boom goes the dynamite 2

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.

The Gymnast (Full Movie) free

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).

The-Gymnast.jpg

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)

cleaning a gymnastics foam pit

Someone remarked, “This should be on the Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe TV show.”

Quite right.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Of course we are scheming to replace this old style pit with the new Jim Walker system.

But that is months or years away.

A resi-pit is another (much more expensive) alternative. I suspect we will end up renovating our existing pit with the Walker system. Perhaps adding new resi-pit mats “floating” on top.

BEST of USA Gymnastics 2008

A year end summary from He Kexin = 14.

(That blog name still breaks me up.)

nastia-gold-medal.jpg

Click through for the other highlights: The Greatest USA Gymnastics Moments of 2008.

12 days of up-and-coming gymnasts

For the holidays, Gymblog is posting one young future gymnastics superstar each day.

the great “who’s next” list of 2009

Four have already been chosen:

  • Sabrina Gill, Canada
  • Kohei Uchimura, Japan
  • Jeffey Wammes, Netherlands
  • Viktoria Komova, Russia
  • You might argue that Uchimura is not up-and-coming, but already a superstar. Yet, despite winning the silver medal in Men’s All-Around in Beijing, he’s only very recently become the anchor of the Japanese team. And born 1989, he’s very young.

    Uchimura.jpg
    Kohei Uchimura – Reuters

    Who else will Gymblog choose?

    boom goes the dynamite

    Blythe on Gymblog for Christmas linked to a great video “Skills that make you go WOW.”

    Here’s another compilation of shocking skills for your holiday viewing.

    Click PLAY or watch Wow gymnastics montage on YouTube.

    gymnastics poem montage

    chachakid put visuals to this poem:

    Patience is a man’s greatest virtue,
    or so the saying goes.
    A gymnast must have said it,
    for a gymnast surely knows!
    That in this funny sport of ours,
    discouragement runs high.
    And even the very best will find
    this virtue has passed us by.
    When hands are ripped and throbbing,
    when every muscle’s sore,
    will a gymnast still have patience
    to limp in the gym for more?
    When you’ve lost old moves
    and progress seems slow,
    will you still have faith in better days,
    and not feel sad and low?
    Can you admit your frightened,
    yet not give in to fear?
    Can you conquer pain and frustration
    and often even tears?
    When someone else does something,
    you’ve tried so long to do…
    can you still be happy for her,
    or just self-pitty for you?
    And when success seems far away,
    your efforts all in vain,
    can you force yourself to wear a smile
    and disregaurd the pain?
    If despite the pain and tribulations,
    you can say “I won’t give in”
    Maybe some day you’ll discover
    that its now your time to win.

    author unknown

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    more gymnastics poetry

    inspirational coach Pete Carroll

    A 60 Minutes profile on USC Football coach Pete Carroll, who has the highest winning percentage of any active coach.

    http://www.cbs.com/thunder/swf30can10cbsnews/rcpHolderCbs-3-4×3.swf
    Watch CBS Videos Online

    Banking about $4million / year, Pete still makes time to work to reduce inner city violence with gang kids.

    A Very Barney Christmas!

    These White House Barney the Dog videos are so goofy, so retro, that I actually enjoy them.

    This one features a cameo by Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    Thanks Claudine Gervais.