Category: Uncategorized

Amazing images including composite photo of the fantastic Bateau act (combination of parallel bars with horizontal bars) from Cirque du Soleil’s O.

This is done high in the air.

Sean Townsend

Tobey Gifford (aerobics)

more Schatz photos

photo – Grace Chiu

A shout out to Adam Wong for his 9th place at World Championships. That’s a first (a best ever) for a Canadian in the All-Around at Worlds, ahead of the great Philip Delesalle who finished 12th in 1979.

It was a pleasure to watch Adam hit 6 for 6 in finals on Canadian TV this afternoon.

I’ve watched Adam’s steady career from the start. He was well trained by Mark Van Wyk who helped him qualify unexpectedly, I thought, for the Athens Olympics. Two years later he is one of the best in the world, now under personal coach Bin Fan at Calgary Gymnastics Centre.

Adam is a good student, a coach of younger kids, a pleasure to have in the gym. (Now if only someone would buy him some matching socks for training.)

It’s true that some of the top gymnasts — Dragulescu for example — did not compete all-around. It may be that we cannot compare gymnasts under the new code with those who competed under the 10.0 maximum code. Or those who competed 12 routines, compulsory and optional.

But there is a reason the All-Arounder is becoming an endangered species. Under these rules it is increasingly difficult to compete all six. I congratulate Adam and all the others who are well rounded enough athletes to do so at Worlds.

Wow!

What an impressive site.

Martin Vidic has posted dozens of flash animations of handsprings & flips useful for Wushu (Chinese martial arts) — but learned in the gymnastics gym.

Don’t miss this one:
MartinVidic.com – gymnastics

sample – screenshot from Wushu running wallflip

Jacob Small tipped me to a questionable acrobatic “tutorial”.

Interesting. It’s a good idea to have a tutorial formats on the internet, for sure.

But this one is not very good. <see it on Google Video>

A tutorial on backward somersault would take a trampoline coach about 60sec. This one is 11min.

The content is not great, as well. The spotting very poor. Trying to copy Joe Eigo is a lousy way to learn something. Why not go to Joe Eigo’s coach and ask him to teach you?

Tiger Woods has a coach. Michael Jordan had a coach. What is it that makes street acrobats think they are better off learning things on their own?

The trend to bigger and bigger drop-ins has got to end in disaster. Sooner or later. It’s getting too Evil Knievel for me already.

The largest skateboard ramp in the world can be found on a 12-acre farm north of San Diego among the green foothills of the San Marcos Mountains. …

Pilots routinely adjust their flight paths for a closer look, which is as good a way as any to sum up the scale of the Mega Ramp. The wooden structure is longer than a football field, as tall as an eight-story building, with a creek bed running through a 70-foot breach.

… skaters reach speeds of up to 55 miles an hour and soar like stuntmen.

Approximately 360 feet long, the ramp is 75 feet high at its apex. That is where riders begin their run, speeding down a 180-foot-long roll-in to a ramp that launches them across a 70-foot gap with trapeze netting below. Landing on a 27-foot sloped section, they then boost up to 50 feet above the ground from a 30-foot quarterpipe. A shorter route begins with a 55-foot-tall platform leading to a 50-foot gap, and the 30-foot quarterpipe. …

Completed in September after more than a year of construction, Burnquist’s Mega Ramp cost $280,000, part of which was covered by his apparel sponsors Oakley and Hurley. Although not the first — the X Games builds one each year — it is the world’s only permanent Mega Ramp, and Burnquist said having it at his home allows him to explore all the possibilities of the sport’s most daring discipline.

Huge Skateboarding Ramp Beckons Daredevils – New York Times

see the entire large graphic

(via Wicked Outdoorsy)

I’ve seen a number of Giulio Calisse montage videos. They include highlight reel bits from all sorts of acrobatic sports.

For a sample — worlds best trickers vol 2 — click PLAY or watch the (very low resolution) video on YouTube.

There are at least 2 others in this video series:

>> World’s best tricks volume 1

>> World’s Best Tricks Volume 3

See more of this craziness on the Team Chinese Box website. It may be the best site on the web right now for street acrobatics. Calisse is one of the contributors.

World Championships in Stuttgart 2007 (Sept. 1-9) are the important Worlds. There teams qualify to the 2008 Olympics.

Denmark in 2006 was more a test of the new code of points. A reality check for international coaches and gymnasts.

Surprisingly, the best internet commentary on Denmark was GYMmedia.com, specifically expert commentator Dieter Hofmann.

A quick summary of Hofmann’s conclusions:

adaptation of new code went better than expected

A-score (difficulty) elements were more easily recognized and credited

“B-scores seem to have become more stable. Nonetheless quite a few times differences of up to 6 tenths were seen.”

“technical execution – in my opinion – is still not being handled well enough. Almost on all apparatus routines with a great execution were presented and they didn’t get enough credit for this compared to routines through which the gymnasts just got through without major mistakes.”

it took to long to flash the final score

“… level of performance overall has increased. With China, Japan and Russia in the men’s field and China, USA and Russia in the women’s field …”

nations without strong teams can still win individual event medals

Hofmann’s full commentary with photos: GymFamily.Com

Coach Christopher Sommer posted an article on the Testosterone Nation website: Iron Cross for Bodybuilders – Simulated Gymnastics Training With Weights.

He is one of the best, most innovative strength coaches we know. His overview includes some interesting exercises in the inverted position. Reversing gravity is smart training!

… see the full article

Christopher Sommer is the men’s head coach at the Dessert Devil Gymnastics National Team Training Center in Mesa, Arizona and has one of the premiere men’s gymnastics programs in the United States. He’s also been training female gymnasts, Navy SEALS, Air Force Para Rescue, undercover DEA, Hostage Rescue and FBI among others.

Every gymnastics coach has a slightly different theory on hand care. Here’s one I have never tried posted by James Bathurst:

If you’re doing a lot of gymnastics, weightlifting, grip training, or hand balancing (my 4 favorite hobbies) then calluses are an inevitability. They raise up and start to get pinched and can eventually rip off. This is a bit painful and a pain to deal with during training. Let me show you what to do to take care of things before you’re leaving quarter size chunks of skin on the gym floor. …

The supplies are simple, grab yourself something to scrap the calluses off. I use a butter knife (or other dull knife) …. I also have a bucket of warm water in which to soak my hands. …

After you’ve soaked your hands for a minute or two, take them out and lightly towel dry them. You’ll notice that your calluses are raised a bit and have turned white – indicating dead skin. …

… take the dull knife at a 90 degree angle to my hand and start scraping at the calluses. You know you’re doing it right when you see the dead skin coming up. This should NOT be painful. … read more on beastskills.com

The Luxor casino in Las Vegas is planning a new Cirque du Soleil production.

It’s confirmed this will be a Cirque magic show fronted by the amazing magician Criss Angel, who reportedly signed a 10-year deal.

Criss Angel appeals to a young demographic due to the phenomenal success of his TV show Mindfreak. The Criss Angel project will bring Cirque Nouveau (the new circus) to the attention of young people.

This can only be a good thing for acrobatic coaches.

Chriss Angel – official website