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A conference hosted in Calgary, Alberta, Canada November 6-7, 2008.

The 2008 SPIN Summit will highlight a variety of topics relevant to the practical application of applied sport science and medicine with high performance athletes and coaches. A complete schedule will be available shortly but some of the highlights include:

Supplements in High Performance Sport

Effectively Servicing Decentralized Training Groups

Integrating Sport Science and Medicine with Coaching

Keys to Servicing Developing Athletes

There will be many other sessions including sport psychology, performance technology and sport medicine.

Guest Speakers

Dr. Gord Sleivert, Canadian Sport Centre Pacific
Dr. Arne Gullich, Germany
Dr. David Smith, Canadian Sport Centre Calgary
Dr. Bob McCormick, Chief Medical Officer, 2008 Canadian Olympic Team

Pacific Sport

Jon Pumpkin posted some funny photos.

larger size

see more on flickr

And here’s a cute one posted by .Mrs. Blue:

larger original – flickr

I’m only starting to think about gymnastics after Beijing. About.com Gymnastics posted some of the competitions to look towards.

2008 Stars and Stripes Cup (Trampoline)
Date: October 10-12, 2008
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

2008 Glasgow Grand Prix
Date: October 16-19, 2008
Location: Glasgow, Great Britain

2008 DTB Cup
Date: October 23-26, 2008
Location: Stuttgart, Germany

2008 Arthur Gander Memorial
Date: October 29, 2008
Location: Chiasso, Switzerland

2009 American Cup
Date: February 21, 2009
Location: TBD

2009 National Elite Qualifier (Women)
Date: February 28-March 1, 2009
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida

2009 American Classic (Women)
Date: April 3-5, 2009
Location: TBD

2009 NCAA Championships (Women)
Date: April 16-18, 2009
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska

2009 NCAA Championships (Men)
Date: April 16-18, 2009
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

2009 Junior Olympic Nationals (Men)
Date: May 6-11, 2009
Location: Cincinnati, OH

click through for links to the meets – Upcoming Gymnastics Competitions – About.com

The two NCAA Championships are the same weekend this year. That means I won’t be able to attend both as I have in the past. Dang.

Let’s add 2009 Junior Olympic Nationals (Women) – May dates TBA in Seattle – hosted by Auburn Gymnastics

2009 World Individual Gymnastics Championships
Date: Oct 13th-18. 2009, London, UK

UPDATE: The 3rd European Championships in men’s and women’s individual artistic gymnastics will take place in April 2009 in Milan (in principle from April 21st to 26th).

13th-18th October 2009

The O2 Arena, London

This World Championships — Individual apparatus only — may be something of a letdown as many top Olympians from 2008 will have retired. Nastia says it’s definitely possible she will be there. That would be a huge coup for the media and meet organizers.

Tickets are already available.

I’ve been talking to Tom Kovic of Victory Collegiate Consulting regarding best practice for athletes from around the world to apply for Athletic Scholarship in the NCAA. Tom was for many years a Collegiate coach in the States and is an ideal consultant for coaches, parents and athletes.

Victory can walk you through the entire process. Or simply provide advice and answer questions as you make your own application and video.

Highly recommended.

You should be talking to Tom now if you have athletes looking to go away to College in September 2009.

Victory Collegiate Consulting

mendwillie from Brazil posted an Olympic highlights montage.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

No telling how long this will last before being removed.

Thanks mr solis.

The Tour in the States kicked off in Reno, Nevada.

Inside Gymnastics has a 6 page write-up including some interesting athlete interviews. I especially liked those with Jonathan Horton:

… “So far, they’ve treated us like rock stars,” Horton said. “It’s great, and not like my normal life at all. I don’t think I really realized how many people watch the Olympics until I got home and started being approached, just, everywhere. I can’t even go to a restaurant without someone asking for an autograph and it’s like, ‘How do you know me?’ It takes a minute to realize they watched me on TV. …

Gymnast celebrities. How about that.

… they’ll rack up 13,011 miles during 38 exhibition performances in 70 days on the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars. …

Hitting The Road – Inside Gymnastics

Kids often bring cupcakes to gym on their birthday. Either to celebrate with their team … or get their coaches to overeat.

I’m often tempted to ban the cupcake tradition.

… but these ones are OK.

larger original – flickr – Ally Cake Designs

A new blog, THE COUCH GYMNAST, gave a tribute to the most artistic of Artistic Gymnasts:

… dedicated to the girls who were the best at putting stuff between the tumbles!

Lilia Podkopaeva

Anna Pavlova

Svetlana Khorkina

Dasha Joura

Tasha Schwikert

Mo Huilan

Lavinia Milosovici

Oksana Omelianchik

Ludmilla Tourischeva

Henrietta Onodi

Isabelle Severino

Camilla Voinea

Svetlana Boginskaya

Putting the “artistic” in “artistic gymnastics” – The Couch Gymnast

Click PLAY or watch Oksana Omelianchik 1985 World Championships Floor on YouTube.

Gone, gone are the days when choreographers could put together a routine that wildly original and entertaining.

Hinsdale Central in Chicago was the most famous pommel horse gym in the world at one time.

Their most famous “name” is Ted Marcy, the man I still credit as the inventor of the “flair” or “scissor break”.

(Canadian Phillip Delasalle followed, first competing it Internationally in Russia. And, finally, Kurt Thomas made it famous with his own variation.)

Hinsdale celebrated 50 years of Gymnastics Excellence at the Canino Invitational April 4th 2008. (Video of the alumni, competitors.)

From the 50th Reunion:

… “Before still rings, there was flying rings. And before free exercise, there was tumbling,” he said.

“Someone would push to get you started on rings and you’d have to do your tricks swinging back and forth. It looked like a circus act. There was a 30-foot approach onto a 60-foot mat in tumbling. The trick was to stay on the mat. It wasn’t easy. …

Ted Marcy, who won two state pommel-horse titles and still holds the school’s individual record with 9.75 in 1972, has prior commitments.

“I saw a lot of guys when I came in for Krupicka’s retirement a few years ago,” said Marcy, now a noted pulmonary doctor at the University of Vermont Hospital. “It was a wonderful time, seeing a lot of guys I hadn’t seen in years. I’m sure the reunion will be just as exciting.”

Assistant coach Bull introduced Marcy to the pommel horse when Marcy was a slight freshman.

“He saw how hard I was working, but he didn’t want me to get hurt so he put me on the horse and said, ‘Here’s something you can do,’ ” Marcy said. “I really admire the all-around guys. Their events scared me to death, especially the rings. I couldn’t get up on the horse today.”

Tom Truedson, who starred on pommel horse while at the University of Oregon, credits Marcy and Canino with shaping his life in the practice room, which fondly is known as the Yellow Submarine.

…

“Coach Krupicka will always deserve credit,” Marcy said.

Central to celebrate 50 gymnastics years

Coach Donny Gardiner trained at Hinsdale in those years. I’ll ask him about the glory days.

Leave a comment if you know more about that famous program.