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I saw this on Chalk Bucket …

The feeling of flight
The Adrenalin
The Rush
The moment

A split second of thoughts,
That feels like a lifetime’s
You are immersed in your own world
A world where,
Only yourself,
And the mat below you matters

To someone looking on
It’s only that,
A moment,
It is simply a second in time
One that is blended into all the others
And individually,
Contains no real significance

But to a tumbler,
in all these little moments
Your stresses
Your worries,
And your fears disappear
That is,
Until you hit the mat below
And the feeling of success fades away
And all these little moments
Become just that,
Moments.

Kevork Djansezian / AP – original – NBC Sports

From Rik Feeny.

Get your full-size PDF version on GymnasticsTrainingTips.com.

by site editor Rick McCharles

Rich is departing my gym, Altadore Gymnastics, to return back home to Edmonton. He will be coaching at Capital City Gym Club starting in the New Year.

All the best Rich. Hope you can continue to avoid the pies in Edmonton.

I will be taking over as Men’s Head Coach at Altadore in addition to my duties as Technical Director.

Altadore will be advertising for a new Men’s Head Coach in 2009. Email RickMcCharles AT hotmail.com if you might be interested.

Shergymrag points us to two Gaylord 2 releases. Were these the first two gymnasts to compete it? The only two?

First, Zhou Duan at the 1997 East Asian Games.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Two years later, Chelsea Otto at the 1999 American Classic. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

At Altadore we use half a Rec cylinder mat on our pit vault horse … just in case one of the kids (somehow) falls back towards the horse after landing .

Works great.

Georgia Head Coach Suzanne Yoculan is one of the most successful and best paid gymnastics coaches in the world.

But this is her last season at the helm of the 4 time defending NCAA Champions.

INSIDE GYMNASTICS posted one of the best interviews I’ve read all year.

For example, this was a big surprise to me:

… We train 13 hours a week in the gym, less than any [other] team in the country. And we’ve done that for over ten years. We spend the other [NCAA-allowed seven hours] having meetings. …

Yoculan would be hired for any coaching job anywhere.

INSIDE: So, what does come next for you?

YOCULAN: (laughs) I don’t know, exactly. I’m spending a lot of time talking about it, but I don’t know.

Speaking engagements, for one. I’m developing a website. I’m hoping to go to colleges around the country, speaking to women’s coaches—mostly male coaches of women’s [sports]—about how to win with hugs. I used to be the person that threw shoes. I don’t do that anymore. I think I know more about athletes, and how to take care of them, now; what works. I feel I have a lot to share.

I think the job of every coach, if you want a simple job description, is to assist an athlete with reaching their full potential, athletically and academically. I’ve been able to come up with a program, and tweak it over [26 years,] and I feel very comfortable that how we do things at Georgia could be applied a lot of places, in a lot of sports. I hope to share that message.

I also want to speak to colleges about adding gymnastics, and spend some time working on that with the NCAA Coaches’ Committee. That’s something I’ve never been a part of, because I don’t believe in spreading myself too thin, but now I’ll have that time, that energy.

I want to give back to gymnastics, stay involved with the sport.

I’m also starting a foundation, which will help the Special Olympics. That’s been a side project of mine [for a number of years,] and my foundation will focus on giving money to the Special Olympics and the other part I want to give back to gymnastics. I’m not sure how, or in what way, but I want to use all the money I earn with speaking engagements to give back to the sport that gave me a career, a life. I don’t know where I’d be without gymnastics. …

Coach Chat: UGA’s Suzanne Yoculan

At my gym we are just starting this skill with a couple of gymnasts.

A few ideas …

I’ve previously posted the first two of these videos, by Almir from Bosnia and Herzegovina. But I’m posting them again because they are the best I’ve found on introducing Reverse Hecht.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Prerequisites include these drills. Click PLAY or watch them on YouTube.

(Do that last drill over a foam pit, not a mat.)

Good examples of Tkachev from Pegan and Nemov. Click PLAY or watch them on YouTube.

And the best Tkachev I’ve seen lately from a female gymnast. Click PLAY or watch UCLA’s Anna Li on YouTube.

related post – introducing Reverse Hecht

Leave a comment if you have your own favourite drills for introducing Tkachev.

Coach Ed Vincent at Altadore has “improved” the basic Ring machine over the years.

This is a device that reduces your body weight by about 50% using a pulley system.

larger size

It’s great fun, for sure. And helps with specific conditioning for some strength parts.

Ed’s most recent innovation is to add a spring on to the main pulley cable. He hopes to “soften” the bottom of the swing on giants.

larger size

more photos

If you’ve never seen a Ring Machine before, here’s a funny video showing how they work.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Other devices built by Ed Vincent:

best pommel horse bucket

video – suspended “twisting belt”

Eliza — AKA malimalimali123 — has a series of Christmas Gymnastics montage videos. Here’s her most recent.

Click PLAY or watch Merry Christmas 2008 Gymnastics montage on YouTube.

Thanks rec coach.

Likely you’ve heard of the critically acclaimed feature film called The Gymnast. It’s a lesbian love story of two circus aerialists starring Dreya Weber (gymnast) and Addie Yungmee (dancer).

If you have time over the holidays, you can watch it free streamed on the internet in the U.S.A. at LOGOonline – The Gymnast

(You need a computer utility like Hotspot Shield to watch it outside the States)

Adult content.

It’s an excellent film, I thought. The start of the movie is gripping; the ending not nearly as good.

related post: The Gymnast – a short fictional film (Jennifer Sey)