Year: 2010

F.I.G. has the best write-up on the second day of Finals – Out and out success!

Vault
1 – Cao, Yulong CHN 16.062
2 – Sapronenko, Jevgenijs LAT 15.862
3 – Wammes, Jeffrey NED 15.612

… Home town boy Nasser Al-Hamad finished 4th on Vault. Just off the podium.

Parallel Bars
1 – Dong, Zhendong CHN 15.900
2 – Kierzkowski, Adam POL 15.225
3 – Chen, Xuezhang CHN 15.150

Horizontal Bar
1 – Zonderland, Epke NED 15.950
2 – Zhang, Chenglong CHN 15.675
3 – Pegan, Aljaz SLO 15.325

Wu, Liufang of China won both Beam and Floor.

Beam
1 – Wu, Liufang CHN 14.700
2 – Erceg, Tina CRO 13.600
3- Khwela, Jennifer RSA 13.350

… Vault Champ Jennifer Khwela wrote “one of the most inspirational pages in the history of South African gymnastics“. She succeeds in sport despite starting in an impoverished township. Congratulations.

Floor
1 – Wu, Liufang CHN 13.975
2 – Huang, Qiushuang CHN 13.850
3 – Uctas, Goksu TUR 13.700

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

Doha rehash from the Couch Gymnast

Andy Thornton posted an article titled: How to deal with balking…

… If you’re a gymnastics coach, you immediately know what I mean when I use the word “balk.” It can be a coach’s worst nightmare.

A gymnast develops a fear of a skill – sometimes a completely irrational one – and one time becomes scared enough to actually abort the skill before even attempting it. Common examples include dismounts off of high bar/uneven bars, release moves, backward tumbling skills on floor, and just about any skill on beam.

Balking once or twice isn’t what drives the coach crazy…it’s the fact that balking becomes a habit that tends to get worse and worse if it’s allowed to continue. A gymnast may at first balk about 1 out of every 10 attempts, then soon this becomes 1 out of every 5, then 1 out of 4, 1 out of 3…and then half the time. Often this trend continues to the point where the gymnast simply has psyched himself or herself completely out and won’t go for the skill at all …

read and comment on his American Gymnast blog – How to deal with balking…

In over 30yrs coaching, here’s all I’ve learned about balking:

• it’s more common with females than males
• it’s more common with backward skills, than forward

On those skills where kids are most likely to learn to balk (e.g. flyaway), go slow.

You can hurry a forward handspring, but it’s best NOT to rush a backward handspring.

Finally, the main quality you need as a coach is patience. Every balking problem is different. Stay calm and the gymnast may resolve the mental block themselves. (Booking an extra practice dedicated only to e.g. Beam Series is a last, last resort.)

related post with good comments – gymnastics mental blocks

This was selected the #1 photo ever published in Outside magazine, as chosen by one of their photographers.

That’s surfing legend Laird Hamilton and daughter Reece, shot by Peggy Sirota.

It reminded me of all the gymnastics coaches I’ve known and their baby toss stunts. Dave Arnold, for example, used to toss his kids back and forth to other coaches … each time stepping back one pace. The goal was to see how far apart the two “spotters” could get.

Shiro Tanaka’s kids could do “Geinger”, “Jaeger” and many other releases by the time they were 6 months old. (Yes, he did drop them once in a while, on to a soft mat.)

One of Shiro’s new borns, first day at the gym, he tossed into the pit. We uncovered him sitting quietly and happily near the bottom.

Leave a comment if you have any baby toss stories of your own.

… I know what you’re thinking …

GYMKATA

After all, Maxim magazine ranked Gymkata as 17th “Worst Movie of All Time”.

But you’d be wrong. There’s even a worse gymnastics movie (actually a syndicated TV show / after school special). And it also starred Kurt Thomas.

Click PLAY or watch True Confessions – The Gymnast Part 1 on YouTube.

If you survive the trauma of that horrific fall on a missed straddle-cut on Bars, click through to:

• True Confessions – The Gymnast Part 2
• True Confessions – The Gymnast Part 3

Hmm. Could the writers on Make it or Break It be recycling plot lines from this dreck?

These videos were unearthed by 80sgymfan at wwgym via Fishbulb on the IG Forum.

In 2003 Kurt, a great hero of mine as a gymnast, was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. He runs Kurt Thomas Gymnastics Training Center in Frisco, Texas and hosts the Kurt Thomas International Invitational gymnastics meet.

F.I.G. has an excellent write up on the first day of Finals.

This guy won Rings. And he’s from Jordan. How great is it to see smaller nations competitive with the big boys?

