Gymnastics Coaching.com

Jennifer Isbister of Gymn.ca recommended a National Geographic Channel documentary called Taboo II: Child Rearing .

The segment examines child rearing around the world. One section looks at 6-year-old gymnasts living away from their families at Shi Cha Hai Gymnastics Sports School.

From what was shown on TV, the cruelest thing I saw was making these poor boys train in underwear. (Can someone please send that School a few hundred pairs of cheap shorts?)

The translation of coaching comments were very harsh, too, though it is difficult to translate exactly how harsh from another language.

photo – Li Xiaoshuang Gymnastics School in Xiantao

The big issue — how much can we criticize other cultures who do not meet our own standards? It’s a dilemma when we see people from other countries behave in ways that would be unethical or illegal in our own.

IOC President Jacques Rogge no doubt has dealt with this question many times. To a journalist from England:

… The routine beatings allegedly given to child gymnasts in China are no different to the corporal punishment that was once part of daily life in English public schools, according to the head of the Olympic movement. …

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, commented on concerns aired recently on the BBC by Sir Matthew Pinsent. Sir Matthew said he had witnessed young children in China being physically abused by their gymnastics supervisors.

… they had to be put into a cultural context, insisting the issue should not be “exaggerated” or “blown up”. …

China’s abuse of its athletes is no different to Britain’s public schools, says Olympics chief

Things are changing rapidly in China. But if you think they are changing too slowly, Rogge too forgiving, leave a comment.

Most gyms spend far too little time teaching the skill of regrasp on a bar. (I’ve posted on this in the past.) Here are some more advanced examples:

Watch closely. How gymnasts “catch” a bar is far more complicated than gymnasts realize.

Those with hand guards often contact the bar first with the wrist then slide or bounce down the bar until the hands are in the correct position. (This is one of the main reasons I prefer female gymnasts to delay starting to use hand guards as long as possible.)

Many gymnasts catch “close” with bent arms to be sure they do not miss the regrasp. (It’s impressive to see a release move caught with straight arms!)

The natural deflection of the bar (especially Horizontal Bar) complicates matters.

Hoshi Yosuke of Japan – original photo – flickr

One of the girls at Funtastics, Idaho learned a Jaeger salto very quickly. But was frustrated by repeatedly getting her hands on the bar — and “pinging”. She couldn’t hang on.

What to do?

SUGGESTED DRILLS (asking the gymnast to watch the bar closely):

Jump from a distance and “slap” the bar.

Jump from a distance and “regrasp” the bar. Then push away.

Jump from a distance and “regrasp” the bar.

Jump from standing on the bar and “regrasp”. Then push away.

Jump from standing on the bar and “regrasp” to swing out.

REPEAT DRILLS increasing distance or adding a challenge. (Clapping the hands. With twist. etc.)

Of course either “missing” the bar or “catching and then slipping” is very dangerous. Coaches must prepare athletes for “crashing” safely after a miss. Spotting and sufficient matting is essential.

(AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Italian Vanessa Ferrari is about to miss the grip during the women’s uneven bars final at the Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, southern Germany, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007.

ESPN

Thanks George.

Related posts:

are backyard trampolines safe?

online-trampoline-coach.com

“spring free” trampolines

Many of the leading contenders for next summer’s Olympics are scheduled to compete at the “Good Luck Beijing” test competition, Nov. 28-Dec. 3 in Beijing.

The artistic gymnastics competition will feature men’s team, women’s all-around, and men’s and women’s individual event finals.

The Chinese roster includes four of the host country’s best females — Cheng Fei, Jiang Yuyan, Pang Panpan and Zhou Zhuoru — but its big stars in men’s gymnastics are absent. None of the six male gymnasts entered were members of China’s gold medal-winning team at the 2007 World Championships in September.

Qualification rounds will take place on Nov. 28, followed by the men’s team final and women’s all-around final on Nov.29.

full list of competitors – International Gymnast

It’s an interesting meet. The winners will have a lot of media attention in the run up to the Games.

Interesting too in that the Men are not awarding an individual all-around. And women are not awarding team. … I assume there are too few men wanting to do all-around. Too few nations that can field a full women’s team at this time in the Olympic cycle. This code of points is too difficult, I think.

The USA is sending Chellsie Memmel, the 2005 world all-around gymnastics champion, who can handle the pressure. And young, super talented, up-and-comer Bridget Sloan. Good choices, I think.

They will compete in the National Indoor Stadium. A good chance to see the exact facility that will be used at the Games. Trampoline will soon have a test meet here too.

