Author: Rick Mc

I really, REALLY hope the start of this Floor routine was choreographed.

Brilliant.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Nick Blanton is a great coach and clinician. But you might be shocked at his QUICK and EASY method of teaching Tkachev.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I was shocked this past year seeing boys at Taiso using that exact method. Very few drills. Throw and go.

It works. Taiso produces great Horizontal Bar guys, including Commonwealth Games Silver medalist Anderson Loran.

But I’d recommend many more progressions for the girls.

Even in a league with very few deductions, it’s not easy for any College team to total 198.

… An orange-and-blue party was in full swing, punctuated by a dynamic floor routine by senior Ashanee Dickerson. Dickerson’s career-best 9.975 floor score highlighted the No. 1 Gators’ victory against their fifth-ranked SEC rivals.

“That was the best routine of her four years here, it really was,” Gators coach Rhonda Faehn said. “That was amazing.”

The Gators finished with a team score of 198.100, the second-best mark in the program’s history behind only a 198.225 in a narrow loss to UCLA (198.250) in the regular-season finale in March 2004.

NCAA

Click PLAY or watch Ashanee on YouTube.

… to state the obvious, the Gators are a juggernaut of talent and they were hot tonight ! It appears they are on a level all their own and no team will be able to match them. But I felt that way last year, and the year before, and . . .you know the story. …

BeamMeUpBama – I watched every routine of the UF vs Bama meet on GatorVision, and

related – #6 Georgia were tied by #18 Kentucky at 195.825.

Prelims Winter Cup.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Mathew Sparks is Head Coach and Dance Captain for Cirque La Nouba, Florida. He sees more flips and twists in a day than many coaches see in a month.

For an upcoming clinic, Matt’s recycled a video presentation from … that era when Men vaulted over a long skinny horse. (Kids today can get freaked out first time they see a vaulting horse so inferior to the Table.)

It’s a brief introduction to dominant twist, identifying twist direction and relation to skills like Kasamatsu, Tsuk 1/1, round-offs and pirouettes.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10152546791765005

Dave Adlard and others have been sharing these links.

Surprisingly, the teen attempting more difficulty at a younger age than anyone else, is a bit of a girly girl. 🙂

Sasha DiGiulian … is an American rock climber who in 2011 became the first American woman to climb grade 9a (5.14d). In the same year she finished three climbs of 5.14c, onsighted two of 5.14a and four of 5.13d. She won an overall gold medal at the World Championships in Arco, Italy. …

Just before graduating from high school, she redpointed Southern Smoke (5.14c) in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky where on 15 October 2011 she wrote her place in climbing history by climbing the 9a Pure Imagination, becoming the first American female to climb 9a, and the third woman of all time, after Spain’s Josune Bereziartu and Charlotte Durif of France. …

Click PLAY or watch a teaser on YouTube.

Mail Online – The girl who could climb before she could walk: Teenager crowned the best female climber in the world

… Decades of studies, many of them by Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the optimal parent is one who is involved and responsive, who sets high expectations but respects her child’s autonomy.

These “authoritative parents” appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are either permissive and less involved, or controlling and more involved. …

NY Times – Raising Successful Children

Seen at No Limits, Panama.

Gymnastics Canada on Facebook:

Ellie Black wins women’s senior title at Elite Canada

In her first competition since the Olympic Games in August, gymnast Ellie Black of Halifax showed off new moves on uneven bars, beam and vault to easily win the women’s senior title Friday night at Elite Canada in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Black, last seen in competition grimacing in pain after injuring her ankle during the women’s Olympic vault final last August, chalked up a total score of 54.525 points en route to her first Elite Canada all around title.

Meaghan Chant of Waterdown, Ont., placed second with 52.675 points and Casey Carvallo of Georgetown, Ont., was third at 51.125. …

Black, who topped the field on floor, vault, and beam and placed third on uneven bars, will go for more medals in all four events in Sunday’s apparatus finals.

On the first day of the men’s senior competition Anderson Loran of Saskatoon ranked first, followed by Ken Ikeda of Abbotsford, B.C. and Zachary Clay of Chilliwack, B.C.

In the junior division René Cournoyer of Montreal took the lead followed by Aaron Mah of Vancouver and Matthew Halickman of Montreal.

Both the juniors and seniors compete again on Sunday for the medals.

In other events on Friday, William Emard of Montreal and Samuel Zakutney of Ottawa finished first on day one in the argo and tyro divisions respectively while Megan Roberts of Toronto topped the field in the women’s novice category.

Anderson Loran – by Grace Chiu

related – Couch Gymnast – Black Tops Elite Canada

Uncle Tim on Gymcastic – Quick Hits: 2013 Winter Cup Challenge – Session I

Stick it Media – Adrian de los Angeles Tops Qualifying Field at 2013 Winter Cup:

… The final field of 42 (PDF) was announced immediately after the day’s competition. USAG used their 20-Point Program to compile the list of qualifiers. An astounding number of club gymnasts (9) compiled enough points to advance to Saturday’s finals. Five of these clubbers are junior Level 10s (age 15-16). …

Examiner – Adrian de los Angeles surges to surprise lead at 2013 Winter Cup

USAG – 2013 Winter Cup Challenge Prelims – Session 1 videos on YouTube