Author: Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.

NCAA athletes taking power

Jessica O’Beirne has — for years — been pointing out that everyone in the NCAA has power, except the athletes. 

The talent.

But times they are a-Changin’.

Last year Kylin Hill won the Conerly Trophy, awarded to the top player in the state of Mississippi.

He’s not coming back for his Senior year unless the state flag is changed to remove the the banner of the Confederacy. 

Last week, the NCAA expanded its Confederate flag policy to prohibit all its championship events from being played in states that fly the flag, including regional sites in sports such as baseball, softball, lacrosse and women’s basketball. …

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also threatened to not hold future championship events in the state …

Several state universities, including Mississippi State and Ole Miss, stopped flying the flag in 2016 …

ESPN

Let’s see if Mississippi State loves football more than their flag.

#OlympicDay workout Tuesday, June 22

Exercise from anywhere alongside Olympic gymnasts.  Sounds like #StayStrong fitness live streams will be happening all day around the world. Check social media. 

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

UNINTENDED consequences of Title IX

Temple alumnus Law student Jeff Shearer published a paper on Title IX and Men’s Gymnastics in the Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum.

Jeff:

I wrote this paper because of my passion for gymnastics and the fact that the sport has seen a numerical decline in varsity programs over the years.

I demonstrate how Title IX and the commercialization of college sports are—in my opinion—the cause of this problem.

I close with an argument that the binary application of Title IX will only cause more challenges for transgender athletes and sports programs. …

Title IX is pretty complicated and I attempt to break it down for a non-legal audience with my writing.

Please share this paper throughout the gymnastics community so that people can be educated about why the sport has lost so many programs over the years. I am hoping it can help any program that is currently struggling to survive.

You can read or download that paper here:

Good Initiative, Bad Judgement: The Unintended Consequences of Title IX’s Proportionality Standard on NCAA Men’s Gymnastics and the Transgender Athlete

Thanks Jesse.

super difficult skills in training

Many gymnasts train one more salto, one more twist than they want to compete.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Trampoline: Ballout and Cody

A new tutorial from Gymneo is now available online in English for subscribers.

Click PLAY or watch a preview on Facebook.

standing double back from Vault table

Courtney Tulloch progression for double salto vaults. 

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

R.I.P. Lu Shanzhen

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. …

xinhuanet

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

Luisa Blanco as posted by Spencer on Balance Beam Situation.

KEEPING UP WITH THE COOL GIFS – WEEK 2