Prakash lal Shrestha, Gymnastics Chief Coach in Kathmandu, Nepal reads this blog and sends his warmest wishes.
The internet is a great way to share information.
GemGemz NCAA gymnastics rankings
Yet another pre-season ranking list.
Check out Stanford well up the list at #2. Good call.
And Utah dropping to #5. (The arrival of Canadian Olympian Gael Mackie may keep them in the top 4. We will see.)
1 Georgia
2 Stanford
3 Alabama
4 UCLA
5 Utah
6 Florida
But Florida down #6 ??
They were the best team last season. Something seems wrong there.
… One (to us) surprising artifact of our method was Stanford showing up at number two and Utah showing up at number five. No matter how many variables we added, this relationship between the Utes and the Cardinal remained the same. It seems that, despite Utah’s strong showing at the 2007 Championships in Salt Lake City, their less than stellar 7th place ‘Final RQS Ranking’ hurt their ranking in our poll. At the same time, Stanford not only ended up in 4th place in the RQS standing, but they, like Georgia, return 24 of 24 starting routines from the 2007 Championships. …
Alabama has toughest NCAA gymnastics schedule
And Georgia the second toughest Women’s 2008 University schedule.
According to College Gym Fans:
… Coach Yoculan (Georgia) seems determined to subject her team to the ultimate test in 2008, scheduling number 3, Utah; number 5, Stanford; and number 2, Florida in AWAY MEETS for the first three meets of the season. …
December 2007 edition of Gym Press available
Valentin Uzunov posted his latest technical newsletter for gymnastics coaches in PDF format. (Easy to print.)
This issue features:
Valentin also reformatted my old article on Understanding and Teaching Gymnastics Skills. It looks great:
I’ve subscribed and linked to the new blog: TheGymPress.net which has links to tall the back issues. Highly recommended.
Or you can download the most recent issue here in PDF file format
photographs taken at exactly the right angle
The Art of Juxtaposition: a set of objects, people and/or animals behaving normally independently can take on a new life entirely when properly juxtaposed in a picture. What might seem like very ordinary behavior, from grabbing a magazine to stretching for a job, can take on a new and strange meaning when captured on film from just the right angle.
A couple of examples from the collection:
Sawse – Stir it Up! » Blog Archive » 20 Photographs Taken at the Exact Right Angle
conditioning over the holidays – stair climb
Katrina from Westwinds Gymnastics recommends her kids do series of stair runs alternating with specific conditioning:
It would be a good idea to keep up with some of your conditioning and flexibility over the break (especially the girls attending Trials to AWG). Here is a short easy program you can do at home EVERYDAY to make the first day back a little bit easier:
– 3x stair runs (up and down is 1)
– 30 sec Samson/split stretch
– 3x stair runs
– 10x sit ups
– 3x stair runs
– 10x back extensions (or superman lifts)
– 3x stair runs
– 10x squats
– 3x stair runs
– 10x modified dips on the edge of your bed
– 3x stair runs
– 10x push ups
– 3x stair runs
– 10x V-snaps
– 3x stair runs
– 10x burpeesThen… 2 minutes of splits each way. If you are in Group B, take the cushion off your couch and use that for 2 minutes of over split front and back leg.
I’ve been hitting the stairs myself of late, sometimes carrying my bike. Good exercise for those of us who used to be has-beens.
Gregory Joujon-Roche – Hit the Stairs to boost your Booty
5th Olympics as a gymnast
I love gymnastics birthday parties
Having taught many, many over the years — parties at the gymnastics club are some of my favourite classes.
We get new kids and parents into our club. The birthday child often gets to show off for friends. It’s easy to fill the class with FUN activities. We schedule them during times of the week little used. Birthday parties are a win, win, win.
Best, I find, is to have a dedicated “birthday party coach” who teaches or organizes all parties.
Check the cost of a 90min party at Universal Gymnastics. Seems expensive:
A birthday party at Universal consists of one full hour of structured activity followed by 30 minutes for refreshments, opening of presents, etc. Invitations, juice, drinking cups and balloons will be provided… anything beyond that is your responsibility. …
To better insure maximum safety and fun, we require one instructor for the first 8 children and then one instructor per 6 additional children with a maximum party consisting of 20 children. For a parent child party the maximum number of children is 12 with one participating adult per child. …
$185.00 for the parent child party………………$205
$185.00 for 8 children………………………………$205
$265.00 for 9-14 children………………………….$300
$360.00 for 15-20 children………………………..$400
There is an additional $20.00 fee for nonmembers
Looks like the parties at Santa Monica Gymnastics are FUN:
more SMGC birthday party photos on flickr
Pre-Season Coaches Poll – NCAA gymnastics
The big 4 are ranked in the top 4, as usual. But I spoke to one of the Stanford coaches, Mike Lorenzen, at Elite Canada last weekend. Mike thinks they can win it all this year, if they hit. With the Stanford Men ranked #1 (by a mile), we could see one University win both titles the same year for the first time.
2008 Women’s Pre-Season Coaches Poll
1. Georgia – 866 points (28 first-place votes)
2. Florida – 788 (1)
3. Utah – 779 (3)
4. UCLA – 7435. Stanford – 727 (2)
6. Alabama – 685
7. Nebraska – 641
8. Oklahoma – 620
9. Michigan – 593 (1)
10. LSU – 591
11. Oregon State – 503
12. Arizona – 402
13. Penn State – 385
14. Arkansas – 365
15. Denver – 365
16. Missouri – 310
17. Iowa State – 285
18. Arizona State – 256
19. Auburn – 237
20. Ohio State – 202
21. Michigan State – 197
22. West Virginia – 130
23. Illinois- Champaign – 124
24. Kentucky – 104
25. North Carolina State – 72
Avoiding injury is the highest priority for every team.
On Ask the Bruins, the coaches — Miss Val, Jim Foody and Chris Waller — respond to questions from fans. The most interesting NCAA coach interviews I’ve read so far this season: UCLA Bruins – Chat
end of an era – Stu Cram retires
In Canada, our good friend Stu Cram from Regina claims he is “retiring” as tabulator of scores for our major gymnastics competitions. He has done Nationals since 1981.
This is sad news for me.
When I hosted age group nationals over 20yrs ago, it was Stu who stayed up all night solving a computer glitch in our scoring system.
In the Canadian Gymnastics Hall of Fame, there will be a spot on the top tier for Stu.
Thanks for everything.
Stu will keep his website up for now as an archive of past meet scores. (I use it all the time.)
Gymnastics Coaching.com 