CRI on Flickr

official Olympics 2008 website

At the Athens Olympics Kyle Shewfelt won Floor. His payment for that victory from Sports Canada? ZERO DOLLARS. (hilarious interview by comedian Rick Mercer)

If Dragalescu from Romania had won gold on Floor in Athens, he would have been awarded US$65,000 by his, one of the poorest governments in Europe.

Now Canada is ponying up some dough — $20,000 for Olympic gold:

The committee believes it has found the right mix of training assistance and cash incentives with its new Athlete Excellence Fund, says COC president Michael Chambers.

“It varies wildly (in other countries, from) huge amounts to lesser amounts than we provide,” said Chambers.

“But in most of those other countries that have large rewards, at the end of the trip if you win a Games, they have very little in the way of development programs leading into the Games,” he said.

“So it’s all or nothing. That’s not where we wanted to go.”

The athlete support and reward program is a way to compensate high-performance athletes for the financial burdens they often face while training for Olympic Games, the COC said in a statement.

While gold medals will garner the highest amount, silver medal winners would be paid $15,000 and bronze medal winners $10,000.

Canadians to be paid for medal performances at Olympics

I was surprised to hear that Paralympic athletes will be eligible, as well. Beijing will be the 13th Paralympics.

by Rick McCharles, editor

A number of readers have requested more posts on … “gymnastics coaching”. (tips, tutorials, drills, etc.)

We’ll try our best to post one of those, minimum, each day.

Here’s the first, an update of one of my old articles. I was reminded of it this past weekend when gymnasts told me this was a favourite.

======

Shaping Skills with Drills

Getting to handstand on bars is a physical, technical & psychological challenge for young girls.

I prefer piked straddled casts, especially for beginners.

My favourite drills include:

handstands and pirouettes on a floor bar

bounce to handstand on low bar from a mini-tramp

jump to handstand from piked straddled stand on a low floor bar

cast to piked, straddled stand on boxes. Then jump to handstand (as shown in the photos below).

photos – Christchurch School of Gymnastics, New Zealand.

Kids love these drills. They require no spotting. They inflict no “rips” on the hands. And they work.

Girls soon learn they can easily get to handstand if they put their hips (centre of gravity) over the bar quickly.

Many times I have seen beginners of average ability achieve handstand using only these drills. Especially girls with good flexibility.

The last progression I call “touch and go” — the same drill as shown but without boxes. The feet jump from the bar instead. This ensures the gymnast makes the skill as easy as possible, by shortening the body on the ascending swing.

All competitors should be able to learn straddle up cast handstand. Very few, straight body cast.

Original article – Rick McCharles — Gymnastics — Shaping Skills with Drills — introducing “cast to handstand”

Fred competed for France in the Olympics. These days he is at Le Rêve, Wynn Las Vegas, one of the hardest working artists in town.

He’s amazing. Watch this training footage:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=381572&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=01AAEA
Fred Nicolas Aerial Pole.

More like this on the video page of FrederickNicolas.com

Pam White from Pyra sent us a link to their line of high performance cheer apparel.

It looks GREAT.

… focuses directly on the needs of today’s cheerleaders. Grip and Shock technology provides protection and comfort while building confidence and creating a unique, yet stylish appearance. PYRA apparel is committed to the devoted athlete whose passion is the sport of cheerleading. …

Pyra | Performance Cheer Apparel

Leave a comment below if you’ve tried Pyra clothing.

OK, the original Cheerleading movie Bring it On (2000) starring Kirsten Dunst was excellent. I can rewatch it, in fact, for the witty and sassy banter.

Here comes the 4th sequel. Judging from the trailer, they’ve gone to the well far too many times. It’s going directly to DVD.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

In Bring It On: In It to Win It, the dueling teams are the Jets and the Sharks, whose distinctive East Coast/West Coast (respectively) cheer styles leaves them clashing from the start. The drama gets even more intense when Sharks cheerleader Carson (played by soap star Ashley Benson) finds herself crushing on Penn, a cheerleader for the Jets (played by the super cute Michael Copon).

American Cheerleader

Hey, an apology to West Side Story is in order, as well. Jets and Sharks — yeesh.

Thumbs down.

Great news.

The founder of the Christchurch School of Gymnastics in New Zealand is again assigned to judge in Beijing. Avril definitely knows what she is doing.

She’s been one of the highest ranked judges for years.

This new code is complicated. Start score is NOT everything. I’m hoping to see winning routines in future that do not have the highest A-score. The B-score assessment needs be more rigorous.

Recommended upcoming event at Avril’s gym:

MAG & WAG GYMNASTIC CAMP
14th – 18th January 2008 …

Practical Coaching Sessions
… led by former Romanian Head Coach Jozsi Ferencz

Christchurch School of Gymnastics