Gymnastics Coaching.com

larger version – This American Life listener Eric Peltier

UPDATE:

From Coach Dave Harris …

… taken from Planning Facilites for Athletics Physical Education and Recreation–
Richard B Flynn, Editor and Contributing Author for AAHPERD

… the lighting requirements/ recommendations were “courtesy of Illuminating Engineering Society of North America”. In a “general” exercise and recreation area they suggest 35 footcandles … but in a gymnastics facility they suggest that be 50 footcandles-

So, your gymnastics gym should be 50 footcandles. No darker than 35 footcandles.

Next step … I’m going to have someone measure our facility.

=== original post:

At my club we are looking for information on how much light we should have at night in the gym.

OK, actually, we are looking for the minimum amount of light recommended for a safe gym. (Utilities are expensive!)

Like most warehouse gyms, ours is very dimly lit. (Photographers hate it.)

One textbook recommends 20 footcandles in the outfield of a softball baseball stadium to a high of 100 footcandles or more in the infield.

Basketball 60-100 footcandles.

Swimming 50-100 footcandles.

Leave a comment if you have any knowledge about adequate lighting level.

by Rick McCharles, editor

Good news.

FIG Academy expert Keith Russell (CAN) has been named President of the FIG Scientific Commission.

details – FIG

Professor Keith Russell of the University of Saskatchewan, former National Coach of Canada, is one of the most respected minds in our sport. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have in that position.

I worked with Keith for 10yrs in Saskatoon.

Congratulations to Bruno Grandi and FIG on this appointment.

Other top experts around the world have been asked to join Keith on that commission. They are waiting on confirmation from each.

FIG press release

For the first time in my life I deliberately turned on the TV when I got home from gym to watch Dancing with the Stars.

… Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, at 16, the youngest competitor ever on “DWTS,” quickly stepped out as a front runner, scoring 23 out of 30 points in her first dance with partner Mark Ballas.

The two took on the waltz and the teen showed off smooth arm lines and fancy footing that impressed the judges.

“I was truly moved,” a close-to-tears judge Carrie Ann Inaba said after the pair’s first dance. “You have the power to move people with your dancing… You’re very dynamic when you perform, Shawn.”

But it was a non-athlete who took home the evening’s highest score during the season opener – “Sex and the City’s” man-candy, Gilles Marini. …

read more – Shawn Johnson, Gilles Marini Take Flight During ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season Opener

See the video clip linked from the KCRG news site.

She will get through easily to the next round. Bookmaker.com has Shawn the favourite before the first show aired.

You can also vote online by logging in to their ABC TV DWTS voting page. Bookmark it if you want to keep voting through the upcoming rounds.

Personally, I’d like to see the eccentric but likeable billionaire Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak go far, as well.

Alan Abrahamson on Olympic Insider advises Shawn “go have FUN” and points out …

… If Shawn does well on “Stars,” she’d be out in L.A. until May. No way that would allow time to prepare for the 2009 world championships, in October in London. So this year is already probably gone. …

Sydney Sawa was a last minute replacement for the so-called World Cup in Montreal.

She done good. Congratulations, Syd.

Click PLAY or watch Sydney Sawa’s Floor on YouTube.

Here’s Sydney’s Bar routine.

I saw a rumour that Sydney is considering UCLA. (Don’t they have enough Canadians?)

more videos from Gymnix on the danafan YouTube channel

Nice interview with the always likeable Raj Bhavsar on International Gymnast.

He talks about what he’s doing with the celebrity gained as an Olympic medalist.

One exerpt:

IG: The recent hit film “Slumdog Millionaire” has made the American public more intrigued with Indian culture. How do you hope to influence Americans’ perspective on India?

RB: I hope America already sees India as a prosperous place. While areas of the country need development, as is true with almost every country in the world, I believe India is on the rise to a more shining future. As an American athlete of Indian origin, I believe I am in a unique position, given my recent accomplishments, to do something bigger by somehow merging the benefits of being American with the humbleness and prosperity of the Indian culture. While my path to this endeavor isn’t yet clear, I believe that simply taking an interest in doing this is where most people start. After watching “Slumdog Millionaire,” and witnessing its sweep at the Oscars, I simply said to myself, “I’m proud to be Indian.”

