2014 British Championships
GymConUSA – June 16-18, 2014
The 2nd annual GymConUSA, an independent conference designed for Coaches, Club Owners and Industry Professionals, goes June 16-18, 2014 at the Mirage Resort in Las Vegas.
Cirque du Soleil will offer GymConUSA 2014 attendees a special once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a stage visit to The Beatles LOVE on the opening day of the conference. Later that evening, attendees will have the opportunity to be part of the audience for the live performance at 9:30 p.m.
A member of the casting and coaching teams from Cirque du Soleil will also be among the featured presenters at the conference on Tuesday, June 17th. The session will include a look at preparing for a career with Cirque du Soleil and an inside perspective from an Artistic coach.
Other speakers confirmed so far include Shannon Miller, Gina Pongetti, Jeff Lulla, Rick McCharles, Tammy Biggs and Frank Salhein.
Click PLAY or watch the Beatles LOVE trailer on YouTube.
Register soon to get the best possible prices on conference, resort and Cirque tickets. GymCon is a bargain when compared with what you get at USAG Congress events.
Gymnastics murder / suicide
Terrible. Terrible.
A former German Olympian killed his son before committing suicide on Tuesday, multiple German media outlets reported.
Jürgen Brümmer, a member of the West German gymnastics team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, reportedly killed his disabled 15-year-old son before jumping to his own death off a bridge. …
The former gymnast was a nine-time West German champion and a member of the West German squad that finished eighth at the 1987 World Championships, 12th at the 1988 Olympics and 10th at the 1989 Worlds. business website, he worked with gymnasts, handball players and soccer players since establishing his own practice in 1997 in Stuttgart.
Brümmer, 49, is survived by his wife and another son, aged 16.
critical Olympic traits
Garth Rowan:
Here are 9 of the most critical Olympic traits that the rest of us could apply in a crisis:
1) Confidence
That elusive factor that everyone strives for but few can conjure up at will. The fallacy is thinking that someone else can give it to us. Far from it; not even the best coach can hand us that secret. It comes from within, it’s about getting the small things going well and building from there. …
2) A Support network3) The road map
4) Stay in the “Now”
5) Self assessment
6) Mental toughness
7) Preparation routine
8) Purposeful practice
9) Grab the best behaviour
Crisis Intelligence Blog – Lessons for critical communications from the Sochi Olympics
Darya Domracheva became Belarus’ most successful Olympian of all time on Monday with victory in the biathlon 12.5-kilometer mass start, her record third gold medal of the Sochi Winter Games.
Ashley Wagner face
McKayla Maroney, meet your Winter Olympics counterpart, Ashley Wagner. … Team USA figure skater …
As a disappointing score of 63.10 was posted, Wagner’s expression changed from excitement to disgust. …
Mashable – Ashley Wagner’s Angry Face Inspires Olympics Meme
Air Force Men’s Gymnastics
Jeff Robinson:
Before anybody begins to panic…Yes, it has been proposed that up to thirteen sports are to be cut at the U.S. Air Force Academy and Men’s Gymnastics is among the sports to potentially be cut. That being said, it hasn’t happened yet. As I understand it, we will know more on March 4. This is the date that has been given for the Air Force Academy budget to be solidified. Many different scenarios / drills have been proposed by our Athletic Dept. to bring the budget into proper balance. …
LIKE the Protect Air Force Men’s Gymnastics Facebook page.
Figure Skating’s Faux-Nudity
Josh Levin:
This is the enduring image of the Sochi Games:
Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova with her palms facing the ceiling, imploring the crowd to cheer her on during the women’s free skate. The home fans complied, helping to lift Sotnikova to a controversial victory over South Korea’s Yuna Kim. Take a closer look at that iconic photo, and you’ll see something else besides Sotnikova’s sly grin. The 17-year-old gold medalist is wearing flesh-colored fabric in three different places: on her upper torso, her hands, and her legs.
The International Skating Union requires that costumes “be modest, dignified, and appropriate for athletic competition” and “not give the effect of excessive nudity.” Griffies uses a stretchy, translucent fabric called nude mesh; he prefers it to the alternative, nude lycra, because it allows you to see a skater’s muscle tone. …
What about the nude gloves that Sotnikova was wearing? Griffies, who was a competitive figure skater before he moved into fashion, explains that most triple-toe-loopers wear gloves in practice to stay warm, as well as to prevent cuts and scrapes (which can arise from falling on the ice or grabbing your blade during a spin). It feels strange to compete without them, Griffies says, so many skaters go with flesh-colored gloves, which make them feel comfortable but don’t distract the judges. …
Sotnikova completed her flesh-colored look with a set of over-the-boot tights. Griffies hates that look—he prefers the classic feel of a bright white skate. (So does Gracie Gold.) Sotnikova and other skaters wear those “OTB tights” for a bunch of reasons: because they supposedly make their legs look longer …
Nude Mesh vs. Nude Lycra: Figure Skating’s Faux-Nudity Secrets Revealed
Hate it. 😦
Trans World Sport – Mustafina
Queen Elizabeth linked to an English language documentary focusing on Aliya’s personality and preparation for Worlds 2013.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Temple transition to Club
At the Temple Board of Trustees meeting Monday, varsity men‘s gymnastics along with four other sports was confirmed to be terminated after June 30. (Crew and Rowing were reinstated due to the outside funding received to renovate their boathouse, not costing TU anything.)
It was stated that we would be assisted in a transition to university club status. While this will keep us from enjoying the type of competition we’ve had in the past 88 years, looking at the bright side, it will allow us to continue training young men toward collegiate competition, but not toward an NCAA Championship. However, there are meets we can enter as a club team and two national meets, so we should enjoy several challenging competitions each season.
Of course, being a club means we no longer have a budget provided by the athletic department. Yet, one trustee, Lewis Katz, offered Fred a $70,000 yearly challenge grant – as long as that amount is raised, he would contribute $70,000 to our club. This will enable Fred to fund team travel, uniforms, personal equipment and be salaried. (Should enough be raised, we could even fund an assistant coach.) The pledges folks have made already for the next five years indicate that we can raise this kind of funding and provide a terrific experience for any male gymnasts who want to attend Temple and compete for our club team. We’ll still count on your support as long as we exist, and hope you will offer it to whomever follows coach Fred. We don’t yet know how and where to deposit donations for the club, and will contact all once more is known.
A great concern is what this means to ECAC and NCAA men’s gymnastics.Thanks for all you’ve done for Temple Men’s Gymnastics and the support you’ve shown us. We’ll continue to search out ways to reverse the decision, but at least we have a future where we’ll continue gymnastics at Temple.
related – Temple board votes to save crew, cut five other sports
