Entries Tagged 'product endorsements' ↓

a visit to the F.I.G. offices

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.

FIGsitz3_lausanne

This past summer, on recommendation from Keith Russell, I visited the new digs. And was very impressed with the operation.

MeikeMeike 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:

  • GYMmedia – F.I.G. Headquarter moves to Lausanne
  • GYMmedia – The FIG in Lausanne …
  • Tammy Biggs – Beam complex

    A new video from GymSmarts. Must see for every beam coach.

    Tammy_Biggs_BegBBTumbCplxFresh from training the 2008 Olympic Beam team, Tammy Biggs saw a need to develop an effective set of Balance Beam warm-up drills to improve the weaknesses she saw during the last Olympic Cycle. Tammy’s Beginning Tumbling Beam Complexes is the set of warm-up drills to correct these fundamental weaknesses she designed and is in current use by elite athletes throughout the United States. The DVD includes excellent demonstrations by athletes at Cincinnati Gymnastic Academy and is a must have for any program that needs to improve their Balance Beam performances.

    Beginning Tumbling Complex for Balance Beam

    more posts tagged Tammy Biggs

    Sue Sylvester – Cheer Coach

    I assume some Cheerleading coaches are mortified at being skewered by Sue Sylvester, a character on the hit TV show Glee.

    She’s the queen of mean. The new cover girl of Cheerleading coaches.

    Coach Sue Sylvester

    Coach Sue Sylvester

    I love Sue. She’s the best character in the show.

    Click PLAY or watch Sue on YouTube.

    Become a fan of her Facebook page. Or follow her on twitter.

    The Cheer team are the bad girls, of course. … But more embarassing is how they wear their uniform all the time at school.

    Losers. ….

    Leave a comment to let us know how the Cheer world is handling Sue Sylvester.

    video – Springfield Gymnastics 100th

    Here’s the promo video for the Springfield College Gymnastics 100th annual show.

    I wish I could be there. It looks great.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    zipline Grouse Mountain, Vancouver

    A friend on Staff at Air Grouse Mountain Ziplines in Vancouver, Canada invited us to fly. I’ve done a number of ziplines in the past, but nothing like this.

    Speeds of up to 80km/hr.

    HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

    Air Grouse Mountain Ziplines – official website

    Rick-McCharles-zipline

    (via Rick McCharles)

    Springfield College Gymnastics 100th

    This year will be the 100th annual gymnastics show, making it, perhaps, the oldest gymnastics exhibition in the world.

    The show’s theme this year is “The Wonderful World of Gymnastics”.

    HomeShowPoster2009

    Springfield College Men’s Gymnastics and Women’s Gymnastics home pages.

    tumbling – testing the Weller springs

    It seems inevitable to me that all Floors will one day be constructed with the new springs designed by Scott Weller.

    Weller Spring Floor gymnastics tumble test with Olympian Justin Spring

    Powerful gymnasts, both male and female, test it at Illinois …

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    Note that Scott, a former gymnast, couldn’t resist leaving a clip of Horizontal Bar at the end of the video.

    For more information, click through to softer Floor – Weller springs.

    The springs are available from King Bars Sports, LLC.

    Universal Gymnastics on demand

    Seems “highlight” clips are available on this page.

    Some in Europe are not able to stream Universal, I’ve been told.

    World’s Gymnastics Results Book

    The international Gymnastics Federation did a fantastic job at getting out information from World Championships in London.

    And they negotiated the best TV / internet video contract in history.

    Kudos FIG. Kudos to Longines.

    Only hours after the competition they’ve distributed the official Longines Results Book. If you are a stats junkie, download to your computer London_Book (PDF).

    On that document you can check the official FIG Passport age of all competitors. (Ha!)

    Check the Execution scores for each routine. Individual judge’s names are not listed in preliminaries. But for finals the Nationality of each judge is shown.

    You can see who liked Dragalescu’s execution on Floor, for example:

    check-judge-scores

    See the medal total by nation. And much more.

    medal-tables

    Universal Sports – still buffering …

    UPDATE: Most are reporting no problems. Seems to be a local problem for me or the free wireless internet I’m using.

    === original post:

    I love Universal Sports online coverage.

    It’s improved fantastically since the beginning.

    But the service is still slow at times. And problematic, at times.

    This link’s been “buffering” for the last 20min. The commercial plays, but not the promised content.

    screen shot

    screen shot

    Leave a comment if you had problems on your computer.

    (YouTube is ugly. But at least it works.)

    50 spots only – Project 2012

    This will sell out quickly. Sign up soon if you want to get in.

    The first 12wks were excellent, with a few technical glitches. The bugs should be worked out in this 2nd term.

    … Project 2012: a Web Event for Coaches highlighting the essential techniques for gymnastics success in the next quadrennium. This 12-week event brings the best coaches in the United States to your computer screen doing LIVE lectures and demonstrations on the most important cutting-edge information in our sport.

    NEW! Winter Congress beginning Tuesday, November 3rd through December 8th 10am PST/12pm EST. …

    usaproject2012

    USAproject2012

    Dominique Moceanu – the blogger

    canales_moceanu1996 Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu and her husband, former-gymnast-turned-surgeon Michael Canales, blog on the hits and misses of the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships, taking place this week in London.

    Dominique Moceanu was a wonderful gymnast. But her involvement in gymnastics since has been controversial:

    • suing for legal emancipation from her parents
    • coming out of retirement in 2005 (after 5yrs)
    • competing in 2006

    Whenever the media needs someone outspoken, they go to Dominique. Especially to get a negative viewpoint on her former coaches, Marta and Béla Károlyi.

    You could call Dominique a loose cannon. Or “flaky”.

    Yet, I was very surprised how insightful and interesting I found their commentary on International Gymnast magazine. Check it out at:

    From the Stands: Women’s Qualification

    Kathy Kelly and Marta Karolyi

    Kathy Kelly and Marta Karolyi

    Yes, there are shots at the Karolyis.

    John, Alicia pitching GK Elite

    Now this is a persuasive product endorsement.

    Click the image to be redirected to the Universal site to watch the amusing bit.

    John-Alicia

    Yes, it’s a long and painful wait. I don’t know why GK Elite does not upload it to YouTube. They’d have 10 times as many potential customers see it.

    There are more “commercials” if you hang around after this one.