Gymnastics Coaching.com

Another extreme sport I don’t want to try.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Straight to the Bar)

Gymnastics for All is a wonderful concept.

However, our demanding sport is MUCH easier for youth.

An FIG event in the Canary Islands offered some interesting workshops for adults:

… targeting gymnasts 50 years and older and coined the “Golden Age Gym Festival”. The festival will put to good use the existing infrastructures in Grand Canary, and will be an opportunity to profit from the expertise of local organiser Jose Télo. A diverse line-up of sporting activities has been grouped into more than 20 workshops. To name a just a few: Aqua Gym Fitness – FunHydro Bio – Fit Ball Wellness – Tai Chi Chuan for beginners and advanced – Latin Aerobics – Line Dance – Chrisrobic – Flamenco Dance – Baile Salsa – Nordic Walking. All courses will be given by highly qualified instructors. …

Traditional Festival Blume

OK. Nordic walking is not an activity that anyone would call “gymnastics”.

But this is an interesting initiative. Expanding the definition of our sport.

I hear very good things about the FIG Sport for All organization , by the way.

The bible for me has always been Bompa.

Periodization Training For Sports

Some pages of the book are available as a preview free online from Google Books.

But rather than fill in the complicated YTP (Yearly Training Plan) forms that he recommends, I’d love to use an online version.

Features should include:

access for multiple coaches

access for the athlete

reports for individual athletes in a training group

The best I’ve seen in the past have been Excel spread sheets.

But an online database would be easier.

Leave a comment if you can recommend anything like that.

I see my old friend Bogdan Dudziak hosted a major training camp.

Robert Akers Photography was so excited to have the chance to attend a USAG clinic with 2008 Olympic Gymnastics Team Captain Alicia Sacramone, and her coaches Mihai and Silvia Brestyan.

larger original

More photos on the Robert Akers Photography blog.

14th World Gymnaestrada 2011 in Lausanne

… The city of Lausanne, nestled in Switzerland’s southwest corner, is preparing the 14th World Gymnaestrada, set for July 10 – 16, 2011. The event just might break a record for participation with the arrival of more than 20,000 expected gymnasts …

FIG

I’ve been to two Gymnaestrada festivals. And would love to get to one again.

I’m marking this on my calendar NOW.

Piked has been tracking who confirmed and who declined invitation to the World Cup Final, Dec. 15-16 in Madrid. The timing is terrible, of course, for Olympians from Beijing.

Vault
1. Cheng Fei
2. Yelena Zamolodchikova
3. Jana Komrskova
4. Ariella Kaeslin
5. Dorina Boczogo
6. Aagje Vanwallenghem
7. Marissa King
8. Elsa Garcia

Uneven Bars
1. Dariya Zgoba
2. He Kexin
3. Jana Sikulova
4. Yang Yilin
5. Anastasia Koval
6. Jiang Yuyuan
7. Koko Tsurumi
8. Daniele Hypolito

Balance Beam
1. Cheng Fei
2. Sandra Izbasa
3. Li Shanshan
4. Yulia Lozhecko
5. Daniele Hypolito
6. Lauren Mitchell
7. Dariya Zgoba
8. Alina Kozich

Floor Exercise
1. Cheng Fei
2. Sandra Izbasa
3. Jiang Yuyuan
4. Alina Kozich
5. Suzanne Harmes
6. Daniele Hypolito
7. Yelena Zamolodchikova
8. Koko Tsurumi

Piked

Hopefully it will still be an entertaining competition despite many of the highest ranked gymnasts giving it a miss. (See the original list of invitees.)

If you are wondering where the Americans are … be informed that the World Cup Circuit has always been Eurocentric, even now only slowly expanding to Asia.

Past Men’s Technical Chairman Hardy Fink made a real effort to have FIG turn the series into truly a “World” Cup. But faced stiff resistance.

Elsa Garcia – official website

Over 200,000 views.

There’s a lot of truth in this short montage about what it’s like to get older as a gymnast.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Music by Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love.

Thanks Sarah.

Gymnast has posted a terrific photo gallery from the World Cup.

Geng Ruo Wei – Uneven Bars – 2008 Massilia Gym Cup

Copyright Melissa Perenson

A second photo gallery from the meet is posted here.

As selected by PIKED. (Formerly Gymnicestics)

The #1 is Ludivine Furnon winning the 2000 European Championships. Choreographed by Adriana Pop.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s got some great stuff. And NCAA quality choreography.

2. Yvonne Tousek 2000
3. Svetlana Khorkina 2000
4. Isabelle Severino 2008
5. Kate Richardson 2004
6. Sabina Cojocar 2001
7. Daiane Dos Santos 2003
8. Cheng Fei 2004
9. Alona Kvasha 2002
10. Zhang Yujiao 2008

read the rest of the list – PIKED – Top 100 Floor Routines of the Last Eight Years

In a related post on Double Salto … the top ten funkiest gymnasts on Floor.

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.