Year: 2010

I’m suspicious.

Magnesium carbonate is about as an inert substance as any.

Why add “five key essential oils and an additional natural drying agent“?

… Designed to inhibit bacteria, fungi and virus growth in the chalk and on weight lifting and gymnastics bars, PrimoChalk™ is the superior choice for health and safety conscious coaches and athletes. …

Click through if you want to check PrimoChalk™ for yourself.

And leave a comment if you’ve tried PrimoChalk™.

(via GymChat)

April 15-17th at Westpoint, the biggest men’s College meet of the year is upon us.

From Stick It Media:

… The top three favorites going in are Stanford, Oklahoma and Illinois, but that doesn’t mean we can count out Michigan and Cal. Michigan boasts the NCAA’s top team score this season and Cal is showing serious signs of peaking at the right time.

The all-around competition is completely up for grabs among these top contenders: Oklahoma’s Steven Legendre and Jake Dalton, Cal’s Glen Ishino and Kyle Bunthuwong, Illinois’ Paul Ruggeri and Michigan’s Chris Cameron and Mel Anton Santander. Each of these gymnasts have cracked the 89-point barrier this season, with the latter five exceeding 90 points. Just a guess here, but we think the eventual winner will be the one with a high score on pommel horse.

In the event finals, the stiffest competition will be on floor, pommel horse and vault. All the action will take place April 15-17 at West Point. …

read more – Big Week for Men’s Gymnastics

Click PLAY to wach Eddie Penev, Stanford Freshman, on Floor or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swfif ((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i))) {$(“#display_video”).html(”);}

Team Qualifier Session I
No. 1 Illinois
No. 4 Stanford
No. 5 Ohio State
No. 8 Penn State
No. 9 Illinois-Chicago
No. 12 Temple

Team Qualifier Session II
No. 2 Oklahoma
No. 3 Michigan
No. 6 California
No. 7 Minnesota
No. 10 Nebraska
No. 11 Iowa

Individual Qualifiers:
All-Around: Ty Evans, Springfield, Derek Gygaz, William & Mary; Nash Mills, Air Force; Andrew Faulk, Navy; Josh Fox; Springfield, Ty Smith, Army.
Floor Exercise: Dylan Parrott, Navy; Josh Fried, William & Mary; Kip Webber, Army; Jimmy Pezzino, Springfield; Andy Hunter, William & Mary; Dave Ellis, William & Mary.
Pommel Horse: James Okamoto, Air Force; Garrek Hojan-Clark, Army; Chase Nobles, Air Force; Matt Tocchio, Springfield; Andy Hunter, William & Mary; Futa Ikeda, William & Mary.
Still Rings: Devin Menefee, Air Force; Dan Klimkowski, Air Force; Joel Uptmor, Air Force; Andy Hunter, William & Mary; Travis Langham, Air Force; Steve Deutsch, William & Mary.
Vault: Joel Uptmor, Air Force; Devin Menefee, Air Force; Jimmy Pezzino, Springfield; Alex Egerter, William & Mary; Dave Ellis, William & Mary; Dylan Parrott, Navy.
Parallel Bars: Kyle Bartgis, Springfield; Dylan Parrott, Navy; Alex Egerter, William & Mary; Matthew Throne, Air Force; Vince Smurro, William & Mary; Andy Hunter, William & Mary.
Horizontal Bar: Dylan Parrott, Navy; Josh Spencer, Springfield; Garrett Canter, Air Force; Vince Smurro, William & Mary; Travis Langham, Air Force; Joel Uptmor, Air Force; Jonathan Hoey, Army.

details – CalBears

Click PLAY or watch Daniel Ribeiro, Illinois, Pommels on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swfif ((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i))) {$(“#display_video”).html(”);}

Men’s Gymnastics routines are long, long these days. Some amazing skills and combinations. … But a lot of deductions, as well.

Our favourite Cheer coach channels Madonna.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The hit TV show Glee resumes tonight, after a break. (I found this episode disjointed and less engaging.)

This is a guest post by Logan Christopher, as a follow-up to my review of the book he edited, The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.

Thanks Christopher

Its always a good thing to look to the history of anything you are interested in, hand balancing included.

Did you know there was a time when the one arm handstand was known as an impossible feat? Yet one man went after it, telling others how he would accomplish it, only be met with laughter.

