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There is a flood of information available on the upcoming NCAA Women’s Championships. It is superbly marketed.

In contrast, it is difficult to find details on the College Championship sponsored by USA Gymnastics.

Towson University’s Christina Ghani added two more titles to her all-around and team crowns by winning vault and tying for first on floor exercise during Saturday’s individual event finals at the 2007 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate Championships at Seattle Pacific University’s Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle. Ghani finished with a total of five medals, four gold and one silver. …

The annual athlete and coach of the year awards were presented at the meet. The winners were: Ghani, Senior Athlete of the Year; Cornell’s Paul Beckwith, Head Coach of the Year; Cornell’s Melanie Dillaplane, Assistant Coach of the Year; and TWU’s Catherine Schnoes, Mari-Rae Sopper Award.

Results – USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate Championships

More on the Seattle Pacific University website.

Has the leader of your country ever visited your club?

The Prime Minister of New Zealand opened an extension at my former gym.

Christchurch School of Gymnastics, the largest club in New Zealand (1600 members) built an 880sqm extension. CSG was Top Club (gymnastics and trampoline) in the country in 2006.

I give much of the credit to Executive Officer Avril Enslow. She built up this club from a church basement to one of the premier facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.

Avril is ultra-efficient, totally dedicated. And as one of the top FIG judges in the world, very well connected. Congratulations to the entire Flipping Brilliant team!

I started a club website back in 2002. But I see it has been upgraded significantly. Nice job. It’s one of the best club sites I’ve seen.

Christchurch School of Gymnastics – website

Incidentally, foreign coaches regularly travel to New Zealand to work for the club. In fact, Sheena Steacy from Altadore will be there for 3 months starting in May.

James Madison University is cutting 10 teams including Mens and Womens Gymnastics.

I’m trying to understand why.

Is the NCAA administration to blame? What are they doing to support Gymnastics and other acrobatic sports?

Each Monday, the Double A Zone website interviews NCAA President Myles Brand.

Here’s what the interviewer had to say:

I’m pretty vocal about my displeasure when athletics programs cut teams. I was a student-athlete in a Division III program that didn’t generate any money and I am eternally grateful that I was able to have that experience. If my program had been cut, I don’t know what I would have done.

Recently, the athletics programs at Rutgers, Ohio and Butler have cut a number of sports teams and it has infuriated a number of people …

There are hundreds of affected student-athletes who have had their college experience forever altered and I think it’s an absolute shame. What bothers me most is when athletics departments make these financial decisions to cut programs, but still pour more money into football. It’s not right.

On today’s edition of Mondays With Myles, I speak with NCAA President Myles Brand about this disturbing trend and the role the NCAA plays in helping institutions find a way to keep their program intact. While we don’t address the specifics of any one institution, Dr. Brand expresses his frustrations with the trend and speaks about the displaced student-athletes.

Double-A Zone

Listen to the interview with Myles Brand

At a recent gymnastics meet, with a few hour free for a move before our plane, half the men’s judges went to 300 and half went to Blades of Glory .

Which would you have chosen?

I went for 300. Gory, but brilliant, I thought.

Now I want to know, how do you get abs like Gerald Butler?

You train with extreme alpinist Mark Twight. The founder of Gym Jones.

Mark Twight used a combination of weight training, gymnastics and cardio in order to get the cast and crew into incredible shape. The workouts he constructed involved using functional movements, assembled into brutal combinations and executed at high intensity. …

The Elite Rings were used to add extra challenge to pushups, pullups and provide a variety of ab work. According to Twight, “the rings demand a really high level of core tension”. Gymnasts are famous for their upper body and core strength. Training on the rings is one major secret behind their incredible definition and strength.

RingTraining.com

Click PLAY or watch the intense conditioning on YouTube.

Jack Olsen does extreme unicycle touring.

He took a break on a trip near Moab to do a handstand above Castle Valley.

larger version of photo on Jack’s blog: Read What I’ve Got to Say

I was happy for China getting the Olympics. It will transform the country.

Do you want to attend?

Some will boycott, critical of China’s human rights record and lack of sufficient environmental policies.

