Year: 2011

Shout out for the International Gymnastics Federation’s coach education Academy program.

And especially to Hardy Fink, the Director of FIG Education & Academy Programmes. The number of courses have skyrocketed since he took over.

Here’s Hardy (on right) with Trampoline TC President, Horst Kunze.

As it turned out, this was the last academy for 2010 and the 100th overall in the FIG Academy Program which began in 2002.

More specifically, this was also the very first Level 3 Academy for Trampoline Gymnastics and is being attended by participants form 14 countries including the full FIG Technical Committee for Trampoline Gymnastics and leading coaches from around the world.

Accompanying President Grandi on the visit were Vice-president Slava Corn (CAN), General Secretary André Gueisbuhler (FIG), Deputy General Secretary Nicolas Buompane (FIG) and President of the Women’s Technical Committee Nellie Kim (BLR).

details – FIG

Due to the widespread and severe winter storm that has impacted travel throughout much of the nation, the trip to Las Vegas, Nev. that four members of the No. 5-ranked Penn State men’s gymnastics were to make this week in order to compete at the 2011 Winter Cup Challenge has been cancelled.

119 gymnasts were originally registered for the 2011 Winter Cup Challenge, Feb. 3-5th.

… Performances at the 2011 Winter Cup Challenge will help determine the 15 men who will comprise the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team through the 2011 Visa Championships in St. Paul, Minn., Aug. 17-20. The seven members of the 2010 World Championships Team retain their spots on the national team. After the conclusion of the Winter Cup, the remaining eight spots will be determined based on the following criteria: the highest-ranked all-around athlete who is not a member of the 2010 World Championships Team; the top four gymnasts based on the National Team Point Program; two athletes selected by the Men’s Program Committee; and one athlete selected by the national team coordinator.

The top 42 gymnasts, according to the Men’s Program Committee’s points ranking system, will advance to the final competition, along with the top three gymnasts on each apparatus. The all-around and individual event champions will be determined via a combined two-day score. …

USAG

See the full list of competitors on USAG.

I don’t see Charlie Tamayo. … Update: Seems ‘foreign’ gymnasts are not allowed, though Charlie did compete last year in the same meet. Thanks Ono.

Kevin Rolland is a freestyle skier from France. … has also won three medals at the Winter X Games, including back-to-back golds in the SuperPipe. …

Here’s his win from a few days ago.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… Though it’s not yet official, freeskiing halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines — like their snowboarding counterparts, incredibly popular X Games sports — are widely expected to debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. …

Adventure Journal

Early bird pricing available through February

… I’m assuming these are the discounted prices:

All-session ticket packages for men’s and women’s gymnastics range in price from $130- $375. Rhythmic gymnastics offers an all-session,two-day package for just $30.

Men’s gymnastics – Xcel Energy Center
Aug. 17 1 p.m. Jr. Men’s Competition – Day 1
6:30 p.m. Sr. Men’s Competition – Day 1
Aug. 19 1 p.m. Jr. Men’s Competition – Day 2
6:30 p.m. Sr. Men’s Competition – Day 2

Women’s gymnastics – Xcel Energy Center
Aug. 18 1 p.m. Jr. Women’s Competition – Day 1
6:30 p.m. Sr. Women’s Competition – Day 1
Aug. 20 1 p.m. Jr. Women’s Competition – Day 2
6:30 p.m. Sr. Women’s Competition – Day 2

Rhythmic gymnastics – Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Aug. 19 9 a.m. Jr. and Sr. All-around Preliminaries and Individual Event Finals
Aug. 20 9 a.m. Jr. and Sr. All-around Finals

details on USAG

The link to Ticketmaster didn’t work for me. Phoning may be the way to go.

None of the sessions sold out last time in St Paul.

I haven’t seen any information on Congress, as yet. Leave a comment if you have.

… Montage of Aliya Mustafina from worlds.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

An essay by Jason Shen

… This story is for every anyone (athlete or not) who’s struggled with an injury – yeah it sucks big time, but do ALL your physical therapy and be unreasonably optimistic. Things can and will get better. …

On January 19th, 2007, while competing for Stanford Men’s Gymnastics at the UC Berkeley, I suffered a total knee dislocation while performing a double-twisting Yurchenko. My ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL and meniscus were instantly torn. It hurt a lot.

I underwent multiple surgeries, required the use of crutches for months and spent a couple hundred hour in physical therapy. One year later, I was back in the arena as an active competitor. In my final season, I was elected a team captain and helped lead our team to win the 2009 NCAA Team Championship – our first victory in over 14 years. …

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 is yet to come.

You might want to bookmark it as an inspirational read for anyone trying to come back from injury.

Thanks Jason.

Vanessa Zamarripa is out for the season.

Who will win the NCAA Gymnastics all-around this season?

Here are the the rankings, so far:

See more National rankings on GymInfo.

Before the season I was speculating that freshman Kristina Vaculik could jump into contention, another Courtney Kupets. … That hasn’t happened. Yet.

Former Parkette, Geralen Stack-Eaton?

What about Amy Glass? An amazing story, coming back from serious injury.

Leave a comment if you have a prediction.

With all the changes at the top, these must be interesting days for the coaches and gymnasts in Spain.

Spanish gymnastics site Gymnastas posted some photos of the most recent WAG camp.

see more – Google Translate

Shaun White takes fourth consecutive Snowboard Superpipe gold medal (in skinny jeans):

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Arriving somewhat out of shape for this event, he took a bad crash in training. … Missed the final completely in Slopestyle. Yet still won the Snowboard Superpipe for the 4th time in series. This guy is mentally tough.

Attendance for this year’s Winter X Games in Aspen broke all previous records by nearly 40 percent. An estimated 114,200 people …

(via Outside – The Top 10 Things You Missed at The Winter X Games)

We’ve posted on this topic before.

Dr. Bill Sands is doing some research on the innovative new springs at Mesa State College:

Bills Sands:

Here are my criteria for evaluation of the spring floor:

1. Stability

2. Tuned response frequency that matches the gymnast’s take off actions

3. Reliability, no matter when you hit it, or where you hit it, the spring floor reacts the same. There is some evidence that the spring floor can act like a trampoline and the athlete can experience a “double bounce.”

4. The floor should not “tip” the foot or shank at impact due to inconsistent foam or floor characteristics.

read more on Facebook (from March 2010)

Bill feels that the spring is on the right track, but that confirmation awaits testing.

There is no evidence (yet) that the Weller spring reduces the incidence of Achilles tears.

If you don’t want to wait for scientific confirmation, each spring is $2.95 right now, on sale.