Gymnastics Coaching.com

Two expert coaches are consulting at my club. Sue Raffin (flexibility) and Ed Louie (strength).

Both know the “big picture”. Sue has coached at an elite level for decades. Ed works with Canadian National Team gymnasts as a massage therapist.

Both believe in preventing — or minimizing — chronic overuse pain by preventative exercises.

… The five worst words in the English language are “maybe it will go away.” If something hurts, it means that something is wrong. Figure out what that something is and correct it before it turns into a bigger problem.

Oftentimes, little, nagging problems can be fixed by incorporating some stretching and corrective exercise into your daily routine. This doesn’t mean you have to join a yoga class or stop lifting heavy and pick up five pound dumbbells and wave them around like an idiot on one leg. But, it does mean that you need to be aware of what is going on with your body and know what to do to fix it.

Corrective exercise and stretching are not stressful on the system and can help with your recovery and regeneration. …

Straight to the Bar – Recovery and Regeneration for the Strength Athlete

We have a number of older gymnasts that train in near constant pain. Several wear devices to relieve knee pain, for example.

The Fluk provides support without discomfort at the back of the knee. For Osgood-Schlatter’s disease or other knee cap conditions. A uniquely designed foam pad that can be placed according to the gymnast’s needs is the secret of this new brace’s success.

Ten.0

Right now I want to improve our “injury prevention” conditioning programs.

Leave a comment if you have exercises that work for you.

Tracey Morrison linked to this pommel horse animation:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More amusing is this commercial – Stupid Things to do in a Canoe: Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Triple Twist linked to a video of Fabian Hambüchen’s world record (7.5 start value) Horizontal Bar routine.

He does a Pineda (piked body position) and a Kolman (tucked).

I’ve got no problem with that.

But what happens when the next guy tries to compete a Pineda (piked) and a Cassina (layout Kolman) in the same routine?

They are two separate skills in the code of points.

In reality — they are almost the same skill. It would be unfair to credit them both with a G.

related post: who invented the Kolman on Hbar?

I WISH I was going to this competition.

2009 Cancun Classic
Friday, January 2, 2009
Hilton Golf and Beach Resort
Cancun, Mexico

Afternoon Session: LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, and Boise State

Evening Session: Oregon State, Stanford, Denver, and Brigham Young

It’s the first meet for those teams.

There’s also an age group competition over that weekend for Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and Open Women.

CancunClassic.com

by editor Rick McCharles

My club is still looking for an experienced Head Coach / Administrator with National experience. Altadore’s come a long way since I was a young coach:

Altadore circa 1977 – larger size – flickr

The job blub is below.

NEW is that we are going to re-advertise the position to start June 2009. (I will run the gym until then.)

The Altadore Gymnastic Club is proud to have been the home of such greats as 2004 Olympic Champion Kyle Shewfelt and 1992 Olympian Jennifer Wood. We pride ourselves on our 40+ year history and are excited to continue our legacy through a “gymnastics for all” philosophy.

We are currently seeking a Technical Director who will develop comprehensive gymnastics programs by setting level-specific standards and criteria for the technical development of the athletes and staff. The Technical Director, through leadership, expertise, and extensive knowledge in the sport of gymnastics, will provide expert advice and direction to all programs.

Pay will be commensurate with level and experience.

Resumes can be sent to the Altadore Gymnastic Club via mail:

Altadore Gymnastic Club
Attention: Executive Director
Bay 101, 6303 30th Street SE
Calgary, AB T2R 1R4

Altadore

Or, if interested, you can simply email Rick McCharles.

A detailed post on THE COUCH GYMNAST lists the 12 “greatest” international gymnastics teams of all-time.

