Author: Rick Mc

Update: crisis averted

The Steering Committee has been in contact with the IHSA this morning with regards to the “5 to 10%” issue.

The IHSA has assured us that they are not targeting boys gymnastics and has no plan to eliminate any sport.

The Board of Directors is well-aware of the passion that is out there for gymnastics and the storm of emails from coaches, athletes, parents, AD’s and principals over the past few days has driven that home.

At this point, we need to take a deep breath and ease up on the tension; yet remain on our guard for any future actions or decisions by the IHSA.

More details about this will follow at the meeting Wednesday.

On behalf of the Steering Committee and Executive Board, I can’t thank you enough for your rapid and wide-reaching response.

It is a testament to the tenacity and intensity of our Association.

Steve
Steve Foerch
Science Teacher, Varsity Boys Gymnastics Coach
IHSGCA President
Niles West High School

=== original post:

A vote today – Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 – may result in the elimination of the entire State program.

You might be able to help.

Here’s the appeal letter:

The IHSA — the governing body that oversees high school sports in Illinois — is considering making a rule change that would drastically impact boys (and girls) gymnastics.

Currently the sport must field boys gymnastics teams from at least 5% of the schools in the state in order for the IHSA to officially sanction our sport.

The proposal — which will be voted on this coming Tuesday, April 20th — would increase that requirement from 5% to 10%.

There is no way that boys gymnastics can reach the 10% target next year.

If this proposal passes, boys gymnastics would most likely be dropped by the IHSA and would cease to exist as a high school sport in Illinois.

Please help us convince the IHSA Board of Directors to vote down this proposal and keep the participation threshold at 5%. We need your support.

Please email each of the board members listed below and:

· Tell them what this sport has done for your son/daughter

· Urge them to continue to support boys and girls gymnastics

· Urge them to keep the sport¹s participation threshold at 5%

IHSA Board of Directors

Jim Woodward President jwoodward@ajchs.union.k12.il.us
Ron Conner Vice President rconner@cusd15.k12.il.us
Paul Whittington Secretary WhittPau@EP309.org
Gregory Bradley Treasurer (Non-Voting) bradleyg@mtzion.k12.il.us
Joyce Kenner jdkenner@cps.k12.il.us
Daniel Klett dklett@d118.org
Michael Gardner mgardner@lw210.org
Jim Boyd Jb2111@riverdale.rockis.k12.il.us
Gregory Jones gjones@sparta.k12.il.us
Jeanette Nuckolls nuckolij@unit5.org
Joseph Schmidt jschmidt@stpatrick.org

I’ll email them tonight. Please do too, if you support High School Gymnastics.

Thanks Maria Mazzocco.

Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association

Judy Schalk is an American Artistic Brevet Judge.

She is happy to answer questions from coaches and gymnasts posted in the comment box at JustGymnastics.com .

Or you can email Inquiries @ JustGymnastics.com.

________________

From Judge Judy:

Recently a coach approached me at a competition about a seemingly inexplicable Start Value issue. He had two Level 9’s doing identical uneven bar exercises as often is the case according to a club’s skill development strategy.

One gymnast fell off and got a Start Value 0.50 higher than the one that stayed on, essentially putting them in equal scoring range.

Explanation?

Level 9 bars has a 0.50 Special Requirement for “2 Bar Changes (LB to HB, HB to LB).”

The coach knew the routine only had 1 Bar Change and should have received the 0.50 lower Start Value. He was not aware of an obscure rule that states,

“After a fall, climbing onto the low bar, then jump to high bar is considered a bar change.”

According to that statement, had he lifted the gymnast up to the high bar after the fall, she would not have qualified for the 0.50 addition to her Start Value.

I have no idea why this counterintuitive rule is in the book but it awards a Special Requirement for committing a large error, a fall, and encourages an undignifiedclimb onto the apparatus rather than the permitted assistance from the coach directly to the high bar.

Don’t consider Judge Judy’s interpretation as “official”. Double check in your own Region.

Leave a comment if you have “dumb rules” in your own competitions.

gymnastics issues posted the top European Bar routines by difficulty score in random order.

Beth Tweddle’s difficulty score is #1 #2 with 6.80.

#1 is Youna 6.90 … with the Def.

Update: From Justin in the comments:

Even though Beth has always scored higher than Dufournet, if we are ranking them by D-Score, Dufournet is ahead. She competed a 7.0 at the French Euro Trial and a 6.9 at the French International.

Internationaux de France de Gymnastique 2010 – Finales

Click PLAY or watch her on YouTube.

Click through to see the rest of the “difficult” routines including Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Natalia Kononenko, Ana Porgras, etc.

A great edit of the pretty gymnastics of Christa Tanella from WOGA, now competing for Georgia.

Click PLAY or watch more great gymnastics videos on Quitter’s Try. I watch every video linked from that site!

Update: Hal Halvorson is on the organizing committtee. On Facebook he says that it’s even worse than we’ve heard. Less than half the nations in Artistic are able to travel uninterrupted.

