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The Aussie High Performance Training Centre SASI — the South Australian Sports Institute — is situated in Adelaide, Australia.

It’s clean, quiet, peaceful. An ideal training environment.

The facility can be accessed by all acrobatic sports though the primary users are trampoline and diving.

That’s Ji Wallace, the 2000 Olympics silver medalist on trampoline.

Ji at one point retired from trampoline to pursue aerial skiing, then returned to trampoline to train for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Bejing.

More photos.

Rick McCharles presented an overview of his approach coaching horizontal bar.

He feels many MAG athletes underachieve on this apparatus.

A big theme of his session was safety. Using a variety of equipment. Spotting as little as possible by using progressions instead.

Rick very much uses “loops” (horizontal bar safety straps) to speed learning, improve technique and greatly improve safety.

Click PLAY to see Rick’s PowerPoint presentation notes or watch it on YouTube.

More information on horizontal bar and asymmetric bars.

… a rectangle.

The distance from the centre to ANY edge on a round trampoline is — on average — greater. But the likelihood of falling is greatest in only one direction: in line with the trampolinist.

In Sundance’s opinion, the rectangle is the safest design because of the physics involved …

The springs criss-cross each other to create an even bounce over most of the trampoline mat’s surface. There is little pressure to throw a person off-balance when they move away from the center. The bounce is much softer, better and more controlled because the springs in the center of the rails stretch more than the springs at the end of the rails resulting in more vertical travel.

The rectangular design requires much heavier and stronger materials because the stress is mostly on the center portion of the rails, therefore the greater cost to build. However, since it is built much stronger, the life of a rectangular trampoline is much longer. Note that circular trampolines are never used in trampoline competitions.

Sundance trampolines

Kate Johnson, Gymnastics South Australia High Performance Centre Rhythmics coach, recommends the RSG.net website.

Published in English and German, it has athlete information, photos, event results, rules, and much more.

Like Artistic Gymnastics, FIG changed the scoring system so that the perfect 10 is gone. It was changed to a 30-point scale in 2003 and in 2005 was changed to 20. There is much to learn about Rhythmic.

Try one of the RSG.net forums if you want to connect with other Rhythmic enthusiasts worldwide.

I’ve added the site to our right hand navigation links under Rhythmic.

Rick McCharles recommends that coaches begin training for Yurchenko (round-off approach) vaults as soon as gymnasts can tumble backward handspring series proficiently.

All gymnasts should do Yurchenko drills at least once a week from that early developmental stage even if the vault will not be competed until years later.

Click PLAY to see a short video of Yurchenko drills for beginners, or watch it on YouTube.

More information on Yurchenko vaults.

Tony Burton, a UK trampoline coach now living in Western Australia, gave me a good article called “The Mystery of the Disappearing Front Somersault“.

It was written by legendary coach Jack Kelly.

In it Jack discusses the common problem of “losing skills”. And the resulting loss in confidence of the athlete.

… the pupil is experiencing the phenomenon known as “lost move syndrome” or LMS. In my view we could describe it as LCS or “lost confidence syndrome” …

The training regime recommended by Jack Kelly to avoid losing the front tucked somersault when beginning to train a front somersault half twist is as follows:

1. Front single salto – no twist
2. Front single salto – half twist
3. Front single salto – no twist
4. Front single salto – half twist
5. Front single salto- no twist
6. dismount trampoline

Note the limited number of repeats recommended and that each visit to the trampoline starts and finishes with the “core” skill of an excellent tucked front somersault. This can gradually be developed over many visits to the trampoline into the following.

1. Front single salto – no twist
2. Front single salto – half twist
3. Front single salto – half twist
4. Front single salto – half twist
5. Front single salto – no twist
6. dismount trampoline

The mystery of the disappearing front somersault – GymCraft magazine

source – Trampolining-Online.co.UK

For more on the coaching philosophy of Jack Kelly, check his “Back to Basics” articles as posted on the Brentwood Trampoline club website.

Rick McCharles recommends that coaches concentrate on perfecting just a few basic skills: handstand, forward and backward handspring, forward and backward somersault and (the difficult one) round-off.

Rick uses trampoline devices to help beginners generate power. And places a sponge between the feet and / or knees of the athletes as a reminder to keep “tight”.

Click PLAY to see his PowerPoint presentation or watch it on YouTube.

Many of the coaches were interested in the new inflatable tumbling mats available from the USA.

More information on tumbling.

Young children in a gymnastics gym are prone to walking into cables and chains supporting bars and rings.

Cables really are a hazard.

The most popular way to protect people is to cover those cables with a pool noodle. The more brightly coloured and obvious, the better.

An alternative used by coach Shane Russell at Taiso worked surprising well. Rather than have to replace the pool noodles every few months (as they disintegrate), Shane threaded the chains through plastic pipe. Far more durable, but not as soft as the pool noodle.

Whatever you use, access to the turnbuckles and adjusters is essential.

After a terrific experience coaching one season at the Christchurch School of Gymnastics in New Zealand, I’ve encouraged young coaches to consider planning a work holiday to that club.

Even better would be a coaching “exchange”.

A competitive coach from Down Under would come to your gym and replace you — coaching your gymnasts and fulfilling your job description.

You would travel to somewhere — sunny Australia for example — at your own expense and replace that coach.

Both coaches get the chance for a gymnastics / life / travel experience. And neither club needs to replace the coach.

A coach exchange is easy to arrange for Commonwealth countries as a work visa program is available for those under 30-years-of-age. (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.)

But an exchange between any countries is possible if the coaches “volunteer” in the new gym.

You might even swap accommodation for the course of the exchange.

Leave a comment below if interested.

There is no confusion in Men’s gymnastics regarding the Tsukahara vault.

The near arm is the “push” arm. The far arm the “block” arm.

The near arm is bent (not often this much) and the far arm close to straight.

Kyle Shewfelt

The stronger the gymnast, the more you can bend the near arm.

Bending the arm on contact “absorbs” force, no doubt. The gymnast must then “generate” that amount of force and (hopefully) more.

There is confusion in Women’s gymnastics. I often hear judges, coaches, even respected clinicians speaking against bending the near arm.

That’s a mistake. A throw back to the “old” horse. The old compulsory FIG rules.

To me as a coach, straight arms on contact with the horse means the preflight was too high.

The best female vaulters will have a bent first arm on Tsukahara vaults.

Fact is, there’s no longer any difference between vault for men and women.

young gymnast doing Tsukahara – Woodward West Gym Camp

(Needless to say, I also believe a “half on” into Tsukahara is an error.)