Gymnastics Coaching.com

166 senior and 145 juniors from 41 nations. Lausanne, Switzerland May 8-11, 2008.

official competition home page in 3 languages

Excellent article in Sports Illustrated by E.M. Swift examines the relationship between the World Gymnastics Champion and her Head Coach: East Meets Midwest

… “I’ve been with Chow since I was six, and I’ve trusted him with my life,” she says. “He’s like my second dad.”

Eric Risberg/AP

… Chow accepted a scholarship two years later to a place he’d never been, the University of Iowa, to study English and help coach the gymnastics teams. In doing so, he left behind a world of relative wealth and privilege for the spartan life of an American college student. “I was pretty famous in China,” says Chow, who was making more money than his father, a senior electrician. “He was a pretty tough guy. I’d never seen him cry before, but he cried when I left.”

Chow was 23 when he arrived in Iowa City with a suitcase and a kindergartner’s grasp of English, but he relished the adventure. “Gymnastics trained me, not just for gold medals, but for life,” he says. “There is no fear in gymnastics. If you can do a double backflip, you can do anything. It was hard at first, but later on, Iowa seemed like heaven to me. I love this country and this system because if you have the talent and the knowledge, you can use it.” …

click through to read the entire article – Sports Illustrated

(via Live.Breath.Love.Gymnastics – Shawn Johnson, The Poet?)

China will compete some of their “big guns” at the Bank of China World Cup gymnastics competition, to be held in Tianjin on May 14-15.

(‘Prince of Parallel Bars’ swings back into action – China Daily via People’s Daily)

Bank of China is a BIG sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Should be a good meet. I’m looking forward to seeing how the World Champion performs.

Yang Wei

… After the Internal Test Event conducted, a few of the team members were supposedly selected. …

Competing on the Olympic team
» Cheng Fei
» Jiang Yuyuan
» He Kexin
» Yang Yilin

For the last two spots it is between
» He Ning
» Sui Lu
» Pang Panpan
» Xiao Sha

Gymnastics and stuff

Just speculation, I’m assuming.

It’s quite early to be naming team members.

Click PLAY or watch Jiang Yuyuan at 2007 Worlds Event Finals on Floor. YouTube

Some nice parts in this routine. But I don’t need to see front step-out through to double twist in Finals at World’s. Rules changes MUST do something to reduce the number of tumbling lines. Three is enough. Four should be rare.

Mitchell Mays from Minnesota had the highest score this year in the NCAA on Vault — 16.700.

And was the nation’s No. 1 ranked College vaulter.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Unfortunately Mitchell fell (safely) at NCAA Championships 2008. And did not medal.

I’ve never spotted Tsukahara Double back on vault. And I’m not sure I ever want to.

spotting Mitchell Mays

Related post: gymnastics – the less spotting, the better

by Rick McCharles

Once again I will be attending the competition hosted May 22-24 in Houston, Texas.

Men’s Gymnastics National Jr. and Sr. Championships

Rhythmic National Jr. and Sr. Championships

Trampoline and Tumbling Jr. and Sr. Championships

In addition, an elite Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competition will be included:

US Classic/Challenge

Tickets went on sale Saturday, April 26th.

The 2008 Visa Championships for Artistic Women will be hosted separately this year, scheduled June 5-7 in Boston. Tickets went on sale April 23rd.

Four final petitions (Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, Geoffrey Corrigan, Morgan Hamm, Jake Lee) brings the Men’s field to 45 competitors.

complete list of competitors – USA Gymnastics.

2008 Visa Championships Artistic Gymnastics (Men) – official competition home page

I criticized one online video tutorial.

Here’s an excellent one. How to Do a Split by Amy Van Deusen on About.com Gymnastics. Photos by Paula Tribble.

It’s a series of drills with explanation. Two examples:

Check the entire How to Do a Split tutorial on About.com Gymnastics. And the rest of the excellent content in Amy’s Training Advice section.

