Check what’s happening in the Netherlands “lab” gym.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Trudy McIntosh at age-29
Catching up with the “inventor” of the McIntosh vault. (Handspring front layout with 1/1.)
She’s won Commonwealth Games gold and performed across the globe with Cirque du Soleil. Now former Lara gymnast Trudy McIntosh is embracing a new challenge, writes JENNA MEADE …
Trudy was visiting family having just wrapped up a successful five-year career with Cirque du Soleil, one which whisked her away to 46 different countries across the globe.
But now, the former golden girl of sport is about to embark on an exciting new chapter.
Trudy will next week fly to Denmark to be reunited Danish partner and fellow circus performer Lars Kristensen as they await the birth of their first child — a little girl, due in three months. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rube Goldberg acrobatics
44 Best Bodyweight Exercises Ever
Indo Pacific Championships
100 days until the competition.
Sun 29 June – Sat 5 July 2014
A Trampoline, Tumbling and Acrobatic Gymnastics competition comes to Sun City, South Africa. Indo Pacific Championships take place every two years. …
Hosted by the South African Gymnastics Federation, the 2014 Championships will be held at the fantastic Superbowl, Sun City 29 June – 05 July 2014, with all participants scheduled to stay at the Sun City Resort.
I watched some of the Namibian team training yesterday in Walvis Bay.
10 Things to be Careful About When Dating a Gymnast
This via Mackay Gymnastics on Facebook:
1. If she’s had a bad day at practice…STAY AWAY AND BE VERY AFRAID!
2. Don’t ever come in the gym, EVER. Chalk, sweat, wedgies…it’s not a pretty sight.
3. Don’t ask her what she’s working on. You will never understand what she’s talking about.
4. Beware of her Coaches!! It’s often scarier to meet them than to meet her parents.
5. Don’t ask her to compete with you in anything unless you are ready to lose and be humiliated. When she gets competitive, she will not stop until she’s victorious.
6. During competition season, practice comes first. Don’t ever think you are more important than the gym.
7. When you decide to date a gymnast, make sure you realize she will be in the gym more than she’s with you.
8. Don’t be surprised when out on a date and she eats more than you do. And definitely DON’T call attention to the fact that she does.
9. Don’t be surprised when she’s not as lady-like as all of your other dates. She was raised in a gym where burping and farting is always a contest.
10. If you hurt her, you will have a whole gym full of gymnasts, who can all whoop your butt, and the coaches after you.
It’s time to watch Alicia drop that guy again, on YouTube. 🙂
Cottbus montage
Courtney McGregor – YDT
Christchurch School of Gymnastics, New Zealand.
Hunan Gymnastics School arrests
Scandal has hit the closed world of Chinese gymnastics after at least six under-age girls were allegedly raped at one of the country’s most prestigious academies.
The director and deputy head of the Hunan Gymnastics School, dubbed the “cradle of champions” after training four Olympic medallists, have been arrested and questioned by police. …
The school’s director, 48-year-old Liu Zhiqiang, was arrested last December, according to the Legal Evening News. Zeng Rong, 52, the school’s deputy head, was detained the month before.
Both men are being investigated for sexual assault after six girls reported them to the police, according to the Oriental Morning Post. …
A reporter for the Legal Evening News was told the matter was being dealt with secretly. “The case involves minors and will have a negative impact on society so we will not release information to the public,” an unnamed policeman told the newspaper. …
Telegraph – Chinese gymnastics academy that trains Olympians hit by scandal
(via GymCastic)
Letters to Nowhere – a review
I finally managed to finish reading my review copy of the gymnastics coming-of-age romance, Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross.
It has a 4.14 / 5 rating on Good Reads.
That’s an 8.28 / 10 … old code. 🙂
I’ve yet to come across a negative review. If you like Young Adult, this book is for you.
For example, this review by John Jacobson:
Two dead parents and a life turned upside down. Karen, lifelong gymnast with ambitions as strong as her resilience, has to try and survive after her parents are killed in a car accident one night. Her grandmother is her only real family left, yet said grandmother lives across the country. Moving across the country spells the end for Karen’s gymnastics career. Switching up coaches could mean stalled training, adjusting to yet another new coaching style, and maybe losing her chance at competing in international competition.
Karen’s coach doesn’t know her too well – he’s fairly new to the gym, replacing the old coach that left to coach college gymnastics at UCLA – but he’s willing to take her in for the year so she can complete her training without upsetting her progress. Her online schooling could continue on as usual, and Karen’s grandmother would still keep track of all of the financial and legal decisions. Her coach would simply take on the role of legal guardian for specific cases. He has no intention to infringe on Karen and become her new father; he just doesn’t want her to lose an opportunity she’s wanted for years.
Living with her coach proves to be as awkward as it is convenient. His son Jordan is a surprise, to say the least. Karen’s devotion to gymnastics has kept her out of the dating and social scene. She’s no introvert, but it’s hard to search for teenage boys to date when you’re spending a huge chunk of your time conditioning for gymnastics. …
read more – REVIEW: Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross
I’m not the target audience for YA. Therefore I’ll restrict my review to the Gymnastics content of the novel.
It’s strong.
I cannot recall a TV series, film or fiction where so many of the gymnastics references are correct.
Like Brenna Dowell and Elizabeth Price, Karen (17yr-old gymnast protagonist of the novel) is struggling with whether to accept an NCAA scholarship — or stay Elite.
Like other USA elites, she fears USA Gymnastics Coordinator Nina Jones (Marta Karolyi) and National Team camps.
I believe mature female teens would enjoy the book. Don’t give it to young girls, however. It has sexual content and some profanity.
The Kindle edition is only $3.99.
Julie Cross lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. She’s a former gymnast, longtime gymnastics fan, coach, and former Gymnastics Program Director with the YMCA.
