time but the bias going on at IG Magazine needs to be called out.

Do you ever wonder why certain gymnasts are loved at IG but others are not? Well it isn’t to hard to figure out you have to be connected to one of the owners.

The reason Nadia gets so much play at IG Magazine is because she is married to co-owner Bart Conner. The reason Dominique Moceanu was plastered on the cover more then any other gymnast in history is because Paul Ziert is her publicist. At least that is what he was listed as on usa-gymnastics.com a month or so ago. Ever wonder why Nastia has always been a saint? well Valeri Liukin has been best friends with the owners since he came to the United States. …

read on – Gymtruthteller – IG Magazine furthers own agenda AGAIN

I think that’s overstating it … a bit. (Though their offices are located at 3214 Bart Conner Dr., Norman, OK 73072. Some inbreeding is inevitable.)

One contradiction in the Gymtruthteller post: If Valeri Liukin is part of the conspiracy, why wouldn’t his gymnast Rebecca Bross be on the cover?

The more Publisher Paul Ziert stays away from his magazine, the better, it’s true. Let Editor Dwight Normile take the lead.

Still, overall, since Ziert acquired the original I.G., I’d say it’s improved. If you disagree, do not subscribe to the mag. Don’t visit their website. Simple.

Or … you can only follow the (free) website, boycotting the dead tree version. Amanda Turner posts some great web only stories.

… Kristina has verbally committed to Stanford University, by the way. A superb recruit. Perhaps she’s on the cover because she’s a charming gymnast, a reader favourite, and they happened to get a good photo of that release.

It’s possible …