Every time I see one of these tragedies reported, my first reaction is: “I wish she had been in sports.”
… The prosecutor brought charges Monday against nine teenagers, saying their taunting and physical threats were beyond the pale and led the freshman, Phoebe Prince, to hang herself from a stairwell in January. …
When we sport coaches are challenged that our training / competition environment is “too tough” or “too dangerous”, ask:
What about the alternative? Real life.
It’s not easy being a teenager today. There are more bad options tempting kids than ever before.
Growing up with a high priority on sports is one of the best, very best, ways to survive your teens. The gym is a tightly controlled environment with much higher ethical standards than High School.
The next Artistic World Championships will be hosted in Rotterdam, Oct. 16-24, 2010.
The official website is posting informed and entertaining preview updates called, “Straight from the Horse’s Mouth …”
How are gymnasts across the globe preparing for the 2010 Worlds, and what are their dreams, intentions and expectations? We are keeping an eye on the various teams’ and individual gymnasts’ preparations for Rotterdam. Watch this space for frequent updates…
They have mini-profiles on Oksana Chusovitina, Celine van Gerner, Igor Cassina, Daria Joura, coach Peggy Liddick, coach Eddie van Hoof, and others. The most interesting story, by far, is fan favourite turned bad boy, Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder:
In July 2009, Yuri van Gelder made headlines for all the wrong reasons when news broke that he had tested positive for cocaine at the 2009 Dutch Nationals. The story got even bigger when the rings specialist was revealed to have been addicted to cocaine for quite some time. In the months following the scandal, Van Gelder lost his job with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, was suspended for a year and spent several months in a Scottish rehab clinic. …
… Van Gelder still very much intends to compete in the 2010 Worlds, held on his home turf. …
At exactly 15:17 UHT, it’s time for you to bust out that standing back somersault.
Due to the Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect relative gravity on Earth will be 1.74% less than normal. In fact this is the lowest gravitational pull since 1 April 1976.
This phenomenon was first reported by respected English astronomer Patrick Moore.
As Pluto passes behind Jupiter, the combination of the two planets’ gravitation will slightly but noticeably decrease gravity on Earth. If you jump into the air at that exact moment, you will feel a “floating sensation”.
An elegant routine from the 2009 European Championships AA competition. It was linked by Dead Hangs R Us, a new blog … presumably dedicated to Chinese Bar routines. … kidding … April Fool’s.
It’s edited by Macassar88 whom you may have seen on IG forum.
(Note: YouTube is rolling out a new cleaner page format. But the smallest embed size for many videos is the size above, 560 pixels, a little wide for this site.)
Gold Women’s Vault and Bronze Beam Medallist at the recent FIG World Cup in Doha (QAT), the South African wonder Jennifer Khwela was given a triumphal entry at Durban International Airport …
… Jennifer’s success is even more inspiring when seen against the backdrop of where she grew up and trained. Her success is a triumph for her entire Township community, an inspiration to the youth of South Africa, and a personal victory for a young woman who laboured patiently alongside a coach who never once doubted her abilities, Julie Adamson Schürman. …
I’m feeling guilty for not having covered more of the Men’s NCAA gymnastics regular season. This was a great year.
My only excuse is that the MAG College teams produce so little information. Greg Marsden links to more articles, photos and video of his women’s team, Utah, each week, than all the Men’s teams combined.
Stick It Media is frustrated, at times, simply trying to get basic information on men’s regular season meets. Happily, Blythe Lawrence has persisted too on Gymnastics Examiner covering the Men’s 2010 NCAA season. Thanks.
Track those two sites if you want more on the Men.
If you like Aunt Joyce, you should check out Spanny Tampson’s Big Fake Smile. Funny, but sometimes profane. Big Fake Smile posted a detailed review of a Gawd awful gymnastics TV movie not starring Kurt Thomas.
Now, in light of other more horrifying, craptastic gymnastics-themed after school specials, what we’re about to see here isn’t that bad. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s BAD, but not as disturbing as the previous one. This one actually had Cathy Rigby as a consultant, and it shows, however slightly. I don’t know what was going on during the 80-84 quad to make people think that the public needed to be enlightened to the atrocities in gymnastics, but there seemed to be this epidemic of hating the sport.
Well, perhaps this video will explain to us just why training in gymnastics is the worst thing you could ever allow your children to do, ever.
Update: After watching this voyage back in time, rapt, I’ve decided it’s not totally without any redeeming qualities. In fact, there’s even some truth in the dynamic of the older, bigger girl being pushed by the up-and-coming “hot shot”.
The acting is less two dimensional than expected. (O.K., perhaps it’s only 2.1 dimensional.)
Certainly there are fewer gymnastics “errors” than on any episode of Make it or Fake It.
Feel free to weigh in in the comments, if I’m too lenient nostalgic for the days when girls weighed in publicly.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 