Gymnastics Coaching.com

Excellent photo by Dhari from Kuwait.

larger version – flickr

Just heard the news on difficulty plus execution:

Yes, Mohini Bhardwaj, USA’s 2004 Olympian comeback kid, is married. To a military man.

Jeff Barry is one lucky guy.

Mohini’s story is one of the great ones in Olympic history.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube:

Other Facts

* In Sanskrit, Mohini means “illusion”. This fact has been repeated by commentators in almost every televised competition Mohini has competed in, and has thus become a running joke among some gymnastics fans, who often use the term “Mo’ Hiny means Illusion”.

* Her mother is from Russia and her father is from India. Her parents met in Toronto.

Mohini Bhardwaj – Wikipieda

2007 video interview on GymnastTV – Mohini as coach

This is good.

Donna Culp uses a 10min sequence of drills with a rope to develop artistic line, posture, arms and hands. Fast, easy and fun for the kids.

For example:

Here’s her description of the program:

Download a free ebooklet (PDF) on The Style Ropes Way.

If it looks like this is something you might want to add to your program (seeing as gymnasts are dancing less and less in training) check the accompanying video ($30):

Building the Artistic Gymnast…the style ropes way – 10 Minutes in the Workout by Donna Culp. This instructional gymnastic DVD lays out a simple, daily plan for building and maintaining key elements of style for a more complete, competitive gymnast. Donna gives instructions on how to tend trouble spots and achieve the most distinctive line.

Gym Smarts – Gymnastics, Instruction, Coaching, DVD, Video, Training

The Lost Art of Handbalancing website is reselling an old classic book:

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing written by two men, Professor Paulinetti and Bob Jones.

They’ve repackaged the original content in a modern format. Sounds expensive to me at $49. (Check the comments below for feedback from those who purchased it.)

Certainly hand balancers today are better than ever before. The art not at all “lost”.

Acrobatic gymnasts do the best stationary handstands. Break dancers the best dynamic handstand work.

Still, acrobatic historians may be interested in this product:

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

By far the most exciting gymnastics competitions in the world are in the NCAA. (By comparison, some called the FIG Olympic Test Meet in Beijing “boring“.)

GymGemz has the most complete Women’s NCAA coverage. Click through to read this post:

The regular season of NCAA women’s gymnastics gets underway in earnest this weekend. Several key early season match-ups are on tap. Let’s have a look at the top ten or twelve teams from our pre-season ranking to see what’s up:

GemGemz.com: Let the season begin! – focusing on NCAA Women’s Gymnastics

Related post: 10 reasons for NCAA popularity

Last year I felt the Men’s Championships at Penn State was even more intense and dramatic than the Women’s Final in Salt Lake City.

When will FIG study the NCAA to see why Colleges are so successful in drawing fans?

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UPDATE: Florida coach Rhonda Faehn may not be there for the first competition:

… Rhonda Faehn, 36, gave birth to her first child late Tuesday night. Noah Emile Bayon was born at 11:10 p.m. He was 20 inches and weighed in at 7 pounds and 5 ounces. The family is resting comfortably, according to Florida’s sports information department.

Faehn said on Monday she hopes to coach her second-ranked Gators when they open their season Friday night against Illinois-Chicago in the O’Connell Center. However, it appears Faehn will wait until Friday to make a final decision.

UF gymnastics coach gives birth – News – GatorSports.com

Even before 1978 World Champion Yelena Mukhina became a partial quadriplegic in 1980 after under-rotating a “Thomas” salto, I’ve been very critical of one and three quarter somersaults to roll-out:

Previous post – Gymnastics Coaching » Blog Archive » should roll-out skills be banned on Floor?

When I was a gymnast (decades ago), we athletes called them “death skills”.

They are banned in women’s gymnastics. Sounds like the FIG Men’s Technical Committee is finally considering banning them in men’s gymnastics, as well.

