Gymnastics Coaching.com

World Champion Thomas Bouhail pushing the limits in training.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via International Gymnast on Facebook)

Mihai Brestyan was up coaching Talia Chiarelli for one day at the Canadian Championships.

I heard he was not impressed with Canadian judging, finding the scores of the top routines too low relative to the rest. And relative to international judging.

Grace Chiu GraceClick’s Photo on Facebook.

She finished 6th AA (52.375) affiliated with Bluewater, ONT.

Talia Chiarelli was born and raised in Ottawa (1995). Her mother is Alicia Brancato, daughter of former Ottawa Rough Riders football coach George Brancato.

Talia’s father is Peter Chiarelli, GM of the Boston Bruins who are currently in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

She’s in the mix of gymnasts who might qualify to Worlds 2011. Like her more famous Brestyan’s teammates, she’s strong on all apparatus … except Bars.

Bluewater trained down at Brestyan’s recently. The conditioning is tough.

Watch the Gymnastics Examiner interview.

Grace Chiu on Facebook:

Some chalk (magnesium carbonate) at the gym got on the top of my photo booth kit bag and set off CSTA alarms for traces of explosive chemicals at YYG. Forms got filled out and everything got hand checked, including my body. I’ll be happy to get home soon to do some laundry.

Leave a comment if you’ve ever heard of gymnastics chalk being flagged at an airport. That stuff is about as inert as any substance.

Kerensa Mitchell is from Flicka Gymnastics in Vancouver, B.C.

She’s looking for a College team in the USA.

Click PLAY or watch two of her routines and an interview on YouTube.

Kerensa took the Bronze medal on Beam with that routine in National Open 16+.

And was 6th on Bars, 6th AA. See full results (PDF).

Kerensa knows more than most non-American gymnasts about the NCAA as her brother is on a Tennis scholarship. She knew enough to get advice from Sara Gill, of GymDynasty, a College Recruitment Representative.

Kerensa will certainly be a strong Collegiate gymnast. She’s organized.

If you’re not sure how best to get your gymnast into the pool of athletes under consideration by NCAA coaches, get yourself a College Recruitment Representative like Sara. Or one of the many other reputable services including one of our sponsors, Lights On Recruiting.

Former Penn State Head Coach Steve Shephard has gone to work for Victory Collegiate Consulting.

One of my goals at Canadian Nationals is to promote the NCAA. I wore my NCAA hat all week. I feel more foreign gymnasts should be taking advantage of that opportunity.

(via Canadian Gymnastics Championships blog)

Scott Morgan (6.1 difficulty) 14.800 1st Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That routine has plenty of potential to improve. It’s essential to pull out of strength holds, in future.

Kevin Lytwyn (5.9 difficulty) 14.700 2nd Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Local boy makes good. Matt D’Amour of the host club finished 3rd on Rings at Elite Canada earlier this year. And 5th tied at home with this routine.

He includes the “Victorian” Cross, an impossible skill being competed only by Rodrigues of France (VIDEO), so far as I know.

(5.6 difficulty) 13.750 Click PLAY or watch Matt on YouTube.

Matt and some of the Juniors have potential on Rings. The future looks good for Canada on this apparatus.

(via Canadian Gymnastics Championships blog)

I’ve posted this routine previously. But this is a better angle.

Superb double double mount.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Victoria is 2011 Jr National Champion, age eligible for 2012 but not Worlds 2011.

Sabrina Gill and a few others are of the same birth year.

CAN Championships results available from Gym Score Depot.

(via Canadian Gymnastics Championships blog)

Whip thin, unique and with a smile that lights up the gym, Jessica is one of my favourite gymnasts anywhere.

Click PLAY or watch my interview with her on YouTube.

… That was minutes after her winning the 2011 Canadian Open Championships. … A far different story than my interview in 2010, after she had a poor meet competing Senior FIG for the first time.

Jessica dropped back to Open competition in order to build confidence. It’s worked. She had a good season and is fired up.

Open in Canada is something like Level 10 in the USA. Jessica is not eligible for Worlds nor Olympic trials, at this point. Yet Netherlands (who finished ahead of Canada at the last World Championships) was savvy enough to invite her to try out for their Team. Her Oakville teammate – Silvia Colussi-Pelaez (12th AA) is trying out for the Spanish National Team. (VIDEO)

… If I was in charge of Canadian gymnastics, I’d want both girls in the big pool of athletes eligible for first trials.

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If you don’t know Jessica’s gymnastics, Click PLAY or watch some clips from Wild Rose 2011 on YouTube.

Here’s her Bars from Finals with Double Double dismount (VIDEO) and her Finals Beam (VIDEO).

(via Canadian Gymnastics Championships blog)

Video clips are increasingly important for coaches. More and more often we see this …

Adrian Burde (Florida) and others were videotaping Nationals with iPad 2s this week. (You can film and watch full screen at the same time.)

There is the slight risk that we’ll get so caught up in the latest YouTube sensation that attention to the athletes will suffer.

I’m leading a session this week on the topic of COACHES And VIDEO. Leave a comment if you’ve a favourite source of videos.

10yr-old Shallon won the youngest division at the Canadian Championships 2011.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here’s her Floor (VIDEO) from another angle.

Gymnastics Examiner posted a summary:

Results — senior women

Vault: 1. Bianca Jordaan; 2. Emma Sibson; 3. Gabby May

Bars: 1. Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto; 2. Dominique Pegg; 3. Coralie Leblond-Chartrand

Beam: 1. Jessica Savona; 2. Madeline Gardiner; 3. Bianca Jordaan

Floor: 1. Jessica Savona; 2. Dominique Pegg; 3. Talia Chiarelli

Results — senior men

Floor: 1. Jackson Payne; 2. Scott Morgan; 3. Brandon O’Neill

Pommel horse: 1. Jackson Payne; 3T. Casey Sandy and Anderson Loran

Rings: 1. Scott Morgan; 2. Kevin Lytwyn; 3. Tariq Dowers

Vault: 1. Hugh Smith; 2. Jayd Lukenchuk; 3. Scott Morgan

Parallel bars: 1. Brandon O’Neill; 2. Ken Ikeda; 3. Jackson Payne

High bar: 1. Casey Sandy; 2. Matthieu Csukassy; 3. Jackson Payne

LIVE blog from the Women’s Final – Quick hits: Event finals at the Canadian Championships

full results on Gym Score Depot

(via Canadian Gymnastics Championships blog)