Gymnastics Coaching.com

Trampoline and Tumbling coach Brett MacAulay has been linking to inspirational commercials on his Facebook account.

Nike ad from 1995. Agency: Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Oregon.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

2008-2009 Gymnastics Honda Sports Award Nominees:

Courtney Kupets – University of Georgia
Kristina Baskett – University of Utah
Ashleigh Clare-Kearney – Louisiana State University
Jessica López – University of Denver

ACK won gold on Floor and Vault at NCAA Championships 2009

Honda honours the most outstanding female collegiate athletes in the nation with the Collegiate Women Sports Awards.

Winners are selected in each of the 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports by a panel of more than 1,000 NCAA administrators. (Not partially by online fan balloting as is done with the now discredited Sullivan Award.)

All 4 fantastic gymnasts are Seniors. We’ve seen their final routines.

Perhaps Jessica López will continue to compete internationally for her native Venezuela. I certainly hope so.

Watch an interview with ACK on Gymnastike after winning 2 NCAA Titles.

Talk about a fad.

Everywhere I go people are talking about the new micro-blogging tool twitter.

It’s fairly useless for most people. But is getting so popular, so quickly, that (I guess) it’s essential I start a twitter feed for Gymnastics Coaching.

Twitter users can get every post by clicking FOLLOW on twitter.com/gymcoaching

The new gymNICEstics blog (the most recent site with that name) did exactly the same thing. Follow it at twitter.com/gymnice

For its 25th anniversary, Cirque du soleil is taking inspiration from lowly insects and elevating the bustling world of bugs into another of its trademark acrobatic extravaganzas.

Quebec-based Cirque offered a preview of Ovo — its 25th production in 25 years — in Montreal on Tuesday.

Ovo, which denotes the Portuguese word for “egg,” will be based on the life cycle and ecosystem of a colourful and insect community that discovers a mysterious egg in its midst. …

CBC

Watch a 15sec trailer on the official home page: Cirque du Soleil – ovo

disclosure – I love Cirque du Soleil

Day 1 Finals results are posted on International Gymnast.

5th Maribor World Cup/42nd Salamunov Memorial
April 18, Maribor, Slovenia

WOMEN’S VAULT FINAL SV SCORE
1. Anna Myzdrikova 5.0/5.2 14.062
2. Yekaterina Kurbatova 5.3/5.2 14.037
3. Annika Urvikko 5.0/5.0 13.800

UNEVEN BARS FINAL SV SCORE
1. Yekaterina Kurbatova 5.8 14.325
2. Kristina Goryunova 5.5 13.700
3. Ethiene Franco 5.3 13.650

MEN’S FLOOR EXERCISE FINAL SV SCORE
1. Diego Hypolito 6.5 15.300
2. Alexander Shatilov 6.1 14.950
3. Filip Ude 6.0 14.800

POMMEL HORSE FINAL SV SCORE
1. Donna-Donny Truyens 6.0 15.075
2. Saso Bertoncelj 6.4 14.850
3. Zoltan Kallai 6.2 14.750

STILL RINGS FINAL SV SCORE
1. Konstantin Pluzhnikov 6.6 15.650
2. Irodotos Georgallas 6.8 15.000
3. Regulo Carmona 6.4 14.800

read more – IG – Russians Take Three Titles in Maribor

Geena sent us a link to an interesting product.

The Tiger Paw Wrist Grip Supports were first worn (and still are) by many of the elite gymnasts in the country to support the constant pounding on their wrist during training and competition. Now worn by many of the top platform and three-meter divers in the country to do the same!

The exclusive Water Proof material is light and does not absorb water — a real plus for divers!! …

Product Note: While some divers do still wear the leather or suede Tiger Paw Wristgrip Support, most divers prefer to wear the WATERPROOF Tigerpaw Wristgrip model because they weigh about one half as much as the leather or suede models and they do not absorb water. Gymnasts, Tumblers and Cheerleaders usually prefer the leather or suede models because they have that extra bulk and heartiness.