This man was Professor Paulinetti. Not only was he the first man to do a one arm balance with the legs together, but he did the same in a head balance as well as many other stunts. His most famous of all was the one arm planche, which has since been done by many acrobats, but at his time was untouchable.

Professor Paulinetti’s most famous pupil was Robert L. Jones. Bob carried on teaching the art to many others, as well as practicing it on his own. His most famous stunt was the stand on just his two thumbs. Finger balancing isn’t practiced all that often today, making this still one of the most impressive hand balancing moves.

There were many other great balancers at the time. How about Johnny Weber who could do a tiger bend on a single arm (that is going from the forearm stand up into the handstand all on one arm).

And Sig Klein the famous strongman was also an avid balancer. Here he is doing a prone press, pressing up into the handstand. Not too difficult except for the fact that he has a 75 lb. dumbbell strapped to his back!

The balancers today certainly have taken their skills to another level. However its great to see where it all came from. Plus looking at famous balancers of the past can give you ideas for moves not many people do today.

*****

Logan Christopher runs LostArtOfHandBalancing.com which teaches everyday men and women how to get started in hand balancing and acrobatics. All these pictures come from The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

UDA College Nationals 2010: Louisiana State University Dance Team

Division IA Hip Hop Champions!

Choreographer: Denise Galjour

Have you seen this competition on TV?

Click PLAY or watch their routine on YouTube.

LSU Sports – Tiger Girls Win Hip Hop National Championship

official website – LSU Tiger Girls Dance Team

A thread started by jordan1919 on IG forum is worth a click through.

Cheeky idrinkcoffee posted this one.

see the real photos – Amazing Sheep Jump Appreciation Thread

World Champion Uchimura won Horizontal Bar last weekend at the French Invitational over Yann Cucherat and Jon Horton. He didn’t use this new skill, … yet.

Click PLAY or watch him close to catching on YouTube.

Thanks Amanda Turner, who linked to this video on Facebook.

Cam on World Gymnastics posted the most detailed analysis I’ve seen so far:

Now the fun part… My predictions on who might win.

Team: UCLA, Florida or Oklahoma.

All three teams have been exceptionally strong this season, and with UCLA hitting their stride starting with the Pac-10 Championships, they could take it all. But don’t count out Florida or Oklahoma.

All-Around: Vanessa Zamarripa, Ashanee Dickerson, Sarah Shire, Susan Jackson, Casey Jo Magee, Brandi Personett.

Vault: Vanessa Zamarripa, Susan Jackson, Mandi Rodriguez, Brandi Personett, Morgan Dennis.

Uneven Bars: Anna Li, Laura-Ann Chong, Hollie Vise, Vanessa Zamarripa.

Balance Beam: Courtney McCool, Hollie Vise, Casey Jo Magee, Ashley Priess, Vanessa Zamarripa.

Floor Exercise: Jackie Flanery, Brandi Personett, Mandi Rodriguez, Courtney McCool.

Check his rationale – Looking Forward to Nationals

Let’s add my own picks:

Team: UCLA

All-Around: Vanessa Zamarripa

Vault: Susan Jackson

Uneven Bars: Anna Li

Balance Beam: Courtney McCool

Floor Exercise: Brittani McCullough

Susan will win vault again because (stupidly) finalists at NCAA Championships must have two different 10.0 vaults. Many of the top ranked vaulters never train a second.

That fan boy, Aunt Joyce, details the reasons why UCLA will win team in a post called Get It Done, Bruins!.

I just stumbled on a blog called Ellen, You Would Love UCLA Gymnastics!. … Dedicated to getting the team on the TV show.

Could happen …

Big Fake Smile “forever be obsessed with the 1996 Olympic team“.

Along with her great new website, Spanny Tampson is an excellent montage editor.

Click PLAY or watch The Mag 7 Did Somethin’ on YouTube.

Mainly it reminds me how much I miss Compulsory routines.

See more of her uploads on the spannytampson YouTube channel.

Gymnastics Examiner and many other sites are doing detailed in-gym coverage.

Andy Thornton, for one, is already dissecting routines (link fixed) as they appear on the internet.

I’ll wait until the chalk dust settles, and post highlights over the coming week.