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Another good article on USolympicteam.com

I’ve seen gymnastics coaches who love to take the credit when a gymnast does something right:

“WE did a fantastic Tkachev.”

But are quick to blame the athlete when something goes wrong.

In general, coaches of female gymnasts are too controlling. They try to continue coaching 13-year-olds they same way they coached the girls at age-9.

That’s not the best or most efficient strategy. As gymnasts get older, they must make more and more of the decisions. We are preparing them for life, as well as gymnastics.

Not only do we have to “let go” of control. But each athlete is individual. Some 13-year-olds can make good decisions for themselves and are self-motivated. Some 15-year-olds want you to yell at them for “motivation”.

Reuters – China Daily

Five Tips

You can start teaching your athlete to be self-reliant with simple ideas that can be done in practice, such as:

Don’t over analyze—if they can remember three things that you tell them to do—that is amazing.

Have them describe what happened, instead of you telling them what happened. If they didn’t like what happened ask them what they would do differently—don’t accept “I dunno”.

Design practices so that you don’t do the same skill over and over again (block practice) but make it random … mix it up … the variability makes the athlete think much like they would in a game.

Stop workouts and ask them questions. How did it feel or I noticed this happened, why do you think that is?

Don’t give constant feedback—tell them what the purpose of the workout is—let them work on it. Let them experiment and give constructive feedback after 5, 10 or 15 tries. If you do it every time, they learn to rely on you and not on themselves. …

read the rest of this article By Catherine Sellers- USOC Coaching – DEVELOPING A SELF-RELIANT ATHLETE

Here’s the YouTube version of the Cirque du Soleil’s casting website intro video.

Cirque du Soleil casting

There’s an audition scheduled in Montreal on Monday, April 27, 2009.

The relevant categories of talent for these auditions are:

Floor Acrobatics
Aerial Acrobatics
Manipulation
Balance
Others

… details

(disclosure – I love Cirque du Soleil)

Added by Tom Bertrand to the event “National Handstand Day” on Facebook.

Leane Grant plans to make this an annual event.

I was happy to see that gymnasts from my club participated. (They were in a shopping mall.)

Lawrence Yang, an artist, was inspired by the “lopsided” new sugar water logo.

larger version

(via treehugger)

by site editor Rick McCharles

This is one of the few interactive gymnastics websites where a regular commenter who goes by the name TCO … or, more recently, as apolytongp … has not been “banned” or, at least, edited.

At a key stroke I could ban him too.

But I don’t want to at this time.

He’s boring. Repetitious.

An Amerocentric war monger.

A gymnastics substance abuse conspiracy theorist.

On the other hand, apolytongp’s many times been first to find gymnastics stories on the internet. He’s passionate. We’ve had some very good conversations online.

The internet is all about giving EVERYONE an equal voice. Even apolytongp. He’s trying to limit the profanity on my request. I appreciate that.

I just wish he’d start his own blog. We’d all then be able to leave our comments there.

Note that the comments are pretty much “buried” on this site. Most people don’t read them. I rarely read comments on sites other than this one, especially YouTube.

That Floor routine everyone is talking about — Steven Legendre — was originally posted by Don Eckert of saltocafe on YouTube.

The most difficult ever performed under the new code, I reckon. (UPDATE: No time limit in NCAA competition.)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That’s 16.7 start, 16.9 if he does whip -> 2.5 twist as he originally intended. Right?

NICK calculates only 16.6….F(6)-F(6)-[C+D](3+1+4)-B(2)-C(3)-[D+C](4+1+3)-C(3)-E(5)=4.1+2.5+10=16.6

UPDATE: From Geoffrey Taucer:

Actually, Nick’s off by one tenth; according to the latest NGJA interperetations release, the value they’ve given the DLO 5/2 is a G, not an F. Otherwise, his calculations appear to be accurate (assuming the final pass is an arabian double pike and not an arabian double lay; which is probably an accurate assumption).

This would put the start value of this routine at 16.7.

Don Eckert posts by far the most interesting gymnastics videos on the internet. And now he’s sponsored by Gibson (Mats, Beam, Bars, Grips, …)

See all 142 videos (so far) on the Gibson Saltocafe YouTube page. Subscribe. Comment. And link to those videos.

… Shawn and Teri Johnson will be leaving for Los Angeles this week. They’ll be moving into an apartment in Hollywood, where Shawn will work with Ballas.

Teri left her job in the West Des Moines school district. Her husband, Doug, a trim-finish carpenter, will stay behind to work and fly in to watch her compete.

“We’re pretty much moving out there for as long as she’s on the show,” Teri said. “I don’t feel we’re Hollywood folks. I guess we’ll find out.”

…

If Shawn decides to try for London, maybe this experience will help her “artistic presentation,” as the experts say.

“Ultimately,” Teri said, “this could be a huge benefit for her. She’s never concentrated on her grace and flexibility before.” …

Medals, tour, ‘Dancing’ turn Johnson, 17, into an old pro

Do people return to Iowa after moving to HOLLYWOOD?

Zamarripa Perfect Again On Vault As UCLA Wins Quad Meet

Watch the video.

Not quite as perfect as the first one. But good enough for 10.0 in the NCAA.

UPDATE: watch the video.

Steven Legendre’s FX (13 twists, 11 flips in total!)

See if you can count the flips and twists!

There are no names yet for the Hypolito variations he’s added. (with double twist, and full twist in layout)

There’s no doubt that the WOGA product, now training at OU has the most difficult Floor routine in the world. He’s BIG and STRONG.

Seems a shame the code motivates him to include a relatively easy whip double twist. It was intended to be whip 2.5 twist.

OU bio – Steven Legendre

Sister, Jessica, is a member of the OU softball team.

Feb. 21st in Chicago.

Normally this showcase of American gymnastics is a bit of a let down. More sizzle than steak.

And the women’s field is not all that strong this year:

Brittany Rogers, Canada
Youna Dufournet, France
Kim Bui, Germany
Rebecca Downie, Great Britain
Koko Tsurumi, Japan
Amelia Racea, Romania
Kristina Goryunova, Russia
Bridget Sloan, USA
Jordyn Wieber, USA
Jessica Lopez, Venezuela

I have already spoken on my excitement about Bridget (paticularly since reports that she’s been training a front triple twist!) and I’m sure Jordyn will do fine. It’s also nice to see Jessica Lopez back as I felt her floor was a standout last year. Plus, Koko Tsurumi is always good to see and Brittany Rogers is one of Canada’s outstanding new seniors. But I have to say that the person I am most excited about (hopefully) getting a peek at this comp is Becky Downie. …

perfection is possible

I too find myself more interested than usual, I think because it’s the first Scam American Cup of the quadrennial. Let’s see “what’s new” for this cycle. Is Wieber the next big American star?

Click PLAY or watch the TV commercial on YouTube.

official home page

The Men’s meet just might be excellent. Hagerty is in shape. If the international competitors are, as well, it should be interesting.