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In prelims at Chinese Nationals.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This was just one of the highlight routines linked by Between the Olympics.

The World Champion did.

It’s discouraged or altogether not allowed at some American and British competitions.

Read commentary on Chalk Bucket – Thread: Nailpolish at elite competitions?

Derek and crew in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho hosted a competition in parkour / freerunning / tricking.

Here’s a glimpse of how they set that up. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via IEGA)

Here’s how they monitor and motivate at Okanagan Gymnastics Centre.

The higher your name on the wall, the higher your DD.

Qualified #1 at Nationals with 16.3.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/MzY2NDg5NDEw?related=1

Watch more video of Chinese Gymnastics Nationals 2011 on gymnastike.org

Some Canadian men are there competing as international guests. They are reciprocating for team China coming to the Shewfelt meet in Calgary earlier this season.

Sure, impressive … but she bends her elbows 🙂 !

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

@intlgymnast via Tumbl Trak on Facebook

Gymnastics Examiner has been checking two different YouTube channels, linking to some of the most interesting uploads – Comeback Cheng: China’s Olympic hero debuts first floor of the quad

Tan Sixin balance beam qualification Chinese national gymnastics 2011

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A few notes on the Level 9s:

Happily the session I attended on Mother’s Day, Jr / Sr D, was much stronger than the session I watched Saturday.

Front tumbling was very clean. Vault was generally good. … Powerful layout Yurchenkos. Some good Tsuks.

One Geinger on Bars was a treat.

Line and form on Bars was fairly good. High to low transfers were problematic, as they often are. My only major complaint is double tuck Bar dismounts that scare me. (I fear some of these girls pull-in. )

Double tuck is my least favourite dismount.

Leaps were generally weak, too. On both Floor and Beam.

Some College coaches were there today. Doug Byrnes from Hamline was in attendance. UCLA coaches were on the Floor coaching, too. Doug has one incoming Freshman in that session, and is looking at other Level 9s. As a Division 3 school, Hamline does not offer athletic scholarships, but they do offer partial Academic support. That’s kind of a big deal considering tuition is about $40,000 / year.

CONGRATULATIONS to those girls who were able to qualify to either Easterns or Westerns. It’s not easy considering the depth of competition.

Junior D
1 Corinne Belkoff (Tumbleweeds AZ) 37.875
2 Lauren Schmeiss-Tossey (Auburn WA) 37.600
3 Bryttany Kaplan (Adrenaline) 37.300

Senior D
1 Sydney Hinton (Auburn WA) 37.075
2 Kellie Amano (South Coast Gym) 36.875
3 Andrea Perea (Browns) 36.650

Gymnastike – Level 9 Eastern and Western National Championships Results

Here are the individual event champions.

Level 9:

* FX: Emyre Cole (Go For It) – 14.20
* PH: Marty Strech (Azarian) – 13.55
* SR: Josiah Eng (Swiss) – 14.80
* VT: Fabian DeLuna (WOGA) – 15.65
* PB: JJ Litster (Arete) – 13.90
* HB: Marty Strech (Azarian) – 13.85

Level 10 (14-15):

* FX: Chandler Eggleston (High Point) – 15.15
* PH: Akash Modi (Monmouth) – 14.45
* SR: Marvin Kimble (Swiss) – 14.85
* VT: Lee Grogan (Champions) – 16.15
* PB: Dmitri Belanovski (Swiss) – 14.15
* HB: Danny DiBenedetto (Daggett’s) – 14.05

Level 10 (16-18):

* FX: Trevor Howard (Hocking Valley) – 15.55
* PH: Craig Hernandez (Buffalo Grove) – 15.05
* SR: Michael Wilner (GymSpot) – 15.65
* VT: Trevor Howard (Hocking Valley) – 16.50
* PB: Adrian De Los Angeles (SCATS) – 15.00
* HB: Jesse Glenn (SCATS) – 14.60

link to full results via Stick It Media

more results and commentary on USAG – 2011 U.S. Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships wrap up with individual event finals

Football in the USA is plenty dangerous for the brain.

One of the best things about gymnastics is that we have comparatively few concussions, as compared with combative and team sports. (Don’t even mention Mixed Martial Arts.)

… But after watching a PBS TV show called Frontline – Football High (VIDEO), I’m not so sure.

A study by Professor Tom Talavage, an expert in functional neuroimaging and co-director of Purdue University’s MRI facility, alarmed me – Functionally-Detected Cognitive Impairment in High School Football Players Without Clinically- Diagnosed Concussion (PDF).

Talavage detected (possible) brain damage in 50% of High School football players who reported no concussion. They had plenty of “hits”, of course, but reportedly no concussion.

In gymnastics we suffer sub-concussive “hits”. Vault ‘timers’, for example. Could these be causing damage?

… My non-scientific opinion is that Artistic gymnastics training is safe for the brain. We have fantastic matting and pits. We spend more on protective equipment than any other sport.

I don’t want this post to come off alarmist. There’s too much of that already online. For example, Gymnastics is often compared with Football in injury studies. Yet in 2010 there were 16 football deaths in the USA, zero gymnastics deaths. (That number 16 comes from the Talavage study, too. Five direct deaths on field of play, eleven indirect deaths.)

I’d rather have my child doing gymnastics than playing Football.

No expert myself, I’d love to hear your comments if you know more on the topic of concussion in acrobatic sports.