Year: 2010

When I was a kid the Japanese were the top gymnasts in the world. And I had a Japanese coach.

But in the 50 countries I’ve traveled, the greatest “culture shock” I’ve ever experienced was in Japan. This video strikes me as very Japanese.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (3:38) … It gets better and better through ’til the end.

I have no idea why the eyes are blacked out.

Update: Commenters are saying this footage was for a music video. Cool.

This was linked on Facebook by gymnastics and circus coach Tom Bertrand.

Stanford, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma and California advance. Congratulations.
Gymnastics Examiner hits the highlights:

Michigan, one of the most talented and least heralded of the four teams in contention for the NCAA title, overtook Stanford for the lead heading into tomorrow night’s Super Six team final at the U.S. Military Academy in New York. …

read the details – Michigan flies through NCAA qualifying round to lead going into team finals

Don’t assume this means Michigan will win. The team competition in Men’s gymnastics is near impossible to forecast. There are far more variables than in the Women’s competition. And counting a “missed” routine in MAG (11.20, for example) hurts the team more than a 9.30 in WAG.

Cal’s Kyle Bunthuwong, a junior, was the top all-around gymnast (89.65) of both sessions, finishing almost two full points ahead of sophomore teammate Glen Ishino (87.7).

Several teams entered no gymnast in the all-around.

There’s more on the Inside Gymnastics Ticker:

A super-psyched Michigan team surged to the top of the field in tonight’s second qualifying session at the 2010 NCAA National Championships in West Point, N.Y.

The No. 3 Wolverines started with meet-high scores for near-perfect performances on both parallel bars (59.7) and high bar (59.25), ending with a season-high vault performance to clinch a 359.8, the day’s highest total. …

by site editor Rick McCharles

Locked and loaded for a trip out to sunny Florida. I’ll arrive early enough for the training day.

Open Practice Schedule

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Practice Session I: 10:30 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.
Practice Session II: 12:20 – 2 p.m.
Practice Session III (Event Specialists): 3:20 – 4:20 p.m.
Practice Session IV: 4:30 – 6:10 p.m.

The past 3 WAG Championships I’ve represented Cirque du Soleil. But this time I’m just a cheering spectator. It’ll be thrilling.

Close to the event I’ll post details on a meet-up, or two, close to the O’Connell Center. Let’s get together to talk about the competition, if you are going to be there.

Congratulations.

First 3 teams advance to Men’s NCAA Team Finals – Stanford (357.850), Illinois (354.050) and Ohio State (346.800). Session 2 starts at 7PM

UPDATE:

The men’s competition at the European Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, England will be delayed by 24 hours …

==== original post:

Kyle Shewfelt wants to know.

Are any gymnasts caught up in the thousands of cancelled flights in Europe?

Competition starts April 21st.

official website

I’ve really been enjoying Mark Folger’s new blog dedicated to coaches, parents, gymnasts and gymnastics fans.

Check out one called Hidden Opportunities in Youth Sports:

Younger athletes look up to older athletes who excel at their sport. A simple compliment from one of these older athletes can “make the day” of the less experienced athlete. When you “make the day” for a child, you make the day for their parents as well, allowing one simple good deed to go a long way. …

A seven year old who does a nice straight arm, straight leg cartwheel is excellent in the eyes of the four year old who’s struggling just to get hands and feet placed in the right order for her cartwheel.

That same seven year old may look up to a ten year old who does a cartwheel on the high balance beam. The ten year old sees excellence in the level 8 gymnast …

read the rest – Hidden Opportunities in Youth Sports

Photo HPTCamp.com

An edit by TheGymEffect who “just threw this together”.

… Right.

Video editing is painstaking and time consuming. But this is a bit of a hodge podge. Interesting from start to finish. The highlight for me are interesting dance parts.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Song: “This is how we do it” by Montell Jordan

I saw this linked from Quitters Try:

Dedicated to finding the best gymnastics montages out there – a tribute to great song choices, clip selection, subjects, and editing. Suggestions/submissions always, always welcome!

Please contact me via my Youtube account: QuittersTry

U.S. Mens National Team Coordinator Coach Kevin Mazeika recommends an interesting exercise ball drill.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More Gymnastics Minute videos on YouTube.

related post – Rings press handstand strength

Aunt Joyce has a good summary post (with video) of who I would consider the team most likely to win the 2010 Gymnastics Champinships, after UCLA:

… Rhonda has peaked her team well this season and Marissa and Ashanee continue to improve with every meet.

When comparing them with UCLA, they have more difficulty on floor exercise and more variety in their vaults, but their overall execution is just not in the same league. This is a team missing Melanie Sinclair …

The Home Team

Who would have guessed at the beginning of the season that Gator Ashanée Dickerson, from Florida, would be named SEC Freshman of the Year over, from Florida, Shayla Worley?

Added incentive for the Gators is that their school is on pace for their best athletic year ever.

Of course Florida will enjoy home court advantage when they host Championships April 22-24th. (I’m still shopping for an airline ticket.)

Lea is going. She’s posted her team predictions on her Manual on Handstands blog:

… it’s likely that these four will make the finals and each one has a chance for the national title …

UCLA, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma