Australian Youth Olympic Festival

WAG 1998-2000

1. China 162.963
2. Great Britain 160.064
3. Australia gold 150.798

Brigid McCarthy:

… The tiny Chinese team were exquisite and had some huge skills on bars. On this event we saw some multiple releases, and several full-twisting double layout dismounts. …

… China was exactly as I expected. Bars were nearly flawless, while there were some falls and mistakes once they hit beam and floor. But there was also that magical, stunning Chinese form and dedication to execution. They were expected to win on difficulty and, despite the mistakes of youth, they prevailed …

… for me, it was the British girls who were the revelation of the meet. … They had big skills, wonderful presentation, great choreography and showed great calm under pressure given their limited experience in international competition. Catherine Lyons, who is already known for her stunning form, was magical on beam and floor, and came out on top in the beam rankings. …

The AYOF Team Competition Story

Click PLAY or watch Catherine Lyons’ Beam on YouTube.

The GB men’s team stole the show taking the title in style. The team of Courtney Tulloch, Nile Wilson, James Hall and Dominick Cunningham powered through to be crowned champions ahead of China …

1. Great Britain 250.050
2. China 243.050
3. Australia 231.550

BG

Catherine at Beautiful Gymnastics has commentary and links to video.

Denis Vachon – twisting sequence

Can all of your gymnasts do half twists in sequence up to their maximum number of twists?

Or have any “lost” some of those twists over time due to lack of training?

Click PLAY or watch Denis Vachon on YouTube.

trampoline video game

Dance Dance Trampoline

Slightly Overdone:

For over a year I had been thinking about using a trampoline as a game interface. When I got the opportunity to present an installation at the A.NY Party in the Design Centre De Winkelhaak in Antwerp, the time was ripe to put thoughts into actions. On the 15th of January 2013 I presented the first prototype to 400 creative people, and they jumped to it.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More info on this project.

paralyzed on double front

This is Aref from Yemen.

coach
 
He was put in this chair 8yrs prior after a bad fall.

I guessed the skill was double front. Correct. He was doing a skill easy for him, double front from spring board on to a good crash mat. It only takes one over-rotation. Be very, very careful when training multiple fronts. They are by far the most dangerous acrobatic skill.

Aref is doing well in 2013, working with the Yemeni Olympic Committee.

Texas Dreams Bars & Beam

… one of the top elite programs in the U.S., Texas Dreams Gymnastics run by Kim Zmeskal-Burdette and Chris Burdette. This video shows their second training session of the day back in November of 2012 as they worked new skills for the 2013 elite season. …

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NTg1NjgxMjcw?related=1

Watch more videos on Gymnastike

MAG – Cal v Stanford

Uncle Tim was there for opening day of the (poorly attended) Battle of California:

Haas Pavilion was packed on Sunday afternoon for the first of five matchups between Stanford and Cal this season.

Cal lost to Stanford: 425.000 to 411.150. As the scores indicate, it was a rather decisive victory for the Cardinal gymnasts, who basically swept the individual titles as well. (Cal’s Jeffrey Langenstein tied Stanford’s Eddie Penev for the floor title. That was the only first place finish for the Bears.) Generally speaking, if a college team is going to be in the hunt, it needs to score 70 or above on almost every apparatus. Cal, unfortunately, fell short of that mark on five of the six events. …

Even though they lost, Cal has a lot to be proud of. Their team is made up of mostly freshmen–13 of their 20 gymnasts are freshmen–and for their youth, they posted a very respectable team score. …

My biggest concern for both teams is their health. More specifically, I’m worried about the gymnasts’ knees. On floor exercise, the trend is to do a lot of twisting in combination. Unfortunately, I saw a lot of gymnasts twisting right off the ground (a big no-no), as well as many who were still twisting as they’re feet are hitting the ground (an even bigger no-no). Those two things, in and of themselves, are recipes for disaster …

Cal vs. Stanford: The First of Many Matchups

Click PLAY or watch Eddie Penev’s Floor on YouTube.

Team scores from the weekend

Penn State: 446.85 (HOLY MOTHER OF NADIA!)
Illinois: 425.45
Stanford: 425.00
Oklahoma: 423.5
Nebraska: 418.9

Canadian Paralympians – Unstoppable

Made for the 2012 Paralympic Games, this ad features a disabled runner making his way past wheelchairs, emergency vehicles and an accident scene, before breaking away into a fast run. It’s an inspiring metaphor for people’s ability to overcome challenges, and one of HuffPost’s most totally favourite ads of the year.

Best Canadian Commercials Of 2012

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Elizabeth Price on Gymcastic

If you haven’t listened to the new Gymnastics talk show yet, Episode 16 would be a good one to try.

This week we talk to 16-year-old Elizabeth Price of Parkettes. She’s coming off a stellar year, being named alternate to the 2012 Olympic Team, then winning back-to-back all-around titles at the Stuttgart and Glasgow World Cups. Next month, she’ll be joining Kyla Ross, Vanessa Ferrari, Asuka Teramoto, Larissa Iordache and Elisabeth Seitz at the American Cup.

ebee

We are joined by special guest-host, World and Olympic medalist and 2011 NCAA beam champion, Samantha Peszek. She gives us her thoughts on the latest news, including Beth Tweddle on Dancing on Ice, Lloimincia Hall’s new floor routine and weighs in on Spanny’s week-one NCAA recap.

Episode 16: Elizabeth Price

related – Sophomore gymnast Lloimincia Hall channels religion in performances:

… Hall’s floor routine against No. 3 Florida, which earned a near-perfect score of 9.95, provided the knockout blow in the final performance of the upset. She finished second overall in the meet with a score of 39.45 and is nationally ranked No. 10 all-around.

Behind her performances is one goal — showing her devotion to Christ. She closed her Florida floor performance by bringing her hands together in a prayer pose before transitioning to Tiger claws. …

“She doesn’t need her music,” LSU coach D-D Breaux laughed. “She improvises all the time. We never see the same routine in practice that we see in competition.” …

elevated bridge

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Ensure that technique is good, hips are stretched, shoulders in front of the hands, before starting to lower the feet.

For the gymnast in the video, I would raise the height of the feet. Her shoulders are not yet over and past her hands.

That was linked by Coaching Gymnastics in the New Millennium.

The comments on that post and the YouTube page are interesting. Tammy Biggs likes to train elevated bridge with feet together AND feet shoulder width (for flyspring).