Category: safety

Western Australian Institute of Sport investigation

… a group of 20 former WAIS gymnasts who have signed a joint submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s review of gymnastics culture in Australia currently underway. …

The Western Australian Institute of Sport shut down its women’s artistic gymnastics program at the end of 2016 after 28 years, following a review that prioritised WA’s contribution “to Australia’s international sporting success”.

Highland Sun

Mary-Anne Monckton and many other gymnasts and coaches have been interviewed.

I visited WAIS in Perth in the 1990s. At the time it was considered one of the top high performance programs in the world.

gymnasts on debilitating periods

Aly Raisman wrote about it.

Coach Veronique Sprenger has spent a lot of time in Africa. You might recall her study of acrobats in Kenya.

In a new post she talks about the challenges faced by girls and women in Ethiopia.

In the year that I have lived in Addis Ababa, I have never seen a tampon in a store.

I have talked to many women and most of them have told me that they always and only use pads and that they are scared of using internal products. That is okay, they do not have to use internal products if they don’t want to. But they should be well-informed about them and they should be available.

Moreover, if pads are not comfortable enough to do sports in, they must be offered an alternative that suits the context, such as period panties. …

Twisting Thoughts – Period
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJoEN_ZFTuy/

Sarah Voss – bodysuit

Thank-you Sarah.

It would be terrific if more gymnasts decide to make this choice in competition.

Some of the German team will be wearing them throughout Euros.

Li Xiaoshuang Gymnastics school

Every Olympics … traditional media pays attention to Gymnastics.

Every Olympics you can predict stories from China featuring very young kids crying and being overstretched.

Tokyo is coming up.

Yet this story from the Li Xiaoshuang Gymnastics School says the focus is now on fun for the children — “happy gymnastics” — rather than the medal-obsessed ways of old.

I hope that’s true.

Inside China’s gymnastics machine: the children training for Olympic glory

ROC (Russian Olympic Committee)

Due to state-backed doping, approved by Putin (I assume), “Russia” will not be competing in Tokyo.

I am happy the athletes were not banned outright as, of course, many did not dope.

… a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling from December which barred Russia’s name, flag, anthem and other national symbols in a package of sanctions over what it deemed Russia’s failure to turn over accurate data from the Moscow drug-testing laboratory.

The team in Tokyo will be officially known not as “Russia,” but as “ROC”, for Russian Olympic Committee. …

Russian athletes had similar limits on their uniforms and symbols at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang …

Russia’s flag banned but national colors on Olympic uniforms

perfectionism is on the rise

Thomas Curran and Andrew Hill’s meta-analysis of rates of perfectionism from 1989 to 2016, the first study to compare perfectionism across generations, found significant increases among more recent undergraduates in the US, UK and Canada.

In other words, the average college student last year was much more likely to have perfectionistic tendencies than a student in the 1990s or early 2000s. …

The Dangerous Downsides of Perfectionism

Perfectionistic tendencies have been linked to clinical issues: depression and anxiety (even in children), self-harm, social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, insomnia, hoarding, dyspepsia, chronic headaches, and, most damning of all, even early mortality and suicide.

Social media has likely compounded some of those problems.

SO — coaches should not encourage kids to be perfect.

Thanks Steve.

Kayla Williams – Sports Law

The 2009 World Vault Champion and Alabama great is now in law school.

She has made use of Tulane’s extensive network of sports law alumni to network, and she joined the Sports Law Society and the Black Law Student Association.

She is sharpening her legal writing skills, she said, and is looking at working as a law clerk for the Athlete Ombuds of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

“There are so many ways to impact athletics and I definitely want to give back to the sport that has given me so much,” she said. “Long-lasting impact. That’s what I’d like to do for my sport.”

She is a World Champion gymnast. Now this Tulane Law student plans to advocate for women in sports. 
Kayla Williams

“Body Image” by Sydney Staier

Maryland athletes, including gymnasts, read Sydney’s important poem.

A good body is one that gets the job done.

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

Sydney wrote that for herself. But when team dietitian, Paula Karamihas, saw it — she recommended it be shared.

Read the poem here.

Dutch coaches for Tokyo

Head Coach: Bram van Bokhoven
Assistant: José van der Veen
Assistant: Aimee Boorman

Bram van Bokhoven is the Men’s National Coach, who accepted the WAG position on an interim basis.

Wevers, Kooistra, Zijp, Kiens and other personal coaches will continue to train the national team members. Some will coach on the floor at Europeans in Switzerland, as well.

If they needed to bring in a neutral, positive coach — Aimee Boorman is a good choice. It sends a message.

Ellie Seitz on WAG competition attire

In an interview, Elisabeth Seitz questioned why female gymnasts can’t wear shorts.

You know, like MEN do.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.