Category: Uncategorized

Street acrobatics is getting BIG.

I can tell by the number of hits I get while checking the internet for “acrobatic” posts.

Free running has major buzz right now.

Another cool pic.

In training, the first I’ve ever seen.

From Gymblog’s excellent post on the evolution of Bernd Jaeger’s skill:

And now have a look at the double twisting Jaeger, performed by Jeff Crockett, a member of the University of Washington’s men’s team in 2006.

Awesome, no?

Jeff Crockett’s double twisting Jaeger « WordPress Gymblog

Click PLAY or watch Jeff swing out on YouTube.

History-wise, I recall with greatest admiration Artemev’s Winkler (layout Jaeger-full) and Valeri Liukin’s Layout Tkachev full and Winkler in the same routine. Both did it from el-grip.

Many girls have competed Def? (Geinger 3/2 twist)

Has any female competed layout Jaeger full as yet? (Leave a comment.)

Canadians love the warm weather. Many, over the years, have gone to UCLA. (Yvonne Tousek, Kate Richardson)

Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Marci Bernholtz, Canadian National Team members, were planning to defer enrollment with UCLA until 2008-09.

Canada did not qualify a full team to the Beijing Olympics. Will both still train for Olympic qualification? Or start preparing for the NCAA?

… Hopfner-Hibbs, who will defer enrollment at UCLA until the 2008-09 school year, won the bronze medal on balance beam at the 2006 World Championships, becoming the first Canadian woman ever to win a medal at the World Championships. …

Bernholtz, who will be competing in her second consecutive World Championships, is the 2007 Canadian national champion on the uneven bars and the bronze medalist in the all-around and on balance beam. She was also a double bronze-medalist at the 2005 National Championships, placing third in the all-around and on floor exercise, and an alternate at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Two Bruin Signees To Compete For Canada At World Gymnastics Championships – Canada needs Top 12 placement to send full team to 2008 Olympics.

ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia gymnastics team is coming off back-to-back-to-back NCAA Championships and ready to go for its fourth in a row. The Gym Dogs also have the opportunity to defend their three straight titles in their home gym as the 2008 NCAA Gymnastics Championships will be held in Athens at Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum.

Photo Credit: Dan Evans
Head Coach Suzanne Yoculan

Gym Dogs ‘Back Four More’ In 2008 – GeorgiaDogs.com—Official Athletic Site of the University of Georgia

Bill’s Letter to the Membership of the United States Elite Coaches Association for Women’s Gymnastics in the Sept. 2007 newsletter.

In an earlier post, I commented on, perhaps even misinterpreted, this letter.

He sent me the original, so you can read it for yourself. Thanks Bill.

29 August 2007

Greetings,

I hope all of you had a terrific time at the USA Gymnastics Congress. It was nice to see some old friends, although there seem to be fewer and fewer each time I go. Wonderful seeing Hal Halvorsen again – been a long time. The competitions were first rate and I very much enjoyed watching the men compete. Their competition was such a transformation from earlier competitions that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I didn’t get to see the women, but reports indicated that they struggled a bit. Shawn Johnson was utterly dominant and there were many other notable performances. I’m sure they’ll be more focused by World Championships time – which is going on right now. Interestingly, this time the men are competing first, for the first time since I can remember. At any rate, we all wish them the very best of luck in the competitions.

I got pretty tired with all the presentations, but I prefer to stay busy and Kathy Feldmann obliged by giving my six opportunities to present. There were two sessions on biomechanics (linear and angular), recovery, training design, flexibility, and a report on our work on comparing the spring floor to the air floor. I also did my annual report, this time concentrating on the athlete-apparatus interaction studies, flexibility through vibration, and one of our completed experiments. My annual report provides additional information gained from this project. I undertook the project at the behest of Steve Rybacki and Kathy Kelly. I hope to be going to the ranch at the end of October to collect the rest of the data I need to finish up the project. Frankly, I don’t think the project will ever be completely finished, there will always be new questions, but I hope to answer Steve’s and Kathy’s concerns shortly. Actually, quite a few of the answers they were looking for were determined in our study of the spring and air floor.

It was interesting for me to observe the Congress activities since I’ve been attending for over 35 years. The demographic has changed from an opportunity for top coaches to get together to discuss the latest techniques and how to beat the commies to something that more resembles an in-service teaching and business education conference. I’m not arguing that one is better than the other, only that the change appears to be complete now and I doubt there is any going back. I’m not sure where debates among the top coaches happen now, where folklore from the best coaches gets passed on, or where young coaches would go to get the best ideas from “those who know.” Of course, to me it was disquieting, but then again I’m a dinosaur.

