Author: Rick Mc

Another terrific, original, insightful post on the Perfect 10 blog.

Ten Things I Dislike in the World of Gymnastics:

I wrote about my distaste for tank leos, gym shoes & the leg-up full turn a few months ago. The list has now expanded. These are the top 10 things I dislike right now in the world of gymnastics.

1. The jump-up mount on Beam.
2. The leotards worn by the United States Women.
3. The inconsistency of USA Men’s team.
4. The Side Somi on Beam.
5. Criticism after the last Worlds of athletes who cried …
6. Event Specialists.
7. Speaking of Event Specialists, Cheng Fei …
8. Lack of choreography on Beam.
9. … what happened to all the good floor routines?
10. And finally, I dislike the new scoring system.

perfect 10 » Ten Things I Dislike in the World of Gymnastics

I’ll leave my own response on that blog post. You should too.

I love this promo!

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube:

If you can, post this on your Facebook page or blog. These are two superstars of all time. The commercial is excellent. And we want more companies like Adidas lining up to sign our top athletes in future.

The more HITS on this video, the better (There are multiple copies of it on YouTube.)

Related post:

Shannon Miller reports:

This morning I interviewed Paul Hamm, Morgan Hamm, Blaine Wilson and their coach, Miles Avery.

…. The guys are doing well with training, and all of them seemed very upbeat. Paul is looking forward to competing all-around for the first time since the 2004 Olympic Games. He will compete at the Winter Cup in February (Las Vegas) and at the American, along with Oklahoma’s Jonathon Horton and Shawn Johnson.

With the poor results of the USA at the Olympic test meet, the team might need Paul after all.

No commitment yet from Morgan (injured) and Wilson (old). But I expect both to compete in 2008, likely as specialists.

Watch for this interview and those of Paul and Morgan Hamm and Blaine Wilson on my show “Gymnastics 360° with Shannon Miller” on CN8 Sports on the Comcast Network. Or watch it online.

WCSN Blogs » Blog Archive » Checking in with the U.S.’s best

Gymnastics competitions in Canada are dull. There’s been very little innovation in format in my lifetime. We have very few winners … and a lot of losers.

The meets in the USA are better, for sure. Each tries to outdo the others with “special” touches. Great West Gym Fest, for example, has a sound and light show for every category. It’s way cool for kids to come running thorough smoke into a darkened hall to start their competition.

But the NCAA is best in finding ways to make gymnastics competitions interesting. And marketable.

The mixed pairs format is always entertaining.

In their annual season opener, the Ohio State men’s and women’s gymnastics team will prepare for the 2008 season with the Mixed Pairs Exhibition slated for 2 p.m. Sunday in St. John Arena. …

…

“The Mixed Pairs event is always one of our favorite preseason events,” Carey Fagan, Ohio State women’s gymnastics head coach, said. “It is a great opportunity for the men’s and women’s teams to compete together as we prepare for our seasons. …

Ohio State Gymnastics Kicks Off Preseason Action with Co-ed Meet – The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site – OhioStateBuckeyes.com

Qualifying rounds of the individual competition are already finished.

Huang

Here are the top 6 of those qualifying to finals. (Looks like China, as host, was allowed extra competitors to gain experience in the Olympic venue.)

Full results, news, photos and more on the official website – 2007 TRAMPOLINE GYMNASTICS INTERNATIONAL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Now this is cool.

TumblTrak has been quietly testing a new video clip interface on their website.

screenshot

You’ve got to see this – TumblTrak Media

Incidentally, I just ordered a Porta Table from TumblTrak this week. The last in stock, ever, I’m afraid. That product has been discontinued.

Justin Guariglia has been studying and photographing the martial-arts monks at Shaolin Temple in Henan Province for the past eight years. He was the first photographer to get permission to photograph the monks inside the temple, and his new book, Shaolin: Temple of Zen, allows all of us an insider’s view of the stunning mastery that these warrior monks have perfected over the centuries.

One for the Road: Shaolin – Temple of Zen – Gadling

Shaolin: Temple of Zen – Amazon

Check out the cool companion website.

The best thing about the internet are RSS feeds. (Really Simple Syndication)

Yet fewer than 10% of people use RSS. That’s a shame.

To see how it works, click PLAY or watch a 4min amusing tutorial on YouTube.

To find out what’s new on GymnasticsCoaching, you can come on by when you get the urge — SLOW way.

Or subscribe by RSS through a feed reader — FAST way. (Google Reader recommended.)

Of course, you can subscribe by email. But who really wants more email cluttering their inbox?

RSS is the best, by far. It takes only about 5 min to get started with (Google Reader.

Unfortunately, some of my favourite websites do not yet have an RSS feed from their home page. Which of these dinosaur sites will add RSS last, do you think?

* American Gymnast
* GYMmedia Germany
* Gymn.ca Canada
* I-NEEDtoKnow
* Inside Gymnastics
* International Gymnast
* Technique USA
* USA Gymnastics
* USECA USA

RSS – Wikipedia

(via Rick McCharles)

I will be presenting internet tips like RSS to some of the top coaches in Canada at a Level 4 coaching clinic right after Elite Canada in December. For once I’m scheduled some personal time to work with each on streamlining their computer work flow.

That question was posted on the The Chalk Bucket forum. The advice given was NOT to spot 1/1 twist. To use progressions, instead.

I can’t think of a single coach in 2007 who advocates spotting twisting on Floor as a progression.

When I was a young coach, though, I spotted Jon Moffat for ten standing 1/1 twists every work-out. I got pretty good at that tricky spot, after a while. On the down side, I think I did more harm than good for Jon. In his mind, the challenge was to twist, not flip. That’s the wrong mental approach for this skill.

But lets say for sake of argument you MUST spot full twist on Floor. For a cheerleader, for example, who does not have a huge background of trampoline and gymnastics basics.

I think I’d start with the athlete in a twisting belt, from stand on a mini-tramp. And leave them in that safe environment until the motor pattern was quite stable. (For the athlete and the spotter.) We have something similar at Altadore.

Alternate front somersault with half twist. And back layout with half twist. Spotting both.

Eventually combining the two into a full twist. Eventually taking that skill out of the belt and on to the floor. The twist is fairly easy if the somersault is consistent.

Over Head Spotting Rig | Twisting Belt

Any other suggestions? Leave a comment below.

I suspect we could take another cheerleader of the same background, and teach her a full twist faster using trampoline devices. Without spot.

(Beijing, November 29)

In the men’s team final of the 2007 Artistic Gymnastics International Invitational Tournament this evening, China came from the fourth place after the second round to play strong in the rings …

Host team rallies to win men’s team title

Is this really China’s “B Team”?

Or will some of these competitors compete at the Olympics?

The biggest disappointment was the very poor finish of the USA. Durante, a gymnast I admire a lot, had a particularly bad day.