Gymnastics Coaching.com

The most successful gymnast in Chinese history, Cheng Fei, snapped an Achilles at age-24.

Full Twist:

President of the Chinese Gymnastics Federation, Ye Zhennan told Xiuanet.com:

“Despite wearing tendon protectors, Cheng still tore her Achilles during a training session.”

“Not only China, but other teams including Russia and the United States face injury woes.”

“It’s time for the FIG to make some changes to the rules.”

They have a good argument, … if talking about Amanar being set at too high a value. That can be changed.

But when it comes to Achilles rupture, I can’t think of anything FIG could do to reduce the number of injuries. They are just as frequent in the NCAA where female gymnasts are not competing FIG rules.

Allowing — once again — a lunge after landings would reduce injuries, I think. But not Achilles injuries. That wear and tear happens mostly on take-off.

The only hope is a change in Floor apparatus specifications, perhaps to something like the Weller Spring. Unproven, so far, in preliminary research by Bill Sands.

But it seems to me that Power Tumblers have fewer Achilles injuries despite doing more reps of more difficult skills. Softer takeoff surface. Softer landing mat.

More time on the trampoline and Rod Floor, fewer repetitions on hard tumbling surfaces, might help. Achilles tendon damage is normally long, slow onset.

Leave a comment if you’ve got any recommendations.

related – Brigid – So Sad About Cheng

The biggest happy surprise at Visa Championships was young Sam hanging with the (young) big names atop the leader board. He finished 3rd AA.

Click PLAY or watch a highlights edit on YouTube.

OK. He doesn’t have the experience of Horton, Dalton and others. But this kid is psychologically tough. Look how he handled this potential disaster.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

He might be the ideal alternate.

(via NBC)

Thank God MIOBI is history. Spanny has time to get back to posts like this:

The Amanar. The Scamanar. The Nabievanar. The Maroney. So many names, one single vault.

The vault du jour is of course, the one and only Amanar. Without it, you’re screwed. …

Big Fake Smile – The Amanar: a Breakdown

Click through to compare some of the gymnasts competing that big Vault.

Most everyone agrees there’s been too much incentive.

A bad Amanar (Aly Raisman) outscores an excellent Yurchenko double twist. That’s a bad Code of Points. Or judges who will not penalize poor execution. Or both.

To put it another way, Nellie Kim encourages gymnasts to risk an extra half twist. If they happen to land on their feet, they’ll likely score higher than DTY.

That’s just wrong.

Will this problem be fixed next Code? … We’ll see. 😦

We’ve got girls working this awesome Beam skill. FUN in the post-season.

I saw that on thatlonesomesong tumblr.

Ideally, gymnasts should not need a spotter in competition. Not for warm-ups. Not in the meet itself.

If I see a gymnast being spotted, I question whether they are physically, technically and / or (especially) psychologically ready.

There are exceptions. Spotting or sliding a mat for release moves on Bars can be good coaching.

That photo was linked by Gymnastics Zone — The Perils of Coaches Standing There Instead of Spotting

When is it appropriate to stand-in for a gymnast?

If something goes wrong, are you ready to spot?

Nora Schuler is in Penza, Russia reporting for THE ALL AROUND:

David Belyavskiy from Yekaterinburg won the all-around title at the 2012 Russian Cup in Penza today. The 19-year-old scored 89.131 points to take the gold ahead of Sergei Khorokhordin (87.997) and Igor Pakhomenko (87.932). Belyavskiy looked stronger and more confident than at the recent European Championships in Montpellier but still struggled with his vault, landing the Tsukahara double pike on his knees. …

Russian Cup: Belyavskiy Takes All-Around Title

That post has results. But they’re prettier on International Gymnast, if you can stand the auto-loading video advertisement:

Garibov, Balandin and Ablyazin are considered locks for the Olympics after their medal-winning performances at last month’s European championships, Russian coach Andrei Rodionenko said. The all-around medalists in Penza will fight it out for the remaining two spots on the five-gymnast squad, he said, though an additional two gymnasts will train as alternates.

Belyavsky Wins Russian Cup All-Around

There’s more commentary on Rewriting Russian Gymnastics, including an update on injured Anton Golotsutskov.

If you don’t know David, you should watch for him in London. A stylish guy with plenty of big difficulty.

Click PLAY or watch his Europeans Pommels on YouTube.

I’ve subscribed to the Korbut Flip tumblr via RSS.

I’m enjoying the .gifs they share on Tumblr. But am flummoxed trying to find out who originally created them. Leave a comment if you know how to backtrack to the source.

I saw that first here.

While we await the prognosis and recovery of Olympic hopeful McKayla Maroney, I hear that Canadian diver Alexandre Despatie just suffered a possible concussion when his head hit the diving board while training in Madrid.

Bad timing. 😦

But he expects to be back for the Olympics.

Canadian Olympic Trampolinist Rosie MacLennan (Facebook) had a concussion some weeks ago. But is back in competition. Whew. … Rosie is awesome, by the way. (VIDEO)

We’re only just starting to understand concussion. As coaches we need do everything possible to reduce the risk of impact to the head.

A Review.

And here’s another positive review on All Chalked Up.

Washington Post – Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu critical of Karolyis’ role in USA Gymnastics

Begin in Yakutsk, Russia in 3wks. I was happy to hear that Cambodia is sending one Artistic gymnast.

The Children of Asia International Sports Games … were launched in 1996 … patronaged by the International Olympic Committee and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

… resemble the similar junior sports forums and the “adult” Olympic Games, but they are of smaller scale. …

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