surprise gymnastics nation 2011?

The question — Which country is going to be the biggest surprise of 2011? — was posed to gymnastics bloggers from around the world. Here’s what they had to say about the women’s teams:

Continue reading The Discussion

My wild guess was Romania … but for a different reason than some others.

That image is from Elite Gymnastics Stars … something like The Onion for gymnastics.

Shawn as Goddess Nike

Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. ..

Shawn is Nike, but with better abs. … hmm

Inside Gymnastics:

We’ve just learned that Olympic gold medal gymnast Shawn Johnson has signed an endorsement deal with athletic giant Nike!

… she’ll be wearing Nike cross training and workout gear, according to her agent Sheryl Shade. Johnson will continue to wear GK leotards. …

For an in-depth feature on Johnson, check out our February issue cover story, available in our shopping cart, under Back Issues.

To follow Shawn Johnson, Nike and Inside Gymnastics on Twitter:

Twitter.com/ShawneyJ
Twitter.com/Nikestore
Twitter.com/InsideGym

Bruce Lee nunchucks pingpong

… never-seen-before secret footage of Bruce Lee?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Actually it’s a viral TV ad.

… made to promote the Nokia N96 Bruce Lee edition phone, a $1,290 mobile device — approximately 8,788 Chinese yuan — available only in Hong Kong and China. …

zerzle

It was created by Agency.Asia. Details on the bottom of this page.

Gymnastics Worlds Tokyo confirmed

With Figure Skating Worlds Tokyo postponed, many were wondering what would happen to Artistic Worlds scheduled for Oct. 7-16th.

FIG TV Rights & Sales Manager Olivier Strebel:

…. The earthquake occurred just before my flight landed in Tokyo and it took 24 hours to land in from above Tokyo. But it’s nothing to me considering people who became victims of the disaster. I would like to extend my deep condolence to the deceased people and pray for Japan’s earliest possible recovery. Although in this kind of situation, people welcomed me very warmly and I would like to express my gratitude for their kindness from the bottom of my heart.

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, the competition venue for the championships was impressive in terms of the size as well as facilities. …

Mr. Watanabe, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee for the World Championships promised me to make the best possible competition. After the inspection, now I’m quite confident that we can make the best competition. …

read more on the official competition website – Mr. Strabel of FIG Visits Japan for Inspection

Thanks Ono.

Bruno Grandi:

… “We are deeply troubled by the intensity with which catastrophe has struck Japan, and on behalf of the FIG authorities I would like to extend to you the sympathy of an entire international Gymnastics community. We stand beside you in a spirit of solidarity, ready to face this tragedy at your side; we will come to your aid and help you rebuild,” …

Recreation Gymnastics blog

by Rick McCharles

As editor of Gymnastics Coaching I track what’s happening online with gymnastics, trampoline and acrobatic sports.

The state of the Gymternet for competitive Artistic Gymnastics has never been better. But for Recreation Gymnastics, there are very few good sites.

To fill that void, I launched RecGymnastics.com in January 2011. There are more than 50 posts already, and the site is highly ranked for a search of “Rec Gymnastics” and “Recreation Gymnastics“.

It’s set up to be a site with multiple bloggers. Posting is as easy as Facebook.

If you are interested in sharing text, photos and/or videos of non-competitive gymnastics, email me at Rick_McCharles@hotmail.com.

I’ll set you up.

Check a sample post on RecGymnastics.com – introducing Rope climb

babysitting at gymnastics meets

Hey Kyle Shewfelt.

Here’s an idea for your competition this weekend. Offer babysitting for $5 drop-in.

Gymdad2:

… When we put on a meet we include a playroom for little siblings with a couple of volunteers as sitters/monitors. It really helps with the excess energy and/or boredom that the little ones may have and it frees up mom/dad to enjoy the meet. It has been a successful addition to our meets and we have had some very positive feedback from parents about it. …

That’s from a good thread on Chalk BucketVent/rant about munchkins out of control at meets (and gym!)

Kids in the spectator area at meets can be annoying, distracting and sometimes dangerous.

forward hip circle drills

Because it’s not a required skill in Canada, we rarely teach front hip circle. And I can’t see that our kids suffer in any way from this omission in their skills repertoire.

On the other hand, I actually like the skill and disagree that it teaches bad habits, long term. … But don‘t waste too much training time on it.

Click PLAY or watch them on YouTube.

More JAO video tutorials.

Couch Gymnastics Week in Review

Brigid posted a wrap-up of last weekend’s WAG competitions. And a preview of the terrific meets upcoming.

Yao Jinnan, Julie Croket, Nadine Yarosch, Victoria Moors, Oksana Chusovitina, Bercy, Jesolo, Grishina, Maroney, Sidorova, …

… Nothing is known about the Japanese, whether they are coming or who they are bringing after the terrible disasters they have suffered …

😦

She calls it (appropriately) Too Much Gymnastics?!

About.com Readers’ Choice Awards

2011 About.com Readers’ Choice Award Winners have been announced.

Champions included Reisport, Georgia, Stanford, @ShawneyJ and some little known website that doesn’t even know how to spell ‘gymnastic’. 🙂

Click over to Amy’s Readers’ Choice Awards page for details.