tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
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.
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.
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.
I don’t know whether to condemn her brazenness. Or admire her gutsy confidence.
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.
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.
Conventional wisdom is that NCAA female gymnasts are amongst the world’s most injured athletes.
… I once read an article claiming that only professional bull-riding produces more major injuries than gymnastics. While I don’t know if that is really true, I feel fairly comfortable saying that gymnastics is the most injury-prone of all non-contact/non-collision sports. …
GemGemz.com: Injuries common in gymnastics – focusing on NCAA Women’s Gymnastics
Professor Keith Russell from the University of Saskatchewan has tracked the research for decades. He often presents on the topic of injury prevention at FIG Academy events.
And Keith Russell agrees. Female gymnasts are close to NCAA male football players in terms of injury rate. It’s a very high risk sport.
Recently I posed to Keith the possibility that College injury statistics might be skewed. Last season after winning Championships, many of the Georgia girls were booked for surgery. That surprised me as they looked “perfect” during the competition. I speculated that whole teams are block booked for surgery immediately after the last competition of the year in preparation for the following season.
Am I right?
Much is minor surgery that a club based gymnast would not undergo. Club kids would “heal naturally” from such “injuries” as sore ankles at the end of the season.
But College programs have a lot of money invested in their teams. And access to the best sports medicine facilities.
Leave a comment if you think my theory is crazy. That College gymnasts really are more injured than club gymnasts as the statistics seem to indicate.
gymgymgymnast08 on Chalk Bucket linked to two inspirational videos.
Not superb editing, but I like the message of both:
Gymnastics …
Its being able to do things most people can only dream of doing Its being with your team more than anyone else Its being able to remember every routine you’ve ever done Its never having time to do anything else Its ripped and blistered hands and feet. Its always being sore- but never contemplating a night off Its not being able to understand how some people can’t touch their toes Its using chalk more than soap Its never using the words “can’t” or “impossible” Its owning more leos and warm ups than actual clothing Its knowing you work ten times harder than any other sport Its that dizzy, happy feeling when you stick that one landing Its having your own language and using it non stop. Its not just a sport… *Its a way of life*
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The second video is an inspirational slideshow montage: YouTube – Gymnastics is…
A good clip out of Australia highlighting some of the many advantages enjoyed by competitive gymnasts.
Like many clubs, the Waverley Advanced Gymnastics Club, in Victoria, Australia, treats gymnastics as much more than just a sport. The club aims to enhance each gymnast’s physical, mental and personal development through teamwork, performance in competitions, and by creating an environment that encourages personal friendships. Children can start as young as two by joining the kinder class, where they learn fine and gross motor skills, balance and movement.
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/271552783
Gymnastics – Mind Body Soul TV
Where do I get me a “vault box”?
Check the most recent AT&T blue room Behind the Scenes video. This is an on-going series of documentaries leading up to Beijing.
Interviews with the Sr. American girls on what it’s like to be the #1 team are interesting.
Needless to say, Bela features prominently. The media love him.
see the video – AT&T blue room Sports – Exclusive Interviews, Behind the Scenes Footage of Athletes, Team USA Diving, Team USA Gymnastics
There is no doubt that the American girls are the team to beat. But anything can happen during the team competition. Consistency will be at least as important as start score for team.
The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee met in December. Mostly they talked about banning Marion Jones.
But there was more:
Among the other key decisions taken by the EB this week are:
– … cities bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games: … Chicago (USA), Prague (Czech Republic), Tokyo (Japan), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Baku (Azerbaijan), Doha (Qatar) and Madrid (Spain)
…
– the provisional recognition – for two years – of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC).
My prediction is that neither sport climbing nor cricket will ever get into the Olympics. If I’m wrong, the soonest you would see climbing in an Olympic Games would be 2020.
(via The Goat)
Related post:
new Olympic sports – BMX 2008, skateboarding in 2012
Almost all high level Artistic gymnasts suffer chronic wrist pain. It’s even ended competitive careers.
If you, like me, think that signing a contract promising to avoid injury won’t work, then consider other options.
Pommel horse is definitely the biggest culprit.
Brain-storming at a recent coaching course, we came up with a few suggestions:
The best suggestion of all — and one we did often at Taiso over the years — is to split training into two blocks during the same training session. For example, do skills, sequences and routines near the beginning of training for 15-20min. Then basics, specific drills, single pommel work, etc. near the end of the training.
One new suggestion for me was to train a 30-40min handstand at the end of workout to “toughen-up” the wrists.
Sounds crazy. Firstly, I don’t have 30min at the end of work-out. It’s not specific to my needs in competition. And that drill is more likely to hurt the wrists than condition them.
Most coaches concurred that wrist supports should be avoided unless absolutely needed. Then worn every training session, if needed.
I see more Tiger Paws than any other brand of wrist support. (With girls I sometimes think they are more of a fashion accessory than essential equipment.)
At Taiso, if the wrists got too, too sore — we would give the gymnast a complete week (or two) off pommel horse. This definitely worked to relieve wrist pain. Unfortunately the pain tended to return once we started training again.
At a recent coaches course all but one coach agreed that their club website was lousy and rarely updated. We can do much better.
Dylan Glynn pointed us to a good one, East York Gymnastics in Canada.
Check it out:
The East York Gymnastics Club was formed over fifty years ago. Over the past 10 years, we have trained over 30 Provincial Champions, with full university athletic scholarships received by some.
Last year, we had 24 male and female athletes participating at the Provincial Championships in various levels and categories.
Our Pre-school, Recreational, Interclub, and Competitive programs are valued by over 3700 members.
All of our programs are instructed by nationally-certified coaches who have been carefully selected for their experience, enthusiasm, and knowledge of the sport. All instructors are supported in attaining the highest possible coaching standards.
We offer numerous programs to suit all ages, abilities, and interest levels for both boys and girls. We have the most modern equipment to enhance training at all levels in a safety-oriented setting. Our 28,000 sq. ft. air-conditioned facility ensures that our gymnasts can train comfortably with adequate space.
Strength, coordination, balance, and flexibility; these are just a few of the many benefits associated with gymnastics training. Gymnastics is an excellent sport for enhancing your child’s physical and mental development, and can contribute to greater success in other sports and fields of endeavour.
Our goal is to give each member the opportunity to reach their fullest potential in a supportive, productive, and fun atmosphere.
It’s a good looking yet functional site. There’s no RSS feed but you can register for email updates. Nice.
They’ve had to put the floor on to a diagonal because the pillars are too close together:
If you are thinking of an update of your own club website, consider adding something like their unique “Program Wizard” which helps parents decide the right class for their child.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 