New Gymnastics Coaching book by Hisayoshi Takahashi 

Hisayoshi Takahashi has been coaching in Canada for decades.


This one is inspired by books written by Professor Emeritus Kaneko Akitomo of the University of Tsukuba, who passed away on December 24, 2024.

While he was a professor at Tsukuba University, Kaneko had coached Endo Yukio, the Olympic individual all-around champion in gymnastics, and Kato Sawao, a two-time consecutive Olympic individual all-around champion.

Coach Hisayoshi Takahashi has many more books on Amazon.

This one is text only.

It’s a dense read recommended for keen Gymnastics coaches, mainly Men’s Gymnastics.

There are a number of spelling mistakes, most notably on Gymnastics skill names. Perhaps some spell checker changed some into English words.

The focus is on kinaesthesia and proprioception — what the gymnast feels and sees when learning and performing skills.

My first Japanese coach, Shiro Tanaka, did the same. It’s part of the Japanese coaching tradition.

I would say this kind of skill-based, very individual, approach is not a system.

Personally, I prefer the movement pattern approach based on biomechanics popularized by Professor Keith Russell. That’s a system. One approach for every gymnast, later personalizing technique based on body size, physical abilities, psychology, etc.

Takahashi has coached in Canada for decades and names Keith Russell and Hardy Fink as two of his influences, I should say.

That distinction made, there are certainly observations and tips that any Gymnastics coach would appreciate. Jot those down as you go.

Available only in digital format.

How to Become a Top-Class Athlete in Competitive Sports (2025)

controversial Béla Károlyi

Getting over the shock of Béla’s death at only age-82, many are still wrestling with conflicting emotions about the legendary coach.

YES he inspired many around the world. YES he helped popularize the sport in the USA.

But many, many gymnasts were injured and psychologically damaged by the Károlyi system which I would call unscientific and unsafe.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Béla Károlyi was never convicted of any crime. You might argue that he escaped justice many times.

GymCastic has always done a good job covering the controversies. Listen to this PODCAST episode if you want to know more:

The Legacy of Bela Karolyi

WADA bungled Chinese swimming dope scandal

The World Anti-Doping Agency did not — I believe — follow their own procedures correctly.

In April 2024, the Doping Investigations Unit of German broadcaster ARD released a documentary revealing the details of 28 positive tests for the banned heart-booster returned by 23 Chinese swimmers.[52].

All were declared “no fault” cases after Chinada reported to WADA that a mass contamination event had accounted for the adverse findings. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

video skills with 4 cameras simultaneously

One exciting update to the NEW iPad Pro announced yesterday is this feature called Live Multicam.

It could make video analysis of skills faster and easier.

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 app will come free with the new iPad.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

2024 USAG Hall of Fame

  • Alexander “Sasha” Artemev – Men’s artistic Olympic team bronze medalist, two-time World Championships bronze medalist, five-time U.S. champion
  • Jana Bieger – 2008 Olympic alternate, three-time World Championships silver medalist in women’s artistic
  • Ivana Hong – 2008 Olympic alternate, World bronze medalist in women’s artistic
  • Dr. William “Bill” Sands – longtime professor and sports scientist, former Director of Research and Development for USAG, Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Savannah Vinsant – 2012 Olympian, three-time U.S. trampoline champion
  • Youri Vorobyev – Coach of multiple World champions and medalists, six-time USAG Acrobatic Coach of the Year honoree

USA Gymnastics announces 2024 Hall of Fame class

FIG eLearning platform – a review

As one of the authors of the Canadian WAG & MAG coach education online platform materials, I am impressed with what FIG has done with theirs.

It’s inevitable that eventually all our resources will be digital. Only a few of those printed.

Every organization is struggling with how BEST to move online.

FIG has challenges:  8 disciplines x 3 languages.

NEW is a requirement that all coaches in an FIG competition must get their Safeguarding Certificate by December 1, 2023.

The FIG is happy to announce that the Safeguarding Online Course is now available on the eLearning Platform. As approved by the Executive Committee in March 2023, the purpose of this course is to provide all coaches with a Safeguarding Certificate and therefore give them the tools they need to ensure a safe environment in Gymnastics.

This course is mandatory for all coaches registered in the FIG Coach – Sport Database, and the deadline to comply with this requirement is 1 December 2023. After this date, coaches who did not comply will see their registration pending until they obtain a Safeguarding Certificate.

via email

The guidelines are available here:


Step is to register for the FIG E-learning platform. Anyone can do this.

There is a LOT of free content in all disciplines for anyone who registers:

  • Age Group Development Program VIDEOS and ROUTINES
    • Safeguarding
    • Ethics
    • Anti-doping
    • Webinars
    • More …

Create NEW Account

Enter your email address and choose a password.


Step is to have your national Federation create a “Coach – Sport” profile in the FIG database for you.

Only those coaches who are planning to compete in an FIG sanctioned meet need their Federation to create a “Coach – Sport” profile in the FIG database, however.

coach education – concussion

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here are those resources. (FREE registration required.)

Olympians talk SLEEP

  • Rhys McClenaghan
  • Bryony Page
  • Max Whitlock

Sleep and recovery are super important for all high performance athletes.

Click through for some tips:

World Sleep Day: Olympians share techniques used to optimise performance

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Olympic Studies Centre, Switzerland

In Lausanne, Switzerland.

And online. Open to everyone 24 hours / day:

Library.Olympics.com

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

SPIN Summit 2022, Vancouver

December 7-9, 2022 in Richmond, B.C.

The SPort INnovation (SPIN) Summit is Canada’s leading edge symposium for professional development and networking in the areas of applied sport science, sports medicine, and innovation.

This annual conference combines experts from around the globe to build knowledge and skills to support Olympic and Paralympic sport success through applied scientific research.

Registration deadline – November 30, 2022