Gymnastics Coaching.com

The WAG Team Results are up.

China won.

But Japan stayed surprisingly close.

Women’s team competition (juniors)

1. China 169.825
2. Japan 167.725
3. Great Britain 161.800
4. Australia A 158.400
5. Australia B 150.025
6. Malaysia 142.100
7. New Zealand 141.300

As expected, the Chinese girls (featured in this post) won the team competition, thanks mostly to a stellar performance on beam, where their lowest score was an astonishing 14.90 (a very high score, given that it was based on eight rather than ten elements). The highest score of the day went to Tan Sixin, who scored a staggering 15.85 on beam …

Triple Full – China Wins AYOF Women’s Team Final; Australia Disappoints

China’s Wei Guo performs on the beam at the Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney 2007

Ages are as at 1 January 2009.

Artistic:

Men: Athletes must be not less than 14 years nor more than 18 years to be eligible.

Women: Athletes must be not less than 13 years nor more than 15 years of age to be eligible.

The most recent MostepanovaFan Code video. So new that it includes the new rating for double back on Floor (D) rather than the former rating (C). … Good call on that, by the way, FIG.

Guide to tumbling on women’s floor exercise using the 2009 Code of Points

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(NB The double twist is Yang Yun not Huang Mandan as it says.)

bar release moves

gymnastics – bar mounts video

acrobatic elements on beam

balance beam dismounts video

video guide to beam mounts

From Triple Full:

Once upon a time, Belarus was a force to be reckoned with in artistic gymnastics. On the women’s side, the country produced the likes of Svetlana Boginskaya (surely one of the most memorable gymnasts ever) and Elena Piskun. On the men’s side the program was even more successful, producing stars like six-time 1992 Olympic champion Vitaly Scherbo and 1994 and 1997 all-around world champion Ivan Ivankov. Over the last few years, however, there has been a marked decline in success. While the Belorussian men qualified a team to the 2008 Olympics, it wasn’t particularly successful. The women haven’t qualified a team to the Olympics since 2000.

A few months ago (to be exact, on October 30, 2008), Belorussian sport site Sportpanorama posted an interview with women’s coach Antonina Koshel, who had some pretty depressing stories to tell about the state of gymnastics in her country. If you always wanted to know why Belorussian gymnastics has been in steady decline ever since the retirement of Svetlana Boginskaya, look no further – here are your answers! …

Whither Belorussian Gymnastics?

Boginskaya is a stay-at-home Mom in Texas. Scherbo now coaches in Vegas. Elena Piskun coaches at NorthWind Gymnastics in Atlanta. Ivan Ivankov just competed … for fun. He coaches at University of Illinois.

Belarus needs attract back some of their best coaches from the past. They need to find a way to fund elite gymnastics as Russia is doing.

related – Triple Full – A Quick Look at the Belorussian Girls

The good old days.

larger version – flickr – Miami U. Libraries – Digital Collections

Imagine how uncomfortable this heavy garb must have been.

Today even traditional Muslim women have better sport wear.

Are kids getting mobile phones at too young an age?

source – All Media

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

We don’t allow the kids to bring them into the gym.

Our coaches opt to not bring them in the gym. But we have no rule against it.

Leave a comment if you’ve had any issues with phones in your gym.

==== Update:

Our girls do bring video cameras into the gym. Recently they love uploading clips — good and bad — on to Facebook. I have a camcorder on my hip at all times. We review recent footage on my laptop about every second day.

Triple Full posted an update.

On Thursday, January 15, the 2009 competitive season kicks off with the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) in Sydney, featuring teams from Australia, China, Great Britain, Japan, Malaysia, and New Zealand. …

… The story focuses mainly on China’s most famous junior, Cui Jie, but there is some material on the three other girls as well. Enjoy! …

Spotlight: Chinese Juniors

After weeks “broken”, the IG website seems to be working.

IG Online

On the homepage are interviews with Canadians Kyle Shewfelt and Brittany Rogers, Aussies Lauren Mitchell and Dasha Joura.

The video tab takes you to Universal Sports. The clips won’t play, however, unless you are in the USA.

We need all send a note of thanks to MostepanovaFan who painstakingly puts together these code of points montages. It’s by far the best way to review the new rules.

Guide bars release moves based on the 2009 Code of Points. I have included a couple of moves which aren’t in the Code yet but might be in the future.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

gymnastics – bar mounts video

acrobatic elements on beam

balance beam dismounts video

video guide to beam mounts

<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 is one of the top strength training experts in the world.

Yewkis are a multi-plane pulling movement which simultaneously incorporates a pull-up, a bodyweight row and a front lever.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I like this drill even for young and beginner gymnasts. It’s ideal for girls, as well.

more conditioning videos from Coach Sommer on YouTube

Coach Sommer is offering a 2-day clinic May 23-24th at Woodward West, California. Thanks Blair Lowe for the tip.

related – Team USA gymnast Yewki Tomita

The sequel to the immensely popular Evolution of Dance YouTube sensation is here.

It’s funny. Judson Laipply goofs on dance cliches from over the decades. But I don’t think this one will go viral like the first.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Evolution of Dance 2 has finally — finally — been released. After a long gestation, during which he dealt with song clearances, sponsorships and hosting (back story here), inspirational speaker Judson Laipply has put out the sequel to his chart-topping Evolution of Dance snap-shot tour of dancing styles through the ages. …

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