Category: NCAA

Peng wins the Honda

I recall Christine Peng-Peng Lee sitting in the stands cheering her UCLA team at Nationals at the end of her two red shirt years.

She told me she would compete the following season regardless of what medical said.

She made up for those two years. And how. National Team champions. National Beam Champ. And this.

The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 42 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. With this honor, Lee becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2018 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 25, 2018, in downtown Los Angeles. …

“Peng-Peng Lee is a pure example of how to live life with positivity and appreciation,” said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field. ”

UCLA Bruins

If you can’t get enough Peng Peng, Click PLAY or watch her last training day on YouTube.

circus turns gymnasts into artists

Read Dvora’s article on Deadspin.

How Cirque Du Soleil Turns Gymnasts Into Artists

Alabama’s Bryan Raschilla is out

After 22-years at Alabama, the gymnastics associate head coach was not renewed by Dana Duckworth. 

His annual salary was $130,858.

Raschilla said he wasn’t given an explanation.

2018 was only the 3rd time Alabama had not qualified to Super 6 over Bryan’s tenure.

I expect he’ll be getting Head Coach offers from other schools.

Minnesota’s celebrates NCAA Championships

… finishing second to Oklahoma at the national championships on April 21 in Chicago. In what Burns called one of his proudest moments ever, the Gophers hit all 32 routines and earned 11 All-America citations.

Freshman Shane Wiskus of Mound-Westonka, the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, was second in the all-around competition …

Burns was named the College Gymnastics Association Central Region Coach of the Year, and Wiskus was named Rookie of the Year.

Gophers men’s gymnastics figured it out at NCAA meet

Congratulations to Mike Burns, his staff and the Gophers.

GOPHERS FINISH AS NATIONAL RUNNER-UP

Chris Waller – Locker Room Speech

After a somewhat disappointing start, I felt UCLA would not be able to challenge for the team title.

Coach Waller was not happy. He chewed out the team.

Click PLAY or watch an edited version on Twitter.

The rest is history. The Bruins’ big comeback was keyed in rotation five by a season-high 49.6375 performance on Bars. Kyla going 9.9875. Peng a perfect 10.

Grace Glenn led off Beam with 9.9375. The team finished with fantastic routines from Katelyn, Kyla and Peng to barely edge past Oklahoma.

(via theGymter.net)

future of U.S. Men’s Gymnastics

Brian Mozey is a Sports Editor at the Iowa State Daily, an independent student newspaper serving Iowa State University in Ames.

Our thanks to Brian for putting together a 4 part series on the future of Men’s Gymnastics.

  1. The national decline of high school boys gymnastics
  2. From 1938 to 2018: The numbers keep dropping in college men’s gymnastics
  3. The Summer Olympics: The ultimate goal for men’s gymnastics
  4. The future of men’s gymnastics
USA still has NCAA Gymnastics. Most nations do not have College Gymnastics.

Most of the online commentary I’ve seen has been pointing out errors in fact or wording. Brian’s clearly no Gymnastics expert.

But we can agree on many of his conclusions:

If there’s going to be any increase in numbers, there needs to be an increase in private clubs these boys can attend.

Therefore, there’s a need for more boys gymnastics coaches to teach these younger gymnasts the correct ways of participating and loving this sport. …

If the numbers in private clubs and high schools increases, more and more men are going to want to participate in college sports. If club teams at universities increase, it might draw an eye within the athletics departments across the country. …

The main way to make it national is to showcase these men’s gymnastics programs on a television network …

If you want to be more of a promoter of Men’s Gymnastics in the USA, follow Ono No Komachi (@OnoNoKomachi1) on Twitter.