beam photos – WOW

Great images are distributed via the internet in near real time.

Deng Linlin of China performs on balance beam on the first day of women’s competition at the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships in London.

APTOPIX Britain World Gymnastics Championships

AP Photo/Alastair Grant – Gymnastics Examiner

Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2009 - Day Twohttp://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

how David can beat Golliath

A non-stop full-court press gives weak basketball teams a chance against far stronger teams. Why have so few adopted it?

full-court-press

John emailed me an excellent article from The New Yorker:

HOW DAVID BEATS GOLIATH
When underdogs break the rules.
by Malcolm Gladwell

While not specific to gymnastics, it’s an excellent read for all sports coaches.

I love the story of how Vivek Ranadivé, with no basketball experience, decided to coach his daughter Anjali’s basketball team.

… They weren’t all that tall. They couldn’t shoot. They weren’t particularly adept at dribbling. They were not the sort who played pickup games at the playground every evening. Most of them were, as Ranadivé says, “little blond girls” from Menlo Park and Redwood City, the heart of Silicon Valley. These were the daughters of computer programmers and people with graduate degrees. They worked on science projects, and read books, and went on ski vacations with their parents, and dreamed about growing up to be marine biologists. Ranadivé knew that if they played the conventional way—if they let their opponents dribble the ball up the court without opposition—they would almost certainly lose to the girls for whom basketball was a passion. …

Not knowing any better, Coach told the girls to play a full court press defence for the entire game, every game.

Read the article to find out what happened – HOW DAVID BEATS GOLIATH

Ana Porgras leads Gymnastics World’s

From Grace Chiu …

Women’s qualifying AA results after subdivision 3 of 5. So much drama!

results-3rd-rotation

Sloan 3rd so far, despite a fall on Beam. Bross yet to compete.

He Kexin nails Bars to lead qualifiers so far on that apparatus.

Bridget Sloan falls on beam

… on front tuck. Oops. (13.25)

Likely she’ll still qualify to the AA Final.

Ivana Hong missed Bars.

Commentators are surprised (as am I) how well the Romanian girls are doing on Bars.

I’m trying to follow the action via Facebook, Twitter and websites. Bit of a jumble. Preliminaries are often the best competition. I wish the first 2 days were streamed via the internet.

gossip, not the news

Some funny stuff from Couch Gymnast at World Championships

…Fabian Hambeuchen limping out of a Japanese restaurant at the o2, hollering “sushi!!!”, which made much more sense when it became clear he was yelling it at Kohei Uchimura who came over and bowed at him and consoled him about his injury! …

gymnast Melanie Sinclair arrested

Weird.

One of my favourite College gymnasts.

… Two Florida media sources are reporting that the goods, nine rifles and shotguns, as well as two computers, were stolen in a series of burglaries connected with Sinclair’s boyfriend Leonard “Bud” Williams. …

Gymnastics Examiner

gymnast Melanie Sinclair

Team bio – Melanie Sinclair

Just a bad boyfriend?

World Gymnastics Championships ….

All-around standings after 2 groups:

Deng CHN 56.35,
Kurbatova RUS 55.95,
Yang CHN 55.50,
Bui GER 54.175,
Wing GBR 53.875

From Twitter.

gymnastics – toe-on Shaposhnikova

A good orientation drill for a near essential skill in elite gymnastics. From Gymnastike’s excellent Technique Tuesday series.

Coach Jeff Beal owns and operates OHG in Buda, Texas.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

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

Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

Prerequisite would be a very strong toe-on, toe-off series, of course.

U.K. gymnasts needed

Want to be in the movies?

We are looking for UK based girl gymnasts aged 12 to 15 who think they may be suited to one of the roles below, Nadia or Bee. If you are interested in being considered for this exciting project then please send us a 15 second clip of you talking to the camera (via youtube or other) …

Jessica Ronane, Casting Director at jessica.ronane AT workingtitlefilms.com …

Dates (Shooting, Rehearsal, etc.):Some rehearsal Nov/Dec (subject to availability). Shoot for 1 week late Dec/early Jan.

details

USA Project 2012 Winter Session

Great news. The event I call a “Poor Man’s USA Gymnastics Congress” is BACK. This is the second session of 12wks.

 

Alison Arnold
Tammy Biggs
Chris Burdette
Kim Zmeskal Burdette
Tom Forster
Mary Lee Tracy
Russell Warfield
Mas Watanabe
… and more

 

Highly recommended.

With the mission of broadening gymnastics education to coaches around the country, the Academy of Coaching Excellence presents, Project 2012: a Web Event for Coaches highlighting the essential techniques for gymnastics success in the next quadrennium. This 12-week event brings the best coaches in the United States to your computer screen doing LIVE lectures and demonstrations on the most important cutting-edge information in our sport.

NEW! Winter Congress beginning Tuesday, November 3rd through December 8th 10am PST/12pm EST.

Each session consists of different topics. Participate in one or both sessions depending on your availability and interest. Coaches will learn cutting edge information from the best clinicians in our country! Sessions include 45 minutes of lecture and 15 minutes of question and answer, using live lecture, video, power point, and of course your questions, all on your computer. Watch it live or watch the recording from anywhere you’d like.

USA-project2012

home page

There are only 50 spots available. Ask your club to register one time for the event for all the coaches in your club. You can pay for the subscription from the professional development budget, assuming you have one.

The cost is US$199 / 6wks. (Since the value of the American dollar is dropping like a stone, it’s a better “deal” for those from other countries than Session 1.)