2011 – Page 62 – Gymnastics Coaching.com

Danell Leyva & Yin Alvarez

Dwight Normile has a feature on one of the real stars of World Championships 2011, USA Champion Danell Leyva. And his stepfather coach:

… When I see coaches chewing out their gymnasts after a bad routine, I appreciate that Yin Alvarez is always there with a hug. He realizes that his gymnasts don’t mess up on purpose.

“I have my moments like everybody else, but I never go to the gymnasts when I’m mad,” Alvarez once told me. “Gymnasts want to do nothing wrong; they want to do good all the time.” …

IG – Stretching Out: 10 Things to Like About Danell Leyva

The first time I saw Yin I was offended. His behaviour seemed unsportsmanlike.

Yet like near everyone else, I’ve been won over.

But Yin is unique. The real deal. I don’t think anyone else could get away with this.

Click PLAY or watch Yin at Danell’s first BIG routine on the World Stage.

Coach Howard on Gymnastics Zone:

… Many coaches are posturing during warm-ups and competition. They seem to be trying to ensure that everyone (spectators, parents and other coaches) sees them as competent, even if their gymnasts are not. They go to great lengths, use big visual coaching displays and actively interact with gymnasts, often obviously more and differently than they do at practice in the gym. They are only too aware that they are being watched and they put on a show. …

Some coaches seem to do all their coaching at the meet. Well, not really. It only seems that way. They can been seen or heard giving long lists of things for their gymnast to remember before they compete. You begin to wonder if they had forgotten to teach any of this back at the gym and have just now remembered.

Perhaps the worst are the coaches whose personal egos are so closely invested in their gymnasts that they explode in anger or some other equally inappropriate emotion. …

I’m sure you can recall coaches who live up to this awful stereotype.

recovery from dislocated kneecap

There’s not much talk in Tokyo about the American team being “weaker” after the injury to Rebecca Bross. They are so deep that the change in line-up probably only makes a difference of a couple of tenths.

Rebecca dislocated her kneecap (surgery Aug 25th), much like what happened to Christine (Peng Peng) Lee in May.

Here’s Christine a few days ago (far left), the patella still taped for safety.

Today she did full mock meet without tape. Added double layout on Floor. Landed Yurchenko 1 1/2 twist. That’s about 4 months since the injury.

Bross will be back. And soon.

Canada looked great on the competition podium today, by the way. All 7 gymnasts hit Bars, Floor and Vault (I believe). Beam … Well, you don’t want to peak too early. 🙂

related – FIG – Canada ready to soar in Tokyo

Kyle Shewfelt runs for Gymnastics Canada

Last year Kyle Shewfelt donated $10,000 to the Right to Play charity.

Now he’s found a new needy organization — Gymnastics Canada.

Kyle:

I have decided to run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront 5K on October 16th to raise funds for the next generation of Canadian Gymnastic Superstars!

My goal is to raise $10,000 (all of which will go towards the Canadian National Teams) and I need your help over the next 2 weeks to achieve it.

To donate, please click on the link below:
KYLE SHEWFELT SCOTIABANK TORONTO WATERFRONT 5K

Good news: I give you permission to share the link with any gymnastic fans in your network 🙂

Extra good news: Online donations of $25 and over will automatically receive an official electronic tax receipt.

kyleshewfelt.com

You might wonder why an organization listing 21 employees (full and part time) doesn’t have a National Training Centre. It seems inevitable in socialist sports government organizations that administrators in office chairs are priorized over coaches and athletes IN the gym.

The solution?

I like the American model. USAG has never received a penny of federal tax revenue. Canada needs more entrepreneurs with new ideas. People like Kyle Shewfelt.

Support his cause if you can.

Gymnastics Canada is in the midst of a quadrennial planning process. But I’m not convinced there are any BIG gains to be made via Sports Canada.

Vasiliki Millousi – Beam

One of the most eye catching gymnasts at Worlds is 27-yr-old Vasiliki Millousi from Greece.

Wonderfully feminine. Wearing slippers, so graceful, she’s like a Rhythmic gymnast.

Click PLAY or watch her Beam from earlier this year on YouTube.

Vasiliki … was a beam finalist at the 2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Sadly, she just landed lock-legged on Vault. What else? … Handspring front. I hate that landing.

She wanted to walk it off, but the coach wisely insisted she ICE. Hopefully it’s just a minor hyper-extension.

… that was one TERRIBLE vault rotation. Many of the Greek girls were spotted. Many dangerous landings.

Lauren Mitchell / Aussies looking good

Ready and steady on Beam and the incredibly “springy” competition Floor.

They stag leap, Sissonne or do some random flutter kick out of near every landing, forward or backward. I can’t believe FIG is going to allow this trend to continue. (Though, actually, double pike to immediate split jump does look cool.)

Lauren is #1 on Beam and Floor at this meet according to the numbers.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.