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Obvious, but important, information from Abid Hussain. This article might be useful to distribute to parents. A brief summary:

1.) Make sure you are wearing the appropriate attire. Flapping clothes, dangling jewelry and body piercings can get caught in equipment, scratch or cut the gymnast, as well as other people.

2.) Be serious during practice. Be aware that horsing around and other rough and tumble games can cause injuries, especially in areas where people are practicing and it is not safe to goof off.

3.) Youngsters with long hair should tie it back or secure it under a bandanna so it does not get in the eyes or get caught in the equipment.

4.) Gum is a no-no during practice or competition; it can easily become stuck in a gymnasts throat or windpipe during performances.

…

read more – Gymnastic Injuries

Another good point is to disallow MP3 players during practice. In New Zealand I saw older gymnasts checking their phone text messages between rotations. NOT a good idea.

This article came from Gymnastics Rescue, a site I’ve just started investigating.

Josh Centor founded Double-A Zone, the NCAA blog, in November 2006. Josh was named NCAA coordinator of new media communications in April.

Racial diversity in coaching is still a big issue in the NCAA. Josh’s recent post:

The Black Coaches’ Association released its annual hiring report card on Tuesday, and the results weren’t anything to cheer about. Although the 11 schools that received “A” grades for their hiring practices was a record high, the 10 that received failing marks also set a new, less appealing precedent. …

Details on College football coach hirings …Double-A Zone

That article got me thinking about racial diversity in gymnastics coaching here in North America.

I have coach friends of many ethnicities and nationalities. In fact, I would say, in general, that minorities are disproportionately well represented in Canada and the USA.

Do we get a positive report card for diversity?

… Next issue: Are women paid equally to men? Do women have equal opportunity to be hired for Head Coaching positions?

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Many have been inspired by the great NCAA gymnast April Burkholder.

Media Credit: JOEY BORDELON / The Daily Reveille – link

The most decorated gymnast in LSU history … Earned a school record 14 All-America honors – three on the vault, beam, floor and in the all-around and two on the bars … Two-time SEC and NCAA Central Region Gymnast of the Year (2004 and 2005) … Earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2003 … Four-time All-SEC selection (2003-06) … Just the second gymnast in LSU history to earn all-conference honors each of her four seasons, joining Jennifer Woods who did so from 1993-96.

LSU official bio

Is April the first gymnast to have her own bobblehead doll?

Has scored the second most 10.00’s in school history, recording eight overall – four on the floor, two on vault and two on the beam …

April Burkholder bobblehead on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Leave a comment if you know of any other gymnast bobbleheads.

I saw on CNN that T.I.P. (Teamwork Is Perfection) won the crew division at the Sony Ericsson UK B-Boy Championships over a team from Russia.

While looking for highlights of that performance I stumbled on to this video of another Korean team called Extrem Crew.

It’s both the best and best edited of any hip hop dance video I’ve ever seen.

Don’t miss this one.

Daily Motion.

UPDATE – CNN video of T.I.P. winning in London

We’ve already linked to Perfect 10’s World Championships Review Part 1 – the GOOD.

Now …

THE BAD

US Women’s leotards

Cheng Fei’s new Floor music

Vanessa Ferrari’s Comaneci salto on bars

Vanessa Ferrari… injured, tired?

Ksenia Semenova’s win on bars over Nastia Liukin

Ekaterina Kramarenko’s disaster on vault in team final

Li Shanshan’s fall on her full turn in the beam final

Australian Women’s team performance

Read the details on perfect 10 » World Championships Review, Part 2.

Good list. Happily short.

Overall, Worlds was a surprisingly good competition considering the demands of the new code. I expect the number of falls will decrease as the girls stabilize their routines for the Olympics.

World Champion 2006 Ferrari

I still feel Ferrari is the gymnast to beat for Beijing. Needless to say, the American and Chinese girls will have her in their sights.

The U.S. Women’s World Championships Team that won the team title and 2007 world all-around champion Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines, Iowa, were chosen as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Co-Team of the Month and Female Athlete of the Month, respectively, for September for their accomplishments at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. The 2007 world team champions tied in team voting with the U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestling World Championships Team.

The U.S. women won the team gold medal, just the second ever for the USA and the first team title won at a World Championships held outside of the United States. The U.S. Women’s Team brought home seven medals total – four gold, two silver and one bronze – from the World Championships for its most successful performance ever at a team world championships. By finishing in the top 12, the U.S. women qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Johnson is just one of four U.S. women to win the coveted world all-around title, joining Kim Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993-94) and Chellsie Memmel (2005). …

News: U.S. Women’s Team, Johnson take USOC monthly honors

Thanks John Smith, NASA.

Not the first question on my mind.

But here you are …

Oct 15 is Blog Action Day. Bloggers are asked to post something to do with the environment…

Personally I am skeptical as to the wisdom of the mad rush towards anything GREEN.

What do you think?

Leave a comment below.

I’ve moaned for years about the lack of opportunity for adults to do gymnastics in Calgary.

Last year one of the clubs dropped their adult program.

But this year one club added a program — Stampede City and now Jodie Bevis confirms Gymtastics (Tuesday nights 8:45-10PM) is running adult.

There’s more adult gym — at least 4 clubs in a city of 1 million — than ever before.

Is this a trend anywhere else?

By the way, I must say (again) how much I like the Gymtastics website and branding. Congratulations to owner Darlene “the bean” Fedyna. She’s built her club from nothing to one of the programs we all want to emulate.

more photos

It helps Darlene that she competes in the marketplace against clubs governed by elected Boards of Directors. Darlene can make bold decisions far more easily than can volunteer trustees. It’s the biggest weakness of the socialist Canadian gymnastics model.

Stuntman Wayne Michael’s bungie jump as Jame Bond from a 220m dam in GoldenEye was voted the best movie stunt of all time in one 2002 poll:

The jaw-dropping 750ft plunge beat scenes from classics such as Ben Hur and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to top the Sky Movies poll.

GoldenEye opens with Pierce Brosnan’s 007 leaping from the dam attached to the bungee cord.

007’s bungee jump tops best movie stunt poll

No doubt you can name better movie stunts.

But can you name another you can duplicate yourself?

Head for the Verzasca dam in Switzerland if you want to be like Bond, James Bond.

This, one of the highest commercial jumps in the world, is run by Trekking Outdoor Team.

For fun click PLAY to watch the “GoldenEye” Theatrical Trailer on YouTube.

Rick McCharles

Just getting prepared for my 4 sessions for Region 2 Gymnastics Congress (R2R), Spokane, Washington October 19—21, 2007.

Computers and the internet for coaches

Are computers just time-wasters? Or can they help you do a better job in the gym?

Have more FUN in the gym (the “science of fun”)

The Canadian gymnastics philosophy is Fun, Fitness, Fundamentals. First priority is Fun.

An overview of dozens of activities that will make your gym a happier, more productive place.

Video presentation: Advanced gymnastics for boys and girls

Select gymnastics video clips you’ve likely not seen. Some are from Australia, some from the internet. Most time will be spent on unique drills used by British coach Paul Hall who had both male and female athletes competing at Worlds 2007.

Using circuits to teach floor and vault to class kids

The art and science of building circuits in the gym. Best practice.

Detailing the BEST ways to utilize circuits in the gym is particularly fascinating to write-up, I’m finding. I will post this topic on Gymnastics Coaching after I present a similar Circuits session at the British Columbia Congress, end of October.

Hope to see you at one or the other Congress.