Texas High School sport suspended

… Texas high school officials have decided to suspend all high school sports because of the swine flu.

The University Interscholastic League has postponed all high school athletic competition until May 11, the organization said on its Web site.

“The health and safety of our student activity participants is of the utmost importance,” the UIL’s executive director, Charles Breithaupt, said in a news release on the UL Web site. “Taking every possible precaution to prevent the further spreading of this disease is an important contribution to the welfare of our great state, and altering the schedule of our events is a way to keep our participants safe.” …

Double A Zone

Will any of the gyms close?

blocking Yurchenkos – Mary Lee Tracy

Mary Lee Tracy is one of the most successful coaches in the world.

A cool new video series on YouTube – The Gymnastic Minute – has 9 short coaching tutorials posted, so far. Here’s a sample.

Click PLAY or watch Blocking for Yurchenkos – Mary Lee Tracy on YouTube.

see more videos like this: http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube.xml&up_channel=thegymnasticminute&synd=open&w=320&h=390&title=&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js

The Gymnastic Minute is part of the GymSmarts network.

(via reikob on Twitter)

Inside Gymnastics magazine twitters

MPcurrentissue.jpgI’m generally critical of Inside Gymnastics magazine.

Last December Marketing Manager Nicole Harris told us that their very cool audiocast with John Roethlisberger would be available as podcasts on iTunes. And that the radio show would be a monthly broadcast throughout all of 2009.

It’s May.

That did not happen, yet.

There’s been no update either to their very potentially cool IGtv feature.

Now they’ve posted another upbeat promise of improvements. More great things to come.

We’ll see.

The one thing Inside Gymnastics magazine is doing better than anything else is twittering. They are the best source of gymnastics news on twitter, so far.

… We’ve also recently joined Twitter (twitter.com/InsideGym). You can follow us at Twitter handle “InsideGym” for exclusive behind-the-scenes tidbits, breaking news, contests, announcements of upcoming features and interviews, and much more. …

If you don’t use Twitter, the same posts are expanded on their Facebook fan page.

Perhaps I am being too critical. Inside Gymnastics online is free. And they have a lot of great content.

I simply wish they would not announce things … then not deliver.

Check out their other publications: Inside Cheerleading and the Coach’s Resource Guide.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

There’s no NUTRITION category on this blog.

I’ve long felt that there’s more crap written, than eaten.

We grow fatigued of gymnastics Moms jumping on and off the latest nutrition fad.

But my favourite Nutrition author — Michael Pollan — has a book I can recommend.

In-Defense-of-food.jpg

Amazon – In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

… Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. By urging us to once again eat food, he challenges the prevailing nutrient-by-nutrient approach — what he calls nutritionism — and proposes an alternative way of eating that is informed by the traditions and ecology of real, well-grown, unprocessed food. Our personal health, he argues, cannot be divorced from the health of the food chains of which we are part.

In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. We can relearn which foods are healthy, develop simple ways to moderate our appetites, and return eating to its proper context — out of the car and back to the table. Michael Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

Pollan’s last book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. …

michaelpollan.com

I do like vitamin C time release supplements. And Vitamin E. They may or may not be absorbed. But it’s worth the gamble, I feel.

I do fear that female gymnasts do not get enough iron and calcium. But those supplements, so far as I know, are not well absorbed.

Eat right. If you can.

related – Straight to the Bar – Nutrition Tips for Jocks, Gym Rats, and Health Freaks

Shannon Miller due Nov. 5th

Inside Gymnastics posted the details:

… Miller, whose due date is November 5, will be the third member of her gold-medal-winning 1996 Olympic team, known as the Magnificent Seven, to have a child. (Amanda Borden has a daughter, two-year-old Kennedy and Dominique Moceanu gave birth to her second child, son Vincent, in March. Moceanu’s daughter, Carmen, was born on Christmas Day in 2007.) …

MILLER EARNS NEW TITLE: MOMMY

Pythons top Cheer team from Canada

Haven’t talked to anyone in person yet from the Cheer team that trains out of my gym.

But rumour on Facebook is that they were the top Canadian team at the World’s competition in Orlando placing 7th in their division.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Pythons.jpg
Cristela D’Elia-Burton

I’ll post details when they become available.

Cirque du Soleil OPEN audition

Immediately following the Canadian National Gymnastics Championships 2009 Cirque is offering an “open” audition. No invitation necessary.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to work for the world’s biggest circus, check it out.

Cirque-casting.jpg

Cirque du Soleil is seeking new talent for its current shows and upcoming creations. We will be hosting auditions in Burlington, Ontario in June 2009.

Athletes from the following disciplines are welcome to attend the auditions:

* Acrobatic, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics
* Diving
* Synchronized swimming
* Trampoline
* Tumbling
* Other sports …

Location: Burlington BG`s Gymnastics Club
680 Maple Ave, Burlington, ON L7S 1M6

Auditions will take place on:

* Sunday June 7, 2009 – 9.00AM
* Monday June 8, 2009 – 9.00AM

details – Auditions in Burlington, ON, June 7 & 8 2009

Here’s the YouTube version of the Cirque du Soleil’s casting website intro video.

For information on other auditions and opportunities to work for Cirque, click the Cirque casting link top right corner on this site.

disclosure – I love Cirque du Soleil

Oksana Chusovitina has had enough

Several blogs reported on this quote:

… “I will be in October in London again to attend the world championships, but it is enough” …

original article translated to English

Oksana.jpg

What, only 5 Olympics Oksana?

… Chusovitina is still unable to train fully following surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon and another operation on her shoulder. The annoucement of her impending retirement is a surprising change of heart from Chusovitina, who had until very recently angrily brushed aside any claims that her competitive days were numbered.

Earlier this year, she was appointed head coach Uzbekistan’s women’s artistic gymnastics team and has since recruited 2004 European champion Alina Kozich, formerly of Ukraine, for the Central Asian country. …

The All Around

We’ll miss her.

Danny MacAskill – stunt cycling

In case you somehow missed this viral video …

Danny MacAskill, a trials bike stunt cyclist from Scotland, is a YouTube sensation for this edit called Inspired Bicycles.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It took 8hr to get the opening stunt on video, riding a spiky fence.

Thanks James. And HM.

NCAA gymnastics still in decline

MIT recently announced they were dropping both Men’s and Women’s gymnastics.

Going into the 1982 season, the NCAA sponsored 79 men’s gymnastics teams, which encompassed all three divisions. Today, that number has decreased to 18. This drop has people wondering, ‘Will gymnastics eventually cease to operate all together?’ …

NCCA-Decline-graph.gif

… women’s teams in some sports have also diminished in the last several decades such as women’s gymnastics, fencing and skiing. Women’s gymnastics featured 179 teams in 1981-82 while now 84 teams remain.

Among adding and subtracting the number of teams from 1988 to 2007, men’s wrestling has had the largest overall decrease. Wrestling is followed by men’s tennis, men’s rifle and men’s gymnastics.

“More or less, I think we’ve been an unintended consequence of Title IX,” Penn State coach Randy Jepson said. “It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it’s been.” …

Daily Collegian – Men’s gymnastics programs in decline

The only solution is to reverse the trend. Convince some Universities to add gymnastics teams.

Thanks Scott Weller, former NCAA gymnast, for sending us this link. Scott’s the inventor of the Weller spring. We want to see if his spring can be swapped out for those in Spieth floors.