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It’s a fantastic opportunity. A number of Canadian gymnasts go each year. But, in general, foreign coaches are not up-to-date on how to apply.

Dan Kendig is a good friend to gymnastics in my country. He coached Canadian Richelle Simpson to an NCAA AA Title in 2003.

Dan Kendig is in Regina this week with options for some of the competitors at the Canadian gymnastics championships.

Kendig is the head coach of the women’s gymnastics program at the University of Nebraska. He’s scouting the female gymnasts taking part in the artistic portion of the Canadian championships, which are being held at the Credit Union EventPlex. Kendig’s also selling the concept that gymnastics doesn’t have to end after high school. The American universities and colleges offer full scholarships to male and female gymnasts.

Kendig looking for athletes who can make jump to U.S.

At Canadian Championships I met and was much impressed with Oregon Beavers coaches Tanya and Michael Chaplin.

They brought Canadian Laura-Ann Chong just off NCAA Championships.

(Yeesh. It’s not easy to finally finish an intensive season, an academic semester — then change your routines for a new code of points and get “up” for another meet. Congratulations to those athletes who can do it.)

The Chaplins recommended that coaches contact any of the 88 Women’s NCAA schools directly. Ask for advice. Some gymnasts, for example, may be eligible for academic scholarship. (I had a male gymnast get into the school of his choice that way myself.)

There is room for more foreign gymnasts in the NCAA.

Gymnasts from 38 countries competed at the most recent World Cup.

Coaches are starting to finalize routines in preparation for the World Championships in September. Many decisions are being made: consistency vs. increasing A-score.

Chinese gymnasts on Saturday took two titles at the finals of the artistic gymnastics World Cup in Moscow.

Zhang Hongtao won the men’s pommel horse with a score of 16.100 and Yan Mingyong took gold medal in the men’s Rings with a score of 16.400. Chinese girls also performed well and gained medals in the event.

Liao Huifan took the silver medal in women’s vault and Zhou Zhuoru, second in uneven bars. But Chinese team failed to gain high scores in other games such as women’s floor and beam.

On parallel bars the French Yann Cucherat beats the p.bars’ specialist Mitja Petkovsek from Slovenia.

The 31-years old German Oksana Chusovitina won the women’s vault decision….

GYMmedia.com

Yann Cucherat – French Gymnastics Federation

Jade Barbosa vaulted a 2 1/2 Yurchenko (Amânar) at the Brazilian National Championships.

Will this be the vault needed to win at the Beijing Olympics? Who’s going to challenge Cheng Fei?

See a blurry video on YouTube.

Thanks Anna.

Smart dismount for girls who are good at forward twisting.

Christine (Peng-Peng) Lee from Seneca Gymnastics, 2nd AA Jr. at the 2007 Canadian Nationals. Coach Carol-Angela Orchard.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

As usual, Cirque du Soleil had a kiosk set up in the training gym at Canadian Gymnastics Championships 2007. Cirque’s always been a big booster of gymnastics and trampoline sports in Canada.

This year Cirque handed out over $5000 in prize money to Canadian National Champions.

The company is all about excellence. Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in athleticism and artistry.

And what’s good for gymnasts and coaches is good for Cirque du Soleil.

Dana Brass from Cirque du Soleil Casting in Regina.

Just home from a LONG week at Nationals in Regina.

I had hoped to post more from the competition floor — but got too busy after being asked to be a commentator for local cable TV. (Fun, irreverent, unscripted, amateur.)

This was the biggest Nationals ever: 1100 athletes in Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline and Tumbling — all in one venue. The level of competition in Artistic was strong in Senior despite the new Code of Points. I was less impressed with the level of athletes below Senior though, of course, their are many individual superstars coming up. Especially some of the Jr. Artistic Women.

For many Artistic gymnasts, this was the first chance to see the best Rhythmic girls in the country. Gymnasts easily relate to Trampoline and Tumbling, but Rhythmic is a foreign culture. Personally, I really appreciate the artistry. It was a treat to see superstar Alexandra Orlando compete in person.

Super scorer Stu Cram has posted all results in all disciplines on his Gym Score Depot website.

For me this is the only way to find out what happened. (It was impossible to follow any one athlete or apparatus in the 14-ring circus.)

Some news stories on the competition are linked from the official meet website.

The best photos were taken by Grace Chiu.

And I have some (not very good) photos from the meet posted on Flickr.

Nationals 2008 will be hosted at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta.

Kaká’s photos from the Brazilian championship of Artistic Gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Flickr: Kaká’s photos tagged with gymnastics

GrinnellGirl from Evanston, Illinois has posted some great OLD gymnastics photos to flickr.

Girls have often been exasperated when boys jump up on beam and do tumbling skills first or second try. Any strong male tumbler / trampolinist (with some guts) can do back tuck, for example.

Click PLAY or watch a 20-year-old male gymnast doing low beam on YouTube.

(Russian born) West Australian Daria Joura defended her national women’s all-around crown with a stunning display at the Australian Gymnastics Championships at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne on Friday.

Training partner Lauren Mitchell finished second in her first year as a senior with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Chloe Sims from Queensland in third.

Joura collected four gold medals, winning the all-around title along with the individual apparatus gold on floor, vault and the uneven bars.

In doing so, she led the Australian team to an upset victory over reigning world champions China, coming from behind on the final apparatus to win by less than half a point.

Joura’s combined all-around total of 120.350 was made up of two consecutive 60-plus point displays, both bettering her previous best all-around total of 59.875 achieved in finishing fifth at last year’s world titles in Denmark.

The 17-year-old opened with her signature double-twisting Yurchenko vault, earning 15.100, the first time she has broken the 15-point barrier with the difficult manoeuvre.

After another improvement on the uneven bars (15.600) her only stumble before her final floor routine came when she toppled off the balance beam to score 14.125.

… After hearing the news of their team win over China, whose team included two members of last year’s world championship winning team, Joura said the unexpected victory had overshadowed her individual performance.

Joura dominates Gymnastics Championships – Breaking News – Sport – Breaking News