Year: 2010

The most popular sporting competition anywhere is the FIFA World Cup of Football, starting June 11th in South Africa.

Stakes are high.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

by site editor Rick McCharles

Each year after the Canadian Championships we schedule an advanced coaching clinic. In this session the current National Coach Vladimir Lashin does a brief overview of release moves and dismounts on Bars.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

I tried to edit this into some kind of a “story”. But the clinic really was like the video, just a skimming of target skills.

http://c1403192.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/player.swf

The demonstrator in red is 9yr-old Shallon Olsen from Omega Gymnastics Academy, the most talked about gymnast at the meet. Everyone was asking: “If Shallon does this much difficulty at age-9, can she survive to age-15 when eligible for Sr. competition?

One of the lone voices to opine that big difficulty at a very young age is not necessarily a guarantee of burnout was Miguel Constante, one of the very best coaches in Canada. He feels it’s a tremendous advantage long-term, if the athlete can avoid injury and loss of motivation.

more video of Shallon training

… Is she cute, or what?

Do you have a swim up bar?

Valeri Liukin does.

Nastia calls him “King of the Grill“.

Shout out to coach Mark Moncur and his team. I spent a couple of weeks in Tasmania a few years ago, hanging out at the old gym.

It’s great to see the dream come true.

A multi-million dollar state gymnastics centre has been officially opened south of Hobart.

The new facility boasts state of the art equipment and is used by 1,500 gymnasts weekly.

Centre manager and gymnastics coach Mark Moncur hopes the centre will produce Tasmania’s first olympian in the sport.

“What it provides us is the opportunity to allow gymnasts to fulfil their dreams, so they can go from recreational level right through to olympic level,” he said.

“We now have a facility in Tasmania that will allow gymnasts to fulfil those dreams.”

ABC

Former Utah star Kristina Baskett is performing in Le Reve in Vegas.

Here she models for a Triathlete photo shoot in Jamaica.

Click PLAY or watch her interview on YouTube.

via Greg Marsden

Features footage of lower level Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

The theme song, entitled “Everyone”, is … performed by five singers representing the five continents of the World.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Edmonton – Nerissa Mo of Vancouver and Mariam Chamilova of Maple, Ont., finished 1-2 in their first senior Canadian rhythmic gymnastics championship Saturday, nudging two-time winner Alexandra Martincek of Markham, Ont., out the top spot for the all-around title. …

The Province – Mo claims Canadian senior rhythmic gymnastics title

Grace Chiu is there taking photos.

From the Facebook album: 2010 Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships by Grace Chiu GraceClick

AuntJoycesIceCreamStand.blogspot.com

If you’ve subscribed in the past, you need do it again as this is a new feed.

The old post are gone. He’s making a fresh start.

Well deserved!

CONGRATULATIONS.

Click through to watch their winning performance.

_____

The group have come away with a prize of £100,000 ($144,500 USD / $175,500 AUD / €120,000) and a performance at the Royal Variety Performance.

Question?

Is this good for Acrobatic Gymnastics worldwide?

Certainly.

These kids may turn “pro”. But hundreds or thousands of others will be inspired to take up the formerly little known sport. My own gym, Altadore, just started Acrobatic Gymnastics this year.

Watch some of that troupe compete in the British Men’s 4 Championships 2010.

(via Full Twist)

A big theme in the comments of this blog, of late, has been criticism online of gymnasts and ex-gymnasts being fat.

What should we do about that, as a coaching group?

Best, it seems to me, is to confront the issue. And who are the best spokespeople? Gymnasts themselves.

It’s easy for a genetic ectomorph like Shannon Miller to be a role model for low body weight.

Mesomorphic women like Shawn Johnson more often have a tougher time keeping excess weight off. Here she talks about healthy body image.

… “There’s a huge push in the world on an image, a stereotypical, beautiful model image, especially in gymnastics,” Johnson said. “I was a huge target for that.”

She said it wasn’t unusual to hear stories in her sport about cases of anorexia and bulimia. She said that her 4 foot 11 inch muscular build wasn’t popular with some on Dancing with the Stars, either. Johnson said she was frequently compared to Holly Madison.

“I don’t know if you girls know who that is, but she’s a model and she’s like tiny and tall! And they’re like, ‘You have to become her,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m 4 foot 11, that’s not possible,'” Johnson said. …

KCCI

(via Full Twist)

Mesomorph Sam Peszek is in.

… “I want to be the face of the fight against obesity,” she said. …

Indy Star

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

If you want to be a high level gymnast, percentage body fat is an important variable. But after retirement, it’s not a big deal. Most of the ex-gymnasts I know are far leaner than the general population.