best skateboard dogs – videos

There’s no shortage of “dog on skateboard” videos. But the top 2 I find on the internet are Pete the Jack Russell and this beast:

http://www.liveleak.com/player.swf

Here’s Extreme Pete:

http://www.liveleak.com/player.swf?autostart=false&token=53f_1188392867

Both dogs have many highlight reels.

Leave a comment if you have seen any other animals that can compete with these two.

gymnastics club closes after 35 Years

In the UK:

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Thousands of youngsters have passed through the doors of Saltburn Gymnastic Club achieving enormous success.

Professional coach Clive Lee, now 78, has trained generations of gymnasts to the highest of standards – all on a voluntary basis and with the support of his wife, Elsie, 73.

But after 35 years at the helm, the couple have decided the time has come to retire from the professional side of the sport.

Their retirement will see the end of Saltburn Gymnastic Club as a lack of volunteers with the necessary skills and experience means no one is available to continue the Lees’ tireless work.

Speaking of the club’s imminent closure, Mr Lee said: “It would be nice to have someone take it on but people don’t have the commitment and there are so many regulations – it is very complicated running a club. There is a national shortage of coaches.

Gym Club Bows Out After 35 Years

I’m always sad to see clubs close. Often it’s like this — over dependent on a few key volunteers.

Far better we plan to turn over our gyms to younger coaches. Sooner. And to pay those coaches.

Happy New Year from Nepal

by Rick McCharles (not in Nepal)

My other great passion after gymnastics acrobatics is hiking.

In Nepal you can do both.

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From Prakash lal Shrestha, Gymnastics Chief Coach in Kathmandu.

If you are interested in trekking yourself, check my other website: besthike.com

USA gymnastics fatigue?

Are you sick of hearing about the American Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team?

Living in Canada I remember many, many years past where I personally disliked the USA. They were over-hyped and over-scored. For decades. Not the kids, rather the system under President of the FIG Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee Jackie Fie. From the USA ….

These days I have no complaints. USA is the best and most entertaining of all gymnastics nations.

However, with MONTHS to go before the Olympics, I suspect many of us will soon have Ameri-fatigue.

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AG Doll Collecting – Retired Today Girl Items

gymnastics coach available to hire

A coach, originally from Northern California, a former teammate of Amy Chow, is looking for the right job.

Anything and everything from pre-school to the Optional levels including developmental and TOPS.

I am very much detail / goal / progression / strength / flexibility / body position and dance oriented. …

I am looking to be in a more competitive atmosphere again. As well as having the opportunity to work in a program that allows me to be my full potential, and contribute to helping kids achieve their fullest potential.

I am looking for full time with medical benefits. I am currently available to start coaching immediately and am excited about the possibility of contributing to your program.

For more information email: usagteam @ Yahoo.com

Beijing’s Olympic air pollution

Jon Kolb, a former gymnastics coach, is a professor at the University of Calgary. He’s been spending a lot of time in China lately doing research on air quality in advance of the Olympics.

Specifically, Jon wants to advise coaches and athletes on how best to handle that environment.

Quoted in the New York Times:

… Mr. Kolb, the Canadian Olympic official, spent much of August in Beijing trying to answer the question hanging over the city as the Games approach: Has air quality actually improved?

An environmental physiologist, Mr. Kolb visited several stadiums, and sneaked into a few others, to measure pollution with a small monitoring device. On Aug. 5, his measurement of fine particles pollution, or PM 10, reached 200, roughly four times above the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization.

“We’re worried,” Mr. Kolb said. Of Beijing air pollution, he added: “There’s no doubt about it. It’s off the charts.” …

Beijing’s Olympic Quest: Turn Smoggy Sky Blue – New York Times

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On the other hand …

Jon was there for the pre-Olympic test meet. A number of coaches and athletes who were there told me it wasn’t as bad as they expected. None that I spoke with noticed any problems during training or competition.

(via Beijing Olympic blog)

creek jumping — an important acrobatic skill

On our Alpamayo trek in Peru 2004, I managed a pretty good leap to keep my feet dry. All that gymnastics training paid off.

jumping-a-creek.jpg
original – flickr

more photos – Bevan Hughes — Alpamayo

how to hike Alpamayo – besthike

worst gymnastics parallel bar spot EVER

Cam, elite gymnast, is attending my coaching course right now.

Here he is spotting a buddy at Calgary Gymnastics Centre for “Stutz” on parallel bars.

It goes badly wrong.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Incredibly, spotter and gymnast accidentally interlocked fingers during the half turn. You could not repeat that if you tried.

No harm done. … Except the embarrassment of losing his shorts.

gymnast Khorkina now a Russian politician

The The Times of London was quoted on Gymblog:

VLADIMIR PUTIN has resorted to an age-old trick to capture the voters’ imagination: sexing up the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, with an array of glamorous new female recruits.

Ahead of this month’s rigged parliamentary elections, Putin was reported to have complained that there were not enough beautiful women in his United Russia party. The error was soon corrected with a platform of stunning ladies, including four former athletes who have starred in topless photoshoots and Svetlana Zakharova, the elegant principal ballerina of the Bolshoi.

Khorkina the politician « The Gymblog

This just goes to show Putin can get away with anything. He’s like an aging Hugh Hefner. With nuclear weapons.

Former Olympic rhythmic gymnastics champion Alina Kabayeva is one of the harem, as well.

Khorkina, now 28, has faced media controversy before. She posed for Russian Playboy after winning the world all-around title in 1997.

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Svetlana Khorkina for Play Boy

I don’t know whether to condemn her brazenness. Or admire her gutsy confidence.

Chinese gymnastics coach likes the Tumbl Trak

I was honoured to have Bin Fan, 1996 Olympic medallist for China, attend a coaching course I directed.

We asked Bin (now coaching in Canada) about differences between coaching in China and Canada.

He said the biggest difference is the number of Tumbl Trak tumbling trampolines in North America. They are still not commonly used in China.

Bin likes them.

TUMBL TRAKâ„¢
The original Tumbl Trakâ„¢ is a training tool designed to allow for increased repetition of tumbling and gymnastic skills and to decrease stress on body parts.

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TumblTrak – New Product: Tumbl Trak

That was the same comment we heard a few years ago from the famous Russian acrobatic tumbling coach, Vassili Skakun. He said the best thing about tumbling in North America is the Tumbl Trak.

We should all thank Trampoline inventors George Nissen and Larry Griswold.