Entries Tagged 'twisting' ↓

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Some interesting clips.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The most valuable to me is at 28 seconds: double full twist to kick open to full twist in the opposite direction.

We’ve known this was possible biomechanically, but that’s the best video evidence I’ve seen on Earth that you can untilt one way, and retilt the other, mid-air.

Astronauts have done it perfectlly in weightless conditions.

Steve Elliot, for fun, could show half-in, half-out four different ways. R,R – R,L – L,L – L,R.

related – saltocafe → Claire from GK’s showing off her twisting skills.

Great idea.

This week’s gymnastics technique video features a low impact yurchenko full vault drill used by the University of Minnesota women’s gymnastics team and Coach Jim Stephenson …

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

They have a traveling rig connected to a twisting belt set up above their trampoline. Jim takes us through the drills they’re able to do on the station to teach all types of vaults: yurchenkos, tsukaharas, and even handspring entry vaults. The biggest advantage of a drill like this is that it’s low impact for the gymnast meaning they can do high reps of them without the pounding on their bodies.

Click PLAY or watch U Of Minnesota Traveling Rig Vault Station on Gymnastike.

Here’s a similar twist belt concept. This is Calgary Gymnastics Centre Trampoline sports, coach Brett MacAulay.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It slows down the skill brilliantly.

… Ultimately, however, I’d prefer not to use a belt, if possible. Or to use one as little as possible. Better the athlete do it themselves.

Gymnastics Examiner has a good write up on last weekend’s World Cup meet in Portugal → China, Vietnam on the rise at World Cup Portugal; while Daniele Hypolito, Chen Yibing rising again

… The biggest surprise of the meet was Vietnam’s Phan Thi Ha Thanh, who made history for her country with silver medals on vault (13.762) and floor (13.475). Vietnam has never won a World Cup medal in gymnastics. …

Thi Ha Thanh Phan

Flavius Kocz (ROM) tumbled out of 3 1/2 twist to win Floor. (VIDEO)

Just got a review copy in the mail. (It will be donated to Keith Russell‘s library at University of Saskatchewan).

Wow. It looks great.

A university quality text book. Glossy, heavy pages. Big, beautiful illustrations by James H. Stephenson, the best in the business.

Check out the Table of Contents.

Instantly I jumped to these two sections:

• Twist Direction for Somersault Skills
• Twist Direction for Round-off

I found, happily, that Dr. G.S. George agrees with what I’ve been teaching for years:

- all somersault twisting should be done in the same direction
- the initial turn of of the round-off should be in the opposite direction

photo of Tseng 2010 - GraceClick.ca

For example, if you put your right hand down first on round-off, you normally will twist all somersaulting skills to the right.

If you put your left hand down first on round-off, it’s normal to twist all somersault skills to the left.

We know this is “most common”. Bill Sands published that conclusion in Technique Magazine (2000) – Twist Direction (PDF)

This is for Artistic gymnasts. It’s more important for male gymnasts to be “normal” than for female. And, yes, you can win the Olympics if you are not normal. But – all things considered – your odds of winning the Olympics improve if your twist direction is normal.

I’ve not seen any scientific data on why this relationship between round-off and twist direction is most common in successful gymnasts.
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Trampoline and Tumbling coaches take a far more sophisticated approach to this issue.

Brett MacAulay at Calgary Gymnastics Centre would do many tests before deciding what direction a new trampolinist would twist somersaults.

He’d do a separate battery of tests to determine what hand to put down first on round-off. The two are not necessarily related, despite what we see as “normal” in Artistic gymnasts.
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Order Championship Gymnastics from the official website – Winning Gymnastics. Or phone 888-796-5229. ($79)

Or catch Dr. George at one of his seminars this summer.

related post – ROUND-OFF – problematic tumbling skill

Frame rate: 12,000 frames/second.

… clips of various gymnastics skills recorded by the biomechanics team at Manchester Metropolitan University. With thanks to the staff and gymnasts at Sandbach Gymnastics Club.

Watch them on the BiomechanicsMMU channel – Gymnastics – on YouTube.

Best viewed in high quality

Linked by Brett MacAuley on Facebook.

Mas Watanabe.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Note that this is a “Kaz”, not a Tsuk 1/1.

It’s 1/4-on, 3/4-off in the opposite direction.

I always start beginners from forward piked salto. As does trampoline coaching legend George Hery.

