Gymnastics Coaching.com

Coach stevenshephard on Twitter linked to this great video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here’s a strange story we missed in Florida in 2006.

… One of the coaches admits to stabbing training gymnasts with drywall screws for years. Investigators said it happened at Ace Gymnastics in Longwood, where one of the owners is an Olympian.

The phrase “stick it” is used in gymnastics about dismounts and landings, but one of the coaches told investigators he was taught to stick them when the gymnasts don’t have perfect form. …

Seminole County sheriff’s investigators said Coach Mike Turner and another coach repeatedly stabbed one of the boys and a brother repeatedly with dry wall screws, breaking the skin on their buttocks, leaving permanent scarring.

Last year, their mother noticed the scars during bathing and found out what was happening. Investigators said she told the owner, former Olympian Joan Moore Gnat, about it and they said Ace Gymnastics hired a new head coach and made sure the practice stopped.
But Ace never told all the other parents about it, never reported the alleged abuse to law enforcement and kept the two coaches on staff.

… A second mother has since come forward, saying her son was also subjected to the drywall screw for less than perfect form.

“If they weren’t tight enough or in the right positions,” the mother, who didn’t want to be identified, told Eyewitness News. …

WFTV – Coaches Accused Of Using Screws To Torture Gymnasts

The second coach was Chris Bonn.

Leave a comment if you know what happened to the two coaches.

(via a random gymnastics facts post on Couch Gymnast)

After Day 1 …

1. Bross
2. Hong
3T. Sloan and Hunter
5. Caquatto
6. Williams

from Blythe Lawrence’s live blog

After Day 1 …

1. Kyla Ross (57.85)
2. Raisman (56.65)
3. Caquatto (56.35)
4. Smith (55.85)
5T. Jetter and McLaughlin (55.8)

from Blythe Lawrence’s live blog

Thanks Blythe!

An Inside Gymnastics blog has JUNIOR WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS, as well.

IG Editor Dwight Normile blogs from the 2009 Visa (U.S.) Gymnastics Championships, which began Wednesday in Dallas.

DALLAS — …

David Sender, who did not make the Olympic team because of a fluke injury (sprained ankle) on the eve of the U.S. Olympic Trials, came to Dallas as the defending national champion. And after his first two events, he looked like a man on a mission. After hitting rings, he boomed a Yurchenko-double pike that landed quietly with only one small step. Sender pumped his fist, a rare show of emotion from the guy so many felt sorry for last year. Then he followed with a handspring-layout front with a double twist (and another fist pump). After a couple of medium errors on parallel bars (low peach) and high bar (tucked giant after Kovacs), Sender threw a marathon on floor to pad his lead (Lou Yun mount, double layout dismount).

In the final rotation, both Sender and his closest pursuer, Hagerty, fell from pommels and rings, respectively. Horton, who had fallen from pommels in the second rotation, needed to nail high bar to take the lead after day one. And that’s what he did. It wasn’t the crazy routine he used to win a silver in Beijing, but Horton, who is back with his old club coach, Tom Meadows, still threw a layout Kovacs, Kolman and Kovacs. He stuck a conservative (for him) dismount of layout full-out and scored 15.900 to lead Sender 91.250-90.600. Cal-Berkeley’s Tim McNeill climbed to third at 88.500. …

Stay tuned for Friday’s competition, when the senior national team will be decided, as well as the six-member squad to worlds.

read the full article on International Gymnast

Cool Skills…

Steven Legendre (Oklahoma): running double front, punch double-twisting layout front (hand down)
Jake Dalton (Gym Nevada): Lopez vault worth 7.3, which scored 16.25 (Kasamatsu-double twist)
Danell Leyva (Universal): jam, dislocate, immediate hop to undergrips on high bar (and he got some air!)
Jonathan Horton (Cypress): roundoff, 1-1/2 twist, punch double front
David Sender (Stanford): Yurchenko-double pike (like it was nothing); handspring-layout front with double twist
Alex Buscaglia (Stanford): roundoff half-on, layout rudi vault; full-twisting Tkatchev on high bar
Tim McNeill (Cal-Berkeley): his peach handstand on parallel bars was so good it looked like a free hip on high bar

Click PLAY or watch David Sender Yurchenko double back on YouTube.

Sender announced he will not be available for Worlds in the Fall due to University. What a shame.

by site editor Rick McCharles

Just arrived back to civilization after 8 days without internet. I’m trying to get up to speed on the action at the USA Gymnastics Championships via twitter.

Actually, it’s quite good. Twitter is anb easy way for people to live blog.

‘Duke’ Nelligan has retired after 31 seasons coach of Maryland Gymnastics. He was named NCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 2009.

Son Brett Nelligan takes over.

Sister Kelsey is a senior on the Terps right now.

Point your toes, Sis.

Cirque du Soleil awards bursaries totaling $20,000 to young athletes via the Fondation de l’athlète d’excellence du Québec (FAEQ) were handed out May 27th.

Criteria includes competitive and academic performance.

Congratulations to recipients of the 2009–2010 awards:

Jennifer Abel Diving Laval
Chloé Isaac Synchronized swimming Brossard
Nansy Damianova Artistic gymnastics Montreal
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand Artistic gymnastics La Prairie
Laurie-Ève Pépin Gagné Artistic gymnastics Candiac
Sébastien St-Germain Trampoline Montreal
Cassandre Duplessis-Lalonde Rhythmic gymnastics Montreal
Samuel Paquin Artistic gymnastics St-Jérôme
Bryson Hunt Artistic gymnastics Montreal

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Nicely done. More videos by nade00.

Competition for “display gymnastics”?

… Seems to me the Gymnastrada approach is better.

Why does every activity have to be judged? (… Or awarded a trophy named after Bruno Grandi.)

The GC Piruett Elite Group of Tallin, Estonia has been crowned the first World Club Champion ever to go down in the annals of the International Gymnastics Federation. … Created by the FIG Gymnastics for All Committee, the cup is a first of its kind for interclub events …

80 clubs from 27 countries and representing 3 continents underwent a selective process; a total of 2,000 gymnasts. After two days of elimination, 14 clubs were selected for the final. As expected, nations with a strong, ancestral tradition in gymnastics (Switzerland, Norway, Germany and Italy) qualified several clubs each. Observers were excited to note the emergence of newer groups from countries such as Estonia and Turkey. …

read more … on FIG