Category: Gymnastics

Nick Ruddock – Yurchenko Vaulting

Nick donated his time putting this presentation together for Dave Tilley’s fundraiser – Feeding America’s Hunger Relief.

Some highlights from Nick’s presentation:

  • when you see a problem in the air, the CAUSE was something earlier:
    • physical ability
    • prerequisites (e.g. handstand shapes)
    • acrobatic prerequisites (e.g. Whip, Round-off, etc.)
  • use as much of the 25m vault run as possible
  • create > conserve > convert. Convert as much energy as possible to the vault itself.
  • actually, each athlete has an optimal speed of run. Not all are fast enough to handle their maximum run speed.
  • visual – what do they see? 
  • rigid body
  • shapes at each phase
  • tempo, rhythm
  • arms as straight / tight as possible on Round-off
  • knees as straight / tight as possible on the Springboard
  • hips up quickly on the preflight
  • head watches the board before preflight, but eyes watching hands on contact
  • watch the horse on post-flight. (Lifting the head too soon can later cause early twist problems.)

Extending the hips while on the Springboard generates rotation through an indirect reaction force of the feet on the board. Nick has gymnasts train backward layouts on Tramp without using the arms — requiring them to use hip extension to generate rotation.

Gainer backward layouts would be an alternative to this, requiring hip extension on takeoff.

Note that Nick doesn’t actually show the full Yurchenko vault. As Edouard Iarov first made clear to me, once the hands leave the horse it’s too late to change height, distance or total rotation.  The flight phase is more related to trampoline basics than vault.

Click PLAY or watch it for yourself on YouTube.

Gymnastics training camp ONLINE

Two clubs in COVID-19 lockdown practiced together online with more than 60 gymnasts.

Polarettes in Whitehorse and my home club Altadore in Calgary worked out at home simultaneously.

Great idea. 

U.S. Olympic Committee on reopening

As of April 28, 2020.

Here’s some advice on what to do when allowed to reopen sports facilities. It’s quite general, information for coaches of all Olympic sports.

USOPC Return to Training Considerations Post COVID-19 

Phase 3:

  • small groups allowed to train. But no general public access.
  • athletes, coaches, and staff have NO symptoms of COVID-19 (Appendix 2) in the past 14 days
  • anyone who had a case of documented COVID-19 infection needs a note from their doctor indicating they are cleared to participate in training
  • ideally participants should have 2 negative COVID-19 tests separated by 24 hours before resuming training
  • athletes record signs and symptoms (including temperature) on a paper or electronic log that is monitored by coaches or staff
  • athletes interviewed each time on arrival for symptoms
  • athletes should use their own equipment and avoid touching each other as much as possible
  • Use own water bottle, towel, personal hygiene products, etc.
  • Rigorous, frequent cleaning schedule/protocol of equipment with disinfectant before, during, and after training
  • cleaners wear appropriate personal protective equipment  (e.g., gloves, face mask, etc.) to prevent contact with contaminated surfaces and protect against toxicities associated with cleaning products
  • coaches maintain physical distance from athletes, as much as possible. No spotting, if possible.

Phase 4 would be return to normal training.

Download the entire document – USOPC Return to Training

 

 

My Gym is Online – Gymnastics conference

Lorraine Currie of Futures Gymnastics in Canada has organized an interesting event — an online Gymnastics Congress.

The theme …

Resilience 2020

Five days – May 11-15, 2020.

Cost is low:

$15 for any one stream: Business, Competitive, Recreational

$25 all access.

Proceeds going towards COVID-19 vaccine research at University of Pittsburgh and Sunnybrook Hospital.

Many big name presenters whom I’d love to hear.  This is a COVID-19 alternative for coaches who normally book themselves for one of the annual Congress events.

Details.

 

 

Germany’s Head Coach Andreas Hirsch stepped down

The Men’s Head Coach since 2002, Andreas Hirsch, has stepped down.

He plans to continue coaching, however.

The German Federation will be looking for someone to fill Andreas’ big shoes.

Jury Chechi at age-50

Jury Chechi, the original Lord of the Rings, won in Atlanta 1996 and was third at Athens 2004 at age 35.

He was Italian opening ceremony flagbearer at the Athens Games.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

 

 

 

#DontRushChallenge – International Gymnastics stars

On March 22, Toluwalase Asolo, a 20-year-old business management student at the University of Hull, tweeted a clip with the caption, “The boredom jumped out.”

To the song of “Don’t Rush” by U.K. rap duo Young T and Bugsey, she and her seven girlfriends changed looks seamlessly while passing around a makeup brush used as a metaphorical baton. …

Gymnastics stars pass on medals and clothing in this awesome version.

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Bdownie/status/1256922845193609217

Click PLAY or watch part 2 on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Bdownie/status/1256923432127811585

Click PLAY or watch part 3 on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Bdownie/status/1256923974233214977

when MEN competed ‘Inbars’

IMHO – Inbars should be valued same as Stalder, Endo. 

It’s not a skill we should be encouraging. 

Growing up in western Canada we never called piked Endo or piked Stalder ‘Inbars‘.

Most often we called them stooped Stalder, stooped Endo.

Sometimes Stalder piked, Endo piked.

The WAG Code currently calls them Clear Pike Circles.  That’s better than Inbars, in my opinion.

These swings are a problem for WAG in 2020 for several reasons:

  • risk of lower back injury due to force of compression at the bottom
  • deduction for flexed feet getting into and out of the swing
  • deduction for lack of hip flexion
  • difficulty in getting back to handstand

They aren’t a problem for MAG and haven’t been since the men’s Code devalued to same as regular Stalder / Endo. We no longer see them in MAG competition.

But there was fugly era when MANY male gymnasts competed them for difficulty.  Very few men had the genetic limb length and physical ability to do them well.  It was painful to watch.

I coached only one who trained them, Davide Bardana. He’s also the best I can recall.

Kyle Shewfelt, years later at the same club, competed them as cleanly as any male gymnast of the day.

Click PLAY or watch Kyle on YouTube. Pirouette angle deductions weren’t as important in that Code as they are today.