Coach Greg Marsden pretty much invented modern NCAA Women’s Gymnastics.
How did Utah grow the sport in their city to attract a big audience?
click through to College Gymnastics Board – Promotions and marketing
how Utah markets College Gymnastics
is Cheer the most dangerous sport?
You would think so judging from a number of headlines in the news late June.
Those articles came out of this study:
… The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has released its 26th annual all sports report.
In addition to collecting data on catastrophic injuries in all high school and college sports, the report also contains cheerleading injury data. The latest figures are from the 2007-2008 academic year.
The report defines catastrophic injuries as any severe injury incurred during participation in a school or college sponsored sport, and includes three categories: fatal; non-fatal (resulting in permanent severe functional disability); and serious (no permanent functional disability but severe injury).
…
The report’s conclusions for the 26-year period from the fall of 1982 through the spring of 2008 include:
— There were 1,116 direct catastrophic injuries in high school (905) and college sports (211). High school sports were associated with 152 fatalities, 379 non-fatal and 374 serious injuries. College sports accounted for 22 fatalities, 63 non-fatal and 126 serious injuries.
— Cheerleading accounted for 65.2 percent of high school and 70.5 percent of college catastrophic injuries among all female sports.
The report’s author and center director, Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., professor of exercise and sports science in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, noted that the number of cheerleading injuries fell slightly in 2007-08 year. …
read more – Medical News Today – Catastrophic Sports Injury Report Released
Is Cheer a dangerous sport?
Absolutely.
But I dispute the findings on at least one important point. They’re combining statistics from competitive Cheer with often poorly trained pompom wavers, also called Cheerleaders.
Don’t tell me the Cheer team at my gym are dangerous. They’re not.
The most interesting article I saw on Cheer injury was a personal story posted by NOELLE BUHIDAR.
She suffered a bad ACL tear at the 2004 World Spirit Federation Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. It was a career ending injury.
Is she bitter? Not at all …
read Noelle’s story – Cheerleading’s thrills make risks worth taking
Title IX for Women’s High School Sport
Reiko linked to this site:
… Title IX, the federal legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, has been opening doors for women and girls since it was signed into law by President Nixon on June 23, 1972. AAUW was instrumental in the passage of Title IX, and as we celebrate the 37th anniversary of this landmark legislation, we continue to advocate for strengthening its protections.
AAUW and coalition partners recently hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss the need for legislation to require high schools to report gender equity data. Two bills, the High School Athletics Accountability Act (H.R. 2882) and the High School Information Collection Act (S. 471), would do just that. These bills would make participation rates and expenditures for high school athletes available to the public, helping communities better enforce Title IX. …
Click through if you are interested.
I personally have no strong opinion on Title IX for the NCAA.
For every passionate opponent I respect there is a passionate advocate I respect.
Certainly reverse discrimination is almost as bad as discrimination. All would agree we should end Title IX as soon as opportunities for sport are fair.
This legislation seems to push for more transparency. That’s always a good idea.
HELP this poor gymnast …
Trampolne Sports Coach Brett MacAuley posted this photo.
It just might be that athletes are tortured in his program, getting stuck upside down between pit mats.
His club’s, Calgary Gymnastics Centre, competitive programs had their best season ever, this past year, I reckon. Congratulations!
Brett’s the longest standing gymnastics sports coach in Calgary. Thanks for his decades of dedication.
gymnast Yuri van Gelder suspended
What a shame.
And just prior to World Championships in his home country.
… On July 13th he revealed that he used cocaine three days before the Dutch championships in Rotterdam. Van Gelder said he very much regrets his “lapse” and called himself “incredibly stupid”. He has since had to return his national championship gold medal, and has been suspended by the Dutch Gymnastics Union. He will also very likely be fired from his job at the Dutch military, as they have a ‘zero tolerance’ drugs policy. …
Wikipedia – Yuri van Gelder
(via Gymblog. Thanks Mike Wilner.)
You know you are a gymnast if…
Gymnastics is life and the rest is just spare time.
You have never heard of the words whining and wimps.
You sit in a straddle when you are watching TV.
You have more blisters on your hands from bar than holes in Swiss cheese!
People mistake you for a rubber band.
Your bed is a trampoline.
You use chalk more often than soap.
You’re short enough to model for trophies.
Your friends are at the mall looking at the newest fashions, when you’re looking at leotards.
Your hands have more blisters than knuckles.
You come home with more chalk on you than on a chalkboard.
You point you toes during pull ups for gym class.
You dance down the hallway instead of walk.
Your floor routine music is your favourite song.
You know most vaults aren’t in the bank.
Practice makes perfect isn’t just a saying, but a way of life.
All your friends are eating dinner while you are at practice.
You do pirouettes while waiting in line.
You do handstands everywhere.
You compete calmly before crowds yet suffers anxiety during school tests.
You have the ability to balance your body on a narrow beam yet cannot bend over to pick up the clothes off of the floor of you room.
You have bigger muscles than all the boys in school.
You promise to never stop gymnastics…. like an energizer bunny that just keeps going.
You go to school and take the chalk home from the chalkboard.
Beam is super fat, and definitely easy!Esprit Academy – UK
(via Gymnicetic)
blogger Andy Thornton – is BACK
If you, like me, miss the good old days of 2008 when Andrew Thornton was blogging for the still defunct Gymnast.com, good news.
Andy is back as a regular writer for the American-Gymnast.com blog.
He is posting about 3 times a week in a series called Andy’s Angle.
Andy is an original thinker, always insightful.
For example, here’s a sample post he calls China’s Newest Star
If you haven’t met the world’s newest all-around threat on the women’s side, allow me to introduce you! Huang Quishuang won the silver at the recent Chinese Nationals in May behind He Ning (Jiang Yuyuan had a disastrous UB routine and BB dismount). Although He Ning outscored Huang by .35, I think Huang is actually the better gymnast, and one to keep our eyes on in the upcoming World Championships, not to mention the next four years.
First, let’s take a look at the events we would expect her to be strong on, given she’s Chinese:
Huang UB 2009 Chinese Nationals
… hmm.
She needs more in the way of release skills. Unless the Chinese plan under the new code to max out swing difficulty, instead.
1-arm kip to 1-arm handstand
I don’t often link to Logan Christopher’s Lost Art of Hand Balancing Blog.
But this video he linked to is impressive.
This is from circus acrobat Yury Tikhonovich.
More correctly, I’d call it 1-arm kip … and 1-arm cast to 1-arm handstand.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
