Year: 2011

Last year we had two important books published, both linked from this site.

• Building the Gymnastic Body
• Championship Gymnastics

This year we anticipate the release of a new text, contributors including Bill Sands and John Salmela, titled The Science of Gymnastics.

UPDATE: likely a March 2011 release

• energetic, physical and physiological assessment
• training principles
• diet, nutrition and supplementation
• growth and development issues
• kinetics and kinematics
• angular and linear motion
• angular momentum
• stress, anxiety and coping
• motivation and goal setting
• mental skills training for practice and competition
• the psychology of learning and performance.

Amazon

OK coach, you lost.

Why?

Wayne Goldsmith argues that in most cases the best athlete wins because of coaching and preparation … not “talent”.

There are exceptions. No matter how good a basketball coach you are, if your team plays the Bulls with Jordan and Pippen in the 1990s, you’ll most likely lose. You’ve been out-talented.

Uchimura on an average day can beat any other gymnast in the world right now on a perfect day.

It’s a good read – Sport Coaching Brain – Winning and Losing: Outplayed or Out-talented?

Entertaining. These guys were tough.

Old school trampoline bit included. Also swinging Rings. Double back on grass and horsehair mats.

A look at the Florida State Seminoles‘ championship gymnastic program in the early 1950s, under the direction of coach Hartley Price.

All of it is shot outdoors, with male team members demonstrating prowess on the rings, the parallel bars, high bar, pommel horse, floor exercise, and trampoline. Several are Olympians, including Cuban Rafael Lecuona. …

Nonstop

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via gimnastas.net)

I thought so.

Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics:

“The Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup showcases some of our country’s top up-and-coming gymnasts and provides them with a special experience. …

Nastia:

… “My partnership with USA Gymnastics and the Supergirl brand gives me the opportunity to connect with young girls and talk about the importance of commitment, dedication, sportsmanship and goals in their lives. …

Warner Bros. Consumer Products and USA Gymnastics Announce Second Annual Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup

Yet who qualified in the first of 17 meets this year?

… former elite Kayla Williams, 2009-10 National Team member and World vault champion, as well as University of Alabama recruit. …

Full In Full Out

I love the Liukin series. But they either have to embrace the original mandate, restricting former elites.

…Or (easier) make it clear that anyone who competes Level 10, even a former world champion, is welcome.

The premiere men’s winter gymnastics meet in the States.

The 2011 Winter Cup & BlackJack will take place once again in Las Vegas on February 3rd to 6th …

details

Cirque du Soleil casting will be there, this time round offering 35% off tickets at five of the seven Cirque shows. (Sorry … not LOVE nor O)

See details on that offer – Cirque du Soleil 2011 Black Jack Champs Winter Cup Challenge (PDF).

… Minister Vitaly Mutko said that currently professional athletes in Russia earn an average monthly salary of between 12,000 and 20,000 rubles ($400-670).

“We have secured support from the budget and an average salary will be increased to around 80,000 rubles [$2,770] …

rian.ru

That article talks about Winter Olympic athletes. But we can assume high profile Summer Olympic sports like Gymnastics, Trampoline and Rhythmic will benefit similarly.

Why the big jump in pay?

Because Putin says so.

… Russia will spend some 90 billion rubles ($3 billion) on the development of sports over the next three years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday. …

rian.ru

(via Full Twist)

Must be nice to have a de facto dictator who loves sport.

Okanagan Gymnastics Centre is a super successful club in one of the most beautiful places in the world. So successful, they need more coaching.

Beam, Floor, Choreography most needed. Canadian NCCP 3 certification or equivalent.

Contact Head Coach Sergei Chelest via the club website, linked above. Look for the PDF job description.

Developer Matt Thomas tells me that people are trying the app in the USA, but not in Canada.

What’s with that? … Our meets are twice as slow, boring … And with many more errors. We NEED to be checking the scores in progress.

Leave a comment if you’ve had any problems downloading from Canadian Android market. Search for TumbleTally. $4.99

# Fast meet scoring and awards entry for women’s and men’s events.

# On the fly All Around calculations for each gymnast.

# Reports for meet results by gymnast, or for the whole team.

# Send meet results to your friends and family via email!

# Results can also be sent as a JPG image, so wherever your Android device can send an image, so can TumbleTally — places like Facebook, Flickr, Picassa, etc.

TumbleTally

Link in the right hand navigation.

Andrew Thornton recently posted a convincing argument that a healthy Paul Hamm could challenge Uchimura in the all-around.

That showdown won’t come for a while, I’m afraid.

The Olympic champion gymnast said Monday that he has a torn labrum in his right shoulder and will have surgery this week. He had hoped to return to competition for the first time since 2008 at next month’s Winter Cup, a U.S. ranking meet.

“This is extremely disappointing since I have come so far and was preparing to compete in February,” Hamm said in a statement through his agent. “I fully intend to rehab my shoulder with the goal of making the team and competing in the London Olympics.”

details on USAG – Olympic champ has shoulder injury, needs surgery

I have a permanent link atop the home page – American Gymnast videos FREE – that links to several different places to watch hundreds of coaching tutorials, the best archive online.

American-Gymnast.com is rolling them out a few at a time with text description. Here’s a sample, the best way to introduce Stalder / Endo.

This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series Straps Skills

… In this variation the gymnast is mostly concerned with mastering the initial motion to bring in the straddle legs toward the deep pancake and each time he takes the legs out he just swings back to practice coming in from a position closer and closer to a complete handstand. Eventually he combines a high position to start the stalder with a powerful extension out of the pancake bottom toward a vertical handstand in fact performing the complete skill. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

If the gymnast experiences any lower back pain at all, during the hip flexion, back off the amplitude of the swing until they are stronger / more flexible.

(via American Gymnast)