Here we are at rural Brinnon Elementary.

Instruction was provided by Carrie Lennox of Jefferson County Parks & Rec who was there 4 days. Fun and fitness in a safe but challenging environment. A mobile program.

We dropped in (and trained) at the Twisters Adult class in Port Renfrew.

Here’s Carrie’s regular “Kid Fit” Parks & Rec class in Port Townsend, a set-up, take-down facility. She’s worked closely with Tumbl Trak for years.

First day in the program for this lad:

Again, the goal is high activity in a fun, safe environment. Rather than put little kids up high on a rope, why not have them sliding on the floor? Fun … and much safer.

I’ll post details on each of those programs on Rec Gymnastics over the coming week.

John Smith at NASA Gymnastics is genius at coming up with drills for Team. We got plenty of video.

The biggest news at Tumbl Trak is that they have a viral video — nearly 600,000 views. You can’t buy that kind of publicity.

Check the Tumbl Trak February 2012 newsletter. Subscribe FREE by emailing newsletter {a} tumbltrak.com.

Tumbl Trak is a valued sponsor of this site. Their corporate mission is exactly in line with my own coaching philosophy.

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Short. Simple. Not too onerous for the coach.

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Those were photocopied back-to-back twice. Folded. One copy kept in the gymnast’s file, the other sent home to the parent on the second last week of the Recreation session.

I posted some thoughts over on RecGymnastics. Leave comments there, if you have strong opinions on the topic.

We’re still looking for Rec Experts to guest post on that site. Email me if interested.

Rick_McCharles |a| hotmail.com

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Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.

(via Rec Gymnastics)

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… Once every four years since Russian pixie gymnast, Olga Korbut first captured the hearts and minds of America’s future gymnasts and their parents, there has been a surge of new gymnasts pouring into gymnastics facilities in the days, weeks and months after gymnastics is highlighted in the Summer Olympics on TV.

This has been a quadrennial boon to the sport at all levels and has fueled the growth of the sport at the beginner and team levels for years. On average, there has been a 25% – 37% increase in gym student enrollment in each of the Olympic years, after the television coverage lasting for months afterwards.

In years when there is an American gymnastics heroine (e.g., Mary Lou Retton) or a young international gymnast that captures the heart of the whole world (e.g., Nadia Comanechi) the number of new enrollees is at its highest. ….

read more on Gymnastics Zone – Preparing for the Gymnastics Surge

After the Beijing Olympics many clubs reported NOT seeing an Olympic membership surge. I speculated that some markets are now “saturated”. That all the kids in a city who might have wanted to try gymnastics, already had.

What about your gym?

Do you have marketing and a strategy for increasing numbers IF you get a flood of new kids?

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$42,000 / year. Details on RecGymnastics.com

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Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Rec Gymnastics and Masters Gymnastics)

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After Worlds I’ve been traveling Japan using an all-you-can-ride Rail Pass.

I’ve visited 3 clubs, so far:

• Tsukahara Gymnastics Center, Tokyo
• Namba Gymnastics Club, Osaka
• Tommy International School and Tomioka Sports Club, Osaka

Tomioko (Tommy) Shinichiro, President

I’d love to visit more as I learn something new at each facility. Email me if you know of more gyms in Japan where I can observe or volunteer guest coach over the next week.

Tommy Gym

One of my former coaches Shiro Tanaka pointed out that Japanese recreational kids have far better discipline (and more line-ups) than kids suffer in Canada.

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• a bilingual city with easy, inexpensive access for Europeans
• Cirque du Soleil might partner
• Gymnaestrada in Europe is not growing
• the event needs to modernize, North America would help
• Canada has a strong and growing Gymnastraeda base
• Gymnastics Canada strongly supports the event

Lausanne, Switzerland 2011

Click through for the details … especially the part on why it won’t happen any time soon.

RecGymnastics.com – Canada should host World Gymnaestrada

I’m still looking for contributors for RecGymnastics.com.

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Going over my notes the night before, I suddenly realized how little I knew about the topic … though I’d been a full-time coach since 1980.

I emailed Frank Sahlein and (happily) he offered to sit in. In this way we had at least one expert on coaching “careers” in the room.

Click PLAY or watch a brief summary of my presentation on YouTube.

The topic drew only a small group of coaches, resulting in a brainstorming session. I posted the resulting notes on RecGymnastics.com

My main conclusion was that coaches from socialist nations like Canada are mostly ignorant when it comes to business and career planning. The USA has many experts in that field. My strongest advice for coaches is to bring in an expert like Frank Sahlein, Founder and CEO of 3rd Level Consulting.

I’ll be taking my own advice, consulting with Frank this Fall.

Check his gym, the Wing Center, in Boise, Idaho.

And this initiative, too:

Motion Evolution:

Based on the premise that people are made to move, Motion Evolution integrates physical literacy, nutrition education, brain-body science, personal best and play, making the program a complete wellness package.

Frank Sahlein on Facebook.

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Gymnastics BC has a dedicated website helping parents find a recreational gymnastics club in British Columbia.

it promotes “physical literacy” for the 93%+ of BC gymnasts (36,000 in total) who do not compete. The benefits are spelled out clearly.

sign up for the email newsletter on PlayGymnastics.com

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