tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
She’s cover girl on the October issue of Inside Gymnastics.
Always entertaining and interesting, here is perhaps the best article yet on the de facto leader of Team USA.
Regarding her coach, Mihai Brestyan:
“I have put that man through hell,” she says. “I am really grateful he has taken me back.”
read Alan Abrahamson‘s article on teamusa.org – Age just a number to Alicia Sacramone
Audi has a number of commercials featuring gymnasts. This one is the best I’ve seen, so far.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
There are more TV commercials, many from Europe, on a post on gimnastas.net. (Spanish)
(via Gymnicetic)
A page with convenient links to YouTube.
It includes Lefty, the Disney movie often requested on this site.
Click PLAY or watch Carol Johnston – Lefty – Part 1 on YouTube.
Thanks 80sgymfan.
A big week for South Africa.
Jennifer qualified in first for the final at Commonwealth Games.
And the new Matsports Centre gym in Tshwane was just officially opened.
(via IG – Aussie ‘A-Team’ Wins Commonwealth Games)
In the preliminary competition. But it’s hard to imagine she could lose the AA final.
… Mitchell’s first competition in 10 months started in rusty fashion last night but she bounced back to be the best performed competitor overall on the four apparatus. …
Lauren Mitchell bounces back to spearhead gymnastics victory
56.95 with a fall on Beam. Not a bad comeback!
Congratulations South Africa.
see all on GymnasticsResults.com
If you’re headed to Rotterdam for Worlds, but do not have tickets, click through to Full Twist:
The 2010 Artistic World Championships has just announced that more tickets will go on sale for events on 22nd, 23rd and 24th of October. The Ahoy Centre has undergone some renovation work which has meant that more seating can be accommodated.
If you can’t afford those, fly right now to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi:
… organisers are considering giving away tickets to the events for free. Attendance to the events has said to have been poor so far especially to gymnastics (which is quite surprising!), swimming, badminton and hockey. …
again, Full Twist
Australia comfortably won a fourth successive Commonwealth Games gymnastics women’s team gold on Tuesday, with England in second and Canada taking bronze.
Australia, with a total of 163.700 points, justified its status as hot favourites having started its golden sequence in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
England scored 158.200, with Canada close behind on 154.750 points.
Australia fielded its top gymnasts in Delhi to prepare its for the World Championships in Rotterdam that start on October 16, using the Commonwealth Games as a convenient stop-over on the way to Holland.
England and Canada however chose not to send their leading stars to Delhi to allow them to concentrate on the Worlds. …
read more on ABC
Aussie Aussie Aussie.
They did this starting with six falls on beam. Peggy was shocked and astounded.
Our post on club cyber bullying policy resulted in some heated comments.
Some coaches were definitive:
coaches should not be facebook friends with their athletes
JO feels we need some “professional distance” between coach and athlete.
A few coaches felt they had enough mastery of the ever changing Facebook privacy settings to friend gymnasts, but only let kids see very limited information. (Not other peoples photos tagged with the coaches name, for example.)
Just Another Opinion took the gutsy stance that coaches can benefit from friending their gymnasts. It’s a new mode of communication we need embrace.
One coach in my region communicates with his team via Facebook. That’s where his athletes live. He uses Facebook very efficiently. Communication has never been better as his athletes “share” some of his posts with family and friends.
I’ve got mixed feelings, myself. On the one hand I’m savvy enough with the internet (I hope) to avoid major gaffs, yet every week I read about male coaches going to jail, often partly due to inappropriate text or Facebook messages sent to minors. It’s easy for an innocent joke to be misinterpreted.
So where are we in 2010?
My advice to coaches is that they set up a private social network for their club, coaches, kids and parents on a site like flipbook.
Anyone who chooses can opt in.
Some of the advantages of Facebook, with a much lower risk.
… This is assuming that flipbook truly has foolproof privacy, of course.
What do YOU think?
_____ UPDATE from Anne:
Gymnastike has this. It’s called groups: http://www.gymnastike.org/groups
Coaches can make a group for their club team, then invite members to join. You can easily send messages to members and/or fans, parents, etc. You can also: update a team calendar, upload and share team forms and documents, and upload and organize videos of your team…. and its free!
Heres an example –http://www.gymnastike.org/group/5263-Team-Gymnastike
Australia:
TOWNSVILLE Gymnastics Association was yesterday found guilty of a workplace health and safety breach that caused the death of a teenage gymnast.
But the finding has provided little comfort for 19-year-old Michelle Maitland’s grieving family who said it won’t bring her back.
Industrial Court magistrate Ross Mack yesterday handed down his findings, saying the association could have prevented the tragedy had it provided safety mats on the area of floor Ms Maitland had struck her head on when she fell after failing to land properly in the designated area on August 18 last year.
read more – Gym club found guilty
She fell from a TumblTrak and hit her head on concrete. A tragedy.
The club subsequently covered the concrete with matting, but it’s too late now for Michelle. The only tiny upside is that this precedence might help ensure that the rest of the clubs world wide will not have any exposed concrete anywhere near a trampoline device.
Recall the death of coach Jon McCurdy who hit concrete at the bottom of a 6ft foam pit.
No concrete anywhere near a trampoline! That’s the standard.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 