Kim Zmeskal was the first American World Gymnastics Champion.
She’s an international judge. And an elite coach / owner of Texas Dreams, often mentioned as a possible future successor to Marta Karolyi.
I watched a coaching presentation Kim put on for Project 2012.
It’s very good.
Kim kept it quite simple, too. (Any coach who is a judge is more realistic as to potential deductions on skills.)
For example, pirouette on bars:
Click PLAY to watch the BAD example. Or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY to watch a much better example. Or watch it on YouTube.
In competition we see many more late, deductible pirouettes (the former) than pirouettes close to handstand.
An even better example she showed is Sheep Jump. Either a D-value on beam … or a NOTHING. It’s not devalued.
Judges have gotten much tougher on Sheep this code. Even if the feet are high enough, the feet close enough to the head, the head far enough back … if the gymnast is not extended in the hips, no value.
There are many more good examples and reminders Kim showed.
She goes over the controversial new landing deduction on Floor: stepping back with 1-foot into lunge position. The good ladies of the FIG never seem to consider safety when they come up with these new interpretations. This rule will certainly cause more injuries. But since it helps the judges separate the top routines in the world, … they adopt it.
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I’ve not yet heard if Project 2012 will be continuing into the Fall. I hope so.
Certainly you can sign up and go back and watch the old presentations archived online any time you want.
… 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. …
Sessions include 45 minutes of lecture and 15 minutes of question and answer, using live lecture, video, power point.
homepage – USAproject2012.com
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This project is associated with GymSmarts. Alison Arnold’s site is Head Games.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 