Gymnastics Coaching.com

Personally, I can’t see Francis Allen retire. I just don’t see him puttering around in the garden. Or retiring from Lincoln, Nebraska to Florida.

Francis Allen, 66, who has served as men’s gymnastics head coach for the University of Nebraska for 40 seasons and won eight NCAA team championship titles, announced he is retiring effective July 1, 2009. Allen, who had nine former gymnasts compete in the Olympic Games, was the head coach for the men’s 1980 and 1992 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Teams. Under his leadership, his gymnasts won nearly 30 U.S. titles.

“It is almost impossible to measure the impact Francis has had, not only on the sport of gymnastics but also on the lives of many young men,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. …

read more on USAG – Nebraska head coach Allen retires

Francis Allen is a larger than life individual, unforgettable if you’ve ever met him.

When I was a young coach, his reputation was as a stand up comedian. Constantly cracking wise.

Even when I visited his gym last year, Francis was as energetic as ever. A great student of the game. Always enthusiastic to share his latest training video.

I expect he’ll still be very involved in gymnastics. But no longer officially Head Coach.

Read tributes in ESPN, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, and the official notice on Nebraska Huskers.com.

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What’s next?

Long time assistant coaches Chuck Chmelka and / or Jim Hartung are the likely candidates to take over for Francis.

Inside Gymnastics on Facebook pointed me to the BAD News:

Athletic Director Tom Osborne does not guarantee Nebraska Men’s Gymnastics will continue past the 2010 season. It’s under ongoing review.

The girls at my gym are all big fans of the Twilight series of vampire books.

Often I joked that they needed to become vampires in order to gain super human strength.

Well … here’s the first vampire gymnast, that we know of so far. She does triple back Kovacs with ease. And double front layout on Floor.

Click PLAY or watch her on YouTube.

This kid’s going to be hard to beat by mortal humans.

No doubt FIG will respond by again increasing international difficulty requirements to challenge the vampire gymnasts. Or they may try to ban vampires altogether.

In that case, we will likely need another FIG passport to verify that our gymnast is living. Not living dead.

(via Horror Movies and Gymblog)

UPDATE: Ruby Cole from Calgary Gymnastics Centre won National Novice. That makes 3 Calgary Canadian Champions.

Thanks Brett!

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How about this?

Two Calgary girls win Canadian Championships. That’s a first.

Sr. Champion – Sydney Sawa – Calgary Gymnastics Centre

Jr. Champion – Anysia Unick – Stampede City Gymnastics

CONGRATULATIONS!

Official results aren’t posted as I write. But I’m seeing this unoffically on Facebook.

And congratulations to Men’s National Champion Casey Sandy. He’s been sadly under appreciated in his own country. Kudos.

Commentary from The All Around:

Casey Sandy and Sydney Sawa became first-time national champions at the men’s and women’s Canadian Championships Wednesday night.

Sandy, the 2008 NCAA Champion, scored 87.400, more than 3.000 ahead of runner-up Ken Ikeda. …

Sawa scored 54.450 to win the women’s title, a great improvement over the 49.600 she scored in Tuesday’s prelims. Prelim leader Cynthia Lemieux-Guillemette finished second with 53.950, and Dominique Pegg was third with 53.650.

The women’s field was as notable for the absences. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Alyssa Brown are now competing in NCAA, while Nansy Damianova (shoulder), Kristina Vaculik (elbow), and Peng Peng Lee (back) were out with injuries. Brittany Rogers, originally in the line-up, suffered a rib injury during warm-ups on Tuesday night and did not compete.

The All Around

Brandon O’Neill finished 2nd on 3 apparatus. Nathan Gafuik 1st on 2 apparatus. Adam Wong won Floor. None of these 3 Olympians competed all around.

Men’s official results (PDF)

Anton considered competing the most difficult vault of all time – a Rudi-in, back-out (1 1/2-twisting handspring double front) in Finals at the recent Moscow World Cup.

Turned out he did not need it.

He won with only barani-in, back-out. And Tsuk double pike.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

Sat. Jun. 6 @ 14:00-15:30 ET Live

2009 CANADIAN GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS ON CBC: Men’s & Women’s Individual Apparatus Finals

NCAA did not have live TV this year. But Gymnastics Canada does on the Government network.

Nice.

This is serious.

From FanGymnastics.com, a translation:

Just yesterday we read in Libertatea an interview with Nicolae Forminte which provided us with some very sad news: the head-coach has cancer. Skin cancer, to be more precise. It is apparently localized on his chest and it can be removed by surgery. We really hope it’s not more than that and wish him lots of health!! …

read more

He plans to stay coaching as best he can until the surgery.

Best wishes from Romanian gymnastics fans abroad.

The 52-year-old says: “I leave it in God’s hands”

The younger girls were much stronger than the Seniors, in prelims. (Many of the top Canadian Senior Women did not compete for one reason or another.)

In the women’s Novice event, Victoria Moors of Cambridge, Ont., placed first in the preliminary round with 59.650 points.

Sabrina Gill of Oakville, Ont., finished second with 58.750 points and Natalie Vaculik of Oshawa was third in a field of 50 competitors at 56.600.

GymCan – Calgary junior Ian Galvan jumps into the lead at Canadian gymnastics championships

The top 3 Junior competitors after Day 1:

Rachelle Hunt, Mississauga
Madeline Gardner, Cambridge
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, Gymnix

official results

Gym Score Depot summary of results

UPDATE – commentary from The C Score

What’s Michele Hawke up to now?

Duffers Saddle, Nevis Valley

Michele is a Kiwi coach and judge.

Flickr is a great way for a club to share gymnastics pics.

sample – Altadore Gymnastics Club photos

These can be set PUBLIC or PRIVATE. Your choice.

It’s free for a reasonable number of photos.

Fabian Hambüchen won over Marcel Nguyen and Joseph Hagerty at the Champions Trophy in Frankfurt.

1. Fabian Hambüchen (GER) – 89.300

2. Marcel Nguyen (GER) – 88.475

3. Joseph Hagerty (USA) – 88.150

more results on GymNiceTic

Nguyen – source – Life

The total prize money for this series of German competitions is 200,000 euros.

more commentary – The All Around – Hambüchen Victorious at Champions Trophy