Author: Rick Mc

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

USA MAG international assignments

If you (like me) are still confused about American assignments following Winter Cup, those were decided by MPC on Saturday, February 22st.

In the minutes the stated objective of the AA World Cups is to “earn +1 for Olympic Games with top 3 finish cumulative results from American Cup, Stuttgart, Birmingham and Tokyo Cup.”

Motion: Assign Shane Wiskus to Wild Card position at American Cup (with Sam Mikulak)

… Assign Yul Moldauer to Stuttgart AA World Cup.

Assign Brody Malone to Birmingham World Cup.

Assign Sam Mikulak to Tokyo Cup.

Read the minutes.

That decision was unanimous.

Apparently there were no updated, published documents giving direction to the committee, a big oversight on the part of USAG MPC.

Poor planning. 

Very poor communication. 

Fixing this should be job #1 for new USAG Men’s Vice President Jason Woodnick.

As USAG has declined to comment on the issue publicly, the best coverage I’ve heard was by Kensley Behel on GymCastic podcast episode 413.

Kensley attended Winter Cup and has been in direct communication with USAG.

Gymnastics-Now.com

Gymnastics Now … an all-inclusive news source, where fans and athletes alike can come to get the latest breaking news, feature stories, live meet coverage, and more.

Gymnastics Now covers the top male and female athletes of the sport, striving for comprehensive news coverage of all. From Sam Mikulak to Simone Biles, from Oklahoma’s Maggie Nichols to Minnesota’s Shane Wiskus, from Russia’s Artur Dalaloyan to France’s Melanie De Jesus dos Santos–and beyond.

Gymnastics Now also wants to celebrate its followers–building a community along the way–through giveaways, contests, and more. Make sure to follow us on social and join our email list, so you never have FOMO.

gymnastics-now.com

Brenna Dowell is her own stunt double

Brenna Dowell

Brenna Dowell will play her own stunt double in a movie that will be out later this year. …

… “Full Out 2 – You Got This!,” will be released this spring and available on Netflix this summer. It will tell the story of the University of Oklahoma gymnastics team and their quest to win the national championships after their star gymnast, Dowell, leaves to chase her dreams. …

KSHB

OU’s Allie Stern competes on the vault during a women’s gymnastics competition between the University of Oklahoma and Alabama at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman Okla., Friday, March 15, 2019. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman

Men’s NCAA week 8

You can always check updated NCAA rankings on Road to Nationals.

Instead, here’s the weekly “Power Rankings“ as decided by a panel of experts from the College Gymnastics Association:

1. STANFORD CARDINAL
2. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
3. OKLAHOMA SOONERS
4. ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
5. NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
6. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES

#NCAAMGYM WEEK 8 POWER RANKINGS PRESENTED BY SPIETH AMERICA

Emily Muhlenhaupt – Bars

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

(via BBS 10s of Week 8)

Hamline’s Doug Byrnes

Hamline is an NCAA Division III team that doesn’t get much Press.

But their coach, Doug Byrnes, is one of my favourite clinicians. Great guy. Excellent people skills.

A local paper posted a feature on his 20 year career.

In 1989 Hamline Gymnastics founder Mary Jane Olson asked Coach Byrnes if he wanted to work at Hamline. Byrnes declined. After Olson asked him four more times, Byrnes agreed to work Saturdays as a spotter for the team.

He’s never left. …

The Oracle

U.S. Acrobatics and Tumbling

The American National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association runs a rapidly expanding College and University sport for women.
 
Click PLAY or watch some highlights on YouTube.

 

National Team Selection policy

Seems USAG MPC bungled the selection process for upcoming World Cups.

Yul’s coach Mark Williams responds.

Click through to read the 5 tweets in that thread.

Here’s what they recommend in Canada.

Responsible NSOs (National Sports Organizations) recognize the importance of a sound team selection policy to ensure that the best athletes are indeed selected for optimal performance of the team, and also to avoid disputes leading up to a major competition.

The criteria must also be communicated to the athletes long before the start of the qualification period.

The entire training program of athletes will be based on meeting these criteria to secure their selection to the team, so it would be unreasonable to communicate these criteria only a few weeks or a few days before.

Of course, once a team selection policy approved and published, the NSO must ensure that it is implemented as intended.

read more … Team Selection

some GOOD news from Winter Cup

Though the gymternet mainly heard about the screw-ups at the annual U.S. Men’s selection meet during the Olympic year, Kensley was there — as usual — and found the competition much improved in many ways.

Click through to this Twitter thread to read her positive comments.