Gymnastics Coaching.com

UPDATE: Farewell party

All parents and gymnasts are welcome to stop by the gym tonight, Tuesday, September 30th at 8:45pm to wish him well.

DeVeau’s

Live.Breath.Love Gymnastics reports a rumour that Olympic gymnast Samantha Peszek’s coach Peter Zhao is moving back to China.

There’s more detail on a new blog, The C Score:

This leaves Peszek at a gym with no qualified elite coach at Deveau’s in Fishers, Indiana. Rumor has it that she could go to Sharp’s, or even Chow’s.

…

Of the other two gyms, I think Sharp’s seems more likely. It’s in West Indianapolis, which is clearly closer than Iowa, and Peszek is one of those few elite gymnasts who actually goes to a real school, Cathedral High. (On that subject, anyone who does elite gymnastics while attending a regular school is leaps and bounds above everyone else.) Peszek would be training there with Bridget Sloan, fellow 2008 Olympic team member. …

Peter Zhao returning to China

Of course this is all speculation at this point. But that’s what blogs are for.

Coincidentally I was speaking with a Chinese coach by phone today. He told me salaries for coaches are very good in China right now. Fewer will be wanting to leave China for coaching abroad in future.

I’ve heard the same thing about Russia. Salaries have increased dramatically in recent years.

Gymnast.com interviews U.S. Women’s National Team members.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via I-Heart-Beam on Chalk Bucket)

Confirmed.

Seneca College in Toronto will no longer be offering their Artistic Gymnastics Coaching Program.

Too bad.

This decision was made before the catastrophic injury to one of the Seneca elite gymnasts, Taylor Lindsay-Noel.

Alex competed Junior Olympic Nationals last year.

Alex Loch of Maple Lake has won a lot of medals over the years in gymnastics — but what may be more impressive is his mettle to overcome impaired vision.

He competed as a Level 10 gymnast despite being born legally blind. …

He’s able to see just 2 to 3 feet away what most people see at 20-to-30 feet away. …

Blind Gymnast Competes Despite Vision Condition – WCCO

Watch a video of Alex on that news article.

Thanks shergymrag.

Three time Olympian gymnast Blaine Wilson just married Rythmic gymnast Aliane Baquerot.

On the recent Sacramento stop of the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars they took a detour to Reno, Nevada and tied the knot! The announcement was made to the audience during the show ….

Wedding Bells for Blaine Wilson! – GymnastTV

Blaine and Makare Desilets, who married in 2001, are divorced with a daughter Wakaya.

coach M — responding to the post Oksana Sivovol – highest 1/1 on beam — asks us to compare the layout 1/1 twist competed by Oana Ban from Romania.

It’s awesome.

Click PLAY or watch Oana on Youtube.

Oana was 5th AA at 2003 Worlds and qualified to the All-around at the 2004 Olympics … but an injury sustained during the meet at Athens forced her to withdraw from the competition.

Gymnastike posted an entertaining interview with the famous Romanian dance coach.

Geza Pozsar was Nadia Comaneci’s choreographer and got to experience one-on-one what she was like as a young gymnast. He tells what he thinks made Nadia so special.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.
http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-3-16/mediaplayer.swf

On those bars we want to raise and lower often, we have added load binders like this. We switch the rail from Men’s to Women’s on some bars, as well.

The only problem … they are too easy to open. On this style of load binder we are using a zip tie to ensure it does not open accidentally. (We need cut it off each time we change the rail.)

Leave a comment if you have alternatives to suggest.

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UPDATE: Coach Steve from the beautiful city of Nelson, B.C. recommends:

We use this one from American Athletics. It has a locking pin that you have to pull back in order to open it.

There are many visually impaired gymnasts, but “vaulting” is not the best activity for them.

There are no specific details about the spotting accident in this article:

Michael McCarthy, a blind albino from Port Jefferson who was 7 at the time of the 2001 incident, attempted to hurdle a vaulting horse at the Spins Gymnastics Academy in Port Jefferson Station when he fell to the floor, according to the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

His lawyer, Steven Ferber, said yesterday that McCarthy’s instructors were negligent in letting go of his midsection as he fell.

McCarthy had to wear a body cast for six months and still suffers from back problems stemming from the fall, Ferber said yesterday.

Suffolk County Judge Peter Mayer rejected the gym’s argument that the blind boy should have known the risks inherent in his participation. …

New York Post

Monica, editor of the Steliana Nistor – a real champion blog spoke with Steliana personally:

— Steliana, do you miss gymnastic?

— No!

It’s a straight answer, gave exactly on the “Lie’s Bridge” from Sibiu. The city’s habitats avoid to lie when passing the iron bridge because they are afraid the bridge will give away under their lie’s weight. Steliana came back home in Sibiu three weeks ago. …

STELIANA NISTOR: “I won’t go back to Deva!”

A Bronze medalist with the Romanian gymnastics team in Beijing, Steliana is enjoying chocolate and looking forward to the freedom of University.

All the best.