Mancino Yurchenko hand mat

… a customized Yurchenko entry mat designed for proper hand placement during the round-off entry.

… This 10″ wide hand pad helps guide athletes in the proper hand placements …

narrow Yurchenko mat

$79

Todd Gardiner likes narrow hand mats for developing gymnasts. (The overturn you see Olympians use is an advanced technique for older, stronger, faster athletes.)

via Gymnastics Coaches Skills & Drills on Facebook

active flexibility

Mary Lee Tracy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Active flexibility is strength at the end range. This is “dynamic active” flexibility. If the gymnasts holds at the end range it’s “static active” flexibility training.

Tumbl Trak floor bar

Mary – of Traveling Handstandsloves the Tumbl Trak Floor Bar.

Mary velcro Bar

Me too.

The best feature is the Velcro base. It sticks. And the two pads are great security for advanced pirouetting.

Tumbl Trak floor bar

48 inches long, it costs $169.

Back on Board: Greg Louganis

The documentary on one of the world’s greatest divers all time premieres Tuesday, August 4th 10PM on HBO.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

GuangZhou Green Inflatable Co.

Air Floors are BIG in 2015.

The Sales Manager for GuangZhou Green Inflatable Co. Ltd in China sent me links to their products – GreenInflatable.com.

AIR TRACK ITALIA®, for example, is using them.

Click PLAY or watch gymnasts (of various ability) on YouTube.

EYOF Apparatus Finals

European Youth Olympic Festival

Daria Skrypnik became the standout individual gymnast today at the European Youth Olympics, taking a medal in every event – gold in team, all around and bars, bronze on beam and silver on vault and floor. …

RRG – Daria Skrypnik leads Europe’s Youth in Tbilisi

Vault
M Boyer FRA 14.275
D Skrypnik RUS 14.100
E Eremina RUS 14.000

Bars
D Skrypnik RUS 14.850
N Derwael BEL 14.800
A Iliankova RUS 14.700

Beam
A Klinckaert BEL 13.950
M Methuen GBR 13.650
D Skrypnik RUS 12.750

Floor
A Klinckaert BEL 14.100
D Skrypnik RUS 13.900
N Derwael BEL 13.750

Full Twist links to results

related – Russian Women Take EYOF Title in Tbilisi

team_2015_russia

Men’s EYOF Apparatus Finals

Floor
G Regini Moran GBR 14.700
H Carter GBR 14.100
K Boncser HUN 14.050

Pommel
A Sychugov RUS 14.700
J Fraser GBR 14.200
L Galli ITA 14.000

Rings
M Sinichkin RUS 14.150
N Klessinj GER 14.100
J Fraser GBR 14.050

Vault
Y Sharmakou BLR 14.400
G Regini Moran GBR 14.400
D Govorov GEO 14.500

Parallel Bars
J Fraser GBR 14.600
E Yermakov UKR 14.450
K Carvalho FRA 14.200

H Bar
M Kratter SUI 14.050
G Regini Moran 13.850
L Galli ITA 13.800

Full Twist links to results

backward handspring balking

This is very dangerous.

balking

I’ve found balking to affect far more WAG than MAG. That it’s almost always on a backwards skill. And that it tends to be more common around the competitive season. Stress may be one factor.

Gymnastics Mental Coach offers some good advice – How To Remedy Balking In Your Gymnastics Routines…

I love tumbling up on to a table of mats. Good technique. Safer. And it provides no incentive to balk.

balking on tumbling

More advice here – how to deal with balking

Santa Monica flying rings 1970s

Video courtesy of Jeff Reid. Acrobatics/Gymnastics has been part of Muscle Beach since 1934. Glenn Sundby started coming here in the early 1930, and in 1963 he promoted Gymfest at the original Muscle Beach …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I made it there myself once in the late 1970s. Swinging Rings landing in sand was definitely the most impressive highlight. 🙂

via Steve Arkell

Albert Einstein – Coach

Jag Gym posted some quotes attributed to Coach Einstein:

3. “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

4. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

9. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

11. “I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

12 THINGS ALBERT EINSTEIN TAUGHT ME ABOUT COACHING

Click through to read the rest.

Einstein