Or, more likely, discouraging or banning them from “bounder” (somersault). You would still be allowed to do something like round-off, back handspring layout Thomas.

That’s a step in the right direction.

You will have to see this to believe it.

Amazing 7-year-old Indian roller-skater Aniket Chindak:

“The wonder-kid, who started skating when he was 18-months-old, is now training for four hours a day and plans to break his world record of 57 cars with a 100-car skate in New Delhi.

“I first saw a girl skate under a car on TV two years ago and decided to learn how to do it myself. It took three months before I could get my body in the right position,”

“Since then, I have skated under lots of cars and have never hurt myself. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Scott Bird on Straight to the Bar)

Dangerous?

Not as dangerous as what these kids do in Peru:

(via Boing Boing and A Welsh View)

Gymnastics Saskatchewan in Canada has a great position advertised. International applicants welcome.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

CANADA GAMES COACH
FULL TIME or PART TIME

Under the direction of the CEO and the Technical Director, the Canada Games Coach shall be responsible to provide technical and coaching support for the development of high performance athletes, act as coach of coaches, and plan and deliver high performance team programs which will enable Team Sask male and female athletes to improve performance and placing at future Canada Games and national level competitions.

We are seeking a leader, strategic and visionary thinker, and an effective and skilled
competitive coach with experience in program implementation and administration for the
development of elite athletes and coaches.

• Level 3 certification in artistic gymnastics
• Proven success coaching competitive and elite athletes in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics
• University or related education in physical education, coaching or related field
• Excellent communicator and organizer
• Strategic thinker
• Capacity to create and catch vision
• Successful team builder
• Catalytic leader

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT

Full time professional position available for qualified/certified candidate who can coach both
men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. Three year contract to 2011, with the possibility of extension to 2015 and beyond.

Half time positions may be available – one for men’s artistic, one for women’s artistic. A complete job description is available upon request.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Gymnastics Saskatchewan offers an excellent group benefits package, monthly RSP
contribution, vacation time, and flexible working hours.
Employment start date is negotiable.

APPLICATIONS

Please apply with a detailed resume, three references and your salary expectations to:

Klara Miller, CEO
Gymnastics Saskatchewan
1870 Lorne Street
Regina, SK S4P 2L7
306-780-9229 (B)
306-780-9475 (F)

kmiller @ gymsask.com
and c.c. to gymnastics @ sasktel.net

PS

I worked 2yrs for Gymnastics Saskatchewan (over 15yrs ago). It’s a quality organization. A wonderful, little known part of the world.

Rick McCharles

A shocker:

Australian coach Peggy Liddick said officially Dykes was just taking some time out to deal with motivational issues.

“I spoke to her in December and she just needs some time to think about things,” Liddick said.

“I’m meeting her (in Canberra) this week to see how she feels after having a couple of weeks out of the gym.”

But Hollie’s mother, Julie Dykes, said her daughter had quit the sport for good and was not just taking a break.

She said she was prevented from going into details about the reasons for Dykes’s departure because of a legal contract with the Australian Institute of Sport.

Liddick said at this point she would not even be attempting to convince Dykes to come back.

“She has to convince me that she wants to do it – that’s how it’s going to work,” she said.

“I’m not going to force anyone to go to the Olympics. …

Gymnast Hollie Sykes quits before Games | The Courier-Mail

Hollie is clearly one of the best gymnasts in the world. I’ll be very interested to hear her reasons for giving up before Beijing.

(via difficulty plus execution)

Gymnastics on wheels. I love these converted buses.

Price: $20,000
Condition: Excellent
City: Lexington, Kentucky

A unique gym on wheels for sale. 1992 Int’l 390. Designed in jungle motif, including special paint and wall carpet. Extra thick cheerleading floor pad to insure safety for children. 2 round swings, monkey bars, slide, rock climbing wall inside, zip ride, mini tramp and other fun activities. 2 roof top air/heat units, diesel generator

Unique Tumble bus for sale | Sports Classifieds – Gym Chat