This ice making machine at Calgary Gymnastics Centre is perfect.
It’s positioned centrally inside the gym. Any athlete or coach has quick and easy access. Fill your own (double) plastic bag in case of inflammation or injury.
Author: Rick Mc
Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.
horizontal bar finals – World’s 2006
After speaking with one of the judges, Ray Heiderich, I went back to review the finals on YouTube.
The quality of the video is surprisingly good.
FIG still has the regulations wrong on the most spectacular men’s event. Everyone wants multiple release skills in series (like Nemov and Paul Hamm). But what we got at Worlds was mostly complex pirouettes — difficult to evaluate. And not exciting for the general public.
I was impressed with Vlasios Maras from Greece. His Pegan (double front over the bar with 1/2 twist) was the best I’ve ever seen. (And Pegan himself was in the final.) Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.
Compare his routine with:
video – Aljaz Pegan, Slovakia
video – Philippe Rizzo, Australia (gold medal – superb Tak 1/2, immediate Def)
The clips narrated by Tim Daggett and Blaine Wilson come from the fantastic WCSN.com World’s coverage, only $4.95 for everything.
clinic in Melbourne, Australia
Just got the final line-up of my presentations in Victoria, Australia, Jan. 11-14, 2007.
I am one of the guest coaches at the huge Leaps and Bounds coach and judge education conference.
All levels of coaches will attend though most sessions are directed towards recreation and developmental gymnastics. I am really looking forward to it.
Now — why don’t we have huge coaching conferences like this in Canada?
1-arm handstand – San Diego – La Jolla Shores
Wonderful photo.
(I’m trying to clear my depressed brain right now with this uplifting image.)
coach killed landing in pit
No matter how good your pit, check frequently that there is no way to get through to the floor.
This is a terrible accident.
… a 27-year-old gymnastics instructor died from injuries he suffered in a freak accident at a Marlboro gym, authorities said.
McCurdy died early Wednesday from injuries he suffered Tuesday night while trying to perform a move called the Quad Front Flip, police said.
Police said all safety procedures were followed at the Jonas Gymnastics Academy on Commercial Court, and it also appears that the flip was within McCurdy’s capabilities, but the flip went horribly wrong Tuesday night.
“It appears this was a tragic accident,” said Detective Sgt. Paul Reed.
On Tuesday night, members of an adult team were training at the gymnastics academy. McCurdy, formerly of Mount Joy in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, was a part-time instructor there. He was not working on Tuesday; he was practicing, but was not a member of that team, police said.
In a Quad Front Flip, gymnasts run, jump onto a trampoline, then do four somersaults in the air before landing on their feet, police said.
A roughly 6-foot-deep foam pit is in place for gymnasts who do not land properly. The bottom of the pit is lined with pieces of foam padding, about a foot thick, and on top of those pieces of foam are more foam cubes piled about 5 feet high, police said.
But when McCurdy tried the move, he only did about three somersaults, Reed said.
The instructor was still in the tuck position when he flew headfirst into the pit, and landed in between the pieces of padding, police said. He struck his head on the concrete floor, said Reed.
Gymnastics flip ends in death | Home News Tribune Online
A death like this makes us all feel our own mortality.
Coach Mack, posted a tribute video to his good friend Jon on MySpace. Watching the video you get to know Jon as a gymnast, rock climber, poet. A wonderful guy.
This is just tragic.
2007 Europeans & 2010 Worlds in Netherlands
First up is 2007 European Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships
Then 2010 Worlds in Rotterdam October 17-24.
FIG obviously has faith in the Dutch organizers.
welcome David Kenwright
Passionate, dedicated, serious, focused, David Kenwright is a model elite women’s gymnastics coach. He feels the coach / athlete relationship can be as sacred as the parent / athlete relationship — the kids trust you with their lives.
Originally from Manchester, England, David had long been a fixture in Vancouver, British Colombia. His recent move to my town, icy Calgary, Alberta, is a big leap.
I want to welcome David. His influence will be felt throughout our region, but most strongly at his new club, Calgary Gymnastics Centre. (Home gym of Adam Wong.)
David can be a harsh critic of inefficiencies in our amateur sport system and does not suffer fools gladly. If he could change only one thing in the Canadian model — it would be to add compulsories.
I appreciate David’s candour. With a wealth of international coaching experience, twice Olympic Coach, he knows of what he speaks. He is coach to Kate Richardson, Canada’s best ever Canadian female gymnast.
I enjoyed David’s recent bars clinic for age group gymnasts. Key points included:
I am pleasantly surprised that a philosopher coach like David Kenwright, who sees the big picture, still chooses to coach high performance gymnastics — a monumental, under-respected challenge. I wish him all the best. Everyone in our Province will benefit from his example.
For a sample of David’s coaching style, I edited video clips from his presentation on introducing backward giant swing. Of course he teaches it on a men’s bar with safety straps. Emphasis on shortening the body on the upswing to the “candle position”.
Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.
making gymnastics more FUN
Joe Coiffe (not Coffee) spends a lot of time prepping the gym for gymnastics birthday parties.
His birthday circuit is amazing.
Do you want to celebrate your next birthday at Calgary Gymnastics Centre.
my favourite – an “elephant” mat
manic Joe Coiffe
UPDATE:
Joe has a kindred spirit in Santa Monica, California. Check this video fly-through of one of their birthday party obstacle courses.
I had this vision from the camera’s perspective of swooping around through the birthday obstacle course like I was going through the trenches of the Death Star in my X-Wing fighter … The Special Edition has extended credits, and the addition of soundclips from Star Wars….I think the closing credits may be longer than the actual video footage.
Cirque du Success
Perhaps the best article I’ve yet read on Cirque du Soleil.
Pulled from a scouting database of about 20,000 acts from around the globe, the bulk of Cirque’s 900 “artists” arrive as acrobats and gymnasts, including many former Olympians from the Russian and Ukrainian teams. The recruits spend their first months learning everything from how to apply their own makeup to the fine art of clowning on stage. Those who make the final cut are then paraded through Cirque’s vast costume, shoemaking, hat-making, and props workshops, where each is sized up and outfitted from head to toe in exotic garb cut from more than 10 miles of fabric used each year, much of it dyed and printed on the premises. …
USNews.com: Behind the Scenes at Today’s Hottest Live Entertainment Act
skateboard movie – Lords of Dogtown
Finally saw the critically acclaimed film Lords of Dogtown documenting the beginnings of vertical skating.
The movie reminded me of Almost Famous. It is very well done. I loved the soundtrack. I am the same age as writer / skater Stacy Peralta.
Lords of Dogtown is a 2005 film directed by Catherine Hardwicke … based on the story of “The Z-Boys”, an influential group of skateboarders who revolutionized the sport. …
Tagline : “They came from nothing to change everything.”
In the 1970’s, a group of teen surfers from a rough neighborhood known as “Dogtown” in Venice, California, created a cultural revolution by transforming skateboarding from a recreational activity into an extreme sport. …
Known as the Zephyr Skateboard Team, the boys transferred their surf skills to drain pipes and empty swimming pools with stunning results. Their acrobatic manoeuvres inspired generations of teens and catapulted them to fame and fortune.
Lords of Dogtown – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Now I need download Dogtown and Z-boys, the documentary narrated by Sean Penn and directed by Stacy Peralta.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 