Author: Rick Mc

by site editor Rick McCharles

I’ll be making my first trip to the Emerald Isle.

Workshops at Renmore Gymnastics in Galway, June 18-22, 2011.

You may recall the interview with American coach Ariel Edesses on Couch Gymnast last year.

Our camps are independent of the National Coach Education program mentioned below …
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Katie has been keeping us updated on the state of Artistic Gymnastics in Ireland:

… Those who are familiar with Irish Gymnastics will agree that the governing body has undergone a huge amount of developmental change in the last few years. Notably that the long awaited newly developed coaching courses have been rolled out over the last three years thus increasing the coaches knowledge significantly which in turn has a major impact on the gymnasts talent.

… full time gymnastics facilities has increased … in the last few years, something that most clubs could only dream of for years.

With approximately 2,000 newly qualified coaches within the last two years and the talent is gradually rising to meet other European standards. …

Full Twist – Funding & Irish Gymnastics on the rise

Charlottetown, PEI, May 23-28th.

#CdnGymChamps

That’s the official twitter hash tag for the 2011 Canadian Gymnastics Championships. By searching for that unique tag, you can see what everyone is saying about the event in real time.

Home Page | Blog | Facebook | Twitter @GymCanNats2011

You can sign up on the Blog to get email updates.

The GYMNASTICS at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Junior Olympic National Championships was excellent.

The EQUIPMENT, supplied by Whitey Anson of AAI, was perfect.

The coaches are there for the competition. I heard no complaints.

…. But here’s where I found the meet lacking:

• scant media coverage
• no LIVE blog (only one gym Mom was tweeting)
• no LIVE scoring
• no dedicated home page for the competition
• Mr. Video Online was not there. So no videos of the meet are available.

Coach Jason MacDonald did post some routines on Gymnastike. Thanks.

The City of Long Beach is wonderful destination. The arena superb. But I wasn’t impressed with the set-up.

Please leave a comment if you agree or disagree. I’ve not been to JOs in 3 or 4 years, so I’m not sure how this one compared.

The set-up for the Men’s JO Championships in the same venue, a week earlier, was much more impressive, IMHO.

… I’m responsible for Social Media at the next big meet in North America. We’ll try to do better.

It was great to meet Ron Noe in his home town, Long Beach. He’s the guy behind Stick It Media, by far the best blog on Men’s Gymnastics. @StickItMedia

He was first to report this story, significant in that the Fighting Illini are suddenly looking like a serious threat to win the NCAA Team competition.

… Illinois signed CJ Maestas to a gymnastics scholarship. The signing has raised a lot of eyebrows in the men’s community, as Maestas will definitely provide a significant boost to the Illini program. Next season, they will have four gymnasts capable of hitting 90.00 in the all around (Maestas, Ruggeri, Mizoguchi & Mori). The former three are all current members of the Senior National Team, and have legitimate shots at spots on the 2012 Olympic Team. …

Random Thoughts on Men’s Gymnastics – 05/15/11

CJ Maestas – Still Rings – 2011 Winter Cup Challenge Finals. Score: 15.550

Click PLAY or watch his Rings on YouTube.

Though CJ is young, any all-arounder with good Rings and/or Pommels will be given strong consideration for National Team meets.

CJ is really young. He just graduated High School. USAG posted a Prom photo. (see more National Team Prom photos from that link.)

gymdog on Chalk Bucket Forum asks whether it’s a good idea or not to work Blinds on Strap Bar?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Leave your comments on Chalk Bucket.

I left this advice:

It’s an excellent drill … for ADVANCED gymnasts. We used it a lot for Blind, Pirouette and 1-arm giants, back in the era of 1-arm giants. But I’m not sure the girl in the video is ready for the drill, as yet. She should still be spotted until able to show form and technique.

Still doing the drills shown by Mizoguchi in this video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Michigan gymnast Syque Caesar @SyqueCaesa has a site called the Men’s Gymnastics Channel.

check it out – Men’s Gymnastics Channel

It’s hosted by ShortForm.com. On that site you can link to your favorite YouTube or Vimeo videos. And put them into the order you want. It’s like a YouTube channel, but more powerful.

Nice.

The only downside I can see is that it lacks an RSS feed. So I’m not likely to go visit unless I see an interesting link mentioned on Twitter.

(via Stick It Media)

Eight all-around champions were crowned at the 2011 Junior Olympic National Invitational Tournament (NIT), held in conjunction with the Women’s National Junior Olympic Championships, at the Long Beach Sports Arena.

The Junior Olympic NIT was developed to allow an additional 192 athletes an opportunity to compete at the national level and features gymnasts who ranked eighth and ninth in the all-around in each of the eight age divisions at the Level 10 Regional Championships (provided they achieved a minimum all-around score of 34.00), plus any Regional individual event champions who did not qualify to the Junior Olympic Nationals or the Junior Olympic NIT in the all-around qualify for that event.

The competition features eight age divisions (Junior A, Junior B, Junior C, Junior D, Senior A, Senior B, Senior C and Senior D), which are determined by age and birth date. …

Complete Results

• Junior A | Junior B | Junior C | Junior D
• Senior A | Senior B | Senior C | Senior D

USAG

Many NCAA coaches attended this meet, including some of the top schools. They know there are good gymnasts in this pool of athletes.

Alabama senior and 2011 Honda Award winner for gymnastics, Kayla Hoffman, led the Crimson Tide to the National Championship on April 16th.

Less than two weeks later she was trapped outside her apartment on 15th street and 6th Avenue in Tuscaloosa when the tornado hit.

Here’s that apartment …

Watch an interview on Gymnastike.

I talked to a couple of the Alabama coaches at JOs. It was awful. … But there’s a bit of an upside in rebuilding Tuscaloosa. Better than ever, they say.

Kayla’s story made Sports Illustrated – Terror, Tragedy And Hope In Tuscaloosa.

(via College Gym Board)

Good idea. Recognition for a good week.

Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center’s Photos – Wall Photos on Facebook.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. Hurry. It will be taken down soon.

(via Unorthodox Gymnastics – Somebody Should Look Into This Sport)

Click PLAY or watch Stewie’s Vault on YouTube.

Homer Simpson was a High School gymnast, too. 🙂