Gymnastics Coaching.com

Moss News is sponsoring a gymnastics video game starting Oct. 19th.

I’d best not enter. I keep running into the table.

(via Tsuk the Pain)

FORT LAUDERDALE – More than a dozen parents and children showed up for a bond hearing this morning in support of a South Florida gymnastics coach accused of molesting one of his students.

They wore purple T-shirts with the name of the Deerfield Beach gym where Raymond Adams coached before he was arrested last week. Adams, 38, of Boca Raton, is accused of fondling a 10-year-old girl at Bieger International Gymnastics in September.

“We don’t believe it,” said Vonda Bray, of West Palm Beach, whose 13-year-old daughter was a student of his. “We want him back at our gym.”

Adams sat quietly during the half-hour hearing with his feet shackled and wrists handcuffed. Broward Circuit Judge Michael Gates delayed a bond ruling. …

Gymnastics students, parents back coach from suburban Boca Raton at molestation hearing

Whether innocent or guilty. Whether found innocent or guilty, it’s likely Raymond Adams’ finished as a gymnastics coach.

It’s good to see that Jana and the club are standing up for him, as they think he’s innocent.

Another BIG competition will be hosted in England. Put it on your calendar if you can get there.

… will be held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham from 21 April until 2 May 2010. …

Around 800 of Europe’s best gymnasts from 40 countries will participate in this event, which will incorporate team and individual competitions for seniors and juniors in both men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. …

The junior element of the Championships will also act as a qualifying event for the first ever Youth Olympic Games.

Tickets start at £6 for Adults and £3 for children under 16 and seniors on weekdays. And £12 for Adults and £6 for children and seniors on weekends.

Tickets are already on sale.

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

by site editor Rick McCharles

Personally I think twitter is a stupid fad.

It’s weak and cryptic compared with Facebook. Not to mention other social networking services.

And inane. Have you ever actually read the garbled nonsense posted by Ashton Kutcher?

Yet twitter does have a few unique advantages, especially for bloggers like me that monitor the internets for interesting “news”.

Many stories break first on twitter.

Here are the most followed gymnastics twits that have signed on with wefollow.com.

Samantha Peszek is #1.

The full turn on beam is a basic but difficult skill. Here Tammy shows several drills to learn or improve this skill

Click PLAY or watch Tammy Biggs on YouTube.

Tammy will be at Region 5 Congress.

A friend on Staff at Air Grouse Mountain Ziplines in Vancouver, Canada invited us to fly. I’ve done a number of ziplines in the past, but nothing like this.

Speeds of up to 80km/hr.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Air Grouse Mountain Ziplines – official website

(via Rick McCharles)

NCAA Gymnastics
2010 GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll
First-Place votes in parentheses

The defending National Champion Cardinal are again ranked best of the rest.

1. Stanford (8)
2. California (4)
3. Oklahoma (3)
4. Michigan (1)
5. ILLINOIS
6. Penn State
7. Ohio State
8. Minnesota
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa

see the full list on troester

The Women’s list is not available yet.

… a few Yurchenko drills to help straighten the round-off entry and lifting the upper body at the end of the round-off from Kellie Mizoguchi.

Click PLAY or watch it on Tom Beach’s GymSmarts Community blog.

I strongly agree with Kellie on the importance of hand placement on the round-off. If you neglect those drills, many young gymnasts will “overturn”, resulting in less consistency. And – perhaps – less power.

(Don’t be fooled by watching the best in the world overturn their round-offs. That’s a technique for the elite only. Most were taught to keep their hands in line with the direction of run when they started.)

Watch more gymnastic training videos on The Gymnastic Minute Channel on YouTube.

Follow on twitter @gymsmarts

Related posts:

• gymnastics – Yurchenko vault round-off drill

• best Yurchenko vault hand mat?

The good news … his injury looks minor and should heal rapidly.

Following his foot injury in podium training, Germany’s Fabian Hambüchen said that he is reconsidering his competitive schedule for next year. “I didn’t have a break from competition this year at all. I tried to please everybody. I’ve realised that sometimes you have to be a bit more selfish and look after your own interests. …

read more – The All Around – Hambüchen rethinking 2010 schedule

It would have been a much more interesting World Championships with the charismatic Fabian contesting.

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

I weary of the comments we hear every time I bring up the issue of underage Chinese gymnasts:

They are innocent until proven guilty!

You bash the Chinese because you wanted the American gymnasts to rank higher!

Not true. I bring up the issue because it is so unfair to those gymnasts disallowed to compete at the Olympics due to their age. It’s a big competitive disadvantage for those majority of nations that abide by the age rules.

I’m certain that Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun were both underage at the 2000 Olympics. Both admitted it.

Yet the FIG Disciplinary Commission has still not ruled on those charges.

I’ve emailed a link to this newspaper article to that Committee. In it, Dong’s husband admits she was underage at the Sydney Olympics.

One of the gymnasts at the centre of an Olympic controversy is now in New Zealand and is looking to further her coaching career in Waikato.

Dong Fangxiao, who was part of China’s bronze medal-winning team in 2000 in Sydney, isn’t assured of keeping her Olympic medal but is keen to help New Zealand gymnastics. She is now living in Hamilton after moving in June this year to study English at Wintec, following her husband Li Te, who studies at Waikato University.

But the International Gymnastics Federation is still investigating the eligibility of Dong and fellow Chinese gymnast Yang Yun at the 2000 Games, where they were thought to be underage.

Gymnasts must be at least 16 by the end of an Olympic year. Dong’s official birthdate is listed as January 23, 1983, but the federation said accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics, where Dong worked as a national technical official, listed her birthdate as January 23, 1986, which would have made her 14 in 2000. …

Li, whose English is much better than Dong’s, told the Waikato Times that Dong was born in 1986 and turned 23 in January this year, making her underage at Sydney. But he said she was cleared of any wrongdoing and the “investigation has already passed”. …

Stuff – Olympics age-dispute gymnast living in Waikato

Did Dong’s husband misspeak too?

The minimum age rules are not enforceable. And likely do little to protect young athletes.

The best solution for FIG would be to drop the age requirement.

Most coaches would agree with that, including Valeri Liukin

More controversial is what to do about the 2000 Olympic results should the FIG finally admit the obvious?

I don’t blame Dong Fangxiao. She should not be punished in any way. But the Chinese Gymnastics Federation should be punished retroactively.