book – Rhythmic Gymnastics

In my quest to list the (surprisingly few) excellent books for coaches, I give the thumbs up to Rhythmic Gymnastics by Nadejda Jastrjembskaia and Juri Titov.

As with many Russian authors, I find this book overly academic and methodical. No need to read every word. But if looking for a few good ideas to improve your acrobatics program — it makes an excellent browse.

I went first to the Developing Flexibility chapter as this is where I have most to learn from Rhythmic Gymnastics. The text advocates using a combination of static (1/3) and dynamic (2/3) stretching drills “avoiding abrupt or jerky movements”.

Other key points:

  • girls flexibility increases drastically between ages 7 and 10 — and is maximized between 11 and 13
  • do flexibility improvement exercises at the end of a vigorous warm-up and at the end of the work-out
  • There is not much mention of the excellent musical warm-ups typical of Rhythmic training. (The Canadian Men’s National team has a similar dynamic warm-up though not to music which is excellent.)

    This one is widely distributed so you may find it in your local library.

    Rhythmic Gymnastics

    overhead spotting belt for handsprings

    Overhead belts are ideal for spotting backward handsprings, especially for older athletes.

    belt-spot-ff.jpg

    Adult gymnastics photo set on Flickr – The Wordsmith from Nantucket, Santa Monica, California.

    was McCool the best of all-time?

    Many predicted Courtney McCool would win the 2004 Olympics.

    She was the complete package. No weaknesses. Great on all 4 events. Flexible. Powerful. Artistic. Unbelievably perfect form and line.

    But Carly Patterson made far fewer mistakes and went on to win in Athens.

    Click PLAY to see McCool highlights or watch the video in YouTube.

    Courtney signed a letter of intent to compete for NCAA champions Georgia in the coming year.

    Was McCool the best of all-time? I believe she was.

    If you can think of a better all-around performer, declare your choice in the COMMENTS below.

    Coaches and Judges Congress – Portland, Oregon


    Multnomah Athletic Club, Portland, Or. October 13 – 15, 2006

    r2rlogo.jpgSadly, I’m going to miss the Pacific Northwest Congress this year. It was excellent in 2005 featuring Canadian Olympic Coach Tony Smith and many, many great presenters.

    If you can make it to Portland, I highly recommend you go. Dave Adlard is on the organizing committee so you know it will be well done.

    More information on Congress 2006 on the Funtastics website.

    corporate sponsorship of gymnastics

    Around the world many are envious of the corporate sponsorships enjoyed by Gymnastics USA. Before 1984 the organization was badly funded. But in 2006 the financial future looks bright.

    Chevron will provide direct financial support to members of the Men’s National Team as it prepares for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The program has been expanded to provide event sponsorship rights and support to the Women’s National Team Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas. …

    All six members of the 2004 Men’s U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team, which won the silver medal in Athens, were Team Chevron athletes.

    Chevron, a USA Gymnastics sponsor since 1998, has extended its sponsorship of USA Gymnastics through 2008.

    If you want these companies to continue choosing gymnastics over many, many other causes, support Visa, T.J. Maxx, Adidas, GK/Elite Sportswear and 24 Hour Fitness and the other major sponsors of USA Gymnastics.
    sponsors.jpg

    video – North Korean “Mass Games”

    There’s no doubt the most spectacular large gymnastics displays are in North Korea.

    Canadian coach David Burgess visited years ago and became something of a foreign celebrity there. He was several times interviewed on Korean TV.

    Dave brought back photos from the “Mass Games” from that trip and we were blown away by the scale of the shows.

    Click PLAY or watch the clip on YouTube.

    These spectacles are criticized as totalitarian government propaganda. But a British Film crew was allowed unrestricted access to film A State of Mind, a documentary following two North Korean child gymnasts and their families for over eight months leading up to the 2003 Pyongyang Mass Games.

    The movie paints a much more sympathetic picture of one of the Axis of Evil nations.

    Watch the movie trailer on YouTube.

    Acrobatic Sports – website

    I love Sport Acrobatics but had not seen any since it was a demonstration sport at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

    I finally saw a competition in North America: the USA Championships. Unfortunately there are very few clubs on this side of the Atlantic.

    Sports Acrobatics is currently judged in five categories:

    * Men’s
    * Women’s
    * Mixed pairs
    * Women’s triples
    * Men’s quadruples

    Not surprisingly, after gymnasts, Cirque du Soleil hires more Sport Acrobatics athletes than any other discipline. Their acts are mind boggling.

    acrobatic-sports.jpg

    AcrobaticSport.com is an impressive website I had not seen before.

    European based — as is Sport Acrobatics — nonetheless the site is in English making it internationally accessible. Perhaps we can promote this excellent sport more widely.

    I’d love to start a training group at my gym.

    The site includes extensive trampoline and tumbling content, as well.

    Thanks George for alerting me.

    trampoline videos

    George Novak has long been a collector of acrobatic sports videos.

    He found an assortment of “Bonus” clips on AcrobaticSports.com.

    These are oddball bits in different file formats from different sources. Not all are likely to play on any one computer.

    Check Jason Burnett’s 18.5 pt. routine in training and other amazing feats.

    video – Hollie Vise – gymnast

    An interesting trend are the increasing number of athlete highlight video clips on the internet.

    The best are action sports: skateboard, rollerskating, free running, cycling, etc. Some of those are at the level of professional documentary. The video is the performance.

    Much less evolved are tribute montages dedicated to gymnasts. But with increased availability of video editing software, I expect to see tens of thousands listed on YouTube in coming months.

    I link to this one mainly because I am such a big fan of Hollie Vise, 2003 World Champion on Bars. Hollie will compete for University of Oklahoma starting this season.

    Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.

    official website – Hollie Vise

    More gymnastics tribute videos on YouTube – GymMaverick’s play list.

    20-year service award

    Wacom CROSS EXECUTIVE PEN (W/CAP) FOR ( UPCROSS1 )Rick McCharles

    Just received an award for 20-years of volunteer service from Gymnastics Alberta and I am tickled.

    Spending association dollars and time on these kinds of self-congratulatory parties and gifts is controversial. Is it money well spent?

    If done well, I am for them. Amateur sport is still very much volunteer driven. We need recognize unpaid sport leaders.