Gymnastics Coaching.com

THE ART OF ASS KICKING

Part 2 in a brilliant series of posts summing up what Stanford alumni Jason Shen learned in a long gymnastics career.

… In gymnastics, you have to force yourself to confront your fears head on, everyday, in practice AND in competitions.

One of the most important characteristics of a great gymnast is the ability to overcome fear and do what needs to be done. The stakes are higher: if you mess up a layup or a serve, not much is going to happen If you mess up on a Kovacs (the skill pictured above …) you could hit your face or slam your chest into a metal bar. And trust me, that does not feel good. …

Jason posted advice under these headings:

• Reduce Risk
• Increase Your Capacity
• Man Up and Just Do It

This is a must read – How Gymnastics Taught Me to Man Up, Get Tough and Crush Fear

A Canadian coach was frustrated at the last meet after her kids had done a good job of STICKING landings:

…

Interestingly enough, we found that in order not to take a step, it was often necessary to lower ourselves down in order to gain more stability. The result however, was not a higher score – in fact, in some cases, the score went DOWN. Why?

After inquiring about the E-Score (which we can do in Canada), we learned that judges were taking the 0.3 body posture deduction, even though we had ‘stuck’ our landings. …

I’ve seen College gymnasts stick vault, and yet get a low score for the same reason. Yet as a coach I saw no fault biomechanical nor technical in how the force was absorbed.

The score was unjust.

… But there might be an upside to this mistake in the women’s judging rules. (Men’s judges are far more reasonable.)

Keith Russell has many times speculated on what would happen if we allowed one step or hop on landing … WITHOUT deduction. He feels the number and severity of injuries would decrease.

That step / hop is tremendously effective in attenuating the force of landing. It’s much safer.

My advice for that coach, therefore, is to train the kids to do a small hop (not step) with the required posture. Also, to have them train landings up on to high mats … so that the timing of the rotation will allow a ‘kick out’ and, thus, a more vertical position with the torso.

… If the girls happen to stick with vertical posture, consider that a bonus.

Budapest (1934) was the first women’s World Championships.

There the beam – which was still known as “Schwebekante” – was only 8 cm wide, so that it was a remarkable feat of Hungarian Gabi Muzaros who mastered a split on this narrow edge. The Italian 14-year-old Elda Lividino stood far out of the competition field with her 9,55 points …

… acrobatic elements on beam started with the courageous deed of Leibzig’s Erika Zuchold and her coach Ellen Berger at the latest: Zuchold being the first woman in the world to perform a back flip on beam (1964). …

… read more

Each Wednesday we are linking to a different apparatus posted on GymMEDIA – Apparatus HISTORY. (English and German)

I saw this new edit linked from International Gymnast on Facebook.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

As a coach, I like the Gainer dismounts best. Fear the double front dismounts most.

related by MostepanovaFan:

• Balance Beam Dismounts Guide
• Triple Twist Balance Beam Dismount Montage

Some sort of highlights edit is available from the Dutch Federation:

The official DVD of the 2010 gymnastics world championships in Rotterdam Ahoy on sale for only EU9.95 plus shipping. An invaluable compilation DVD featuring a comprehensive, daily report and the different course the historical performance of the Dutch gymnastics teams.

details

Jim on Beast Skills posts detailed tutorials on extreme strength.

He traveled to the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts to get help with his 1-arm handstand from coach Lin Junming.

He mostly discusses hand positions, especially what I’ve always called “Chinese fingers”.

details – ONE ARM HANDSTAND LESSONS FROM A CHINESE ACROBAT

NCAA WAG Championships 2013 – UCLA, April 19-21
NCAA WAG Championships 2012 – Georgia Institute of Technology, April 20-22

NCAA – Future championship sites released via College Gym Fans

NCAA WAG Championships 2011 – Cleveland, Ohio, April 15-17
NCAA MAG Championships 2011 – Ohio State, April 14-16

NCAA WAG Regional Championships 2011 – all 6 meets Sat. April 2nd

AND the much anticipated European Championships in Germany:

… first major gymnastics championship of 2011 is set to go next week in Berlin. The event takes a similar format to the 2009 worlds with just 4 competitors from each country (6 in the men’s event) and no team competition. There will be individual all around and event finals.

April 4th – Women’s podium training
April 5th – Men’s podium training
April 6th – Women’s qualification (4 subdivisions)
April 7th – Men’s qualification (3 subdivisions)
April 8th – Men’s and Women’s AA final
April 9th and 10th – Event finals

Going for Gold

The blogs are buzzing with the news that multiple Olympic gold medalist Catalina Ponor is officially making a comeback. Again. At age-23.

Click PLAY or watch a Romanian TV clip on YouTube. She looks to be in pretty good shape.

I’m skeptical. Much as I’d love to see another colourful elder gymnast on the world scene, I agree with Stoi!:

… can Romania really afford another gymnast that can’t swing bars?

They’d be far better off with some new Bars specialist.

related – FanGymnastics – Catalina Ponor is officially back – “I want to be in the history books”

@intlgymnast linked to some routines broken down by difficulty.

As a sample, here’s that amazing Beam routine from a few weeks ago.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

See more on the javajunkie6 YouTube channel. And leave any comments on the YouTube page of the specific routine.

There are some novelties including Elise Ray’s Bars sequences from 10yrs ago evaluated under the current code.

Jet lag?

Not prepared for these unimportant meets?

Both the Chinese men’s and the women’s teams had bad meets in Canada this past weekend. And the women’s team included World silver medalist Jiang Yuyuan.

Click PLAY or watch her Floor on YouTube.

… not her usual effervescent self.

There are more videos from both Wild Rose and Shewfelt on the GymnCA YouTube channel. Thanks Jenn!

(via Chinese Gymnastics Blog)