This brings me to something I hesitate to write about because it may sound like I’m being negative when in fact I’m just trying to make an already good thing better. As I stopped in from lecture to lecture I noted that almost everyone had something to sell. Either they were trying to drum up consulting business or they were trying to sell videos, books, and so forth. Maybe this was the case in the past, but I didn’t notice it as much as I did this year. I find this disquieting because there is a place to sell things which is in the vendors area. I’m troubled by people trying to set themselves up as gurus on some topical area and then provide a website, order blanks, brochures, and so forth to acquire more business clients – as part of an “educational” presentation. One presentation began with 5 or more minutes showing the television commercials (2) that tout the service(s) offered by the speaker’s affiliation. I certainly don’t mind the idea of people making money, but I worry that USA Gymnastics is giving tacit approval and support to these people, services, products, and whatnot by providing them a forum and a captive audience. People often ask me where they can get materials, and I provide them with a variety of sources. I usually include my email address at the end of presentations in case they have further questions. However, almost no one seeks me out after we all go home. This year I’ve had a few and one request for my bio (first time for that). In most cases, I don’t provide handouts because I don’t believe that people ever really use them and I prefer not to annihilate forests. I do provide some things via USECA, Technique, books, and academic peer reviewed articles, but frankly I’m just too darn busy to attempt to provide everything.

In closing, I have one more issue – quality control. I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert in everything, but even with limited knowledge in most areas I knew that some of the information being tossed out as fact was anything but. Sadly, gymnastics is not alone as I get to attend many sport equivalents of our Congress. There seem to be ever more self-appointed gurus who have neither the credentials nor the experience to be offering their ideas as facts. Almost invariably they are enthusiastic to the point of wondering if they need a sedative, they name-drop in nearly every sentence, they tout something that is “highly successful” with absolutely no data to back up the statement, and they like to use scientific words strung together in meaningless sentences. Sadly, at this Congress I had one lecturer rise to second place in my experience in the highest number of scientific words used in the shortest amount of time and saying absolutely nothing.

Again, don’t assume that I’m coming down on USAG because that is not the case. I’m a firm believer in education, for which the National Congress is and should be the shiniest gem in the jewelry box. Congress remains the single best place to see the most gymnastics education and a great competition (where of course learning should happen also). “Caveat emptor” is probably the best advice I can give. Be sure to check credentials of the people who are speaking, ask them where their data or supporting information is (not just who they’ve worked with), and when something seems too good to be true – it probably isn’t.

All the best,

Wm A. Sands, PhD, C-ARS
Chair USECA

The Gymblog posted a rundown of some of the big stars of our sport missing at Worlds in Stuttgart:

Anna Pavlova (Rus), Jana Bieger (USA), Justin Spring (USA), Ashley Preiss (USA), Chellsie Memmel (USA), Kyle Shewfelt (CAN), Pang Panpan (CHN), Ana Maria Tamarjan (ROM), Irina Isayeva (ROM), Marian Dragulescu (ROM), Shavahn Church (ENG).

Worlds absentees « WordPress Gymblog – videos and photos

I’d hoped World and Olympic Champion Li Xiaopeng (CHN) would again be competitive. But he was out with, I think, an injured toe.

Are there more athletes injured out of World Championships than in the past?

I think so.

The demands of 10 counting skills on each routine is too difficult for an all-arounder, I feel. FIG should drop the number of counting skills to eight.

From Bill’s Letter to the Membership of the United States Elite Coaches Association for Women’s Gymnastics newsletter Sept. 2007.

He’s saying something that many, many coaches have been thinking. Congress needs to be improved:

It was interesting for me to observe the Congress activities since I’ve been attending for over 35 years. …

… it may sound like I’m being negative when in fact I’m just trying to make an already good thing better. As I stopped in from lecture to lecture I noted that almost everyone had something to sell. Either they were trying to drum up consulting business or they were trying to sell videos, books, and so forth. … I find this disquieting because there is a place to sell things which is in the vendors area. I’m troubled by people trying to set themselves up as gurus on some topical area and then provide a website, order blanks, brochures, and so forth to acquire more business clients – as part of an “educational” presentation.

… I worry that USA Gymnastics is giving tacit approval and support to these people, services, products, and whatnot by providing them a forum and a captive audience.

