UPDATE: The first video posted was wrong. The final edit is here now. Thanks Geoffrey.
One of the hottest viral videos of the last couple of days shows a man in a neoprene suit on a DIY waterslide, flying 115 feet and then landing safely in a kiddie pool …
NaniNani Vercruyssen marks her first seven months as a senior elite (18+ yrs) by winning the US elite gymnastics national championships in both individual and synchronized trampoline.
And, because of her first place ranking, she was also selected to represent the US at the 2009 World Cups in Belgium and Poland plus the World Championships in Russia.
At the VISA Gymnastics Championships held this past week at the Dallas Convention Center, Vercruyssen first won the senior women’s synchronized trampoline event with partner Alaina Williams of Huntsville, AL. She then tied with Williams in the senior women’s individual trampoline event but was named the overall champion according to a tie-breaking policy whereby the title is given to the athlete receiving the highest execution scores.
Vercruyssen started at the bottom of the senior elite ranks in January and quickly moved up to her current rank as America’s best female senior elite in trampoline gymnastics after having been the world champion for athletes under 18 years of age for the past four years.
Thanks Hal Halverson for forwarding us this information.
Go Nani!
Vercruyssen leaves Saturday 22Aug09 for her first World Cup competitions in Belgium and Poland. Vercruyssen is the first gymnast from Hawaii to compete at this level.
Vercruyssen is coached by her mother (Dr Donna Mah) and father (Dr Max Vercruyssen). She trains, coaches national-level teams, and judges at Hawaii Academy in Kalihi and attends Roosevelt High School where she is a senior.
… 2 inch (5cm) wide straps with long sport socks (from the lost & found) wrapped around the bar. I want to simulate the feel of the actual wooden rail for the girls.
Mountain Shadows Gymnastics
However, the PVC pipe is easier for beginners. It would be ideal to have both systems on each straps rail in your gym.
I’ve had a couple of emails lately on how long the straps should be. I find most kids use straps between 26-35cm long, sewn in a loop from 55-75cm length of nylon webbing. (That’s 10-14″ long, from a length of material 21-30″ long.)
Or … you could simply buy them from 10-0. Note that those are the narrower 1″ version.
The story goes – true or not – that biomechanists dreamed up the “reverse hecht”, not coaches. And that Alexandre was the first to show it in competition in 1977.
Here he is in the Olympics Games 1980. (Deltchev from Bulgaria won Horizontal Bar.) Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Justin Moodley emailed looking for superbly fit athletes:
… casting for G4’s American Ninja Warrior. If you don’t know, it’s a competition show where people from all around the world travel to Japan to take on a crazy obstacle course. We have all the live audition details and you’re able to submit a video through our site if you can’t make the open call in Los Angeles. …
I wish I was there. But it sounds like the 2009 Women’s National Gymnastics Championships is … lacking.
Dwight Normile’s take on Day 1 Senior Women:
With such a limited field, there was a definite lack of drama and energy in the air compared with a year ago, when so much was at stake. Nastia Liukin’s return to competition was highly anticipated, but she did not compete on bars, even though she warmed up the event prior to the meet. She did perform on beam, much to the delight of the crowd. Liukin executed with great caution most of her Olympic routine (front aerial, flip-flop, layout; Onodi, sheep jump; side somi; switch ring leap) and even added a side aerial. She dismounted with a roundoff double twist and scored 14.45 (5.6 difficulty).
Rebecca Bross (WOGA)
Nastia’s father and coach, Valeri Liukin, told IG earlier this summer that his daughter would not compete at worlds unless she was ready. And although this routine was clearly not Nastia’s best, it showed enough progress to make London a possibility.
“To be able to compete here (at home) was so cool,” said Liukin, who later explained her one-event showing. “I’m just not ready to perform yet. It’s a step-by-step process.”
Hidden beneath the great expectations was the battle among Sloan, Rebecca Bross and Ivana Hong, each of whom had something to prove. For Sloan, the lone Olympian among the trio, a victory would mean her assumption of the top rank in the country. For Bross, a former junior champion who has been slowed by injuries, a win would confirm her successful jump to the senior ranks. And for Hong, the title would validate her post-Olympic move from Great American to WOGA, as well as a realization of her immense potential. …
NBC did a good job in Beijing. This is a smart move, I think.
USA Gymnastics signed a deal yesterday with US broadcaster NBC and cable partner Universal Sports to air its biggest events until 2012, upping its challenge against the yet-to-be-launched the US Olympic Committee (USCOC) network.
The deal, combined with domestic and international contracts NBC has with swimming, skating, track and skiing, gives the network the broadcast rights to a significant share of key US Olympic sports. …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 