Gymnastics Coaching.com

Kim Zmeskal was the first American World Gymnastics Champion.

She’s an international judge. And an elite coach / owner of Texas Dreams, often mentioned as a possible future successor to Marta Karolyi.

I watched a coaching presentation Kim put on for Project 2012.

It’s very good.

Kim kept it quite simple, too. (Any coach who is a judge is more realistic as to potential deductions on skills.)

For example, pirouette on bars:

Click PLAY to watch the BAD example. Or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY to watch a much better example. Or watch it on YouTube.

In competition we see many more late, deductible pirouettes (the former) than pirouettes close to handstand.

An even better example she showed is Sheep Jump. Either a D-value on beam … or a NOTHING. It’s not devalued.

Judges have gotten much tougher on Sheep this code. Even if the feet are high enough, the feet close enough to the head, the head far enough back … if the gymnast is not extended in the hips, no value.

There are many more good examples and reminders Kim showed.

She goes over the controversial new landing deduction on Floor: stepping back with 1-foot into lunge position. The good ladies of the FIG never seem to consider safety when they come up with these new interpretations. This rule will certainly cause more injuries. But since it helps the judges separate the top routines in the world, … they adopt it.

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I’ve not yet heard if Project 2012 will be continuing into the Fall. I hope so.

Certainly you can sign up and go back and watch the old presentations archived online any time you want.

… 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. …

Sessions include 45 minutes of lecture and 15 minutes of question and answer, using live lecture, video, power point.

homepage – USAproject2012.com

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This project is associated with GymSmarts. Alison Arnold’s site is Head Games.

I’ve heard a few good things about Al Fong. But not many. Most articles read something like this:

Is gymnastics coach Al Fong a changed man?

An ESPN writer tagged him America’s toughest gymnastics coach.

But on the occassion of the 30th birthday party for Al’s Club, Great American Gymnastic Express (GAGE) in Blue Springs, Missouri, I was interested to ready what one of his very first gymnasts and coaches had to say:

… Flash back 32 years to a young girl who was in love with gymnastics.

Her name was Yvonne Johnston and she was part of an up-and-coming gymnastics team that was coached by Diane Stockard.

The team’s assistant coach was a young man who wore a bright yellow T-shirt that read “100% Chinese.”

The adoring young gymnast bought a bright yellow T-shirt that read “100% Gymnast.” …

First gymnast has fond memories of GAGE

It’s a very touching story. Click through if you want read some good memories of Al Fong.

(via Gym Chat)

Another great video from Tammy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Gymnastics Minute is a series of free introductory video tips produced by GymSmarts.

Support that company. They produce more quality gymnastics coaching video than everyone else in the world combined.

The Wrist Glove Weights mentioned are part of the Tammy Biggs Workout Package: $138.95 on DGS.

Is it possible?

I think not.

This may be as close as you can get, though.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

official website – Beast Skills

related post – 1-arm kip to 1-arm handstand

These are the best videos I’ve seen explaining the differences betweeen many choices available in 2009.

Video 1 – Lady’s Uneven Bar Dowel Gymnastics Grips

Jay Thornton of American-Gymnast.com explains 3 main options: Narrow, Regular and Protec.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Most girls should start with with Narrow Grips. Here are the choices within that category.

Video 2 – Narrow Uneven Bar Dowel Gymnastics Grips

Click PLAY or watch it on American Gymnast.

Thanks Jay!

I prefer young gymnasts to use Velcro. Advanced gymnasts to use buckle.

No girl should ever use palm grips, in my opinion. They are a waste of money. Go either without grips, or get dowel.

A bigger question, of course, is when to start using grips. Normally start them in the off season. Putting on grips only at the end of the Bars workout each day. No rush. Most kids will start preferring to wear grips at about 80lbs (36kg) body weight.

Leave a comment if you have advice for female gymnasts and their coaches on grips.

American-Gymnast.com is a great site, of course. Aside from gymnastics products, they offer many other services for coaches.

Funny.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jason Mortimer linked to this on Facebook. Thanks.

follow her

… I still feel twitter is next to useless compared with Facebook. But almost everyone is trying twitter.

Gymnastics coaches The Platt Brothers were voted off America’s Got Talent the other night. Damn. Twitter users were not happy.

Andy Thornton asks if this skill has ever been done better …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That’s up-and-coming American star Danell Leyva. Only 17yrs-old.

A few commenters quickly responded with this guy:

Click PLAY or watch Justin Spring on YouTube.

From Cirque du Soleil by email:

For the past 20 years, Mark has worked as a high-level gymnastics coach in Australia. Our team met first met him in 1999 during the American Cup in St. Petersburg. The following year, during a stay in Sydney for the summer Olympics, our paths crossed once again, and Mark accepted our proposal to collaborate as a partner to the Casting team. At the time, his mandate for Cirque was to keep an eye on the local acrobatics and sports scenes, cover major competitions, and lend a hand during our auditions. A few months ago, Mark joined the Cirque family by becoming Acrobatic Head Coach – Touring Shows.

What is your most memorable experience with our casting team?

Apart from the 3 a.m. phone calls I used to get from Montreal (there is a 10-hour time difference to Australia), I would say it’s the true satisfaction of seeing an athlete I have auditioned go into a show and the great feedback that the majority of them give me on the life-changing experience it is. My new position also allows me to catch up with some of them. Also, the actual casting team in itself is a pretty memorable group.

How is it working at Cirque du Soleil IHQ?

Working here is like being in the wash cycle. There are many things going on at once, a lot of different perspectives to be considered and so little time to do it all. I travel a lot so time here is short with a lot to do.

Which aspect of your new coaching job at Cirque do you enjoy the most?

The mix of people I get to meet and work with. They are from such a diverse range of backgrounds.

What is the biggest motivation or challenge for a coach working with athletes who will be performing on stage?

8–10 shows a week, 350–440 shows a year… keeping artists healthy and motivated, and trying to balance the demands of training and performing to allow this to happen. This is totally different from peaking for specific events, as they’d be used to from their athletic careers

Only 3% of the acrobats in Cirque shows were Olympians. Anyone interested in auditioning should click through to the link at the top of each page on Gymnastics Coaching. Cirque is the biggest employer of acrobatic athletes and coaches in the world.

Auditions are coming up in Portugal and Australia.

by site editor Rick McCharles

I’ve attended this meet for the past 3yrs, … but will have to watch it this year online.

US nationals (called the Visa Championships) is just a few weeks away, and NBC and Universal Sports have now announced their coverage of it:

August 13: Senior women’s preliminaries 8-10pm ET. Live on Universal Sports, streaming at UniversalSports.com

August 14: Senior men’s finals 8-10pm ET. Live on Universal Sports, streaming at universalsports.com (a more direct link will be available soon)

August 15: Senior men’s finals 3-4pm ET on NBC (not live)

August 15: Senior women’s finals 8-10pm ET live on NBC. This will also be on UniversalSports.com post-broadcast.

click through to About.com Gymnastics for links