Former Chinese gymnastics team head coach Lu Shanzhen died of a heart attack at home in Beijing on Saturday, according to the Chinese Gymnastics Association (CGA).
Lu, 63, was well known for his excellence as a coach and for leading Team China to historical heights, including the first women’s World Championship team title in 2006 and first women’s Olympic team gold in 2008. …
Author: Rick Mc
Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.
Vaulting Yurchenko at Gym America
1995 Gymnastics documentary – For The Love of the Game
The late 1990s were the bad old days in my opinion.
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes was published 1995.
A Canadian documentary includes 3 National Team members:
Lisa Simes, 1994 Commonwealth Games medalist and All-American captain for Michigan.
Jackie Bender, the best Artistic gymnast all time at 1-arm handstand work on Beam.
And Sarah Rainey who is very eloquent and outspoken about why she left the sport. Today Sarah is Head Coach of East York Gymnastics in Toronto.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (24min)
you CAN keep form on layout step-out
NCAA programs on #BlackLivesMatter
As usual, UCLA sets the Bar for supporting minority rights. Unapologetic.
Willing to support Black Lives Matter #BlackLivesMatter loudly. And proudly.
UCLA gymnasts use social media to speak out, support Black Lives Matter movement
BUT … how did other prominent College teams handle the worldwide protests?
Dvora Meyers posted a good overview:
Florida was much criticized by former athletes
As was Alabama.
Duckworth, in a statement posted to social media, said things about growing and learning and inclusivity without mentioning Kiaku by name or saying the word “race” or any of its variants.
As was Auburn.
Jeff Graba posted this note to Twitter in response to the statements from three former Tigers. On the whole, Graba’s note is disappointing in the way that many of these statements are: vagueness about what was alleged, failure to mention the words “black” or “racism” or any of its variants. …
University of Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets Carter put out a statement that managed to avoid using the words “black,” “African American,” “racism,” “police,” “brutality,” or “injustice.” Also, for a statement that is ostensibly about what the Black community is enduring, it makes heavy use of “I.” …
LSU head coach DD Breaux’s statement did mention “people of color” and nodded to protest as a means of enacting change, but that’s as far as it went. ..
And this from the University of North Carolina gymnastics team is perhaps the strongest and most unequivocal of all the statements put out by any of the women’s programs.
Some of the coaches are, no doubt, restricted by contract in what they can say publicly. But — moving forward — programs should be called out if there’s no real change.
I’ll be cheering for UNC and UCLA.
Click through to read Dvora’s entire important post. And subscribe if you can. This is real journalism.
We Need to Address Racism In Gymnastics
Kurt Thomas documentary
Kurt died unexpectedly of a stroke at age-64. What a shame.
If you don’t know his story, watch this entertaining new documentary. He was a cocky kid from a poor background.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (24min)
NEW – Freestyle Sports Podcast
Extreme sports enthusiast Greg Roe has a new video podcast.
It launches June 24th.
Click PLAY or watch a teaser on Facebook.
You can see a longer preview on YouTube or subscribe via Apple podcasts.
compression back warmer for gymnastics
EliteSportZBand
I’ve not had any gymnasts use this specific product. Leave a comment if you have an opinion.
kinesthesist tells that they are very popular with flexibility circus performers.
Here’s the pitch:
The Band is a compression back warmer worn on the lower torso with no hooks or Velcro. It improves activation of core abdominal muscles, reduces spinal impact and reduces existing lower back pain.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Details. Cost about $50.
related – Koreleo sells a leotard with integrated compression back warmer.
USAG: Black Lives Matter
On June 1, we unequivocally affirmed that Black lives do matter, and that we stand in solidarity with the Black community and with all of those who fight for racial and social justice. …
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We will require implicit bias training for USA Gymnastics staff and leadership positions, and will endeavor to make similar training available to all members.
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We will work with a credible researcher to analyze the role of implicit bias in judging.
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We will use our platforms to amplify the voices of our community members from traditionally underrepresented groups, in order to share their experiences more broadly and facilitate continued conversation across the gymnastics community.
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We will strengthen our internal hiring practices for both employees and contractors, to ensure that we are more intentional and proactive in seeking out staff, contractors, and business leaders from underrepresented groups.
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Juneteenth (June 19th) will be a day of reflection for USA Gymnastics staff going forward. We are encouraging our staff to spend this day listening and learning, and finding ways to commit to concrete action steps to become better allies and advocates. We invite member gyms and clubs to recognize this important day in the history of our nation in their own way. …
Celebrating Juneteenth
Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth; also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day) celebrates the liberation of those who had been held as slaves in the United States.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 