… I love them for various reasons. Sometimes it’s a about sheer gymnastics greatness, sometimes its about achieving feats not achieved before by certain countries. Sometimes it’s about politics, sometimes its about combinations of personalities. Sometimes it’s just because i love them. …

Ukraine, 2000 Sydney Team (fourth)

U.S.A 2004 Athens Olympics Team (silver)

Italy 2006 European Champs (gold)

Australia 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Team (gold)

Spain 2001 Ghent (fourth)

Brazil Beijing 2008 Team (eighth)

Australia 2003 Anaheim Team (bronze)

Russia 2000 Sydney Olympic Team (silver)

U.S.A 2008 Beijing Olympic Team (silver)

Unified Team 1992 Barcelona (Gold)

USSR 1985 Worlds Team (gold)

Romania Athens Olympics 2004 Team (gold)

Click through for the details – The Couch Gymnast’s Top Twelve…

Pretty subjective. From this list, without question, I’d choose the USSR 1985 Worlds Team. After the Olympic boycott of 1984, the USSR had much to prove.

Shushunova and Omeliantchik tied as AA Champions. Yet they did not even qualify for the AA final. Two girls had to “claim injury” in order for those two to get into the top 36. Head Coach Rodionenko replaced Mostepanova in the AA Final, but years later Mostie is quoted as agreeing with the decision. (She had her age altered, as well, as a young gymnast.)

It was an awesome lineup: Irina Baraksanova, Vera Kolesnikova, Olga Mostepanova, Oksana Omelianchik, Yelena Shushunova, Natalia Yurchenko.

source

The Men’s meet was even better. The old veteran Yuri Korolev unexpectedly defeating Tong Fei, Li Ning, Artemov and the rest.

Those athletes impress me more than our current stars. They had to train 12 routines for Men, 8 for Women. Compulsories normally decided the winners.

Truly the good old days.

wikipedia – 1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

An interesting historical retrospective of Gymnastics in Australia 1956 – 2006.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

There are 7 more videos posted by Gymnastics Australia on the Gymclips channel. These are often played at major competitions Down Under.

(via Australian Gymnastics Blog)

The TV cameo by Nastia Liukin on Gossip Girl is linked from Gymblog.

It’s not nearly as cute as Shawn Johnson’s cameo on Secret Life of the American Teenager:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s nice to see gymnastics celebrities doing well.

The 5th annual — and the biggest yet — AYOF runs 14 – 18 January, 2009 in Sydney.

With 1,600, 550 officials, 17 sports, and 25 invited nations, this is one of the most important Junior multi-sport competitions in the world.

Rhythmic, Artistic and Trampoline are scheduled.

Australia has named their WAG team:

Britt Greeley – VIS/VIC
Emily Little – WAIS/WA
Mary-Anne Monckton – AIS/NSW
Georgia-Rose Brown – MBC/QLD
Emma Collister – Waverley/VIC
Ashley Cooney – WAIS/WA
Natalia Joura – WAIS/WA
Karina Brooks – QAS/QLD

Australian Gymnastics Blog

The British competitors are listed on British-Gymnastics.org.

Official Gymnastics home page on the Australian Youth Olympic Festival site.

The USA and Canada are attending in some sports, but I’ve not heard if any gymnasts are going.

Urejanje Lojze Kolman from Slovania, born 1967 most would say.

He won Bronze on Horizontal Bar at the 1990 European championships with an original move: a Kovacs with a 1/1 twist.

But I was there in the early morning session at the 1985 World Championships when unknown Tony Pineda from Mexico threw this MONSTER routine. It was one of the highlights of the entire meet.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Tony was coached by Hideo Mizoguchi in Oregon. Truly one of the most unique and explosive gymnasts ever.

The code tries to differentiate the Pineda (Gaylord 2 with half out) and the Kolman (Double back with 1/1 twist).

I don’t buy that distinction. Fabian Hambüchen added what he calls a “Pineda” to his horizontal bar routine last weekend, setting a new world-record for difficulty.

This should be the same skill, regardless of where the twist happens.

Tony Pineda was first to compete the Kolman. It should be named after him alone.

Tony is still coaching, by the way.

UPDATE: Check the comments for a discussion on who did the Gaylord first … Mitch Gaylord or Tony Pineda.