Gymnastics Coaching.com

ESPN.com reported a great story of sportsmanship from a High School Basketball game:

… Milwaukee Madison senior Johntell Franklin, who lost his mother, Carlitha, to cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, decided he wanted to play in that night’s game against DeKalb (Ill.) High School after previously indicating he would sit out.

He arrived at the gym in the second quarter, but Franklin’s name was not in the scorebook because his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., didn’t expect him to be there.

Rules dictated Womack would have to be assessed a technical, but he was prepared to put Franklin in the game anyway. DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman and his players knew of the situation, and told the referees they did not want the call.

The referees had no choice. But Rohlman did.

“I gathered my kids and said, ‘Who wants to take these free throws?’” Rohlman said, recounting the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Darius McNeal put up his hand. I said, ‘You realize you’re going to miss, right?’ He nodded his head.” …

Reminds me a little of the movie Stick It. … The athletes deciding what’s “fair”, not the officials.

… “I did it for the guy who lost his mom,” McNeal told the newspaper. “It was the right thing to do.” …

(via Sport At Its Best)

All-around

1. Chris Cameron, University of Michigan, 90.500
2. Steven Legendre, University of Oklahoma, 88.950
3. Mel Anton Santander, University of Michigan, 88.900
4. Bryan del Castillo, University of California – Berkeley, 88.050
5. Glen Ishino, University of California – Berkeley, 87.500
6. Tyler Mizoguchi, University of Illinois, 87.300
7. Alex Naddour, University of Oklahoma, 87.250
8. Jake Dalton, University of Oklahoma, 87.050
9. Aaron Fortunato, University of Minnesota, 86.300
10. Thomas Kelley, University of Michigan, 85.700

article and full results – USA Gymnastics

Girls Bars no longer break. Why can’t equipment companies invent a Ring that cannot be broken?

Inside Gymnastics has the sad details on exactly what went down after Illinois’ Tyler Williamson broke one of the rings during the Team Championships last night:

… “I’ve been doing NCAA meets for over 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Williams concluded. “Ultimately, I don’t want to take anything away from the winning team, yet I know we might have had a shot without that incident. Michigan was great two days in a row and maintained that momentum, even in the midst of all that. My hat is off to them for that.” …

In the end, 6 gymnasts “peeled” off during the competition. All 6 were offered a chance to repeat their Rings routines, taking the new score (better or worse).

Tyler Williamson insisted on his redo. But it was MIDNIGHT before he got to start. Yeesh.

…
“That was one of the top 10 strangest things I’ve ever seen,” Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner, who was calling the meet for ESPN, told Inside. …

read Inside Gymnastics – ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL

Despite the disaster, Michigan truly did have the magic. Congratulations to the NCAA Champions.

From The Olympic Games on Facebook …

I’ve linked to Chinese dancers Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei before.

But I’m inspired, yet again.

Click PLAY or watch them on YouTube.

Thanks Dana.

Congratulations to coach Kurt Golder and all supporters of the Wolverines.

… WEST POINT, N.Y. — The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team upset the field at the NCAA Championships on Friday night (April 16), taking home the first NCAA title for the program since 1999 and the fourth in its history inside Army’s Christl Arena.

Michigan posted a 360.500, while defending champion Stanford recorded a 359.800 and Oklahoma rounded out the top three with a 357.050. …

Wolverines Capture Program’s Fourth National Title!

… we will be talking about this meet for a long, long time to come.

Bizarre problem at the Men’s NCAA Gymnastics Championships …

Quickest fix was to bring in a new Ring tower. That resulted in a half hour delay.

I’ve only ever seen two broken rings in my life. Both were busted (worse than this) by Rick Pegararo.

Rick was O.K. both times. Tyler Williamson from Illinois who broke this one at Championships seems to be hurt.

The meet is in progress as I write.

Michigan has a great live blog with commenters.

UPDATE: This is bad. … 2000 Olympic WAG Vault BAD.

To add to the drama, the first three gymnasts on the new set of rings — Illinois’s Paul Ruggeri and Oklahoma’s Steven Legendre, both the stars of their respective teams — peeled away on their dismounts, likely because the new set of rings hadn’t been chalked, leaving Oklahoma coach Mark Williams furious …

Gymnastics Examiner

UPDATE: OMG. This might be worse than the 2000 Olympics. You can’t fix this to everyone’s satisfaction.

Apparently, they are switching the rings, AGAIN?!? Meet ref, Brian Meeker, is talking to the Illinois team about an additional rotation for the rings following the conclusion of the 7th event. This is getting scary.

When I was a kid the Japanese were the top gymnasts in the world. And I had a Japanese coach.

But in the 50 countries I’ve traveled, the greatest “culture shock” I’ve ever experienced was in Japan. This video strikes me as very Japanese.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (3:38) … It gets better and better through ’til the end.

I have no idea why the eyes are blacked out.

Update: Commenters are saying this footage was for a music video. Cool.

This was linked on Facebook by gymnastics and circus coach Tom Bertrand.

Stanford, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma and California advance. Congratulations.
Gymnastics Examiner hits the highlights:

Michigan, one of the most talented and least heralded of the four teams in contention for the NCAA title, overtook Stanford for the lead heading into tomorrow night’s Super Six team final at the U.S. Military Academy in New York. …

read the details – Michigan flies through NCAA qualifying round to lead going into team finals

Don’t assume this means Michigan will win. The team competition in Men’s gymnastics is near impossible to forecast. There are far more variables than in the Women’s competition. And counting a “missed” routine in MAG (11.20, for example) hurts the team more than a 9.30 in WAG.

Cal’s Kyle Bunthuwong, a junior, was the top all-around gymnast (89.65) of both sessions, finishing almost two full points ahead of sophomore teammate Glen Ishino (87.7).

Several teams entered no gymnast in the all-around.

There’s more on the Inside Gymnastics Ticker:

A super-psyched Michigan team surged to the top of the field in tonight’s second qualifying session at the 2010 NCAA National Championships in West Point, N.Y.

The No. 3 Wolverines started with meet-high scores for near-perfect performances on both parallel bars (59.7) and high bar (59.25), ending with a season-high vault performance to clinch a 359.8, the day’s highest total. …