Gymnastics Coaching.com

Today I booked my hotel for the 2009 NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska.

And I can hardly wait.

In many ways it is the most exciting women’s gymnastics championships in the world.

THE COUCH GYMNAST posted an entertaining, even funny, overview of College Gymnastics from the perspective of a fan Down Under.

This is a good read.

Today, for the first time, I am going to be talking about what is, to an Australian, the whacky and even slightly alarming world of

COLLEGE GYMNASTICS!

… Of course, the team I see most of is the Gymdogs. Not surprising considering they seem to have ALL the money, ALL the fans and therefore ALL the media coverage. I can’t not like them. They look like they are having a great time, which i guess isn’t hard when you have plush dorms, a ridiculously fitted-out gym and one of the best college team records out there. Grace Taylor and the Two Courtney’s routines makes me really happy. …

… But the team that has my college-gymnastics-lovin’ heart has got to be…

The Bruins!

So today’s post is dedicated to reasons why I love that gang from UCLA. …

… click through for the entire article with more photos and video – THE COUCH GYMNAST

Coach and gym owner Valeri Liukin is an Olympic gold medalist (1988), and he’s coached an Olympic gold medalist, daughter Nastia, the recently crowned Olympic all-around champ. But, as the hype of Beijing begins to recede, you can find Liukin right where he was before Nastia’s Olympic glory: coaching in his WOGA gym Texas.

The latest addition to Liukin’s existing stable of Elite gymnasts— Nastia, Rebecca Bross, Grace McLaughlin and Christa Tanella—is 2007 world gold medalist Ivana Hong, who officially made the move to WOGA last week. (Hong had most recently trained under Al and Armine Fong at GAGE in Mo.)

What about Nastia?

… “She’s in the gym again, regular training,” Liukin confirmed. “With the exception [that] she’s very busy traveling. That really kills me. She has to do a lot of appearances, promoting meets, working with sponsors. So, business-wise, she’s very busy. [This past week] she was in Chicago, she was in New York and now she’s in New Orleans. …

As a father, he wants his daughter to succeed in business. But as a coach, Valeri is frustrated.

read more – Inside Gymnastics – WOGA Gears Up for ’09

GymInfo – Women’s National Ranking

2 March 2009 – by Regional Qualifying Average

full list

Commentary on Gymblog.

David Wyatt from Melbourne captured some nice images at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival 2009.

Click through to see more pics.

I can be contacted … at dwyatt46 @ hotmail.com with any queries on the photographs I’ve taken.

Kathe Jones started a new blog for MotionWear, a dance and gymnastics clothing company.

I’ve subscribed by RSS.

Click through to see a sample post:

Putting the Gymnast First …

Being Willing to Take a Break …

Making the Gym Fun …

What I Think Makes a Great Gymnastics Coach

official website – MotionWear Gymnastics

TV Show Host Phil Keoghan learns gymnastics at the National Sports Complex in Bucharest.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – IG – Romanians Coach Contestants on Sunday’s ‘Amazing Race’

Wow.

Georgia gymnastics posted its best score at home since 1998 Saturday, proving their mettle as the nation’s No. 1 team with a very impressive 198.200-196.650 victory over rival Florida.

The Gym Dogs were firing on all cylinders all day, charting 16 scores of 9.9 or better, capped off by a perfect 10 on floor exercise from senior Courtney Kupets. They posted season-highs on every event, with a 9.850 the lowest score they counted all afternoon.

Not bad for a team that coach Suzanne Yoculan doubted as the nation’s No. 1 earlier in the week.

“I’m not going to sleep for two days,” she said.

Red and Black – Gym Dogs post nation-best 198.200, blow Gators out of water

Kelly Lambert/Staff – Online Athens

Georgia is indeed the team to beat at Championships 2009.

Coach John Carney left his club, Gym East in Washington State, to go to College.

How’s he doing in the NCAA?

John Carney knows when to have fun and when to get serious as a gymnastics coach.

Carney, 41, is in his first year as an assistant coach with Oregon State after a long career at the club level.

It didn’t take long for the OSU gymnasts to discover his fun-loving side.

Carney makes a point of keeping the training interesting. He comes up with a variety of games to go along with the bars workouts and lightens up what can be a grind.

“He creates props,” senior D’Anna Piro said. “Over Christmastime we had to draw our assignments out of stockings. Sometimes he has us roll dice to determine how many skills you have to complete.

“It’s never a boring day on bars.” …

Beaver Sports – Carney breaks up the routine with humor

That’s Olivia Vivian from Australia in the photo. I never miss a chance to read her often hilarious commentary on gymnastics and life.

(via Australian Gymnastics Blog)

related posts tagged “John Carney”

==== UPDATE

John’s team was edged out last night by the young, aggressive UCLA squad …

Bruin Gymnasts Beat Beavers, 196.575-196.350

Gerber hits clutch beam routine to seal victory.

What?!

The low rent San Jose Spartans 194.70 defeated their high flying neighbors, previously undefeated Stanford 193.925 last night.

Is this the NCAA upset of the season?

Miscues on the opening two rotations put the No. 3 Stanford women’s gymnastics team into a hole it could not climb out of in a loss to … unranked San Jose State in a tri-meet at UC Davis on Friday night.

Stanford struggled to season-low scores on the balance beam and floor exercise while San Jose State stuck its routines to build an insurmountable lead, finishing with 194.7 points, to 193.95 for Stanford and 192.7 for UC Davis. …

Rough Start Costs Stanford in Gymnastics Loss

Congratulations to San Jose, especially leader Thomasina Wallace and coach Wayne Wright.

They’ve earned Bay Area bragging rights for the coming year!

SJS Spartans

The 2007 USA Champion is 99% retired, now the personal coach of David Sender from Stanford.

An entertaining and informative interview by Steve McCain at American Cup on the USAG YouTube channel.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.