Author: Rick Mc

video preview – “How to beat China”

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is a video of the 2007 Jr MAG Tirrenia training camp, hosted by the European Union of Gymnastics held in Italy every year. This DVD was produced specifically for the Swiss Gymnatics Federation, and thus has only partial translation in English. Majority of DVD is in German and some French, with very limited english translations. However a lot of the concepts and ideas are understandable even without a translation. …

DVD CONTENT
PHYSICAL PREPARATION – (3min)
POMMEL HORSE- presented by Valeri Belenki (GER)(Former Olympic and World Champion and member of the German coaching staff) (8min)

PARALLEL BARS – Valeri Belenki (GER) (16min)

HIGH BAR – presented by Rudolph Bouché (FRA) (professor of sport and technical framework at the Training Center of Antibes) (12min)

45min total – DVD costs $25

details – The Gym Press – “How to beat China” 2007 Tirrenia Training Camp

If you haven’t checked it lately, there’s a ton of great stuff in The Gym Press Article Archive and Video Archive.

Thanks Valentin Uzunov, editor, one of the most serious students of our game.

From Fangymnastics:

… Well, this is a difficult question because nobody knows exactly what the situation of the MAG team is.

After Nicusor Pascu announced giving up training in Romania because of some personal issues, the Romanian Federation tried to find very fast a solution. The first option was to name the Olympic Champion, Marius Urzica, as head-coach.

However, Marius only accepted the position of a coach in the team the one of head-coach being left open. So, our question was: Who will be responsible for the team? …

read the confusing details

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

Perhaps Stoica should name himself Head Coach.

Here’s the first competition of the new NCAA Women’s College Gymnastics season.

A dual meet on YouTube!

From coach Steve Shephard on College Gymnastics Board:

Penn State and Ohio State agreed to do a head to head competition between the two programs.

We set up a Youtube site usernamed Head2Head2010.

Each coaching staff voted to pick a winner between the two routines that were matched up in each video. The final results were PSU 10, Ohio State 9. However, as a disclaimer related to the validity of the outcome of the competition, we made up the rules as we went along.

It was a very educational, and eye opening experience for both programs.

Please feel free to post comments, or vote for your favorite on the youtube channel. Our goal was to create a dialogue about what this type of format would mean to the sport.

Click PLAY or watch the Vault competition on YouTube.

Here’s the full playlist with vault, bars, beam and floor.

A GREAT idea. Makes those preseason mock meets a little more fun and meaningful.

This image of Gael Mackie seems to have been quietly removed from the new Utah Gymnastics website.

Did someone in Salt Lake City cave after the mild backlash on the internet?

(via FeelersOut)

A lot of people have asked me that question.

The last time I saw her was at the 2008 Canadian Championships.

Click PLAY or watch her Beam on YouTube.

Loaded with personality, well spoken and showing astonishing difficulty at a young age, Peng Peng was one of the great Junior prospects worldwide. And a sought after NCAA recruit. The audience LOVES this girl.

Unfortunately her beam coach, Carol-Angela Orchard, departed to England after the Beijing Olympics. Her club, Sport Seneca, shut down, the kids forced to relocate to a new space, about the same time.

Finally, Peng Peng was diagnosed last year with Spondylolisthesis.

… The good news is that Peng Peng expects to be cleared to start full workouts in March 2010. She’s already morning training at Oakville, coached by Kelly Manjak and the excellent staff there.

Your fans everywhere wish you all the best with a comeback, Peng Peng.

related video – Peng Peng Lee montage

Bekah started an interesting thread on IG Forum:

USA Gymnastics vs. Race

2009 National Team-
White- 66.7%
Black- 14.8%
Asian/Pacific Islander- 11.1%
Hispanic- 7.4%

Here is the United states as a whole in 2008 according to the US Census Bureau-
White- 65.6%
Black- 12.8%
Asian/Pacific Islander- 4.7%
Hispanic- 15.4%

(The Margin of Error includes Native Americans and Those who check the “multi-racial” box)

So I guess this shows that Whites are fairly represented, as are African Americans, and The Asians are over represented while the Hispanics are underrepresented. However, genetically and physiologically, this makes sense.

click through to comment and read commentary – IG Forum

A small sample, for sure. But this snapshot I think is somewhat accurate for what’s happening in North America.

Gymnastics is still a sport for rich white kids. But at the highest level ethnicity is getting more balanced.

Sydney was a disaster in many ways.

Andreea Raducan was the legitimate 2000 Olympic Gymnastics Champion.

… but was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal shortly after the competition concluded, when it was revealed that she had failed doping controls, testing positive for pseudophedrine, at the time a banned substance. She and her coaches maintained that she had been given the substance in two cold medicine pills by a Romanian team physician, and that they had not impacted her performance in any way. …

Does she look like a drug cheat to you?

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

Everyone. I mean everyone agreed that this was a gross injustice.

… Her case was brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the fall of 2000. Raducan herself was exonerated of any personal wrongdoing by the CAS, the Romanian Olympic Committee and the International Gymnastics Federation, and was not subject to any disciplinary measures. However, her medal was not reinstated, and the team doctor who administered the Nurofen was banned for two Olympic cycles. …

That drug Pseudoephedrine was, in fact, removed from the banned list in 2004, Raducan seemingly vindicated.

Well … it’s back on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list as of Jan. 1, 2010.

Once again, athletes who are subject to testing in competition need be very careful before taking cold medicines like:

Sudafed
Actifed
Contac
Claritin-D
Cirrus

Some of them no longer contain pseudoephedrine and have phenylephrine (not on the list) instead.

by site editor Rick McCharles

I’m reviewing the structure and function of this site. Leave a comment if there’s something you would like added. Or removed.

The about page has been updated.

If you are attending my favourite gymnastics meet anywhere, the Great West Gym Fest in Couer d’Alene, Idaho Feb. 19-20, check the updated schedule posted Jan. 4th.

GreatWestGymFest.com

You’ve got to see the “new” Utah Gymnastics site.

It’s certainly different than the boring old CMS sites used by seemingly every other University in the NCAA.

Greg Marsden has worked tirelessly to add new promotional innovations for his program.

Congratulations on this latest one. … Who will be the first College Team to follow Utah in a site redesign?

Check it out – Utah Gymnastics

(Click through the top links to see some cool graphics.)

Utah opens against UCLA on Saturday.

Update – some feel the images go too far – Sexualizing Collegiate Gymnastics

OK, we all know that College gymnasts are sexy. But should the official website be pushing that theme? … Would it be better to have images that might offend at arms distance, perhaps a Booster Club website?

Update – commentary on Gymnastics Examiner