tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
Look who has quietly climbed to 4th position on GymInfo:
Always a contender, it’s time people start talking about how high U-M can finish this year.
They are a perfect 9-0 with some serious numbers. Congratulations to Head Coach Beverly Plocki and everyone on the team.
larger original – flickr – HologramOfLife
What would coach Dave Adlard of Funtastics Gymnastics, Idaho have to say?
(Leave a comment below if you can fill in the blank.)
I’ll be out, as usual, for Dave’s competition Feb. 22-24th – the Great West Gym Fest.
Slightly more famous celebrities attending include Linda Metheny-Mulvihill (1964, 68, 72 Olympics), Joyce Tanac-Schroeder (68 Olympics), Stoyan Deltchev (80 Olympics), Shannon Miller (92, 96 Olympics), Jaycie Phelps-McClure (96 Olympics), Carly Patterson (2004 Olympic Champion) and David Durante, 2007 National Champion.
Another in a series by Rawles attempting, with difficulty, to explain the new FIG rules. They are very confusing.
Though Rawles jokingly refers to her blog as “an open book of hate”, it’s clear she loves beam. The post includes video, analysis and opinion on some of the top routines in the world.
All beam coaches should check the comments, as well. It’s a very controversial apparatus, at the moment.
original – flickr – Raphael Goetter
Related posts:
Last week I made the pilgrimage to one of the most famous gyms in the States.
Just a few Husker greats of the past: Phil Cahoy, Jim Hartung, Steve Elliott, Scott Johnson, Wes Suter, Kevin Davis, Patrick Kirksey, Dennis Harrison, Richard Grace, Marshall Nelson.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Men’s Gymnastics. Under the tutelage of the winningest active head coach in NCAA history, Francis Allen, the Husker men have placed first or second at the NCAA championships 15 of the last 24 years, advancing to the team finals on 16 occasions.
Of the current team, I knew best Canadian Stephen Tétrault who’s now a Senior and a leader. As with their women’s team, Nebraska has been popular with Canadians over the years including 1999 NCCA Champion Jason Hardabura.
Jim Hartung is one of the Assistant Coaches now. What goes around, comes around.
I’ll wear my Huskers Gymnastics t-shirt with pride.
I haven’t seen Florida yet this year, the most exciting team last season, IMHO.
They rocked the house this weekend:
Florida reacts to hearing its winning total of 197.925 – the nation’s top score of 2008.
… Tonight’s meet was the Second Annual Gators Link to Pink, part of the Southeastern Conference’s initiative to help raise awareness about breast cancer. The Gators wore bright pink leotards and much of the crowd wore pink to show their support for the fight against breast cancer.
Thinking back over the years, most of the gymnastics “spectacles” were lame at best, embarrassing at worst, from the point of view of a gymnastics coach. Watered-down difficulty. Goofy costumes. (The General Public often appreciates these shows, however.)
From Sports Girls Play:
Tylenol Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular
This past week the Tylenol Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular was televised. The event featured nine world class gymnasts, nine world class ice skaters and Chinese pianist, Lang Lang. Here is video of the finale:
The gymnasts featured were: Nastia Liukin, Catalina Ponor, Paul Hamm, Jonathan Horton, Kevin Tan, Raj Bhavsar, Ivan Ivankov, and the acro team of Arthur Davis and Shenea Booth. The ice skaters included: Shizuka Arakawa, Evgeni Plushenko, Xue Shen, Hongbo Zho, Surya Bonaly, Michael Weiss, Yuka Sato, Violetta Afanasieva and Peter Dack.
What do you think of these types of “sport meets show†events? Personally, I think they are a wonderful way to expose larger audiences to the sports while giving the athletes an avenue to continue performing.
I hate to admit it, but this one looks pretty good. The local paper in Oklahoma gave it a good review too.
I like the live piano of Lang Lang. And the somersaults shown by ice skaters.
Thumbs up.
At just 2ft 9in, Indian muscleman Aditya ‘Romeo’ Dev is the world’s smallest bodybuilder.
