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Tumble Tots is the “biggest mobile gym franchise” in the UK.

It’s worth looking at this successful business model which does reach out internationally:

Tumble Tots has been operating a successful Franchise Network since 1979 and many franchisees have benefited from the opportunity. To see what they have to say about Tumble Tots and the difference being a Tumble Tots Franchisee has made to their lives, read on…

Franchise Opportunities

Recommended from the Tumble Tots shop are the Sing-a-Long Action Song CDs.

Tumble Tots UK Programmes structured to develop children’s positive personality traits including confidence and self-esteem. | Home

(via Preschool Gymnastics)

Consider giving a week of gymnastics camp as a gift to that special someone. One of three Camp Woodward locations, for example. It’s a great motivator for athletes and coaches.

I plan to be back for my 4th year at Woodward West in 2008. That’s a gym camp in paradise.

Most of the videos I’ve posted have been of incredible Charlie Tamayo, but Woodward is for all levels of ability.

Coach Don Eckert posted a clip tagged: “A little bit of everything about Woodward West …”

Click PLAY or watch the Saltocafe video on YouTube.

Tip:

I love single leg squats. But there is a slight risk of injury to the supporting knee. Better to balance with one or two hands when you train them from stand.

… Lift one leg directly in front of you, parallel with the floor (leg should be straight). Bend the supporting leg 90 degrees and press back up. Hands should be used only for balance and NOT for assistance in returning to a standing position. Repeat the exercise on the other leg.

From the GymSports New Zealand November 2007 newsletter (PDF) – Coaching | NZ Gymnastics

I will be helping coordinate the video crew at the Canadian National Team Selection Meet, Elite Canada, held in Abbotsford this weekend.

Contact Louise Demers at ldemers @ gymnastics.bc.ca if you want to come join us as a volunteer at the big meet.

After much research, I bought myself a new camcorder and will be testing it out at the competition.

Panasonic HDC-SD5 Hi-Definition Palmcorder Camcorder BUNDLE

The new Panasonic HDC-SD5 uses the brand new AVCHD format to record full-HD video with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. Instead of DVD or mini-DV tapes, it records directly onto SDHC/SD Memory Cards.

It debuts as the world’s smallest palm-style 3CCD full-HD camcorder. Small enough for me to carry on my hip in the gym.

You can swap Memory cards to keep filming while simultaneously burning that footage to DVD or put it on your laptop for editing.

Japanese gymnasts finished first and second at the 12th annual Liukin Invitational, held Saturday night at WOGA in Plano, Texas.

Shogo Otsuki of Saitama Sakae High School won the all-around over compatriot Hojo Yodai, 87.300-86.900. Otsuki also won floor exercise.

U.S. junior national team member Danell Leyva placed third all-around with 86.850, edging Japan’s Yamamoto Masayoshi (86.750) and Ito Go (86.650).

The Houston Gymnastics Academy won a close team competition, edging the Japanese national team, 177.800-177.350. USOTC and Saitama Sakae tied for third with 173.200.

full results – International GYMNAST Magazine Online

Have you seen this innovative device?

Gym-Trix Inc. has recently received patent approval for our NEW spring loaded balance beam. The combination of internal steel springs and a completely movable top create a “Spring Floor” action for the entire working surface of the beam.

Gym-Trix

Sounds like a good idea to me. I wonder how it compares with the much-less-expensive air beam from TumblTrak.

Leave a comment if you’ve tried either. Or have an opinion on “extra springy” beam training.

Decades ago coaches built beams out of bamboo to accomplish the same thing.

Former gymnast Sang Lan became a real celebrity in China, hosting her own show, Sang Lan Olympics 2008. She’s been signed as host for a new talk show.

Sang was an ambassador for Beijing’s successful 2008 Olympics bid and has been selected as an Olympic relay torchbearer. She’s smart, competent and very ambitious.

I’m hoping she is one of those who light the torch. That would be great.
She thinks so too.

… Sang has been bound to a wheelchair ever since she suffered severe spinal injuries during the Goodwill Games in New York in 1998. She has never given up her desire to remain active: in 2003, she became a TV sport anchorwoman owing to her being a student of journalism at Peking University; recently she was awarded the title of “accessibility ambassador.”

