Author: Rick Mc

An excellent interview with gymnast Becky Downie from the U.K.

Regarding her coaching:

BD: Claire works every event with me and has done so for years. She does all the planning of routines, training schedules and program, conditioning, choreography, etc. She also used to do most of the spotting when I needed it when I was younger.

Ian Kime has also been involved in coaching me for several years, but he is only in the gym part-time. As I’ve gotten older, he does more spotting for me because I’m the same size as Claire now, but I prefer to do most of my skills alone. I work with Ian if Claire’s away, but she leaves me a strict program and I still phone her to check if I need to alter anything on that program, even if she’s in another country.

Obviously I work with the national coaches more now, as well. We go to national training once a month, and more when we are close to a major event. My last floor routine was made up by the national choreographer. We have a few other coaches in the gym at Notts (Downie’s club) who all work as a team, so lots of coaches have a small input. I know Claire discusses a lot of things with Adi (British team technical director Adrian Stan) and the national coaches, and sometimes they disagree on things, but in the end it’s all about what’s best for me.

International Gymnast

Becky Downie – official website

more wallpaper photos

Funtastics Gymnastics Head Coach Dave Adlard personally leads every opening ceremony for close to 1500 competitors at the annual Great West Gym Fest competition in Idaho.

No gym meet anywhere does so many things right. The highlight for many of the kids is March-in which includes a professional sound and light show. It literally smokes.

Special guest USA National Gymnastics Champion 2007 David Durante is featured.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Many study the GWGF for ideas for hosting their own competitions. In fact, Dave Adlard presented on this topic — Things we have learned building and hosting a Mega-Meet — at USA Congress 2007.

(The game included was Adlard stalling for time, waiting on Durante to arrive from where he was handing out awards.)

In the Museum District, Houston, Texas.

original – flickr

I’m suppose to be getting ready to knock down the men’s equipment at the end of a long day of competition. (Don’t tell coach Donny that I snuck out to post a few photos to the blog.)

Highlight of the competition was having American National Champion David Durante in the gym, chatting with the guys, coaches and judges. And handing out awards.

If you are looking for a great gymnast with people skills, Durante is your man.

Great West Gym Fest

An impressive performance, especially if the girls are indeed deaf. All the cues must be visual.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I wonder what inspired this dance. A goddess with many arms is most representative of the Hindu tradition.

Haley Cameron is 6′ 2″ tall (1.88m) and competes all-around. She was fourth in her age group at the California Level 7 State Championships last year.

video – Gymnastics to Volleyball: Haley Cameron – Student Sport

I’ve coached girls 5′ 10″ tall (1.77m). Tall girls are so impressive on beam, in particular.

And I’ve heard of male gymnasts taller.

Is Haley the tallest female gymnast in the world? Have you heard of taller?

If so, leave a comment.

Sure, some are saying that China will win more medals than the USA at the Beijing Olympics.

But America still dominates the Major League Eating competitions.

Kevin Carr – Ramen Noodle Ninja Showdown! – Epicurious

Major League Eating (MLE) is the sports franchise that oversees all professional competitive eating events and competitive eating television specials. The mission of Major League Eating is to maintain a safe environment for all events, while also seeking to create a dynamic and enjoyable fan experience.

The fast-growing brand combines the appeal of traditional sports with the most extreme of all extreme sports. Renowed eaters Takeru Kobayashi, Joey Chestnut, Sonya Thomas and Patrick Bertoletti are all Major League Eaters. Their records are legend: 53 3/4 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes; 97 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes; 65 hard boiled eggs in six minutes and 47 seconds; eight-plus pounds of rib meat in 12 minutes.

The Major League Eating franchise leverages interest in the sport on behalf of sponsors to secure media interest. Each year Major League Eating’s live and televised events are watched by millions of fans and generate more than 800 million media impressions for sponsors. Major League Eating coordinates events in the United States, Japan, England, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Thailand and the Ukraine, helping to promote the sport in local, national and international media.

Major League Eating – official website

I’m back at the best gymnastics competition anywhere, the Great West Gym Fest hosted by Funtastics Gymnastics in beautiful Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. (And I’m not just saying that because of the gorgeous lake view from the Penthouse hot tub at the Resort venue.)

From the looks of my photos from yesterday, seems coach Rachael Tart did most of the competition gym set-up.

Each year Meet Director Dave Adlard has new treats for participants. He has wonderful new carved Eagle team trophies to go along with their traditional Moose and Bears. (How am I going to get that “tree” on the plane, Dave?)

We talked to one of the first competitors to arrive last night. She has competed in all 7 annual meets organized by Adlard, her Mom saying it was their favourite competition of the year.

I’m picking the favourites. The American Women’s Gymnastics program is simply too strong to be beaten at the 2008 Olympics.

The three-up, three-count Team competition format will keep it “interesting”. But look for the Red White and Blue atop the podium in Beijing.

Winning the Olympics will seem easier than getting on to Team USA in the first place.

World Champions 2007 – Beijing 2008

… From Youtube user Malimalimali123 comes this great montage of everybody who’s likely to be in the running for this summer’s U.S. team.

Watching it I’m struck anew by the depth and good, clean gymnastics of the frontrunners on the U.S. team. 2004, the era of we-could-field-two-teams-that-could-medal was deep. 2008 could be deeper still.

Gymblog

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube:

more Olympic predictions

Getting into the Utah competition line-up is more difficult than actually competing on the weekend:

On any given Thursday between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., head coach Greg Marsden announces the starting lineups for the upcoming meet. Given Utah’s talent breadth, this weekly ritual has become a daunting moment.

“It’s really intense,” Nina Kim said. “It’s really intense this year because so many of us are so good.” …

Gymnastics: Red Rocks don’t love Thursdays

Utah is as good as it’s ever been. Is there a risk of let-down as the season progresses?

When a certain level of excellence is reached, winning can become, well, boring.

For almost as long as the U’s gymnastics program has existed, it has not had to worry about winning. In fact, the Red Rocks have qualified for every single NCAA Championship meet — the only program to compete in all 26.

With that type of success, the team can afford to treat the regular season as if it were actually a preseason. Utah gymnasts often remind everyone else that the wins don’t matter as much as improving as a team in preparation for when the really important regional competition begins.

What the U really has to worry about right now is staying excited about its opportunities.

“There’s a point that I start worrying about taking things for granted and becoming lackadaisical and not being passionate about improving throughout the season,” head coach Greg Marsden said.

Marsden has coached Utah to every one of its NCAA Championship appearances and all 10 of its national titles. Over the years, he has seen some teams lose their vigor and falter as the season wound to an end. …

Read on for Marsden’s strategies to avoid his team getting stale: Utah finds ways to stay passionate

Utah Gymnastics

==== How tough is it to get into this line-up?

I’ve always said, China should hire an NCAA Head Coach to teach their talented gymnasts how to “hit” under pressure.

Perhaps a Utah coach.

From an article on their last competition:

… Leadoff Jamie Deetscreek fell off the balance beam, just the fourth fall in 144 routines for the Utes.

Back to the glory years? – Salt Lake City Tribune

Utah is hitting (OK, not falling) on 97% of their routines right now. That’s just astonishing to me.