This way they get a foundation of “late twisting”. And it helps avoid the dread Barani Confusion.

Click PLAY or watch Forward Twisting Flips – George Hery on Tom’s GymSmarts blog.

Thanks once again to GymSmarts for posting these free tips.

From Ivan Cuk, Editor in Chief:

The new issue starts with an article by German authors Thomas Heinen, Pia Vinken, and Konstantinos Velentzas addressing a very interesting dilemma of twist directions.

The second article is the contribution by Trevor Dowdell from Australia who is exploring characteristics of coaching.

The third article is about the reliability of judging in men’s artistic gymnastics at the University Games in Belgrade 2009, written by a group of authors from Slovenia and Hungary: Bojan Leskošek, Ivan Cuk, Istvan Karacsony, Jernej Pajek and Maja Bu?ar.

The fourth article comes from Slovenian author Matjaž Ferkolj who has researched kinematic characteristics of Roche vault on vaulting table.

The second issue of our journal concludes with an article from Portugal in which José Ferreirinha, Joana Carvalho, Cristina Côrte-Real and António Silva analyze the evolution of flight element on uneven bars from 1989 to 2004.

It’s all free. Click through to the home page for links (PDF) to each article.

Science of Gymnastics Journal

Wow.

She makes it look easy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Alexandra is a junior international elite who trains at Brestyan’s Gymnastics in Massachusetts. Alexandra turned elite in 2009. See an August interview with her on Gymnastike.

Thanks MostepanovaFan.

For such an unusual judging system, there are remarkably few complaints about scores in Women’s College Gymnastics.

Until now …

Even though Utah’s gymnastics team beat Georgia 196.55-196.5 Friday, many in the crowd of 15,522 at the Huntsman Center were unhappy with the judging on floor and let the judges know it by booing several of Utah’s floor scores.

The No. 3 Utes scored a 49.125 on the floor with Gael Mackie recording a team-low of 9.575, and Kyndal Robarts and Jamie Deetscreek also earning low scores of 9.725 and 9.75, respectively.

While the marks might have surprised some in the crowd, they didn’t bother the Utes, who acknowledge they and the judges still are adjusting to some new judging codes and qualifications for deductions this year.

For example, on the floor judges previously could take up to a tenth of a point deduction when a gymnast crossed her legs on a twist. Now the code says the deduction is a tenth or nothing at all.

Robarts said her first pass “wasn’t very good,” and Utah coach Greg Marsden said he expects scores to be unpredictable for a bit longer.

“Everyone is still trying to get a handle on how to judge things and what deductions to take,” he said.

read more – New judging codes bring down scores

It’s time to start rewarding gymnasts who can keep their feet together on twists. Courtney McCool, for one.

Judges have been far too lenient on this deduction in both NCAA and FIG.

Flavius Koczi, 2009 Romanian International, Foor Exercise (note the second pass — a back 3.5 to immediate Rudi — extraordinary!)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (starts at 30sec)

I actually don’t like this routine. A classic example of overuse of one kind of skill.

Still, Koczi was named one of 20 Gymnasts to Watch in 2010

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It reminds me of another strange routine: Zhu Sang Sang – Floor – 25 turns

If you count up all of the turns, twists, and jumps, she actually does exactly TWENTY-FIVE 360-degree turns in her routine! That HAS to be a world record. That was a quad turn at the beginning …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This was linked by Andy Thornton in a post dedicated to every gymnast who has ever competed backward layout with 3/1 twist … to punch front.

related posts:

• quadruple twist FX – Kent Caldwell

• tumbling – triple and quadruple twist (Artemev)

Another great clip from GymSmarts – The Gymnastics Minute.

When you start twisting gymnastic skills, determining which way you are twisting is extremely important. Here George Hery show how he figures out which way a gymnast is twisting. He’s used this method for over 20 years.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This can be confusing for the athlete. And sometimes the coach.

Men’s competitive coaches are rarely confused as they’ve trained or coached Kasumatsu vault. (1/4 on, 3/4 off)

But since most female gymnasts do not train “Kaz”, twist direction of the round-off can generate arguments. If some coach disagrees with coach Hery, wrap a rope around his waist and have him do a round-off on Floor. … Then check the direction of twist of the rope.

The rope doesn’t lie.

related posts:

• deciding twist direction based on round-off

• confusion about twisting

• preventing “barani confusion“