Gymnastics Coaching.com

Andy Thornton did an analysis of Kyla Ross vis-a-vis past U.S. Jr. National Champions. He compared Kyla against Carly Patterson, Shawn Johnson, Kim Zmeskal and all the rest.

A couple of interesting points jumped out at me:

… for American female gymnasts, the average time lapse between winning a first junior national title and reaching peak competitive form is about 2.3 years. So we can expect Rebecca Bross to be in peak form this year, Jordyn Wieber to reach her peak in 2010, and Kyla Ross to reach her peak in 2011. …

Critically important:

… The average peak age … has been 15.7. Hmmm…. that’s younger than the required age of 16 to compete at world or Olympic competition. Great! The gymnasts can go to their first world championships or Olympic Games while they’re on the way down from their peak. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? …

I know many elite coaches who project their gymnasts to peak at age-16.

Andy also posted all 4 of Kyla’s routines if you want to see how she compares as a Jr. against the past greats.

Click PLAY or watch her Vault on YouTube.

There’s much, much more if you click through to American Gymnast – When does history say Kyla Ross will peak?

Support that site by purchasing products there if you want to help Andrew continue this kind of excellent blogging.

Suzanne has not updated her own blog since July.

But Aunt Joyce posted an update:

… Suzanne Yoculan is returning to gymnastics. This time she is going to be a commentator. Yoculan is scheduled to make her commentary debut on ESPN/ESPN2 for the UGA vs. Alabama meet as a guest commentator with Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke.

Yoculan is also expected to be a guest commentator for Universal Sports, CBS and may commentate on the local southern sports networks. …

I’m looking forward to it. She a very interesting and entertaining person.

Aomori University won the 2009 All Japan Team Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships.

But don’t expect to see a male version of the Women’s sport.

This is must see video. Great artistry, precision, synchronicity. Difficult tumbling. Sections that could be called Acrobatic Gymnastics.

In fact, this team could go to work for Cirque du Soleil tomorrow. A riveting performance.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Japan has been doing male team performances like this for over 50yrs.

For the first time I found this Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics website. It’s not kept updated, however.

Rhythmic Gymnastics is a competitive sport under the authority of F.I.G. (International Gymnastics Federation). Currently, only the women’s portion of rhythmic gymnastics is recognized by FIG – men’s rhythmic gymnastics is yet to get FIG approval. The possibilities and opportunities men’s rhythmic gymnastics presents are endless. It is up to each and everyone of us to work hard to make the dream a reality.

MenRG.com

Thanks Chris Houston for sending us the link.

Anysia Unick, from Stampede City in my home town Calgary, finished 7th in the Jr Pan-Am all-around competition and was the only Canadian member to qualify to all four event finals on Sunday. She won the bronze medal on beam.

Congrats to Anysia and her coaches Dave and Judy.

photo from Gymnix competition

Thanks Chrissy.

USA Gymnastics linked to full results, posting the best write-up on the meet, so far.

Most critical for the participating nations is qualifying for the first ever Youth Olympic Games.

… The Junior Pan American Championships was the continental qualifier for North, South and Central America for the Youth Olympic Games. Six women and five men, with a maximum of one spot per country, will qualify from the event for the Youth Olympics. …

Click on any of the links below for more.

USA wins team gold, sweeps all-around at Junior Pan American Championships

U.S. men win 2 silver medals at Junior Pan American Championships

A few Grace Chui photos from St Petersburg:

Wait a minute. … That bear is actually from a Russian circus called Sadka.

Trampoline World Championships 2009 – official home page

Reminder: www.usaproject2012.com

From USA_Gymnastics on twitter:

USA wins 12 event medals, team gold and silver, plus Women’s AA sweep & Men’s AA silver at Jr. PanAms!

Event finals must have finished.

The young trampolinist from the U.K. some were calling the next Jason Burnette had to withdraw from World Championships.

What a shame.

His training was going superbly … then 5-days before departure to St. Petersburg he reportedly dislocated his knee cap and broke bones in his lower leg.

Was it on his new rudi out piked triffus?

No, straight bouncing on trampoline, it seems.

He’s in hospital for some time having a series of operations. As an elite athlete the doctors will be very cautious in trying to bring him back to 100%.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

(via MissEducated)

Some of the best routines from the Team competition are already being assessed.

You can’t win the all-around, as Kyla did, without good beam.

Click PLAY or watch Kyla’s Beam on YouTube.

Solid. 14.600.

Next begins the speculation … Will the (insert up-and-coming Jr gymnast) be able to grow to one of the best Seniors in the world?

She trains at Gym Max in California. Some insight posted by Blythe:

Jian Hua (Jenny) Zhang … along with her husband Hao Quan (Howie) Liang (have) … coached Ross for the past four and a half years. …

Her coaches say Ross, who started gymnastics at age three, is not afraid to work hard. “She has something very special,” Zhang says. “She’s also very smart…we coach for safety. We want to protect her. We want her to enjoy [gymnastics].” …

read more – Gymnastics Examiner – Kyla Ross, coaches taking things one year at a time

Protecting a talented Jr. is the most difficult challenge. Any good Junior who simply survives through to age-16 will have a shot at World’s and Olympics. Many of her competitors will not make it.