Gymnastics Coaching.com

I often think the huge American competitive program should produce rare talents from unexpected places. Yet surprisingly few clubs in 2011 want to try, and are able to develop, athletes for international competition.

For Junior and Senior Women’s National Team:

All 32 National Team Members Come from Only 19 Gyms

Half (50%) of the National Team Members Come from Only 5 Gyms

… WOGA Gymnastics, Cincinnati, Gymnastics Great American Gymnastics Express (GAGE), Legacy Elite Gymnastics and Texas Dreams …

About a quarter come from the Dallas/Ft.Worth area.

There are just a handful of coaches producing most of the National Team. Most have immigrated to the States.

Those stats come from a post on Gymnastics Zone – US National Team Elite Gym Stats

The list is already out of date. Nastia (WOGA) and Amanda Jetter (Cincinnati) were re-named to National team recently, but it only makes the concentration of top talent even more obvious.

Triple Twist has an interesting post – USA’s Olympic Team- Why They’ll Make It And Why They Won’t

Of the candidates currently on National Team, a half dozen are deemed long shots because they “lack international experience“.

The American Women’s Gymnastics program rarely competes internationally. As a result, girls like Kyla Ross and Kennedy Baker are unlikely to be selected for London.

… On the other hand, Marta took young, inconsistent and inexperienced Gabby to Tokyo — and she ended up 5th (57.6570) all-around. 🙂

The Olympics are a much bigger deal than Worlds. Marta will be far less likely to name a no name.

Bottom line = It’s time American gymnasts started competing more internationally, especially National Team members.

Not only that — they need more experience on actual podium. China has one set up full time.

The man wins Tokyo World Cup by more than three points.

2. Philipp Boy
3. Daniel Purvis (89.631)
4. Shogo Nonomura (89.237)

Here are the final World Cup points standings:

1. Daniel Purvis, GBR, 130 points
2T. Mykola Kuksenkov, UKR, 115 points
2T. Philipp Boy, GER, 115 points

details on Examiner

Kohei will be one of the most anticipated Olympic Champions in any sport 2012.

From Peter Wraae Marino, a coach in Denmark:

This site is created to help coaches, gymnasts and parents to better understand what drills and skills gymnasts should work on and how to progress …

The site is free, but we do need you to register (FREE) to get full access.

Peter’s adding new content ongoing starting at the beginning. There are 30+ drills like this posted, so far.

Objective

Build a trust relationship between coaches and their gymnasts.

To get the gymnast comfortable doing drills above floor height and to reduce the gymnasts fear factor.

To teach the gymnast to tighten their body and maintain it through out the drill.

It’s a variation on a “trust fall“.

To see full posts for yourself, register here.

Or you can check the content without registration at TumblingDrills.com

The site has an RSS feed so — using a Reader — you could be notified every time he adds a new drill.

Peter is a game programmer so has tools to do those cool graphics. The site is very well formatted, too. I’m impressed.

Instances of physical and sexual abuse of gymnasts are rare. Kids are less at risk in the gym than at school, for example.

The real ‘abuse’ that worries me in competitive gymnastics is psychological abuse. Some coaches are manipulators.

It’s difficult to prove in many cases, however. The bruises aren’t visible.

Keep an eye on any coach you suspect of bullying.

Amy tells that EuroRSCG Chicago, USA made that image. See others similar on this page – verbal abuse is still abuse

It’s easy to crash. Bad.

via icanhascheezburger

Funny.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Christmas Gift Special – $10.00 off.

Have you wanted the G.S. George text but been deterred by the $79 plus shipping price tag?

Order from www.WinningGymnastics.com and use the Promo Code “10-OFFXMAS” to get the $10 reduction. Or telephone 760-458-4993 if you find that easier.

Of course there are already discounts for buying more than one book at a time. The best deal, I think, is Flat Rate Priority Mail shipping for 3-6 books in the USA fixed at $15.00. … Or 3-6 books overseas for $45.

Thank to Wellness Press for advertising on this site. And for giving us first notice of the Christmas special.

The ever thoughtful Mark Folger’s response to multiple stories of inappropriate behavior toward children from coaches in college football, gymnastics and college basketball in the popular media right now:

TEN STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN (and their good coaches)

1. A coach should never be alone with a child, not before practice, not after practice, not during travel.

2. Coaches and athletes should never share hotel rooms when traveling.

3. Coaches should not provide special treatment to one or two athletes compared to the rest of the team. This could be trips to movies or ballgames, gifts, etc.

… see the rest and Mark’s commentary on FOLGER’S GYMNASTICS

All good reminders.

Your biggest looming potential landmine is Facebook. Tweets, chat and Facebook messages from 2011 will be used as “evidence” in courts of law for years to come. In a few of those cases, coaches will be wrongfully accused.

Put things in perspective. In my city female gymnasts are the most protected children in their schools. Over-protected more often than under-protected, I’d say.

related – Missouri Repeals Law Banning Teacher-Student Facebook Friendship

Junior Olympic competition USA, scores out of 10.0 maximum.

National gymnastics judge Marian Dykes talks to a group of coaches at the 2011 GAT Convention on angles and releases on bars. In this segment, they discuss the various ways to get into reverse grip on uneven bars.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NjI0NTE4MTMz?related=1

Watch more video of GAT Convention 2011 on gymnastike.org

I quite appreciate specific deductions specified at this Gymnastics Association of Texas Congress session. Great feedback for coaches.