Author: Rick Mc

The rivalry is back. Romania on the upswing.

Aunt Joyce – The U.S. girls at World Selection Camp.

… Romania will have … no less than 9 healthy seniors competing at the Nationals. I have found a very nice pictures on a local radio’s website with the current Romanian Olympic team:

Sandra Izbasa
Gabriela Dragoi
Cerasela Patrascu
Dana Andrei
Amelia Racea
Ana Porgras
Diana Trenca
Diana Chelaru
Larisa Iordache
Raluca Haidu

Bea – Gymnastics – No Ceiling

Pirouette quickly, fall slowly.

Another thoughtful commentary by blantonnick on chalkbucket.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. The in-gym progressions start at 1min 48sec.

My informal boycott of the business enterprise known as Shawn Johnson is suspended.

She’s posted training video on her website. … It’s a start.

I’m proud of her coming back from minor knee surgery, persisting in the gym and getting this far.

Gymnastics star Fabian Hambüchen is learning (as did Nastia and Shawn) how tabloids can ruin your life. I’m wondering if he wishes he’d never agreed to publish an autobiography.

Aside from criticism he’s getting from his Team, he needs to put up with trashy articles like this, complete with beefcake photos:

The 22-year-old German gymnast divulges intimate details of his private life in his new autobiography. For example the moment when his mother walked in on him having sex with his girlfriend. …

Oh No They Didn’t

… Personally, I’d like to buy his autobiography.
__________

Blythe Lawrence made me laugh in her most recent Gymnastics Week in Review:

A Kyle Shewfelt book: The 2004 Olympic floor champion is reportedly putting his story to print. Here’s hoping he has the sense to leave his sex life out of it. (Kyle Shewfelt blog)

All male gymnasts (no matter how inflexible) try to do el-grip (e.g. eagle) swing on Horizontal Bar.

Every coach has stories about how some super inflexible gymnast (i.e. John Fair) somehow managed to do this skill in a competition. … Personally I wish F.I.G. would put less emphasis on this family of swings.

To test if kids have potential, have them start in a deep pike with hands on a Floor bar. Then jump to start putting weight on the hands.

This flexibility is trainable, but not so much as other ranges of motion.

Gymnastike posted video of Tom Forster assessing gymnasts for el-grip potential at GAT 2010. In my experience only about 1 girl in 10 has both the specific physical potential as well as the general all-around potential to pursue this family of skills. The time is better spent elsewhere, for most.

related – The Gym Press – Vitaly Marinich – Developing the Takamoto

If you’ve not yet had the chance to read the new Biomechanics text, subscribe to his new YouTube Channel.

Dr. Gerald George, author of the newly-released “Championship Gymnastics,” presented four lectures at the Gymnastics Association of Texas (GAT) meetings last week in Austin, TX.

Two videos have been posted on our new “Gymnastics Techniques” YouTube Channel. Each of these is a segment of his presentations. Click on the links below to view:

Basic Principles for Refining Gymnastics Movement: 1 – Amplitude

Basic Principles for Refining Gymnastics Movement: 2 – Closure

… you will see several new videos added in the next few days.

… Last season, Georgia’s poor performances on the road led to the Gym Dogs failing to advance to the NCAA national meet for the first time in 27 years. …

This season, coach Jay Clark will begin meet simulations possibly as early as the first day. …

Georgia will have a youth-heavy roster with just two seniors (Hilary Mauro, Cassidy McComb) and three juniors (Kat Ding, Mariel Box, Nuccio) out of the 13 Gym Dogs. …

Online Athens

I dunno.

Most pundits will count Georgia out until they prove themselves.

… NOTEWORTHY: Georgia will begin practice without much of its freshman class. Cat Hires is out for at least 5-6 weeks with a broken foot. Bekah Bennetts had offseason ankle surgery and is out indefinitely. Lindsay Cheek will join the team and be eligible to compete in January after she graduates early from Oconee County High School. The seniors, juniors and sophomores reported to conditioning camp healthy and should be ready to go today.

(via sohalia on College Gymnastics Board)

Couch Gymnast reposted a hilarious tweet from Alicia en route to National Team training camp at Karoli’s ranch:

“Just landed in Houston- 9 workouts until freedom“

The US girls are in the FIRST OF TWO selection/verification camps in what is always a breathtaking and seemingly agonising selection process …

Couch Gymnast

UCLA’s 2010 NCAA Championship Gymnastics and Softball teams traveled to Washington DC along with over 30 other NCAA Championship squads for a White House ceremony honoring … teams and student-athletes ….

UCLA senior gymnast Allison Taylor documented the Bruins’ final day in Washington DC on UCLAbruins.com.

You can click through to read that. Or simply watch the highlight, Anna Li doing backward handsprings at the Whitehouse on YouTube.

(via Gymnastics Examiner Week in Review)

Seems Youna has not recovered quickly enough from the knee injury suffered on Bars in Albertville.

… A year ago, Youna Dufournet was en route to London, the world championships and a bronze medal on vault. Today, the worlds seem far to the gymnast …. Not sufficiently recovered from her left knee surgery, she had to withdraw from the selection test, held Saturday evening at Insep …

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