Ali Al-Asi (JOR), 22 years of age, took the Bronze on Rings at the Asian Championships here in Doha! Ali is simply fantastic! He rocked the hall today with a perfect exercise. The fans went wild. Jordan has a champion. 15.275 and the Gold. …

FLOOR
1- Huang Yuguo (CHN), 15.200
2- Hisashi Mizutori (JPN), 15.075
3- Jeffrey Wammes (NED), 15.050

POMMEL
1- Krisztian Berki (HUN), 15.750
2. Sebastian Krimmer (GER), 15.200
2- Dong Zhendong (CHN), 14.925

RINGS
1- Ali Al-Asi (JOR 15.275
2- Kazuki Machida (JPN), 14.275
3- Ng Kiu Chung (HKG), and Jeffrey Wammes (NED), 14.050

BARS
1- Huang Qiushuang (CHN), 15.025
2- Wu Liufang (CHN) 13.850
3- Bianca Dancose-Giambattista (CAN), 13.800

VAULT
1- Jennifer Khweal (RSA), (13.850 – 13.950 / 13.900) … Yurchenko 1/1
2- Tijana Tkalcec (CRO), (13.750 – 13.525 – 13.637)
3- Angel Wong Hiu Ying (HKG), (13.650 – 13.325 / 13.487)

The winner was from South Africa. More podium finishes from smaller nations. Nice.

I guess I need to go to competitions in Jesolo or Edmonton to see higher WAG start value routines, though.

F.I.G. – Day 1 Finals Report and Results

Check out a sample video from the excellent GymDrills.com. (review.)

My first reaction to this drill was … “I don’t like it. … Not specific enough.”

But it’s growing on me. For beginners it just might be a good psycho-motor drill to slow down the landing on the hands.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

If you are a beam coach, you’ve likely got a strong opinion on whether or not you’d use that drill. Leave a comment.

… Not all your kids are as agile as cats.

(photo posted by kelseyvacation via Quitters Try)

George poses that question to us, a touchy one.

This article got him thinking: Trusting Authorities (or Not) Based on Appearance

Football coaches can be obese.

But what about acrobatic sports coaches?

Certainly fit gymnastics coaches, especially females, do get instant credibility. A lean female coach, especially one with a Russian accent, must know what she’s doing.

And a lean coach is much easier to toss in the air, or … under the bus, one day.

Still, … we can all think of overweight gymnastics coaches that do a great job.

Physical fitness of many kinds is valuable, but not essential for coaching. Not essential unless you are the designated “spotter”. … Fitness is only one component of being a competent spotter.

Inside Gymnastics published a fantastic interview with Oklahoma Head Coach K.J. Kindler.

It lists the many excuses Oklahoma could make about having a challenging season.

Yet OU went undefeated and is currently ranked #2 behind Alabama leading into the Championships post-season.

How does Coach answer these questions:

INSIDE: How do you lead a team that has never even been in the Super Six on a post-season hunt for a Championship? …

INSIDE: You have been the most consistent team in the country thus far, counting only two falls the entire season, and those early on. How have you accomplished that fairly significant feat? …

And one more:

INSIDE: Which teams do you see as in contention for this year’s NCAA crown? Who are you worried about?

KINDLER: We’ve met Florida and Alabama and Arkansas, so we’ve met three of Super Six from last year. I’ve heard UCLA looks amazing and they have a great roster. I expect them to contend for sure. To be honest—and I’m looking at the top 12 right now—they’re all very, very good. I think more than any other year it is open.

Click through to find out. Inside Gymnastics – SOONER OR LATER

If Oklahoma is not your favourite team, at least cheer for them as your second favourite. It would give hope to many of the top 24 teams, proving that an underdog can win it all.

I find it strange that some of the very best gymnasts in the world are attending major international invitational meets, … instead of F.I.G. World Cup Events.

Why is that?

For example: Komova, Ferrari, Murakami, Raisman and many, many more will be competing in Jesolo, Italy.

Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Sui Lu from China are competing the Triple Flip Wild Rose Invitational April 2-4 in Edmonton, Canada. (Wild Rose, by the way, has added some cool features this year: real-time gymnastic scores online and live video streaming.)

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

Leave a comment if you know reasons why coaches and national federations might prefer Invitationals over F.I.G. sanctioned events.

Some preliminary results have been posted by F.I.G.

This is the 3rd time a World Cup has been hosted in Doha. The region, as you know, is intensely keen to develop sport.

Here’s one good news story …

… Her name is Aljazy Al Habshi, she lives in Doha and she’s a gymnast. But not just any gymnast. Aljazy is here among gymnasts from other Gulf countries as the first Qatari woman to appear among the elite of international Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. At 19, she is a veritable icon in her homeland, an idol, a role model. Aljazy has paved the way to gymnastics for scores of facebook generation gymnasts in Qatar!

Her career began in 2000 when she was just nine years old. “The greatest obstacle was convincing her family!” confided Anis Saoud with a smile, Technical Secretary for the Qatari Gymnastics Federation. “When our federation was founded back in 2000, little Aljazy began dreaming of a competitive career. With her parent’s support, the family was slowly and painstakingly convinced. Today the entire family is proud of Aljazy’s achievements, especially her two sisters.” …

read more – F.I.G. – Aljazy’s dream

Qualification leaders: MAG Huang Yuguo (FX); Berki (PH); Al Asi (R); Cao (V); Dong (PB) Zhang (HB); WAG Khwela (V); Huang (UB, FX), Wu (BB) Complete results