Year: 2011

Coach Deb Lawson showed me these, a new kind of reusable ice pack.

Highly recommended. No mess. No fuss. And very inexpensive. (Though I still like putting ice directly on the skin to maximize the cold as quickly as possible in serious cases.)

… Each pack measures 3.1 ” x 3.7 ” and contains a special, super absorbent material that soaks up water. You receive 864 packs on multiple sheets to customize for your use, for just $85.00. These packs are completely non-toxic.

Most ice packs on the market today contain Urea, a waste byproduct. These ice packs DO NOT contain waste byproducts! In addition, these ice packs do not release the water once they thaw out. No more water in the bottom of the cooler or leakage into food or on clothing. …

When done, just throw them back in the freezer until you’re ready to use them again. …

IcePackStore.com

(via HPTCamp.com)

… Sandra wants to defend the Olympic title on floor she won in Beijing. She will be 22 years old – she was born on the 18th of June, 1990 – and will set a new record for Romanian gymnastics: she will be the oldest Romanian to compete at the Olympics and the 6th in the select club of gymnasts who’ve made two Olympic Games after Nadia, Cristina Grigoras, Lavinia Milosovici, Gina Gogean and Simona Amanar.

ProSport visited Sandra at Izvorani, on a normal summer day. This year’s European Champion talked about how it feels to be “old” at 21, what motivates her to compete in London and the surprise she is preparing for this fall’s Tokyo Worlds. …

read the Prosport Interview on Fangymnastics

Update – I’ve had a few people very interested in this G-value release.

Mary-Anne Monckton from Australia can do both the Shushanova release (straddled) and the variation I’m calling the Monckton, piked.

Click PLAY or watch her Bars on YouTube.

She was 3rd all around at Australian Championships this year.

One of the girls in Iceland had started training the similar Markelov release. But within a few turns she could do progressions from “Blind Change” just as easily. … Perhaps even more easily as the blind change helps initiate the “side vault”.

No spotting is necessary for the Monckton. You can leave a mat covering the bar on the side of the rail where the feet cross.

Stoi! has an excellent post comparing Amanar vaults, asking which should be credited with a 6.5 start value. And which should be devalued to 5.8.

Case in point: Aly Raisman

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It clearly wasn’t fully rotated. But it was credited as an Amanar anyway, and she received the full 6.5 for it.This wasn’t a big surprise. US domestic scoring is universally renowned as a giveaway. The habit of crediting things that clearly shouldn’t be credited has caused trouble in the past. Anyone remember Sacramone not getting the EGR in Aarhus prelims after being given it all year at home? …

Click through to Stoi to see that Vault compared with others – Would this get credited at worlds?

The FIG need make crystal clear the interpretation on this. One vault could make the difference in Olympic qualification. Or not.

The 0.7 difference between the two vaults is far too great, especially since the Execution judges are not differentiating much between the best and worst.

At our Gymnastics Camp in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, each summer, gymnasts test their courage by jumping into a cold lake.

Coach George Novak captured some slow motion video.

Click PLAY or watch them on YouTube.

Full Twist linked to a montage of yet another talented up-and-coming gymnast from England: Reiss Beckford.

The 19 year old British gymnast currently in training for the London 2012 Olympics has put together a montage of skills he is perfecting. Reiss competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Dehli winning Team Silver, AA Silver and a silver medal on Floor. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I like the Felge to 1-bar, direct Heally on P Bars.

Jenn Isbister interview:

Earlier this month (July 2011), Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto traveled to San Juan for the Puerto Rico Cup. Planning to compete only bars and beam, she arrived to find her senior teammates unable to compete. Unfazed, Bianca decided to compete the all-around, placing second. She went on to win 3 medals in the apparatus, continuing to show improved technique.

Especially strong on bars and beam, she fills a niche roll amongst a team that is suddenly – and uncharacteristically for Canada! – strong on vault. But as Puerto Rico (and Canadian Nationals earlier this year) showed, she can also more than hold her own in all-around competition. She’s a favourite heading into the selection camp for the World Championships team in Tokyo, Japan later this year. …

read the interview on Gymn.ca

Good news … for some gymnastics fans.

… Universal Sports made its DirecTV debut July 27 on channel 625. For the first time ever, DIRECTV’s 19.4 million U.S. customers will be able to watch the world’s top athletes competing … including the Visa Championships next month in Saint Paul …

USAG – Universal Sports Debuts on DIRECTV in Over 19 Million Homes

DirecTV is a California based TV broadcaster with 19.2 million subscribers.

Even if you are not one of those 19 million, this should mean that highlight routines make their way to YouTube even faster.

As of July 2011 the only platform that reliable plays video on most devices in most nations of the world over WiFi is YouTube. Universal Sports is improving, but still leaves many potential customers frustrated.

The 2011 Canada Cup Trampoline & Tumbling competition is ended. Gymnastics Alberta has made videos available online. Free.

Canada Cup gold medal favourites Karen Cockburn, Jason Burnett and Corissa Boychuk didn’t disappoint on the final night of competition, sweeping gold on Saturday in the men’s and women’s individual trampoline events and women’s double-mini. …

read more on Gymnastics Canada

Gymnastics Alberta – Olympic winners Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett highlight trampoline and tumbling meet in Airdrie

Shout out to my man Jon Shwaiger (VIDEO) who finished 2nd in Senior Men’s Tumbling. (He successfully transitioned from Men’s Artistic at age-16.)

Grace Chiu posted a few photos on Facebook, the rest on GraceClick.ca.

related – Box Score – USA Wins Three Medals At 2011 Canada Cup

Former UCLA gymnast and team manager Alyssa Kitasoe talks about her eating disorder that started the year after she left the Team.

… Since she was no longer working out 25 hours a week, the pounds crept onto what had been her fit 5-foot-1, 115-pound frame — a frightening prospect for a girl who for nearly 10 years had endured weekly weigh-ins.

“You still have the mind-set that you need to be tiny,” said Kitasoe, now 24 and four years removed from the most dramatic of her struggles. “You compare yourself to the way you were.”

It was the start of a destructive cycle. …

At least one-third of female college athletes have some type of eating disorder, according to studies published in 1999 and 2002 by experts Craig Johnson and Katherine Beals, who together examined nearly 1,000 female student-athletes participating in various sports. …

LA Times – Leaving the sport, gaining an eating disorder