A torchbearer for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Sang believes that the Paralympic torch relay is as important as the torch relay for the Olympics for conveying the Olympic spirit to all people. …

Sang Lan calls for a more accessible Beijing – The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

I am reluctant to post this video clip.

Several stunts included are not smart. I don’t like seeing simple skills done in a very dangerous place. Show me extremely difficult acrobatics in a relatively safe place.

Bad injuries will ruin the reputation of free running and Parkour.

On the other hand, some of the stunts included are “best I’ve ever seen”. Very cool. And very smart.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via JumpClub)

You may have seen other news stories regarding Steve Infante, a gymnastics coach banned by USA Gymnastics years ago, being brought to trial.

This is the most comprehensive article I’ve seen yet:

Now Infante, 51, and Infante’s friend – well-known Massachusetts coach Steve DiTullio, 53 – are at the heart of an investigation into allegations that the men sought to have sex with their teenage gymnasts. Angry that the two men were still coaching, some of Infante’s and DiTullio’s former athletes – now women in their 20s and 30s – began contacting authorities last year. Following statements by two of the women, Infante was charged with two counts of rape and DiTullio with perjury last month in Middlesex Superior Court. They have pleaded not guilty.

read the detailed story – Ex-coaches accused of abuse – The Boston Globe

Infante is innocent until proven guilty. But if proven guilty, lock him up and throw away the key.

I first heard this in Australia. Now an Oregon paper cites statistics from a USA survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

From 2000-06, overall participation in gymnastics declined 25.5 percent while participating in cheerleading increased 11.3 percent,

Does that ring true where you live?

Cheer was late coming to my town, but it’s booming now.

… Last April, Metro joined a growing number of gymnastics gyms adding competitive cheerleading programs. Now, it has more than 200 kids enrolled in cheer classes or practicing with teams. …

Offering the fun of tumbling with less stress and practice time, competitive cheer is the new gymnastics.

Gymnastics stagnates

At Oregon high schools, the demise of girls gymnastics and the rise of cheer was like a handoff: The Oregon School Activities Association held its last gymnastics state championship in 1983 and its first competitive cheer championship in 1984.

…

It’s difficult to say whether athletes increasingly are leaving gymnastics for competitive cheer or whether cheer is merely giving them a place to land when their bodies grow too big or battered for the demands of gymnastics.

But participation trends and coaches’ anecdotes suggest a heavy crossover between the sports, both of which are overwhelmingly female.

“When I talk to (gymnastics) club coaches, they say that they’re losing a lot of kids to cheerleading,” Maryland competitive cheer coach Jarnell Bonds said. “And they’re sort of bitter about that.”

Meanwhile, colleges have slashed men’s gymnastics programs in the past 25 years — from 51 Division I teams in 1982 to 17 in 2006 — both to help them comply with the Title IX federal gender-equity law and focus support on potential cash cows such as football and men’s basketball.

Women’s college gymnastics has suffered, too, victimized by the high cost of specialized equipment and training. Division I college women’s teams dropped from 99 teams in 1982 to 65 in 2006.

read the entire article – Competitive cheer is No. 1! – OregonLive.com

Many gymnastics people dislike and are even resentful of cheer. They see it as an inferior sport requiring less skill and fitness. Only grudgingly are gymnasts willing to admit that cheer is a real sport. That cheerleaders are improving madly.

There should be no conflict. I agree with Steve Penney who was quoted later in the article:

… (the) president/CEO of USA Gymnastics, the sport’s governing body, said cheer and gymnastics complement each another.

“If you look at cheerleading today, especially competitive cheerleading, there’s a lot of tumbling, there’s a lot of gymnastics-related skill that you’ve got to have,” Penny said. “So cheerleading almost requires a gymnastics background these days.”

He also said gymnastics gyms offer a safe place for cheerleaders to learn tumbling skills.

I want all kids to start gymnastics and trampoline in a quality club, and later specialize into Artistic, T&T, Cheer or any of two dozen other acrobatic and fitness specialties. The gymnastics club is the starting point.

Thanks to Doug Davis of TumblTrak who mentioned this story in his monthly newsletter.