I wonder if some athletes will miss the meet totally.

==== Original post:

There was some chance that the European Trampoline Championships were going to be cancelled completely due to … ICELAND.

Durned volcanic island.

Both are on, though MAG and Trampoline Sports will be starting a day late. Confirmed on UEG-gymnastics.com.

ECh MAG in Birmingham: start on Thursday, April 22nd – end on Sunday, April 25th.

ECh Trampoline in Varna: start on Thursday, April 22nd – end on Saturday, April 24th.

The European Championships in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics remain as foreseen from Wednesday, April 28th to Sunday, May 2nd.

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

Update: British Gymnastics is recommending participants take train, bus and ferry.

High Bar
1. Ryan McCarthy, Michigan: 14.75
2. Ian Makowske, Michigan: 14.65
3. Mel Anton Santander, Michigan: 14.475
3. Andrew Stover, UIC: 14.475

… 2009 World floor finalist Steven Legendre of Oklahoma, second in Friday’s all-around final, won the floor title for the third straight year. His packed routine included a front double full to front layout, Hypolito, 2.5 twist to front full, layout Thomas and Arabian double pike (16.1). …

The floor gold is Legendre’s sixth NCAA individual title, which ties the junior for the Oklahoma record of most titles won with U.S. Champion Jonathan Horton, who competed for the Sooners from 2005-2008 …

Ohio State junior Brandon Wynn won the battle of the strongmen on rings (15.9), followed by Illinois senior Tyler Williamson (15.15) …

Williamson, ironically enough, was the gymnast performing on the still rings during Friday’s team competition when one of them snapped, causing him to miss his dismount. He had no problems with it Saturday, however, sticking the full-twisting double layout as though Friday had never happened. …

full results and commentary on Gymnastics Examiner – Six gymnasts win individual titles as men’s NCAA Championships concludes

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

Legendre was second all around (88.95), as well. College Floor routines have no time limit, unlike F.I.G., so scores might be higher than they would have been in international competition.

By chachakid.

Still one of the most inspirational stories in the history of our sport. Father coaches daughter to be Olympic champion, despite many, many setbacks and obstacles.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (2006)

LInk with commentary via Quitter’s Try

ESPN.com reported a great story of sportsmanship from a High School Basketball game:

… Milwaukee Madison senior Johntell Franklin, who lost his mother, Carlitha, to cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, decided he wanted to play in that night’s game against DeKalb (Ill.) High School after previously indicating he would sit out.

He arrived at the gym in the second quarter, but Franklin’s name was not in the scorebook because his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., didn’t expect him to be there.

Rules dictated Womack would have to be assessed a technical, but he was prepared to put Franklin in the game anyway. DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman and his players knew of the situation, and told the referees they did not want the call.

The referees had no choice. But Rohlman did.

“I gathered my kids and said, ‘Who wants to take these free throws?’” Rohlman said, recounting the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Darius McNeal put up his hand. I said, ‘You realize you’re going to miss, right?’ He nodded his head.” …

Reminds me a little of the movie Stick It. … The athletes deciding what’s “fair”, not the officials.

… “I did it for the guy who lost his mom,” McNeal told the newspaper. “It was the right thing to do.” …

(via Sport At Its Best)

All-around

1. Chris Cameron, University of Michigan, 90.500
2. Steven Legendre, University of Oklahoma, 88.950
3. Mel Anton Santander, University of Michigan, 88.900
4. Bryan del Castillo, University of California – Berkeley, 88.050
5. Glen Ishino, University of California – Berkeley, 87.500
6. Tyler Mizoguchi, University of Illinois, 87.300
7. Alex Naddour, University of Oklahoma, 87.250
8. Jake Dalton, University of Oklahoma, 87.050
9. Aaron Fortunato, University of Minnesota, 86.300
10. Thomas Kelley, University of Michigan, 85.700

article and full results – USA Gymnastics

Girls Bars no longer break. Why can’t equipment companies invent a Ring that cannot be broken?

Inside Gymnastics has the sad details on exactly what went down after Illinois’ Tyler Williamson broke one of the rings during the Team Championships last night:

… “I’ve been doing NCAA meets for over 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Williams concluded. “Ultimately, I don’t want to take anything away from the winning team, yet I know we might have had a shot without that incident. Michigan was great two days in a row and maintained that momentum, even in the midst of all that. My hat is off to them for that.” …

In the end, 6 gymnasts “peeled” off during the competition. All 6 were offered a chance to repeat their Rings routines, taking the new score (better or worse).

Tyler Williamson insisted on his redo. But it was MIDNIGHT before he got to start. Yeesh.

…
“That was one of the top 10 strangest things I’ve ever seen,” Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner, who was calling the meet for ESPN, told Inside. …

read Inside Gymnastics – ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL

Despite the disaster, Michigan truly did have the magic. Congratulations to the NCAA Champions.