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From Tyler at RingTraining.com:

A useful program for anyone.

This is a workout that has been around for ages, but with the Elite Rings you can add new life to it.

The basic idea of the workout is that you perform 10 sets of 10 reps of pushups.

Nothing new there, of course. However, in this workout, you will perform each set with a different variation of the pushup. Since the Elite Rings move frictionlessly in a 360 degree plane, you can perform countless varieties of pushups.

Limiting yourself to only 10 variations might be the hardest part.

Ringtraining.com

Archer pushup

Dieter Hofmann on the (less than thrilling) finals:

Carlotta Giovannini from Italy secured the 2nd gold medal for her country after Ferrari’s all-around victory yesterday and won the vault final in front of Anna Grudko (RUS) and Oxana Chusovitina from Germanyif

The victory on uneven bars went to Daria Zgoba (UKR), silver was won by Steliana Nistor from Romania and Ekaterina Kramarenko won the second medal for Russia at these championships, after Grudko’s silver on vault she now won bronze on uneven bars.

… Yulia Lozhechko (photo) from Russia won the beam final and Vanessa Ferrari (ITA) on floor.

European Championships Artistic Gymnastics – Amsterdam 2007

Most interesting to me is that Romanian gymnasts did well on bars, an event that’s been weak since the 1970s.

Looks to me the new coaching regime is turning out to be a change for the better.

Dieter Hofmann reporting on the event finals:

Rafael Martinez from Spain won the first final on floor in front of Thomas Bouhail (FRA), the bronze rank is being shared by Matthias Fahrig (GER) and the only 15-years old Greek talent Eleftherios Kosmidis.

As expectd the victory on pommel horse went to Krisztian Berki from Hungary. On the silver and bronze ranks follow Daniel Keatings (GB) and Flavius Koczi (ROU).

Oleksander Vorobyov (UKR) won on rings in front of Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) and Andrea Coppolino (ITA) who shared the silver rank.

… Anton Golotsutskov (RUS) won on vault, the victory on parallel bars went to Mitja Petkovsek from Slovenia and gold on high-bar was won by Fabian Hambuechen from Germany!

European Championships Artistic Gymnastics – Amsterdam 2007

To be competitive on vault you now need two triple somersaulting vaults.

The winner Anton Golotsutskov did:

1- handspring – double somersault fwd. 1/2 turn (“Dragulescu”) … slight step ont the landing, otherwise a great vault!

2- double- Tsukahara piked (!!)

The vault event is getting scary. Are FIG landing mats sufficient?

I don’t think so.

Very few of the competitors ever land a vault in training on hard mats. They do it only in competition.

We need to go to a competition landing surface like that used in double mini and acrobatic tumbling. (This would be great on horizontal bar, as well, where triple backs are getting more common.)

Not only a tremendous photo collection, but an accompanying blog.

This is the work of U of Utah dancer, photographer, choreographer, and deep-sea fisherman Christopher Peddecord.

More of Christopher’s photos on flickr tagged NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

I love this skill.

How low must it be for no deduction? (Male gymnasts must be horizontal.)

UEG – European Union of Gymnastics – European Championships

Just two years ago I could not find the gymnastics videos I wanted on-line.

Today it’s the opposite problem. There are too many gymnastics videos on YouTube and other sites. It’s difficult to find the best ones.

Leave a comment if you have any tips for how to find the BEST OF GYMNASTICS VIDEOS.

We may need to launch a dedicated website.

I took the Saturday afternoon off-season tour of Woodward in Pennsylvania.

It took over 90min to (briefly) tour all venues of the sprawling complex.

This was my first visit to this camp though I am almost a “regular” (2005 and 2006) at Woodward West in California.

Woodward East is an older, larger version set in rural Amish hills.

It offers programs in Skateboarding, Aggressive Skating, and BMX sports including freestyle and racing. In 2006 they added 2-weeks of Snowboard training.

Woodward started as a camp for gymnastics (boys and girls) and now offers Cheer, as well. Trampoline bunje belts are popular.

Woodward East – home page

A few photos to give you a taste of this world class athlete centre:

Need a gift for a young gymnast in your life?

The cover description of the story is as follows:

“Megan discovers the thrill of being a gymnast with star talent. She forgets her old fears and dismisses her friend’s self-doubt. But when the team needs her, Megan suddenly panics. Can Megan regain her confidence and save the championship?”

Actually the book is much more than that and hits on topics like dealing with perfectionism, the proper place of sports and friendship and interaction of teammates.

As usual, with gymnastics fiction and authors who were not gymnasts or parents of gymnasts, there are some minor gymnastics and gymnastics competition factual irregularities. In this case, however, with its fantasy theme, they are mostly irrelevant and don’t detract from the book as a whole.

Gymnastics Zone

Megan’s Balancing Act (Magic Attic Club) – Amazon

You get a better price ordering through Gymnastics Zone.

I couldn’t be happier for girls who qualify for one of the 86 schools that have NCAA gymnastics teams.

It is a wonderful opportunity.

But what about the other side?

Dick Gould spent 38 seasons as men’s tennis coach at Stanford, leading the Cardinal to 17 national titles during his tenure. When Gould started in Palo Alto, the men’s tennis team had more full scholarships than starting positions; nearly four decades later, the program is limited to 4.5 scholarships for its entire roster.

Gould is a supporter of Title IX – he has three daughters who participated in intercollegiate athletics. He does believe, however, that the legislation encourages reverse discrimination for certain sports, including men’s tennis.

While I am adamant about the fact that schools don’t need to eliminate program to comply with Title IX legislation, I can understand Coach Gould’s frustrations. During a panel discussion this afternoon, he cited data that showed that there is significantly more interest in tennis from males than females. Yet, Division I women’s tennis teams have nearly twice as many scholarships to offer as their male counterparts.

I caught up with Coach Gould after his session: “Facts, Fiction, and the Future: Men’s Sports and Women’s Opportunities.”

The link below includes an audio interview with Dick Gould.

Double-A Zone

Winning Georgia Head Coach Suzanne Yoculan:

… I would like to thank Florida. They have an incredibly strong team, one that won the SEC. Their performances throughout the season helped motivate us all season. They are very strong, the future of our sport and we’ll have to do our best to stay ahead of them in the future.”

2007 NCAA Gymnastics Championship Quotes :: Press conference quotes from Friday, April 27.

Who are the Florida Gators? And how did they get so good?

Their roster has far less prior international experience than the other top teams.

I have to give the credit to Head Coach: Rhonda Faehn and assistants Adrian Burde and Robert Ladanyi.

Gators

UPDATE: Rhonda Faehn named NACGC Coach of the Year