… In closing, I have one more issue – quality control. I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert in everything, but even with limited knowledge in most areas I knew that some of the information being tossed out as fact was anything but. … There seem to be every more self-appointed gurus who have neither the credentials nor the experience to be offering their ideas as facts. Almost invariably they are enthusiastic to the point of wondering if they need a sedative, they name-drop in nearly every sentence, they tout something that is “highly successful” with absolutely no data to back up the statement, and they like to use scientific words strung together in meaningless sentences. …

Bill Sands

I agree. The general level of presentations in Australia and Canada, for example, are better. Also, there seems to be no incentive to bring in new people, new voices, especially from out-of-country.

On the other hand, Bill continues:

Congress remains the single best place to see the most gymnastics education and a great competition (where of course learning should happen also). … Be sure to check credentials of the people who are speaking, ask them where their data or supporting information is (not just who they’ve worked with) …

I’d love to link to the full, original letter. But sadly it is not posted on the USECA website. Email Bill at Bill.Sands @ USOC.org if you want a copy.

UPDATE: Bill sent me his entire Letter to the Membership and I posted it separately.

Truth is … the USECA website is not useful to non-members. For one thing, you feel “tricked” into clicking on links that then say: “This is one of those “teasers” to show you what MEMBERS receive.”

If you want to enjoy the many, many benefits, you need join USECA. Membership starts at US$150 / year. It is excellent value at that price.

After problems at Artistic Worlds, Russia was cruising in Greece.

PATRAS, Greece — Russia dominated the last day of the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, winning both group apparatus finals to give it eight gold medals at the competition.

Russia earned 17.650 points in the five ropes event, and 17.525 in the three hoops and two clubs routine.

Italy came second in both events, scoring 17.300 in the five ropes, and 17.350 in the three hoops and two clubs. Bulgaria was third in both.

Russia won eight of the nine golds and a total of 14 medals in the eight-day championships. …

ESPN – Russia exits Rhythmic Worlds with 8 gold medals – Gymnastics

Once again, ESPN posted the best photos:

The Russian team performs with ropes in the group apparatus final during the 28th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Patras, Greece, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007. Russia won two gold medals at exercises of ropes and hoops/clubs.

(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

ESPN

“Travelling Rings” is slightly related to the antiquated American sport of Flying Rings (Swinging Rings) — but the acrobat travels from single ring-to-ring as they do on a playground.

A much better description would be “free running (Parkour) on rings”.

I took gymnasts to try it in 2004 in Santa Monica, California after the Vidmar competition. It’s very tough!

Click PLAY or watch the craziness on YouTube.

RingFlyers is a website devoted to the travelling rings and the community of swingers. The travelling rings have been an athletic pastime for well over a hundred years. …

On the beach in Santa Monica California a thriving community of rings enthusiasts spend an inordinate amount of time exerting themselves in this largely unknown pasttime resembling something like gymnastics. Hundreds of people from all over the globe consider the Santa Monica beach scene a touchstone and as a result the culture of the rings have spread far and wide. Recently a rings rig was built in New York City’s Riverside Park. …

These pages are largely devoted to the discussion board which ties together the ring communities of Santa Monica and New York City. It also serves to tie together our far flung bretheren throughout the world who check in periodically as they plan their next trip to the travelling rings rig closest to them. Also contained in these pages are tutorials, photos, and videos that swingers have made to spread the love of what we do. Enjoy!

RingFlyers – about

larger original photo – flickr – Hughes Leglise-Bataille

More photos on the RingFlyers VISUALS page.

Related post – DVD – Wild Rings – very COOL

“MUTINY ON THE RINGS II” with Bruno Angelico.

3 minutes Trailer/ preview of a 40 minutes Extreme Sport Cult Instructional Documentary.

The first and only DVD ever produced and distributed in the world about this underground but growing discipline: the wild traveling rings.

Quote: “Angel or Pirate, the amazing, intriguing and controversial Bruno Angelico, featured by Nike, LA Times, NY Times, Discovery and more explains and demonstrates more than 28 stunts out of 40 he created.

The creator of the insane, extreme and wild swing breaks away from classic gymnastic moves and bring a mix of grace, beauty, technique and danger on the sleeping traveling rings transforming them into the “Wild rings”.

After a violent car crash he spent one year in a bed during 2003 swinging between wheel chairs and crutches, left arm and leg paralyzed, couples of spinal court surgeries later… He’s back.

Don’t miss this one! Watch the trailer on YouTube.

The DVD is available for US$15 plus shipping via MutinyOnTheRings.com

related post – RingFlyers – travelling rings