Gymnastics Coaching.com

A long (10min 25sec) highlights reel from many disciplines, including contortion. Some new (to me) footage of Junior.

bboy, power move, acro, punisher, the end, cico, guillaume, demon, dahma n, kheiro, junior, tricks and combo, brazil, breakdance, gymnas tics, sport, thomas, flare, air flare, vrille, marcio, superphazers, morgan hamm

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks bboysistou.

The best bars video I saw in 2008 was edited by Michel Arsenault of Champions Gymnastics in Canada.

It’s a DVD with lengthy accompanying notes called:

2006 Gymnastics Study Tour of China

Michel was partly funded to travel to China by Gymnastics Alberta and Alberta Lotteries (Above and Beyond program).

Visiting gyms in Beijing, KunMing and ZhengZhou, Michel wrote a report of what he saw. Here are just a few note I took while reading the document:

unwavering commitment to extreme quality and basics

children are allowed to quit gymnastics at any time

at some schools parents must pay a small fee for training. The governments pay most costs, however.

exacting training begins at a very young age

all gymnasts train twice / day

compulsory routines until age-11. The entire document for coaches and judges is simple and only 11-pages-long! For comparison, here’s just a tiny portion of the over-complicated Gymnastics Canada regulations posted on a gym wall:

(Canadian rules are the most complex, the most frequently revised, and the most poorly understood in the world, so far as I know. It certainly does a disservice to athletes, coaches and judges.)

very few girls wear handguards (none at all at the Beijing Provincial Training Centre)

when a coach speaks to a gymnast they must stand motionless listening to the coach intently. That said, the coaches are quite quiet. Gymnasts work independently from 6 to 8-yrs-old.

very few drills are done with high repetitions

coaches are paid $3000 – $4000 / yr. Average annual salary in Beijing is about $1500 / yr.

training gymnasts did not all have “a perfect body type”

Michel concluded that the good results in China are as much a result of the coaching “system” as talent identification

very specific technique on the descending and ascending swings of free hip

high priority on hitting a balanced handstand – for pirouettes

Available free to Alberta coaches through the library at AGF.

If you want a copy, contact Michel directly through his club. He’s the host of the excellent Wild Rose competition, incidentally.

Preaching to the choir …

A study from the U.K. says “parenting style more influential than income” for raising kids.

Children brought up according to “tough love” principles are more successful in life, according to a study.

The think tank Demos says a balance of warmth and discipline improved social skills more than an laissez-faire, authoritarian or disengaged upbringing.

It says children aged five with “tough love” parents were twice as likely to show good character capabilities.

Report author Jen Lexmond said: “It is confidence, warmth and consistent discipline that matter most.”

read the article on BBC – Tough love ‘is good for children’

I’m sure my buddy Markos Baikas, Men’s Head Coach of Taiso Gymnastics in Saskatoon, Canada, would agree.

Marcos’ is a great coaching success story, actually. An immigrant to Canada from Greece, he was chosen Jr. National Coach of his adopted country just a few short years after being recruited by Dana Brass. She met him in a Pizza restaurant.

One of International Gymnast Magazine’s PHOTO OF THE DAY series.

IG posted this one on Facebook.

Anna on Wikipedia

It’s amazing how important this family of swings has become in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

flickr – original

A badly translated but cute article from China.

… Yang Le, deeply influenced by Olympic champion uncle Yang Wei, was fascinated with gymnastics. Her passion for the gymnastics led her to this school when she was only 3 years old. …

Future star of gymnastics: Little girl’s champion dream

An inspiring documentary. The values taught by sport.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the small island nation of Jamaica won 11 track and field medals, including 6 golds — the most first-place finishes for any country in the world except the United States and Russia. For a country with a population smaller than the city of Chicago, to accomplish those feats while also breaking three world records had the rest of the world asking, “What makes Jamaicans so fast?” …

PBS Frontline – Rough Cut

Jamaica: Girls on Track

Click PLAY or watch it on PBS.org. (12min)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/js/pap/embed.js?frow03n31c2qbcb

by site editor Rick McCharles

I’m leading an Olympic Solidarity course for the International Gymnastics Federation in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec. 1-10.

One of the mandates of the International Olympic Committee is to help grow Olympic sport around the world. To this end they budget money to support the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in building sport programs.

I did a similar course in Cambodia 2008. Volunteering in developing countries I find very rewarding.

by site editor Rick McCharles.

The International Gymnastics Federation moved from Moutier to a new building in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this year.

It’s conveniently located close to the train station.

This past summer, on recommendation from Keith Russell, I visited the new digs. And was very impressed with the operation.

Meike Behrensen, F.I.G. Media Operations Coordinator, gave me a tour.

(You’ve probably noticed how well and widely Meike has been getting information out to the world in recent months. I’m getting updates every couple of days from multiple sources. Thanks.)

I felt a bit sheepish entering the lovely historic building after all the less than positive things I’ve had to say about F.I.G. over the years. But you won’t find Bruno Grandi at the FIG offices. Nor
Nellie Kim.

Here the FIG employees work frantically trying to keep all the events and programs worldwide on track.

It’s not easy.

I was impressed with everyone I met: young, enthusiastic, energetic, multi-lingual. To survive working for FIG you must have a lot of good qualities.

On this blog we mostly cover Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. But in Lausanne they administer Trampoline Sports, Rhythmic, Aerobic, Acrobatic, Gymnastics for All, … and much, much more.

Consider this a shout out for the F.I.G. Staff. We really appreciate what you are doing for coaches and athletes.

Related:

GYMmedia – F.I.G. Headquarter moves to Lausanne

GYMmedia – The FIG in Lausanne …

Nicole Miller is the Recreational Gymnastics Coordinator at Lakewood-Trumbull YMCA in Connecticut.

She’s posting her coaching notes online. Drills and Skills. So few Rec coaches do this that I linked to her site from our right hand navigation under Recreation Gymnastics.

It’s divided into sections based on competitive apparatus. There’s a glossary page and links.

Check it out. Or send the link to your Rec Director.

Gymnastics Skills Coaching Handbook

It’s a work in progress. Nicole will be adding more over time.

Note that this is a “Google Site“, a simpler alternative to blogging software. Easy to update.