Pint-sized Romeo is well-known in his hometown of Phagwara, India …
Unlike many dwarfs, Romeo is well proportioned, with a head circumference of 15in and a chest measurement of 20in.
Romeo said: “I’ve been training as a bodybuilder for the last two years and by now I think I must be the strongest dwarf in the world.
When I coached in Saskatchewan, a rural area, the kids used something called Udder Balm on their hands to speed the healing of rips. “It’s a very good emollient”, I was told.
From the Chicago Style competition:
It all started out, about 100 years ago, with a product they called UDDER BALM or UDDER CREAM. It was made for Dairy Farmers, to soften and protect their cow’s udders, which became painfully cracked and dry from extreme weather conditions and milking.
Soon after Farmers began using UDDER BALM, they noticed that it not only held the answer to Soft, Smooth Skin for their Cows, but also was softening, protecting and giving relief to their own skin as well. …
Until now, only a limited number of people, through word-of-mouth alone, have actually heard of and/or used UDDER BALM. Those who know and use it swear by it and still probably purchase it through their local veterinarian.
In 2004, Sales R Us. Inc., after hearing about the miraculous results of Udder Balm on animals and farm owners, decided it was time to develop a Premium Blend Udder Balm that would be especially made for PEOPLE!
The result is an exciting new product called ULTRA-BALM.
I saw the much maligned President on TV.
“I’m going to the Olympics. I view the Olympics as a sporting event.”
On Wednesday, movie director Steven Spielberg resigned as artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics, citing concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, which he linked to China.
Bush said in the interview that what Spielberg did was “up to him”.
“I’m not gonna go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way,” Bush said, adding that he has “a little different platform” to Spielberg to communicate with Chinese leaders. …
It’s not often I agree with George Bush. But in this case, he’s right to go.
Dialogue is better than boycott. I still feel rotten about Olympians forced to boycott Moscow 1980, L.A. 1984 and the other boycotts.
Olympic swimmer Dean Kent from New Zealand just wants to compete:
“I’ve had so many friends who trained all their lives to make it to the Olympics and miss out, and then for people to expect us to be worrying about anything other than enjoying the experience peeves me a bit.
“If they want to protest about it, fine – they can come over and do it. But it seems like people are trying to use athletes and the Olympics as a stage to politicise problems people have in their own countries.â€
I should add that I respect Spielberg’s decision too. He’s an honourable, intelligent guy who’s doing what he feels is morally right.
Recall that organizers of the 2007 Pan American Games banned blogging during the event:
To placate TV, athletes and coaches will not be allowed to blog from the Games. No MySpace. No Facebook. No YouTube. No Flickr.
That stupid decision was so unenforceable that when I later (on Facebook) asked athletes about the regulations, they told me they had never even been informed of the ban.
The International Olympic Committee, by comparison, has taken, for them, a surprisingly enlightened position. Even I can live with these regulations:
GENEVA — Let the blogging begin.
The IOC has given athletes the right to blog at the Beijing Games this summer, a first for the Olympics, as long as they follow the many rules it set to protect copyright agreements, confidential information and security.
Blogging is a “legitimate form of personal expression,” the International Olympic Committee said.
The IOC said blogs by athletes “should take the form of a diary or journal” and should not contain any interviews with other competitors at the games. They also should not write about other athletes.
“It is required that, when accredited persons at the games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience,” the IOC said.
The debate over blogging has been a difficult one for the IOC, which has been concerned that the online journals might infringe on copyright agreements or release confidential information during the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics.
Bloggers are prevented from posting audio clips or videos of “any Olympic events, including sporting action, opening, closing and medal ceremonies or other activities which occur within any zone which requires an Olympic identity and accreditation card [or ticket] for entry.”
Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events. …
Athletes allowed to blog from Beijing, with restrictions – ESPN
More details after the link.
This will be the best Olympics ever for those of us who like the personal perspective delivered by athletes and coaches themselves.
(via Straight to the Bar)
I wonder what the Chinese organizers think of this decision. China bans many of the popular blogging sites. Olympians may need to email their photos and text out of the country to be uploaded by friends and family.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 