SpringboardsAndMore.com – Water Proof Tiger Paw Wrist Grip Supports. Price: US$58.25

UPDATE:

A commenter notes that some have switched to this product for Platform.

The Wrist Wraps Support is ideal when limitation of range is needed in one direction only, such as extension, flexion, ulnar or radial deviation. It is also ideal for sports-related and job-related injuries allowing freedom of the hand from splinting. Can be used in football (linemen) for prophylactic use as well as jobs requiring repetitive hand/wrist movement. …

Donjoy

It’s quite good.

Informed and personal.

Themes include Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnastics, Russian gymnastics and more.

I’ve subscribed and linked to it from the right hand navigation under BLOGS.

Check out Inspired by Nadia.

(via GymNiceTic)

Gymdog Senior Courtney Kupets after finishing her final NCAA Championship. She capped off her career by breaking the NCAA Record for Career Individual Event titles. She now has a total of nine! 3 of them came tonight. Last night she led her team to their 5th NCAA Championship in a row.

Click PLAY or watch the Anne Phillips interview on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

She loves McCool’s beam. I couldn’t decide which Courtney should have won beam in Finals. Perhaps McCool’s was slightly better. But the judges ranked them:

1. Courtney Kupets 9.9875
2. Courtney McCool 9.95

UPDATE: Check the comments for links to videos of the two routines.

Beam was the most impressive Final.

Official results.

More good routines from Championships by the looks of these scores.

The evening’s spotlight shone on Oklahoma’s Steven Legendre and Ilinois’ Paul Ruggeri as they each brought home two national titles in very impressive and exciting fashion.

FLOOR:
Steven Legendre (OU) – 15.625
Paul Ruggeri (IL) – 15.60
Chris Brooks (OU) – 15.575

POMMEL HORSE:
Daniel Ribeiro (IL) – 15.575
Steven Spencer (OSU) – 15.475
Ty Echard (OSU) – 15.45

RINGS:
Evan Roth (Cal) – 15.60
Phillip Goldberg (MI) – 15.40
Nick Noone (ST) – 15.275

VAULT:
Steven Legendre (OU) -16.325
Geoff Reins (IA) – 16.30
Tim Gentry (ST) – 16.175

PARALLEL BARS:
Paul Ruggeri (IL) – 15.175
Kyle Brady (Cal) – 15.075
Thomas Kelley (MI) – 14.675

HIGH BAR:
Paul Ruggeri (IL) – 15.75
Thomas Kelley (MI) – 15.275
Alex Buscaglia (ST) – 14.875

A link to all scores and commentary on the meet on Stick It Media – Legendre and Ruggeri Each Win Two Event Titles at 2009 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships

Paul Ruggeri – Day Life

Anne Phillips live blogged the apparatus finals. She’s a very astute observer. Her site Gymnastike is the best single source of information on NCAA Championships 2009.

The big story of the night, however, once again was …

Georgia’s Courtney Kupets ended her distinguished college career with a record-setting performance on the final night of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

Kupets added individual titles in the uneven bars, floor exercise and balance beam on Saturday to the all-around championship she won two days earlier. Her four titles tied the record for a single national meet.

She ended her career with a record nine individual titles, beating the mark of eight by Kentucky’s Jenny Hansen in 1993-95.

Kupets accomplished the feat in three national meets. She missed last year’s because of an Achilles’ tendon injury.

Kupets won the balance beam (9.9875) and uneven bars (9.95) and tied for first with LSU’s Ashleigh Clare-Kearney in the floor exercise (9.95).

read more – USA Today – Georgia gymnast Kupets wins 3 events, sets record

Georgia Coach Suzanne Yoculan

On if Courtney Kupets is the greatest college gymnast of all time
“Absolutely, there’s no question she’s the greatest college gymnast of all time.

Huskers.com

full official results