Author: Rick Mc

No wonder our kids are overweight.

Cabell County, West Virginia.

… the county’s school system has decided to remove swing sets from all school playgrounds, due to lawsuit fears.

The decision came after the school district faced two different lawsuits from the same parent over relatively minor injuries suffered by his two kids in separate incidents on a school playground. Facing a tight budget because of the current economic situation, the school system determined that it could not afford the potential costs of playground-related lawsuits and decided to remove the swing sets. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Details on Faces of Lawsuit Abuse.

10 months later the swings were returned at a cost of $260,000 for 17 schools.

It’s far too easy to launch a nuisance lawsuit in the USA.

OK. I admit. Will Ferrell is funny.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Comedy is not pretty.

Wilson Maposa for Zicora Mobile Network in Zimbabwe (6 February 2012):

A group of young boys from Mucheke suburb of Masvingo, Zimbabwe, are using old tyres as springboards to do acrobatic moves. Their love for gymnastic have made them to be innovative as there are no gyms around the suburb. …

While the local authority used to provide sporting facilities, they have since reduce or provide no funding at all and the past years have seen some of the playing fields being turned into housing stands …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A Canadian friend of mine worked as a sport educator in Harare. She was eventually evacuated. For the many, many problems in Zimbabwe, I blame most President Robert Mugabe who’s been something of an irrational dictator since 1980.

… top gymnasts from across the African continent contest for Africa Championship titles in the various Gymnastics disciplines of Aerobic Gymnastics; Rhythmic Gymnastics; Trampoline; Double Mini-trampoline and Tumbling.

The South African Gymnastics Federation (SAGF) takes great pleasure in hosting the 11th African Gymnastics Championships at Tukssport Indoor Sports Centre Pretoria, from December 9 – 13, 2012. Countries participating will be those from Algeria; Angola; Congo; Egypt; Mozambique; Namibia; South Africa; Senegal; Tunisia; and Zimbabwe, with just under 160 participants in total to date. …

FIG

UPDATE

It’s conventional wisdom that Men are paid more than Women — on average — for the same work.

But is that true?

The infographic below mentions a 17.8% gap between men and women.

Steven Low disagrees, citing a 2007 study by the CONSAD Research Corporation for the George W Bush Department of Labor titled An Analysis of Reasons for the Disparity in Wages Between Men and Women. (PDF)

Depending on how you read that analysis, the gap shrinks to perhaps 4.8-7.1% — not nearly as bad.

In my opinion, we still have a ways to go. Men are still promoted and paid more than women in 2012.

For one obvious example, why are so many WAG Head Coaches men?

_____ original post:

via LearnStuff.com

Gymnastike:

On December 6, 2102, Olympic gold and silver medalist, McKayla Maroney, underwent her third surgery in three months. This surgery was to remove two large screws from left tibia, which doctors inserted in a surgery in September. …

Since the Olympics, Maroney become a household name. Recently, Yahoo! news named her “not impressed photo” the most viral photo of 2012, …

mckaylamaroney on Instagram:

Update from Mustyfan:

Not to put the achievement down, but this was a poll on a blog. It’s not an “official” title…

Congratulations Aliya.

Good news via Aliya Mustafina Online on Facebook.

image via gymn45tic5

How good was our Olympic Floor Champion when she was young?

WOGymnastike has a collection of her routines including this one from 2007.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Olympic Champions Gabrielle Douglas, Aly Raisman And Jordyn Wieber Headline 45-City Nationwide Teen Choice Live! The Tour

From International Gymnast Online Forum user meadows:

Details of the 2nd tour. Sounds like it has the potential to be a huge train wreck.

Really good interview.

During our November 2012 visit to Texas Dreams Gymnastics, we sat down with elite coach, brevet judge, and Olympian Kim Zmeskal to talk about the changes to the FIG Code of Points.

After every Olympic cycle, the FIG makes changes to the Code of Points and there is always some mystery to the new changes. Zmeskal explains the biggest changes we’ll see over the next quad, and shares which changes surprised her the most.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/Mzk1NjY2MzU0?related=1

Watch more video of Texas Dreams Elite Preseason Training on gymnastike.org

Tony Retrosi got an idea for keeping the head neutral from Steve Arkell, adding it to his regular Forster Bar drills.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… It is one of the few drills we use every day from Level 4 and up. It helps with strength, teaches kids when they need to shift their wrists. …