Gymnastics Coaching.com

by site editor Rick McCharles

This is my friend Barkat from Bangladesh.

Does he look like a “physically challenged” athlete to you?

He is.

Barkat was a full-time gymnast who had competed internationally in Asian regional competitions. One day he decided to do some circles on pommel horse without any matting in place. He slipped, falling as he had thousands of times before, but this time somehow landed in such a way as to damage his upper spine. A fluke.

He was partially paralyzed.

If that happened to you, how would you respond?

It would either crush your spirit. Or you would get SUPER tough.

Today, with the support of family, friends and his Gymnastics Federation, Barkat is one of the most inspirational athletes I know. Charismatic, enthusiastic, well-spoken in English, he has redirected his talent into studies at Jahangirnagar University outside Dhaka.

Within months he became the University champion at able bodied table tennis, the only sport left he could do with limited lower body mobility.

He and I spoke at length about the future of Paralympic sport in his fast developing country. I believe Barkat will be one of the leaders.

I’m researching Paralympic sport right now, encouraging Barkat to get involved as an organizer now, despite his youth. He’s planning on organizing at the two largest Universities in Bangladesh, as a start. Paralympic Table Tennis, as a start.

If you have any advice or information that might help his cause, please leave a comment.

Everyone in the gymnastics community worldwide needs rally around any of our athletes catastrophically injured.

Senior Courtney McCool posted a clutch 9.925 in Georgia’s final routine to lead the top-ranked Georgia Gym Dogs over No. 7 Stanford by a score of 195.150-195.050 Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 10,224 at Stegeman Coliseum.

“It took the 10,000 people and our entire team to help me do that routine,” said McCool of her meet-clinching floor performance. “I am so proud of my team. …

The tilt with Stanford was the first of three straight meets against top-10 opponents for the Gym Dogs, who will face a total of nine ranked teams in 2010.

“I am happy that the team stayed in there and hung tough,” said Jay Clark, making his debut as head coach of the five-time defending national champions. “We made too many mistakes, there is no question about that. We had an opportunity early in the meet to be up by a good margin halfway through the meet, but we made uncharacteristic mistakes on bars that we really just haven’t ever seen. We all understand that we have to do a better job next weekend. We are glad to get the win, but at the same time, I am not excited about a low 195. I just don’t think that is where this team is and we have to do a better job from here on out.” …

read more on Geogia Dogs – Gym Dogs Defeat Stanford In 2010 Opener

Georgia photos from the meet

Click PLAY or watch a montage by Revaz Gurgenidze on YouTube.

Hilarious.

Featuring Georgia Bonora, Emma Dennis and Shona Morgan.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Lucky those guys are tough.

(via thepianist on IG forum)

UCLA rocks the first meet of the year to defeat Utah. Anna Li went 9.95 on Bars. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs won the AA.

The No. 2 ranked Utah gymnastics team stumbled mightily in its season opener, falling to No. 5 UCLA 196.600-195.125 before a crowd of 5,128 in Pauley Pavilion. …

Saturday’s loss snapped a 10-meet Ute win streak against UCLA–a streak that included a tie-breaker victory over the Bruins in the preliminary round of last April’s NCAA Championships. This time around was not nearly so close.

“UCLA looked awfully good,” said Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden. “They are typically a slow-starting team, but today we looked like UCLA usually does (in the early season). I take my hat off to UCLA. They were a much better team tonight and they are definitely a team on a mission. This was a disappointing start for us and hopefully it is a wakeup call.” …

Utah Utes

full scores

Sierra Blogging Post – BASE Jumpers Break World Record in Dubai

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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TsukThePain asked for recommendations on the best “gymnastics performances” over the past 10 years.

Those videos are being posted in batches of 4 at a time. Here’s one:

Monica Rosu vaulted ahead of the pack with her beautiful tsuk double, but it was her Amanar that really left gymnastic fans around the world in awe. Performed with the right amount of power, Rosu’s yurchenko 2.5 was near perfect. Monica is Tsuk the Pain’s 23rd pick for Best Perfomance of the Last Decade.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click through to TsukThePain to see more.

1. Four gymnasts appear twice on the list.
2. Americans, Russians, and Chinese comprise 72% of the list.
3. Four Countries have only ONE entry in the list.
4. There are 8 FX routines, 6 Vaults, 6 Beams, and 5 bar sets.

The biggest story of last night was Oklahoma upsetting Florida. Hollie Vise had top scores on Bars and Beam.

The No. 9 Oklahoma women’s gymnastics squad led wire-to-wire in a 196.250-195.275 upset over fourth-ranked Florida in the Sooners’ season opener on Friday in front of 1,325 fans at Lloyd Noble Center. …

… “We hit 23-of-24 routines which is phenomenal for your first competition,” said Kindler. “Now, there are always things we can do to improve, but I thought overall it was an excellent first meet. The freshmen and Natasha were phenomenal. They hit eight routines, out of eight, and were some of our highest scores. …

No. 9 Sooners Stun Fourth-Ranked Florida

For a complete rundown of what else happened on the opening night of the season click through to Gymnastics Examiner – NCAA report: Florida, Penn State upset at season openers

CollegeGymFans.com has even more detailed coverage and links.

ArtSportsWorld is in Colorado Springs.

Click PLAY or watch the insanity on YouTube.

I’ve still not heard of a bigger gymnastics foam pit, 50 x 25 feet, 8 ft. deep.

related post – getting BIG AIR at the world’s largest tramp club

Thanks Nancy.

From ThePenguin888. Where does Justin get this footage?

Young Japanese girls competing double double on Floor. And much more. Mega difficulty with questionable form and technique.

Still … Japan is the most underrated nation in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. They’ve never had any “politics” on the judging side.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Seira Suzuki (the girl doing the Amanar) is now a senior. Teramoto, Sasada, Konishi, and Taniguchi turn senior in 2011. Murakami turns senior in 2012.

Juniors featured in the video are; Natsumi Sasada, Risa Konishi, Seira Suzuki, Yoshino Taniguchi, Asuka Teramoto, Riho Shibata, and Mai Murakami. Song is “Edono Temariuta Tu” by Cute.