Gymnastics Coaching.com

ABC Family is hoping for another Secret Life of the American Teenager hit TV series.

official website

As expected, gymnastics experts mostly are mortified: … I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s so ridiculously unrealistic …

Why don’t they make more effort at realism?

On the other hand, when I searched Twitter during the premiere broadcast, most people were enjoying the new show.

I read too that this was the second highest rated premiere in network history. (That’s impressive considering only about 11 males watched it.)

We may all be stuck trying to explain the many gymnastics errors in this show for some time.

A few more facts have been released, including the name of the gymnast who seems to have had a strong gymnastics background:

The mother of a 19-year-old gymnast who died last week in Townsville in north Queensland says there was nothing freakish about the training accident.

Michelle Maitland hit her head after a falling from the tumble track last Thursday.

She was admitted to Townsville General Hospital in a critical condition and died early on Friday.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is investigating the death.

Her mother, Anne Maitland, says a safety mat was missing from where it would normally be and her daughter hit her head on the concrete. …

Nothing freakish about fatal gymnast’s accident, mum says

Initially I feared this might be a “dumb” Adult Recreation gymnastics fall. But to me it sounds only a very sad and unfortunate accident.

We have the same problem in my gym. Reminding everyone to return safety mats to their normal location.

My condolences to the family.

UPDATE:

I am Michelle Maitland’s mother. Thanks for condolences. Michelle was not doing anything radical at Gymnastics Townsville and had only returned to the adult class this year, not having been inside a gym centre since 2002. Yes, it would have been a good idea for Michelle to check the mats herself but was just going around a normal circuit with the group and coach. She did a layout off the tumble tramp’ and I am guessing she realised the crash mat was not there as she went over and tried to pull the somersault short so as to land on the thin mat immediatly at the end of the tramp- that would have made her feet skid forward and her head smashed into the concrete. A very basic error. No reports have been completed by WH&S or the Coroner as yet. I have advise the Gymnastics officials at a state and national level that I would expect them to install some sort of safety flooring or permenant matting in all gyms but they are waiting for the reports before taking any voluntary action. Even the rubbery material put around all playground equipment would be better than concrete I believe.

Gymnastic conditioning drills using kettle bells from Mary Lee Tracy. Kettle Bells seem to be one of the latest conditioning crazes.

I like how the YouTube description is worded.

A good friend, coach Mike Lemieux, has been trying to convince me for years of the benefits of Kettle Bells.

I’ve been reluctant to buy in because of the danger of kids dropping them – or throwing them – by accident. Especially boys.

I am traumatized still after seeing a young competitive male gymnast drop a free weight on his big toe when goofing around in the gym. It’s one of the worst accidents I’ve seen during training.

This video has helped convince me of the benefits, however.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Follow GymSmarts on twitter at @gymsmarts. Or GymSmarts on Facebook.

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

Coach Chris was critical of the technique used in this particular video. Gymnastics coaches should be certified before adding them into their conditioning program. Or to bring in a certified coach to instruct them.

UPDATE: Mary Lee let us know that she brought in a certified trainer to train her coaching staff.

Things are tough in Maryland:

… a staggering decline in student enroll-ment because of the faltering economy has taken its toll on his business, Barlow said. At the gym’s peak, about 700 students frequented the gym weekly for classes. In the past 12 months, those numbers have dropped by more than half, to about 300.

His business has suffered in other ways, too. His pro shop, where he retails athletic gear and clothing, has lost revenue, with sales falling by about 50 percent, he said.

And with so many other options today for kids’ birthday parties, parents have been less apt to book Barlow’s for such celebrations, he said. …

Longtime gymnastics training center closes – Economy forces owner to shutter Barlow’s after 25 years

Is your gym threatened?

… Barlow’s Gymnastics isn’t the only gym struggling with the recession. Universal Gymnastics, another Annapolis training center, also closed, with 1st Class Gymnastics absorbing almost all of its professional staff and enrollment in January 2008. …

From Inside Gymnastics on Facebook:

FIG announces they’re still investigating the ages of 2000 Chinese Olympians, Yang Yun & Dong Fangxiao, both of whom have, at various times, admitted publicly to be underage at their Games. (Both later said they were mistaken or misspoke.)

Yang is married to 2008 Olympic champ Yang Wei. The couple are currently expecting their first child.

The two came under suspicion after internet investigators started looking into the age of 2008 Olympian Ke Hexin.

The more time passes, the greater the chances are that China will get away with the infraction.

Why did it take so many months to get a legal ruling on whether or not the Olympic statute of limitations had expired?

Certainly the practical solution to prevent age cheating is to eliminate the minimum age of Olympic gymnasts. I don’t have much faith the FIG Disciplinary Commission will bring action.

FIG Press Release

Washinton Post – Age-old question: Chinese gymnasts under review

Like a soccer player …

Aaron Shutway, an 8th grader at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School nails a front handspring to a 3/4 nothing but net shot to send the P.E. class in a frenzy! I haven’t seen Lebron hit one like this!

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Amanda Turner linked to this video on Facebook.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing in a gymnastics gym are weird mental blocks.

Every coach has a dozen stories about inexplicable aversions.

Balking on skills can start at a young age. But it’s more often a problem with older gymnasts.

Most often on backwards skills: backward handspring, flyaway, backward tumbling on beam.

eHow posted an article with a few ideas: How to Deal with Gymnastics Mental Blocks

It’s worth clicking through. Each mental block is different. We handle them each individually.

Leave a comment if you have any strategies that work more often than not.

One odd thing … mental blocks are very rare for male gymnasts. Very common for female. I’ve never understood why.

Very dangerous.

One commentator thinks it’s from a 1988 competition in Russia.

Click PLAY or watch the igorgymn1 posted video on YouTube.

Certainly this skill will be done again, soon.

Any athlete with a very strong double layout Arabian could possibly do triple tuck. I’d rather not see this skill on the competition floor, however.

Dave Carter linked to this clip. He linked to a Quadruple Twist on Floor, as well.

Well deserved.

Georgia gymnastics standout and two-time Honda Award winner Courtney Kupets has been awarded the 33rd annual Honda-Broderick Cup, designating her as the 2009 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.

The announcement was made Monday by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program in the Low Library Rotunda at Columbia University. The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic achievement but also team contributions, scholastics and community involvement.

Kupets is the all-time NCAA leader with nine individual championships and was named SEC, AAI National Senior and NCAA Southeast Regional Gymnast of the Year. …

Kupets is a National Honor Society member, was chosen as ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-American and is a recipient of NCAA and SEC postgraduate scholarships. She is also a member of the Blue Key Honor Society and a recipient of the Richard B. Russell Student Leadership Award. She won UGA’s Marilyn Vincent Award as the senior female student-athlete with the highest GPA.

In addition to her athletic and academic achievements, Kupets has also worked with Special Olympians, participated in the “Do It For Broph” 5K Run/Walk and joined in the SEC “Together We Can” food drive.

Kupets is a Housing/Property Management major with a 3.8 GPA.

Georgia Dogs

(via Inside Gymnastics on Facebook)

It’s all the more impressive to me that Kupets achieved what she did in only 3 full years of competition, coming back from two separate Achilles tendon ruptures.

From Shawn (ShawneyJ) on twitter:

Hey onion! This ones for u! twitpic … You can’t stop me =) hehe

A funny rebuttal to: Shawn Johnson Put To Sleep After Breaking Leg