Gymnastics Coaching.com

My friend Darlene Traviss is selling her Canadian gymnastics business, Flip Factory.

It’s located in Calgary, Alberta. The economy is very strong.

Contact darlene AT flip-factory.com (403) 265-2656

Tricker Mackensi Emory is just goofing in this photo …

But it’s a great example of the worst possible landing in acrobatic sports, the ‘scorpion’.

As a coach I do everything I can to prevent this landing. It happens most often when over-rotating forward somersault (missing the feet). … It’s just as deadly when under-rotating a multiple forward somersault, though.

I ask young kids not to do this contortion position for fun, even if they are flexible enough. I don’t want them to have any muscle memory of the ‘scorpion’ shape, just in case.

How can we prevent ‘scorpion’ landings?

First, teach falling and landing skills to gymnasts at a very young age. They need be expert so as to know what to do when something goes wrong unexpectedly.

Illustration from Gymnastics Foundations – available from the Gymnastics Canada boutique $75

Next, we need be super cautious with multiple forward salto drills and skills. This girl is an accident waiting to happen.

Most of the catastrophic injuries I’ve reported over the past number of years have been on forward somersaulting skills.

On May 12, 2006, Drew Donnellan at Tucson’s Gymnastics World and did a single front flip, a skill he’d done daily for seven years.

He over-rotated and fractured two vertebrae, damaging his spinal cord. He was paralyzed at age-16.

Paralyzed gymnast’s promise: No self-pity (2008)

Drew’s coach is one of the best in the business, Yoishi Tomita.

It can happen that quickly.

The most common mistake I see in gyms is coaches letting kids who don’t need them do double (and triple) fronts into the pit. … For fun.

That’s too risky. There are a hundred other things they can do for fun not nearly so dangerous.

One coach I know banned all double fronts, … unless it was a necessary drill for an advanced competitive gymnast. Good and gutsy idea.

February 19, 2011 Nica Hults participates in her first international elite qualifier at the 2011 WOGA Classic Meet. She received a score of 14.0 on beam, the highest qualifying score of the meet. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via littlemissgymnast)

There’s some interesting commentary posted by Nica’s Mom on Couch Gymnast. This was the first time she has “felt calm during a meet“, despite 2 falls on Bars.

A terrific Cirque touring show.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s touring North American right now.

Totem home page

I’ve posted a few routine videos and Olympian interviews on our meet website.

Check this awesome Level 8 Level 9 Beam routine from BIG SHOW Finals.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

See more on greatwestgymfest.com

Apparatus Finals

Beam:
1- Anna Dementieva —- 15.550
2- Maria Dunaeva —- 15.100
3- Yulia Belokobylskaya —- 14.750
4- Viktoria Komova —- 14.075

Floor:
1- Yulia Belokobylskaya —- 14.575
2- Anna Dementyeva —- 14.325
3- Yulia Inshina —- 14.100

results link and commentary on betweentheolympics

update – IG – Dementyeva Wins Again as Russian Nationals End

Acrobatic gymnastics (previously called Sport Acrobatics and nicknamed “Acro”) is a competitive partner sport combining the strength, flexibility and technical precision of gymnastics with the grace and musicality of dance as well as the trust and camaraderie of a dedicated partnership. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Stu.

The 2006 cinéma vérité documentary film, THIN, directed by Lauren Greenfield and distributed by HBO, is an exploration of The Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida; a 40-bed residential facility for the treatment of women with eating disorders.

The film mostly revolves around four women … and their struggles for recovery …

One of the patients admitted herself after a suicide attempt over two slices of pizza. Sad.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

You can watch the entire documentary on YouTube starting at Part 1.

Artistic gymnasts have a lower incidence of anorexia than the general public. That might, surprisingly, even be true for Rhythmic girls.

Leave a link if you follow this issue and know of the latest research.

… a little something called swinglining. It’s kind of like the canyon swings that you find in places like Glenwood Springs, Colorado and New Zealand, only of the DIY variety. …

Uncooped – Chris Weiss

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Olympic Gymnastics Champion Kyle Shewfelt chats with Aleena about her interesting L8 Beam routine at the Great West Gym Fest in Idaho.

Cool mount. Series of 5 skills into dismount.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Great West Gym Fest)