Author: Rick Mc

Altadore Gymnastics has 3 safety strap bars. What a luxury!

Only 2 have PVC pipe.

larger version – flickr

Actually, this is my least favourite system. Using the pipe means the kids do not need to flip their wrists in handstand.

My favourite is this system:

… 2 inch (5cm) wide straps with long sport socks (from the lost & found) wrapped around the bar. I want to simulate the feel of the actual wooden rail for the girls.

Mountain Shadows Gymnastics

However, the PVC pipe is easier for beginners. It would be ideal to have both systems on each straps rail in your gym.

related posts:

video – gymnastics safety bar straps

new video – Working the Strap Bar

I’ve had a couple of emails lately on how long the straps should be. I find most kids use straps between 26-35cm long, sewn in a loop from 55-75cm length of nylon webbing. (That’s 10-14″ long, from a length of material 21-30″ long.)

Or … you could simply buy them from 10-0. Note that those are the narrower 1″ version.

From an August 2008 performance in Netherlands of the National Circus of North Korea Pyongyang.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I saw this linked by Trampoline and Tumbling Coach Brett MacAulay on Facebook.

Why Alexandre Tkatchev, of course.

The story goes – true or not – that biomechanists dreamed up the “reverse hecht”, not coaches. And that Alexandre was the first to show it in competition in 1977.

Here he is in the Olympics Games 1980. (Deltchev from Bulgaria won Horizontal Bar.) Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Tkatchev is a coach at West Valley Gymnastics in California.

Deltchev owns Deltchev Gymnastics in Nevada.

Leave a comment if you know more of the history of Tkachev.

What woman competed it first internationally?

Related posts:

Justin Moodley emailed looking for superbly fit athletes:

… casting for G4’s American Ninja Warrior. If you don’t know, it’s a competition show where people from all around the world travel to Japan to take on a crazy obstacle course. We have all the live audition details and you’re able to submit a video through our site if you can’t make the open call in Los Angeles. …

details – Got Cast

related posts:

Available at Amazon.com for $9.99 – $12.99.

I wish I was there. But it sounds like the 2009 Women’s National Gymnastics Championships is … lacking.

Dwight Normile’s take on Day 1 Senior Women:

With such a limited field, there was a definite lack of drama and energy in the air compared with a year ago, when so much was at stake. Nastia Liukin’s return to competition was highly anticipated, but she did not compete on bars, even though she warmed up the event prior to the meet. She did perform on beam, much to the delight of the crowd. Liukin executed with great caution most of her Olympic routine (front aerial, flip-flop, layout; Onodi, sheep jump; side somi; switch ring leap) and even added a side aerial. She dismounted with a roundoff double twist and scored 14.45 (5.6 difficulty).

Nastia’s father and coach, Valeri Liukin, told IG earlier this summer that his daughter would not compete at worlds unless she was ready. And although this routine was clearly not Nastia’s best, it showed enough progress to make London a possibility.

“To be able to compete here (at home) was so cool,” said Liukin, who later explained her one-event showing. “I’m just not ready to perform yet. It’s a step-by-step process.”

Hidden beneath the great expectations was the battle among Sloan, Rebecca Bross and Ivana Hong, each of whom had something to prove. For Sloan, the lone Olympian among the trio, a victory would mean her assumption of the top rank in the country. For Bross, a former junior champion who has been slowed by injuries, a win would confirm her successful jump to the senior ranks. And for Hong, the title would validate her post-Olympic move from Great American to WOGA, as well as a realization of her immense potential. …

read more on International Gymnast – Bross Leads Hong at U.S. Championships

Since the meet is in Texas, I’m surprised the meet is not drawing a bigger live audience.

2009 Visa Championships – Women Day 1 Meet Results (PDF)

NBC did a good job in Beijing. This is a smart move, I think.

USA Gymnastics signed a deal yesterday with US broadcaster NBC and cable partner Universal Sports to air its biggest events until 2012, upping its challenge against the yet-to-be-launched the US Olympic Committee (USCOC) network.

The deal, combined with domestic and international contracts NBC has with swimming, skating, track and skiing, gives the network the broadcast rights to a significant share of key US Olympic sports. …

read more … Sport Business

related: So you want to watch the U.S. Gymnastics Championships…

Coach stevenshephard on Twitter linked to this great video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here’s a strange story we missed in Florida in 2006.

… One of the coaches admits to stabbing training gymnasts with drywall screws for years. Investigators said it happened at Ace Gymnastics in Longwood, where one of the owners is an Olympian.

The phrase “stick it” is used in gymnastics about dismounts and landings, but one of the coaches told investigators he was taught to stick them when the gymnasts don’t have perfect form. …

Seminole County sheriff’s investigators said Coach Mike Turner and another coach repeatedly stabbed one of the boys and a brother repeatedly with dry wall screws, breaking the skin on their buttocks, leaving permanent scarring.

Last year, their mother noticed the scars during bathing and found out what was happening. Investigators said she told the owner, former Olympian Joan Moore Gnat, about it and they said Ace Gymnastics hired a new head coach and made sure the practice stopped.
But Ace never told all the other parents about it, never reported the alleged abuse to law enforcement and kept the two coaches on staff.

… A second mother has since come forward, saying her son was also subjected to the drywall screw for less than perfect form.

“If they weren’t tight enough or in the right positions,” the mother, who didn’t want to be identified, told Eyewitness News. …

WFTV – Coaches Accused Of Using Screws To Torture Gymnasts

The second coach was Chris Bonn.

Leave a comment if you know what happened to the two coaches.

(via a random gymnastics facts post on Couch Gymnast)