Author: Rick Mc

I like the quick summary posts put up by Blythe Lawrence on Gymnastics Examiner.

But if you want more on your favourite teams, click over to The Center of Your College Gymnastics Universe.

That’s Gymnastike. They’ve really upped their coverage this season. Bookmark their 2010 College Gym home page.

The other site I follow is CollegeGymFans.com. Home of the hard core NCAA fan.

Even USAG is posting weekly summaries. Nice. … In the past USA Gymnastics has been criticized for not being supportive enough of the NCAA. Looks like that’s changing.

Collegiate gymnastics – Week 2 recap

I’m just home from the celebration at Olympic Plaza.

Shawn was there. But I didn’t see her. The place was packed. I could hardly get a look at the stage.

Leave a comment if you know where and when she’s carrying the torch tomorrow, Tuesday.

Two more gymnasts have qualified to the inaugural Nastia Liukin Cup:

Stephani Canizaro of Nesbit, Miss., Memphis GymStars

Pauline Hanset of Knoxville, Tenn., Premier Athletics Knoxville.

I’m happy to hear they are both Level 10s. What a terrific opportunity.

… The balance of the field will be selected from the remaining 13 invitationals that comprise the Nastia Liukin Cup Series during the next six weeks. A total of 36 gymnasts will be chosen based on the results at the 15 invitationals in the Nastia Liukin Cup Series to compete in the inaugural Nastia Liukin Cup, scheduled for March 5, 2010, at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. …

details – USAG

After weekend #2, UCLA still holds the #1 position.

top 20

Scores are tight. The season is very, very young. Still … I think there’s more team parity this year. New Hampshire posted a 195.0 this weekend!

The best site this season for College updates, MAG and WAG, is Gymnastics Examiner. Those posts are linked from the right hand navigation.

Congratulations to LSU’s Susan Jackson who holds down the #1 position in the all-around. She’s a champion.

You’ll see her in Cirque, one day.

full list NCAA AA

Bad news.

2007 U.S. All-Around gymnastics champion David Durante posted it on Facebook today.

… and Dave thought he was getting away from injury, retiring.

Get well soon.

This is Maddie Gardner of Cheer Extreme!

She won the Nfinity’s Golden Ticket contest, pulling the lucky ticket placed at random in boxes of Nfinity Passion cheer shoes.

… Gardner won the trip of a lifetime – an unforgettable three-day experience where she attended a show during Fashion Week, was treated to a $5,000 shopping spree from Barney’s New York, and her own personal limousine.

She also got the cover of Inside Cheerleading magazine.

A partner publication of Inside Gymnastics magazine, “Inside Cheerleading is designed to help you enjoy, train, perform, compete and live cheerleading to the max!”

Tammy had the 2 most popular GymSmarts DVDs of 2009:

Tammy Biggs – Leaps and Jumps
Tammy Biggs – Beam Complexes

Here’s her latest release.

Tammy … continues her in-depth balance beam skills basics with this Developing Balance Beam Dismount Basics. In detail she breaks down each critical portion of developing dismounts from the beam. From the stretch jump, root skills needed and punching, to single flipping, and beginning double backs, she clearly and succinctly explains basics of each part of the cartwheel, round-offs and back handsprings as they relate to the beam dismount. This DVD is a must for anyone wanting to perform advanced dismounts, and the body positions are clearly performed by the demonstrators from Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy.

See all Tammy’s DVDs linked from the GymSmarts home page.

related posts tagged Tammy Biggs

by site editor Rick McCharles

The Nastia Liukin story is one of the greatest in our sport’s history.

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

She became Olympic Champion due to persistence and dedication, her and her father coach both.

I’m a huge fan of both Nastia and Valeri. They are role models for us all.

If she had retired after Beijing, and was doing everything she’s doing now … no problem. The Nastia Liukin brand is strong.

But we Nastia fans, increasingly, have questions. If Nastia plans a comeback, as she continues to claim, how can she keep up her frantic schedule of media appearances and sponsorship endorsements?

Valeri understands this better than anyone.

No doubt Nastia has mixed feelings about a comeback. It’s difficult to concede “retirement”.

No doubt her agent councils that she should not retire. Her “value” as a brand would be diminished.

But I honestly feel she will not be returning to international competition representing the U.S.A.

I hope I’m wrong. Nastia would be an ideal leader of a young team. She could specialize in Bars and Beam.

Note: The original content of this post, now outdated, I archived in a comment.

The Men’s gymnastics teams of Great Britain, Japan and Canada finished their ten-day Friendly Training Camp at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre, Shropshire, on Sunday, 17 January 2010 on a very high note.

This year the 2004 Olympic Team Champions and 2008 Olympic Team Silver medallists, Japan, came with a larger delegation than last year, including not only senior gymnasts, but also, some of their most talented juniors. …

Canada plans to train in the U.K. as much as possible leading up to the London Olympics.

“We keep returning here because we love England and because you have a great coaching team, lead by Technical Director Eddie Van Hoof, who should be congratulated for this initiative. It is a pleasure to work with the British and the Japanese teams. Japan is obviously a great team; Great Britain has also impressed the world with their rapid progress. All of us draw enormous benefits from this type of cooperation, and therefore we are planning that this training experience should continue.”

British Gymnastics

I got a bit of grief for saying that Oksana Omelianchik was “one of the weakest tumblers ever put on the Floor by the old Soviet Union“.

I believe that to be true. She did big tumbling tricks … barely. Yet I didn’t mean to come off as critical.

Like most everyone I loved Omalianchik as a gymnast. And was elated that she could compete successfully against power gymnasts like Shushanova.

In the heyday of Soviet gymnastics it was possible to win with artistry, personality and style.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

What a performer!

Linked by Marnie Salmon on Facebook.