Gymnastics Coaching.com

The ninth-ranked Oklahoma women’s gymnastics squad (1-1) posted the highest score in the NCAA this season en route to a 197.175-189.600 victory against Texas Woman’s University (0-1) on Saturday night. The Sooners claimed every team and individual event title of the dual meet in front of a capacity crowd of 1,107 inside Kitty Magee Arena on the TWU campus. …

“It’s a real confidence builder as we continue our season,” said head coach K.J. Kindler. “In all honesty, I saw ten times as much energy, confidence and enthusiasm as we showed at Florida. It started out with a bang with a great bars set. I thought we did a much better job with our dismounts and stuck landings and it’s always nice to end with one of those beam nights that you’ll never forget.” …

Sooners Post Top Score in the NCAA

Right now in Peoria, Illinois.

Bridget Sloan of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team and Kalon Ludvigson of the U.S. Senior National Tumbling Team attended the annual fund-raiser.

… Wearing her Olympic silver medal won last summer in Beijing, Sloan addressed the crowd during the opening ceremony Saturday.

“It’s a really incredible competition,” she said afterward. “It’s cool to see (fans’) eyes get really big. Just the reaction is priceless.” …

PJ Star

Thanks also to Central Illinois Tumbling and Trampoline.

The 18th Annual St. Jude Benefit Meet will take place on January 17th & 18th, 2009 at the Peoria Civic Center . During one weekend a year, athletes complete not only for individual and team awards, but also to help sick children live. Event organizers donate 100% of all net proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To date, this event has donated over 3/4 million dollars to St. Jude for the research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. …

official website

more photos from last year’s meet

related – NCAA president Myles Brand has pancreatic cancer. Our thoughts are with him.

Deja Vu all over again. Cal beats crosstown rival Stanford in a dual meet.

The No. 1 Stanford men’s gymnastics team fell to No. 5 California, 342.200-338.400, on Friday evening at Haas Pavilion. With the loss, the Cardinal drops to 0-1 in its first meet of the 2009 campaign. …

Top-Ranked Stanford Falls To No. 5 California In Season Opener

Just like last season, it’s time for me to predict an upset Team Victory for Cal Berkeley at NCAA Championships 2009.

Or is it?

Cal Coach Barry Weiner:

… I know Stanford is going to get a lot better, but so are we. …

Cal Bears

I’ve been researching climbing ropes.

The cheapest materials are “good enough” for most gyms, I understand.

But contacts in Cirque du Soleil love the covered Spanish web ropes they use.

In North American you can buy it from:

USA – CBE Circus – Spanish Webs

Canada – Barry.ca – Braided Spanish Web

It’s expensive at something like $10 / foot.

Leave a comment if you know something about Spanish web.

Triple Full has one of their usual excellent reports on Day 1 Event Finals from the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

Day 1 of the event finals finally saw the host nation win some individual medals, with Emily Little and Britt Greeley going 1-2 in the women’s vault final and the Australian men picking up three medals on floor and rings. The Chinese men also got a few medals, including the gold on rings, but it was the Brits who were the most successful nation, picking up two golds, one silver, and one bronze to add to their tally. …

read more – AYOF: Event Finals, Day 1

Triple Full singled out this highlight routine:

Click PLAY or watch Wu Liufang in Bar Finals on YouTube.

She only finished 5th due to the extra kip after errors with the Pak. But that is some sweet swing line.

More meet videos from chachakid on YouTube.

From Sydney:

The Chinese diving team has continued to flex its muscle at the diving pool today with their men and women showcasing an array of skills and precision to continue their unbeaten run and claim another three gold medals. …

olympics.com.au – Undefeated China sweep the medals again

From GK Elite.

GK Elite

(via Gymnastics: It’s an obsession)

Not the best “set” you’ve ever seen.

Shawna – Can-Am Gymnastics

But many, many gymnasts go through something like this position.

Each time I see this phase of the skill it reminds me to do more specific conditioning for lateral flexion, with rotation.

Australian Youth Olympic Festival results.

The premeet favourite from China came through with a strong win. New new code rules count only the top 8 skills for Difficulty. Rawles clarified that this meet was judged under old code (10 skills).

Women’s Artistic

1. Cui Jie CHN 59.175
2. Natsumi Sasada JPN 57.050
3. Yoshino Taniguchi JPN 55.675
4. Emily Little AUS 55.075
5. Nicole Hibbert GBR 54.775
6. Danusia Francis GBR 54.300
7. Britt Greeley AUS 53.850
8. Yukimi Ueda JPN 52.700

And, as in the Team competition, Great Britain positively dominated the Junior Men’s meet.

Men’s Artistic

1. Ashley Watson GBR 82.800
2. Reiss Beckford GBR 82.033
3. Max Whitlock GBR 82.000
4. Ben Astley AUS 79.467
5. Luke Wadsworth AUS 78.100
6. Liu Zhanteng CHN 77.966
7. Jayden Bull AUS 77.166
8. Sean O’Hara AUS 76.833

Scores, commentary and videos linked from Triple Full.

flippingymkid (anna in the comments) is posting highlights from the WAG competition at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More flippingymkid videos from the AYOF competition.

Triple Full posted some commentary on the meet (so far) and a review of the videos posted (so far).