Related: How to Do a Center Split – About.com

One of the top gymnastics conditioning coaches in the world is Chris Sommers from Arizona.

He’s posted some great video tutorials. As a sample, one of my favourite exercises: Front Lever Pulls.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A men’s Artistic coach, Chris shares his knowledge on a number of sites. But the best starting point is: GymnasticBodies.com

Front lever pulls are ideal too for the non-gymnast. They can be done on rings or any bar, even in the playground.

Check out the variations — called the Ice Cream Maker — on Ringtraining.com. (Click through to watch the video.)

Related posts:

front lever – superb strength training skill

rings – front lever

Great meet for the Canadian women!

Gymn.ca – Kristina Vaculik – 2007 Gymnix

Women’s Beam
1. VACULIK, Kristina (CAN) (16.3) = 14,975
2. WEVERS, Sanne (NED) (16.1) = 14,275
3. CARDENAS, N.Sanchez (COL) (16.3) = 14,275

Women’s Floor
1. HARMES, Suzane (NED) (15.9) = 14,525
2. ZIMMERMANN, Jasmin (SUI) (15.7) = 13,950
3. DAMIANOVA, Nansy (CAN) (15.3) = 13,900

Parallel Bars
1. CUCHERAT, Yann (FRA) (16.7) = 15,900
2. FOKIN, Anton (UZB) (16.6) = 15,750
3. PETKOVSEK, Mitja (SLO) (16.5) = 15,650

Men’s Vault
1. GWANG, Ri Se (PRK)
– (17.0) – 16,400
– (17.0) – 16,400 = 16,400
2. WIGNANITZ, Raphael (FRA)
– (17.0) – 16,250
– (17.0) – 15,775 = 16,012
3. CARANOBE, Benoit (FRA)
– (17.0) – 15,575
– (17.0) – 15,200 = 15,387

Click PLAY or watch GWANG, Ri Se on vault at the last World Championships on YouTube. Looks like he is still doing the same vaults.

Vault is the most impressive of men’s apparatus these days.

High Bar
1. PEGAN, Aljaz (SLO) (16.4) = 15,350
2. DIMIC, Alen (SLO) (16.3) = 14,950
3. SCHAERER, Christoph (SUI) (16.4) = 14,875

Great to see the Slovenians doing well in their own backyard.

full results men – GymnasticsResults.com
full results women – GymnasticsResults.com

competition home page

Related post: top gymnasts NOT going to Beijing (Pegan)

Sarah and David Patterson were in Athens, GA getting ready to coach their Alabama team at NCAA Championships last week when they got a phone call that their 16-year old daughter got in a minor fender-bender back in Tuscaloosa.

Both Mom and Dad were “busy”.

Most female gymnasts have both at least one male and one female principle coach. But how many have married couples as coaches?

More than I would have guessed:

… Spouses coaching on the same staff appears to be a winning formula considering that five of the 12 teams that reached the NCAA championships (2008) work with the person with who they are joined with in holy matrimony.

The others are Utah with coach Greg Marsden and assistant Megan Marsden, Arkansas with co-coaches Mark and Rene’ Cook, Oklahoma with coach K.J. Kindler and assistant Lou Ball and Oregon State with coach Tanya Chaplin and assistant Michael Chaplin.

Minnesota, New Hampshire and Towson are among other programs that have a wife and husband coaching team …

All in the family for many top programs – Online Athens

The Pattersons make a great case study.

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”
-Vince Lombardi

… If anyone has mastered the habit of winning that Lombardi was talking about all those years ago, it’s Sarah and David Patterson. During their 29-year career coaching the Alabama gymnastics program, they have created a legacy of success in the gym and the classroom that is unequaled in collegiate athletics. …

Under their direction, Alabama gymnastics has gone to 24 consecutive NCAA Championships, winning four and finishing in the top six 23 times. The Tide has also finished in the ‘final four’ an NCAA-best 21 times.

Coaches: The Pattersons – Gym Tide