… read more – IG Online Interview: Raj Bhavsar (USA)

original – flickr – sballo

You might assume Raj is getting comfortable in the life of an Olympic medalist celebrity.

Not so.

New skills he’s training:

The first is a double layout somersault with three twists, which has never been performed as a dismount off rings … The second, on parallel bars, is similar to a Tkachev release move on high bar. The latter requires a seemingly impossible degree of momentum to complete, but, he said, “I’m 85 percent there.”

Chron

Years ago coach Kelly Manjak had a gymnast named Ward Allen training fast giants on Parallel Bars into Tkachev. It looked great with spot, but I don’t think Ward ever did the skill by himself.

It looks like an extreme variation of Tippelt.

I posted a rant by Ward Black called U.S. pommel horse LOUSY.

Why can’t the Americans do pommels like the Chinese?

But check this world class Chinese pommel horse routine (amazing Russian work) for execution mistakes.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

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

This guy is fantastic at pommels. Yet still takes many execution deductions.

Why?

The code of points currently rewards difficulty more than perfection in performance. This routine is 50% longer than I’d like it to be. Pommel routines will only get longer in the future as guys try to pack more high value parts into one set.

That’s why our current code does not yet work.

related post – gymnasts – where is the virtuosity?

Tsukahara double pike.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Senor Nico argues:

He scored a 16.600 for this vault. The A-score for that vault is 7.0, so he received a 9.60 in his execution score. If you’re like me, you probably think that score is WAY too high for the way he performed that vault.

Hard not to agree, watching it in slow motion.

Nico’s conclusion:

… I think the vault judges for both men and women were extremely generous and lenient. However, the WAG judges are definitely looking out for more technical faults.

IG forum – Is execution not strict enough in MAG?

From Montreal this past weekend.

Jordyn Wieber, USA

Dominique Pegg, CAN

Jackson Payne, CAN

Facebook – Grace Chiu GraceClick’s Photos – 2009 International Gymnix & World Cup

If you are not already Facebook friends with Grace Chiu, you should be.

But you can also see the photos at www.graceclick.com/photos/09gymnix/

From an email update by gymnastics legend Hal Frey:

Team scores:   California-352.70  –  Ohio State-  337.25    …The Cal gymnasts routines had higher difficulty in their routines and they also executed in an artistic fashion.

The winners of each event were:

Floor Exercise-  Kyle Bunthuwong
Pommel Horse-  Glen Ishino
Rings-  Kyle Brady
Vault-  Kyle  & kyson Bunthuwong
Parallel Bars- Kyson Bunthuwong
Horizontal Bar- Kyson Buthurwong

All-Around-   Kyson Bunthuwong-88.80  and Glen Ishino- 87.40

Ohio has had nothing but problems this season. I don’t know what’s going wrong there.

The Cal Alumni had  a reunion banquet prior to the meet. Team members were celebrating an 89  winning streak over nine seasons. Parents and friends helped to celebrate the accomplishments of these teams.

Speakers were Ron Bell-MC Roy Davis- Capt.-Dr.Tom Fashinell-Pac-10-All-American-on Trampoline, Tom Bruce-Member of 1968 NCAA Team Champions” George Greenfield-72 Olympian& UsA  Champion-  

Present for the evening was Art Shurlock,  1964 Olympic team, Champion of  USA,  winner of numerous national titles,, head coach of UCLA,  won two NCAA team titles, Three of his gymnasts were on 1984 Gold medal winning team..  

Many fine gymnasts were present for the first time in many years and it was a grand reunion for many gymnasts that competed in the old Harmon Gymnasium. Also present was Jim Fairchild two time NCAA Champion on Pommel Horse and Paul Davis-two time NCAA Champion on Rope Climb and co-holder of 20 foot climb of 2.8 secs.  

Also present were parents who I consider to be  the life blood of Gymnastics.  I thank them for their generous support of time and energy of their sons.  The food was fine and everyone celebrated seeing teammates for the first time in many decades.  Many individuals traveled long distances to attend the banquet. David Demany brought a fine slide display for the evening.

Thanks Reiko Beach of GymSmarts