Gymnastics Coaching.com

Not Tokyo, Madrid or Rio.

The election of the host city for 2016 will take place in October next year at an IOC Session in Copenhagen.

Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., second from right, Olympic athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and others, applaud at a Chicago 2016 Olympic rally, June 6, 2008, at the Daley Center Plaza in Chicago. (Associated Press) – Washington Post

Japanese Olympic officials fear Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election could hurt Tokyo’s bid for the 2016 Games.

Senior Japanese officials expressed concern that Obama’s success could give his home city of Chicago a massive boost in the Olympic bidding process.

“I wonder how IOC (International Olympic Committee) members will react when Mr. Obama appears in a presentation for Chicago,” Japanese Olympic chief Tsunekazu Takeda told local media on Wednesday.

…

“Mr. Obama is good at speeches and very popular,” said Japanese Olympic Committee board member Tomiaki Fukuda. “It could be a problem for Japan.”

Reuters – Olympics-Japanese fear ‘Obama factor’ could hurt 2016 bid

The American Cup will be hosted in Chicago in 2009, adding a little more hype to their bid.

Bela was just in Chicago … doing what he does best.

The final BIG meet of the year will be held in Spain, Dec. 13-14th.

The best eight MAG and WAG gymnasts on the world ranking list qualify for the apparatus finals, together with the wild cards (if any).

The gymnasts officially invited will be decided after the last World Cup series event of the 2007-2008 season, scheduled to be held in Stuttgart, from 14 to 16 November, 2008.

Athletes who make the cut LOVE the World Cup Final. It’s like qualifying directly into Finals!

There’s not much on the official website yet.

The Gym World Cup DTB Pokal is on now. Triple Twist posted the best summary of the qualification round. (Cheng Fei is kicking butt!)

Mia.

Some kids find ways to do trampoline at home.

I saw this telling photo on Facebook.

This is my life.

Laura-Ann Chong

In the flood of 2010 NCAA gymnastics signings, I’ve only time to post a few.

This one is interesting. A bit of a gamble, I think, for the normally savvy recruiting team at Utah.

(Chloe claimes to be a completely different person, now.)

Chloe Sims was a superstar who unexpectedly quit on the 2008 Olympic team. Struggled with an eating disorder. And turns out to be a bit of a poet.

Check out her cool bar routine. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Utah Gymnastics Team Signs Three

A semi-retired gymnast named Meredith started a new blog with a memorable name:

He Kexin = 14.

… Please don’t get offended. This is just good, clean fun. I respect the Chinese Gymnasts for all their hard work and their great gymnastics, including their perfect artistry, and extreme difficulty.

Her YouTube channel handle is nightflare514:

youtube.com/user/nightflare514

Here’s Randy Couture, current heavyweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

A big tough guy like Randy trains on trampoline?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Sky Zone has two locations: St. Louis, Missouri and Rocklin, California. (Looks like fun. But how do they get insurance for those facilities?)

Randy’s next fight back will be at UFC 91 on November 15, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada against Brock Lesnar.

Subscribe to more gymnastics training videos like this at GymnasticsOnDemand.com

http://gymnast.com/flashplayer/FlashPlayer.swf?v=http://www.gymnast.com/media/gymnast//upload/Videos/TTs/Flexibility/Stretch2.flv&eb=1&ap=1&av=sportnet.gy.videos&pv=video&szv=320×240&apv=doubleclick

I just taught my first “Gymnastics Foundations Introductory Course”. It’s the introduction for coaches age–15 16 and older who want to teach “gymnastics sports”.

I was to “mentor” to a new (younger) course conductor. No new course conductor was available, so two of us veterans taught the course ourselves. (With the change this year to the Foundations model, it’s a good time to move out the OLD course conductors like myself — and start a new generation of course presenters. “Learning Facilitators” in the new parlance.)

For one thing, the new structure is confusing to OLD TIMERS. Does this flow chart make sense to you:

One problem in Alberta, where I live, is that some of the subsequent courses are not yet available. My coaches may get stuck in limbo, waiting for those to be offered.

I’ve been teaching the OLD Canadian Introductory Gymnastics Coaching course for 30yrs. And love it.

On the other hand, I have to concede that the new manual is a big improvement.

I guess it’s to be expected that any transition has some bumps.

more information on the Foundations Program (PDF file)

Canadians, leave a comment if you have an opinion on Foundations.