The first round of ticket sales for next year’s Beijing Olympics will kick off this coming Sunday. …

Chinese citizens can book tickets via the official ticketing website at www.tickets.beijing2008.cn …

People outside China will be able to purchase tickets through designated ticketing offices in their countries. …

Any tickets left-over after the first round of sales and all remaining tickets for competitive events will go on sale during the second round, from October to December this year. The tickets will be sold on a “first come, first served” basis.

The third round will last from April 2008 until the end of the Games. Tickets sold during this time will have definite seat numbers and event times.)

english.cri.cn

The Olympic Committees in each nation have an allotment of tickets to sell as they wish. (Check with your own national Olympic committee.)

About 75% of the tickets will be sold in China, 25% to the rest of the world.

Beijing Olympics tickets on sale – BBC

(via Gadling)

We just put live a website / blog for Dave Adlard’s great summer event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

This is his 10th Annual High Performance Training Camp.

Check out HPTCamp.com

beRecruited.com is a good place for coaches looking for diving scholarships.

Unfortunately none of the other acrobatic sports are included yet.

The Largest College Recruiting Service on the Web

Register with beRecruited.com for FREE and join the Internet’s largest college recruiting service and athletic scholarship network.

Simply put: it works! We have been the choice for 10,000s of users from all 50 states and 30 different countries. You are able to connect with over 25,000 NCAA coaches from divisions I, II, and III of which 6,000 are registered active users of our service.

* Gain instant exposure to our network of registered NCAA & college coaches.

* Search among all the colleges in the US by location, size, major, etc.

* Connect instantly with NCAA coaches using our exclusive recruiting tools.

* Get recruited, play at the NCAA level & earn your athletic scholarship.

beRecruited.com: Free College Recruiting Service and NCAA Athletic Scholarships Network

They also offer news feeds:

Men’s Gymnastics NCAA News
Women’s Gymnastics NCAA News

This contest has not been particularly well publicized or organized in the past. But I like the concept.

For the fifth consecutive year, the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame is organizing the only worldwide “Gymnast of the Year” award.

… All of these gymnasts gave memorable performances in the year 2006, and we are inviting the world to vote!

The gymnasts nominated are American Jana Bieger, Australia’s Philippe Rizzo, Brazil’s Diego Hypolito, China’s Cheng Fei and Yang Wei, Germany’s Fabian Hambüchen, Great Britain’s Beth Tweddle, Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari and Romanians Sandra Izbasa and Marian Dragulescu.

Voting ends Friday, April 27. The results will be announced May 11, 2007, at the 11th Annual International Gymnastics Hall of Fame Induction ceremony in Oklahoma City, Okla.

2006 Gymnast of the Year – vote

(If you have an alternate candidate, write their name in the COMMENT box after you click VOTE on the link page above. )

UPDATE: As expected, the outcry (see below) led to a sudden flip flop of NCAA policy. The training sessions will be open to spectators, as usual.

==== original post April 17th

Coaches, judges and fans agree that the gym should be open.

Why would NCAA officials want to lock down the gym before Women’s NCAA Championships?

Watching gymnasts go through their workouts the day before the NCAA Gymnastics Championships start is as much of a tradition for gymnastics fans as the public workout sessions are for college basketball fans who show up early to watch teams practice during the NCAA Tournament.

However, Utah officials learned Monday they might have to lock fans out of the Huntsman Center on April 25 when teams practice the day before the NCAA Championships start.

NCAA officials are worried judges might watch, too, and their observations could affect their scoring. NCAA officials told Utah coach Greg Marsden they would decide Wednesday, but just the thought of turning away fans has Marsden and others fuming. …

“Our sport has always been about encouraging fans to be involved, and this is anti-conducive to that,” said Marsden, who had arranged for youth groups and others to attend the free practices. “To do it is just plain wrong. There is no reason for it to be closed.”

… the president of the National Association of Women’s Gymnastics Judges, agreed with Marsden and bristled at the notion judges couldn’t be trusted to abide by rules.

“If they don’t want judges watching, they should just send an e-mail to the 17 judges involved and say don’t watch,” she said. “To be a judge, you have to be honest, ethical and trusted to begin with. We’re hired to enforce rules. It would be a shame to do this because it’s going to hurt fans.

Salt Lake Tribune – UTAH GYMNASTICS: Coaches supporting open final practices