The Leaps and Bounds conference in Melbourne, Australia compares well with regional congress events in the USA.
Australian coaches were offered 4 choices for each time slot over 4 days. They could pick and choose those topics of greatest interest.
Here a presenter explains the benefits of training bars with “loops” (Australian for “safety straps”).
The issues and discussions I heard Down Under were similar to those important to coaches in North America. Gymnastics is gymnastics.
A big difference, however, are the State sponsored training centres. Many of the sessions in this conference were hosted at the Victorian Training Centre, a huge facility with separate gyms for WAG (Women’s Artistic Gymnastics), MAG, Rhythmic and — under construction — Circus Arts.
We do not have regional training centres of this quality in Canada or the USA.
I will be posting follow-up notes and videos on each of my 8 sessions on the Australia page.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 