Rick Mc

Cirque at Academy Awards

Here’s a YouTube version of the act.

Classic Hollywood. Classic Cirque du Soleil.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

the future of coaching

Wayne Goldsmith’s Sports Coaching Brain is essential reading. Here’s a terrific post on the future of your career.

Sports Coaching in 2030

Gymnastike talks to Gabby Douglas

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

American gymnast Gabrielle Douglas had a bit of a coming out party … in Madison Square Garden at the 2012 AT&T American Cup. Despite being the meet’s “alternate” and competing exhibition routines which did not count towards the meet’s final tallies, Douglas posted the highest all around score of the day …

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/MzY4NjE1NzEy?related=1

Watch more video of 2012 American Cup on gymnastike.org

Not nearly as eloquent as Shawn Johnson at the same age. But she’s improving.

Alberta North wins Arctic Games

Alberta North 147.450
Alaska 146.860
Yukon 140.880
Northwest Territories 119.830
Nunavut 99.870

Team Alberta North is: Austen Fraser and Christina Shantz, of the Grande Prairie Gymniks; Meagan Wiebe and Erin Kearney, of the Norfort Gym Club; Team Coach Kelly Wills

Gymnastics Alberta

Christchurch gymnasts to Pac Rim

This post has been corrected. Thanks Avril.

Couch Gymnast:

A group of young gymnasts from Christchurch (New Zealand) have made their way the USA to prepare for the Pacific Rim meet.

Does Christchurch sound familiar? That is because it was the town hit by terrible earthquakes last year. Those that hail from Christchurch School of Gymnastics have had to be tough to get through 2011, a year when their homes, town, schools and gym were hit by earthquakes. …

In fact, the earthquakes continue. Their gym is the last building in the sport complex still open.

You have to respect these kids.

Avril Enslow arranged for the girls to train, en route, with Mary Wright at Olympus in Salt Lake City. The girls got a chance to watch Utah compete. How inspiring is that?

Rebecca Morrison, Tara Purvis, Brittany Robertson, Charlotte Sullivan, Hanna Malloch, Courtney McGregor, Millie Williamson and Waverley Gee (reserve)

Coaches Jozsef Ferencz and Svetlana Sazonova

Hanna and Courtney

Mary Wright is originally from New Zealand, by the way, not Australia.

Gymnix podium training

Blythe Lawrence has outdone herself. These are the most entertaining and interesting podium notes I’ve seen her post. She’s bilingual. That helps a lot in Quebec.

10:33 a.m.: Taking a first look at Olympic hopeful Anysia Unick, who is currently chalking up for bars. After injury kept her out of competition for the second half of 2011, the future Georgia Gymdog looks fit and healthy … Absolutely beautiful full turn to Pak, and a full to blind on high bar.

… full bar routine was absolutely stunning. Best thing seen yet in Montreal, with the possible exception of young Maria Bondareva of Russia on beam. Unick’s also got a Jaeger and combines her full turn to blind to immediate double front, which she stuck cold. She’s also got a sky-high Tkatchev, whoa. That’s Gabrielle Douglas high. Courtney Kupets high.

12:42 p.m.: Caught up with former Olympian David Kikuchi, who is here coaching Ellie Black.

David marvels at the depth of the Canadian women’s program this quad. Unlike other Olympic years, he said, when the Canadian women scraped a bit for healthy gymnasts, 2012 is the year when you have gymnasts like Victoria Moors, Brittany Rogers and Christine Lee, who are gunning for Olympic event finals on their best events. And like 12 other women who are at a high enough level to contend for Olympic team spots. They’re all pushing each other. …

Speaking of Dave Kikuchi, he tells me that his wife, 2000 Olympian Crystal Gilmore, is expecting their second child. …

1:24 p.m.: Man, that Sabrina Gill on floor can really dance. She had a good deal of dance training before focusing on elite gymnastics, and it serves her well in a very fun new routine, jazzy with vocals, from new coach Elvira Saadi. Lots of fun choreo there.

Gill’s also a little taller and has a more elegant look. …

Sabrina …, cheered on by her mom in the stands, executed a 1.5 to double tuck.

2:05 p.m.: Peaking at the right time. Never seen Peng Peng Lee look better in her career. It’s evident all over the gym, but especially on her tumbling.

2:11 p.m.: Serious tumbling on floor: Lee just did a 1.5 through to Arabian double front. Ooh. That’s a nice pass. She’s right where she needs to be with it, too. Also saw a triple twist from Gerber, a full in tuck from S. Colussi-Pelaez and an Arabian double front from Savona. My my, the Oakville girls can tumble well…

Continue reading on Examiner.com Quick hits: Podium training at Gymnix, day two

I’m thinking Peng Peng is the favourite. And will win if she stays on Beam. … That’s far from certain as she trains as much as 6.6 difficulty.

And she definitely plans to try out some very difficult upgrades.

2012 Olympics on YouTube

NBC and YouTube will team up to deliver the Olympics online this summer. …

MSN provided the video player for the 2008 and 2010 Olympics, but its deal with NBC ended after the Vancouver Games. …

Hurray.

MSN used Silverlight technology, often problematic. YouTube will be far more reliable. Fast streaming.

NBC has not announced how many hours of live video it will offer this summer, but NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus said that all events will be broadcast live online or on TV. During the Beijing Games, NBC offered more than 2,200 hours of live video coverage and more than 20 simultaneous live video streams at peak times. …

There has been a steady decline in young viewers for NBC’s broadcasts of the Olympics in recent years. The average age of a Summer Olympics prime-time viewer has risen by nine years since the Barcelona Games, according to data from Magna Global. Cordella and others at the network see the relationship at YouTube as a way to reverse that trend. …

SBJ

So does that mean we can watch the Olympics on YouTube for FREE.

Not necessarily. Details are yet to be clarified.

The Next Web

This is another step in the trend to broadcasting all sporting events online. At Canadian Gymnastics Championships 2012 we plan to LIVE stream every routine for every competitor. Wish us luck. 🙂

via @gymnewstics

on the “Scam Cup”

The “Scam Cup”: How A Very American TV Event Gives U.S. Gymnasts A Leg Up On The Olympic Competition

That’s the provocative title of post by DVORA MEYERS on Deadspin.

She does a terrific job of explaining to the general public why the American Cup is the most mocked of the major competitions.

… Among dedicated fans the event is often called the “Scam Cup” or, more the point, the “Scamerican Cup.” The real “scam” isn’t any sort of outright cheating—the American judges haven’t colluded with the Germans to produce a favorable result—but instead the lopsided nature of the event, in which the very best U.S. athletes at the peak of their game are pitted against a group of up-and-coming gymnasts that have been sent by their federations merely to gain experience and exposure. …

… the perception that that the meet doesn’t treat foreign women fairly has acted as a self-fulfilling prophecy, harming the prestige of the American Cup. Though the U.S. women mostly deserved their last decade of wins, the damage had been done long before the current crop of gymnasts even started competing.

So once again, after Saturday’s competition concluded, some fans were crying “scam” online. Wieber’s and Raisman’s bar marks were too high and Iordache’s were too low, they claimed. …

read more on Deadspin

Myself and Brigid McCarthy, as foreigners, are quoted.

Dvora Meyers writes about gymnastics and Judaism at Unorthodox Gymnastics.

Actually, Dvora picked the worst possible year for an expose. The meet was not nearly so scammy as in the past.

The past was very scammy.