Gymnastics Coaching.com

… a typical Monday morning workout with Coach Helen (Verucchi) which includes ballet training and beam routines.

The workout was filmed on November 30, just over 1 month away from the first meet of the season. ….

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

Helen is the women’s Coach at Eagle Wings Athletics in Texas where mostly focuses on beam and dance. She is a native of Russia which is where she began her coaching career.

With so many clubs reducing or dropping ballet training, it’s nice to see some old school Russian barre work here.

From MunchTheSilivasFan.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gymnastics dance has been in decline. But I still want to see at least one interesting, unique “dance” section in every beam and floor routine.

Nippon Sports Science University (Nittaidai) is the home gym of World Champion Kohei Uchimura.

Sho Nakamuri posted his impressions:

… I was amazed when I saw the training facility. It was probably the biggest gym that I’ve ever been in, and there were multiple equipments for every event! There were also an army of guys on the collegiate team (I think at least 50 on the men’s side) so it was a very different but fun environment to be in …

Visit to NSSU

I spent a week at Nittaidai in the early 1990s. It was the home gym of one of my first coaches, Shiro Tanaka.

Of my many memories the one that stands out foremost is watching the Sumo athletes training gymnastics. Spectacular!

USAG posted a nice highlights reel of their Women’s team at World Championships, London.

It’s not yet been uploaded to their YouTube channel. But you can watch it on their Happy Holidays page.

I assume the Santa caps are Photoshopped.
Nope. The photo is from a competition last weekend.
(via wogagymnastics on twitter)

With a 15.80 on Bars.

Viktoria Komova keeps trying to prove she’s the best young gymnast in the World. What’s it going to take to win the 2012 Olympics … 61.0 ??

Full results.

Photo from Japan Junior International on IG

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook and Marcus )

The Evian Water babies have improved their skate skillz.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Brett MacAuley.

A big theme of gymnastics bloggers is the decline of Artistry in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics since the introduction of an open ended code.

Much less commented upon is the same trend in Men’s Gymnastics, especially Men’s Floor.

A good example is our current Olympic Floor Champion, Zou Kai. I agree with Andy Thornton who compares Kai against the artistry of past champions Artemev, Bilozerchev, Korolev, and Scherbo on his American Gymnast blog.

… Obviously Zou Kai’s tumbling is phenomenal, but I wanted to point out not only how great the Russians above were to watch, but also how TERRIBLE this presentation is from Zou Kai. He mopes around with no regard for how he looks in between his passes, and his jumps in the corner clearly scream, “I feel stupid and I’m only doing these because I have to.” Notice the lack of precision and unsteadiness in his transitions. …

Click PLAY or watch his routine in the Olympic Floor Final on YouTube.

Yes, I know Zou Kai deserved to win that day. But it’s a shame that gymnasts are rewarded now for a doing a maximum of difficulty while taking the minimum risk of deduction in non-tumbling elements.

I was even more disappointed with Zou Kai’s win at the Olympics on Horizontal Bar, by the way.

Workout Wednesday is my favourite feature on Gymnastike.

In this week’s gymnastics workout video, we visited the newest gym in North Texas, Elite Champion Gymnastics. Since opening their doors in January of 09, they’ve already won the Level 4 North State Championship, Level 5 North State Championship, and had a Level 10 Regional Champion in Sarie Morrison who has accepted a scholarship to compete for LSU next season.

This workout was filmed on December 1st. ECG Head Coach Marcus Harlin is preparing his girls for the upcoming season, now just a few weeks away. The ECG girls will open their season this year at the Cancun Classic.

Click PLAY or watch the work-out highlights on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

… I still say Texas is the centre of the gymnastics world. How many strong clubs are there in that State?

Lark Pokladnik was at WOGA before moving to this gym.

This gymnast clearly will never win anything.

LilyPod on the IG forum started another great thread on the topic:

Can we go through the deductions for twisting form, and what is regarded as acceptable and what is not? (Not talking about height or landing here, just the leg form in the air). Where do the judges draw the line with deductions, and what deductions are given at each degree? I’m really just trying to understand …

She posted several photo examples. Click through to see them – Twisting Form and Today’s Code

Here’s my favourite funny man, Stephen Colbert, on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Can you believe it?

… “In November, devoted Colbert fans known as the Colbert Nation became the official primary sponsor of U.S. Speedskating. The team’s largest annual cash sponsor, DSB Bank NV, left the team in the lurch after it declared bankruptcy in October.

With contributions from fans, more than $250,000 has been raised. …

Examiner

What other celebrities can we approach to sponsor our sports?