Gymnastics Coaching.com

At my gymnastics club this season we have many “first year” competitors.

First year in a new age / ability category.

I find that first year competitors work hard and make rapid progress. They are motivated to prove they should have “moved up“.

Sports Girls Play has an excellent post, however, on the other kind of season: The Confidence Season:

Sometimes the road to success is not the fast lane. …

… Each season we end up with a group of athletes who excel – they have mastered their skills, are relatively consistent in their performances, regularly place in the top third during awards, and are learning the next level skills with excitement. We also have a group of athletes we call “bubble kids” – they are making it through their routines, getting average or lower than average scores, are not getting called up for awards, and are not as ready for the next level skills. Sure we could push them ahead anyhow, but that often leads to discouragement, low self esteem, and the development of fears.

When the placements for the next season come out, many of the parents of our “bubble kids” get a little anxious. They worry that their child is being left behind, won’t be with her friends or will be bored. But more often than not, when we have these athletes stay at their current level, one year later we hear from the parents that it was the best decision they did not get to make! …

The Confidence Season

original – flickr – Sarah_Hawkins

more photos by Sarah_Hawkins tagged “gymnastics”

The decision on whether or not to “move up” next season is very individual. There are many variables.

It must be decided case-by-case.

Window art down alleyway of Lichfield Street, Christchurch, NZ

flickr – bkiwik – larger version

Separated at birth?

Aussie actress-turned-fashion-model Emily Browning … and Olympic gymnast Dasha Joura.

See more photos on the The Australian Gymnastics Blog.

Standard for Men’s Horizontal Bar, has anyone tried a 3 finger grips made for Bars?

Tru Grip Women’s Three Finger Hook & Loop

DGS

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It’s very common for athletes to run through a specific mental sequence immediately before they compete. Often they use physical movements to make the imagery more vivid.

Imagery is a key component to good gymnastics, and nobody “images” more wonderfully than Cheng Fei. …

Click PLAY or watch Cheng Fei on YouTube.

(via Comet on the IG forum)

The International Gymnastics Federation has never found the right formula to make their World Cup competitions take off.

Men’s competitions have been consistentently well-attended and popular with the best gymnasts in the world.

But the women’s competitions have been hit-and-miss. Historically the American girls don’t go to European World Cups. And run an often criticized variation of the event themselves called the American Cup.

The International Gymnastics Federation recently cancelled the annual World Cup Final.

What should the FIG do next?

Here’s their most recent strategy:

The FIG plans to reduce so-called “A-competitions” or “A-World Cups” to five or six locations per year, where only 12 to 18 gymnasts per apparatus (& only one per country) are allowed to perform. Thereby meets will be more compact and shorter.

…

(In 2009, there are nine World Cups: Montreal, Cottbus, Maribor (B-category), Glasgow, Moscow, San Juan, Doha, Osijek and Stuttgart (A-category).)

details and link – GymNiceTic

Related – entries for next World Cup – Maribor, April 17-19th, 2009

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Perhaps they need to bring back the “perfect 10” …

Motivated by unhappy TV executives and confused fans, international gymnastics officials are looking at reworking the revamped scoring system that eliminated the perfect 10 at last year’s Beijing Olympics.

Bob Colarossi, president of the marketing commission of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), is tinkering with formulas that could make the open-ended scoring system easier to understand. He hopes to have at least some minor changes in place before the London Games in 2012. …

ESPN – Execs want to clarify gymnastics scores

It’s on a Japanese site called ninja-mania.

One sample screen shot:

(via Gymnastic_fun on the IG forum)

Sick yet of hearing about Dancing with the Stars?

Aside from the priceless media exposure to millions of viewers, Shawn’s earning some pretty good coin.

How much is she making?

… already earned $125,000 just for appearing on the show …

In addition to her $125,000 appearance fee, Johnson is set to receive $10,000 a week for her third and fourth weeks in the show, $20,000 if she makes it to week five and an additional $30,000 per week through weeks eight and nine.

Her deal tops out at $50,000 per week for weeks 10 and 11 and a whopping $365,000 if she becomes one of the final two contestants. …

NY Daily News – Contract reveals ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is paying Shawn Johnson big bucks

Because 17-year-old Shawn is still a minor, a Judge was required to approve her contract with the ABC hit TV show. The contract was then made public after being filed with the L.A. County Superior Court.

We wonder how her contract compares with the other “stars” on the show?

(via glaundry on IG forum)

Have you been following the lunacy of the Texas Senate Bill 68 story?

The Texas State government is trying to forcing sport clubs — martial arts studios and gymnastics clubs, for example — to meet the same strict standards as required by day care centers.

I assume it’s a tax cash grab.

GymNiceTic linked to the one interview I wanted to see – WOGA’s Yevgeny Marchenko.

To see the excellent TXCN video news report click through: Bill would force gyms to become daycares

This is nothing like a day care, at all.

Ivana Hong

Politicians in Texas are already backpedaling.

IG’s Amanda Turner reports:

On the eve of the 2009 European Championships in Milan, a new book is exploring the personal stories of Italy’s most famous gymnasts.

Ilaria Leccardi’s “Polvere di Magnesio” (“Chalk”) hits Italian bookstores on Wednesday. The 240-page book also will sell at the MediolanumForum in Milan, event site of the European Championships, April 2-5. …

… “I discovered that a lot of Italian gymnasts have to train in bad conditions,” said Leccardi, 26. “But I discovered even more problems of this sport, and my research became larger and deeper.”

Leccardi began traveling around Italy to meet with Italian champions including Igor Cassina, Vanessa Ferrari, Carlotta Giovannini and Alberto Busnari, listening to what she called the “hidden stories” of gymnastics. …

International Gymnast – Italian Gymnasts Uncovered in ‘Chalk’

The book will be available only in Italian.

No doubt translations of interesting excerpts will be posted online.