Gymnastics Coaching.com

Amazingly, I made it to age-51 without ever editing a piece of Floor music.

But this season, deciding to move all our music to iTunes and iPod for training, I was forced to LEARN.

For editing audio, I used the very popular and free open source software called Audacity.

download it from the official website

It works. But I had several glitches having to do with the various audio format of our tracks. (WMA, M4A, MP3 and AC3)

Some girls only had cassette tapes. To “digitize” those tracks I used an Ion Dual Cassette Tape Archiver ($150).

No doubt there are many other solutions. But this worked for me.

Our coaches will now have iPod playlists of their gymnasts as a back-up.

We’ll take the iPod to competitions. But likely use our back-up CDs in competition.

Leave a comment if you have more advice for coaches making the jump to iPod.

UPDATE: Wikipedia has a list of digital audio editing software. Angela prefers the free version of WavePad (PC only) to Audacity.

Triple Full translated an interview with the famed Romanian gymnast, now retired and turned coach.

Together with the rest of the Dinamo team, Marian Drăgulescu will coach 22 boys, aged between 6 and 14. “For the moment we have enough kids to coach. If, at any point, we won’t have enough kids, we will start visiting schools. And on top of that there are groups of girls,” says the multiple champion.

On his first day on the job (Thursday, January 15), he worked for a good five hours, from 1 to 6pm. “That will be my schedule, more or less, …

He would like to be remembered by the world in years to come for his five medals at World Championships and his three Olympic medals. “I hope people will remember I was a gymnastics champion,” says the current coach. …

Marian Dragulescu: “I’m Content with Everything I Have Achieved”

This is a good news story. Much better than the scandal that hit the Romanian press last year vis-à-vis his estranged wife Larisa.

I saw on the The Tramp and Tumble Network that USAG has named their 2009 Jump Start National Team.

The first training camp is scheduled for February 19-22 at The Matrix in Huntsville, TN.

The USA is not nearly as strong in Trampoline and Tumbling as I would expect for a sports superpower. JumpStart is their talent identification program for kids ages 7-12. A high priority is providing coach education for these athletes as they advance.

A great program.

USAG – JumpStart National Team

From Triple Full:

Svetlana Khorkina turned 30 on January 19, which brought about a flurry of interviews with and articles on the former star in the Russian media. It took us a bit of time to get around to it, but here, finally, is an update on Khorkina …

The first half of the interview focuses on Khorkina’s involvement with politics and gymnastics; the second half focuses on her creative endeavors and family life. Enjoy! …

The seven-time Olympic medalist — and triple Olympian — was one of the best and most fascinating gymnast of all time.

She has a son Svyatoslav. Is a Russian politician. And much, much more.

It’s a good read.

Triple Full – Svetlana Khorkina: “It’s My Year!”

Coach Steve Hough in the UK is organizing a gymnastics training tour to Russia for his club in April 2009.

It’s expensive, of course, perhaps £8,000.

They organized a cool fund-raiser where the boys will do 1600 sponsored double leg circles on Pommels, one for each mile from their gym to Moscow.

Great idea!

All of the boys commit a huge amount of time and dedication towards their training, all working hard for up to 22 hours a week. Training fees, competitions and travelling expenses already cost the boys and their families alot of money and therefore any donations will be gratefully accepted. …

See a video of the athletes on the club website – Basingstoke Gymnastics – Russia 2009

The usual error for beginners is contacting the horse with “piked” hips.

Eventually, we want to see a position like Marian Dragalescu here doing the Dragalescu vault in Finals at the 2004 Olympics. One of the greatest vaults of all time!

Gymnasts push boxes across a carpeted Floor to improve general leg strength.

It works. And is FUN.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Coach Mihai Stoica. Altadore Gymnastics Club.

<img align="right" border="0" hspace="10" vspace="5" blockquote id="image7217" src="https://gymnasticscoaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Coach-Sommer.jpg&quot; alt="Coach-Sommer.jpg" / Coach Sommer of GymnasticBodies shows an advanced version of the “hamstring push-up”.

Much of an athlete’s ability to jump explosively resides in his glutes and lower back. GHR (glute ham raises) are an excellent movement for directly developing these two areas simultaneously.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gymnasts are notoriously weak in the hamstrings relative to the quadriceps. Hamstring push-ups are an excellent drill to correct this imbalance.

more conditioning videos from Coach Sommer on YouTube

Katrina posted a good interview with the reigning World Champion Shawn Johnson on the BodyRhythm blog:

Kevin Sanders / AP

… Although Johnson placed first all-around at last year’s U.S. Championships, she has not yet confirmed exactly when she will return to competition. She has the chance to defend her world all-around title at the World Championships taking place in London in October.

“It’s hard to give a specific date or place for a competition where I’ll be back,” she told IG. “Whenever I get back into the gym, I’ll get back into competition. It just depends on the time. I’m still riding out the publicity from the Olympics. You want to ride that out as long as you can, because it’s really fun, and it’s what makes your career.” …

Take that doubters – Shawn Johnson interview

Good news for fans.

But I don’t understand why Nastia has had time to get back in the gym, but not Shawn.

Nastia is even busier with special events and appearances.

A charming, feel good video. Nice edit.

Montage of gymnasts who were great when they were young.

Click PLAY or watch Forever Young by KaraKarateka on YouTube.

Gymnasts still danced on Floor when I was young.

(via Chalk Bucket)