Gymnastics Coaching.com

Karine Simard at the National Circus School in Montreal contacted me about their yearly contest open to:

athletes between 12 and 17 years of age

Canadian citizens

The contest is a promotion for their highly regarded circus arts training programs, secondary and college-level. Things kick off for for those interested in applying with an open house on November 24.

Now is the time for young people to begin preparing for the annual country-wide auditions held in February, which can springboard them into an exciting international career as a circus artist! As well, the School offers them a chance to enter its Student for a Day contest any time before November 30.

Having generated great enthusiasm among talented young people across Canada, the Student for a Day contest is again open to interested in a real-life experience of higher education in circus arts. The winners will be announced in early December during a special broadcast on Musique Plus! Then these lucky chosen ones will attend selected courses in the company of a student from the School.

Entry forms are available on the School’s Internet site and must be submitted before 5 p.m. on November 30, 2007. Contest regulations and entry forms at:
http://www.ecolenationaledecirque.ca.

Further information from info @ enc.qc.ca, or by telephone (toll free) 1-800-267-0859.

I recommend the open house tour. And if you know of a young person interested in the circus arts, forward them the contest details – National Circus School.

More excellent pics just posted on flickr.

A few samples:

source

source

I could study Nastia’s awesome Geinger all day. It’s textbook:

See them all: tmsworkshop’s photosets on Flickr

You’ve seen the fantastic man-made islands in Dubai.

In May, Cirque announced the project was a go:

… Nakheel, the world’s largest privately held developer, is bringing the world famous Cirque du Soleil to Dubai after announcing a major partnership to develop a permanent show on The Palm Jumeirah.

… The two companies have signed an initial 15-year deal with the new show expected to open during the last quarter of 2010. …

“Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and as with any city experiencing such a rapid growth curve, major cultural and civic facilities are required for a city establishing itself as a global 21st century destination. As the home of more than 30 five star hotels and 14,000 hotel rooms, The Palm Jumeirah was the natural choice to locate Cirque du Soleil and is not only a great coup for Nakheel, but the whole of Dubai.”

Cirque du Soleil Press Room

Now on the official Palm website they’ve posted a video about the project.

Looks like a winner to me. More future jobs for acrobats.

Just received an email from a group in support of granting a wild card spot to Aljaz Pegan on Horizontal Bar for the 2008 Olympics.

Obviously, he should be there.

But because he finished only 2nd on his best event at the last World’s, he did not qualify. You must finish 1st at Worlds to be guaranteed a spot.

Dear gymnastics friends

We are appealing to you to support our application for the Olympic games wild card nomination for Slovenian gymnast Aljaz Pegan.

His first participation at the World Championships reach back to Stutgart in 1989 and since then he has won more than fifty medals at the biggest international competitions. He is the top ranked gymnast on the FIG Ranking List (Horizontal bar). He also has an element, pegan, named after him.

In the last three World Championships he has won one gold and two silver medals,
yet he is denied the participation at the Olympic Games.

The support and demands of Slovenian public regarding his Olympic qualification have reached immense proportion and in this light we are obliged to turn also to international community to extend its help to country with a long-standing gymnastics tradition.

We are appealing to you to support our quest for his participation at the Olympic Games by replying to this email.

Yours faithfully,

Klemen Bedenik, President of Slovenian Gymnastics Federation
Janez Kocijancic, President of Slovenian Olympic Commitee
Miroslav Cerar, President of Slovenian Olympic Academy

GLAS PODPORE :: za Aljaža Pegana (not in English)

FIG has to change regulations so that the stars of the sport can qualify for our showcase event.

FIG made the same mistake in Athens 2004, not qualifying Leszek Blanik from Poland on vault though everyone knew he was one of the top 2 vaulters. (Blanik has qualified for Beijing.)

The real problem, in my opinion, is that we still have too much priority on “team”.

All gymnasts are individual athletes. Summing their scores and awarding medals to the group is living a lie.

That said, I love watching team competition. There is spectator appeal.

In future we need get our superstars on television at the big meet. (As they do in the X Games.) If that means even fewer teams. Or fewer individuals on teams, so be it.

Whatever system leaves Pegan out of the Olympics, has priorities wrong.

I don’t think you or I have any input on this appeal. Leave a comment if there is a way to support this athlete who certainly will one day be in a Hall of Fame.

Simply email the group to show your support of this appeal: admin@pegan.si

I know you NEED more gymnastics t-shirts …

OK, you don’t, … BUT you MIGHT need Christmas presents.

CafePress has over 2000 designs to choose from. A couple of samples:

I love conditioning T : gymnastics : CafePress.com

Gymnast Ringer T : gymnastics : CafePress.com

See them all on CafePress – Gymnastics T-shirts and Gifts

(via I-Heart-Beam on Chalk Bucket)

Full results available after the link.

Great Britain, Romania and the The Netherlands topped the medal table at the 11th Glasgow Grand Prix of artistic gymnastics, which was held at the Kelvin Hall this weekend.

This three nations claimed two Gold, at his last world cup event of this year.

For Britain Beth Tweddle was victorious on floor and Marissa King on vault. Louis Smith claimed pommel horse silver, and Kristian Thomas bronze on floor. For Romania Steliana Nistor won on uneven bars and Daniel Popescu the pommel horse decision.

But also the Dutch men were happy about the high bar success of Epke Zonderland and about – once again – Yuri van Gelder on rings.

GYMmedia.com
This Year’s last World Cup Event

Coach Dana Brass and I put together a new website for her husband Fred. Dana now works in casting with Cirque du Soleil.

Fred competed the 1996 Olympics for France and then went on to expand his repertoire. He’s done stunt work, dance, and coaching. He has a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.

You can find Fred listed in the Guiness World Records under Rope Climb

Currently Fred is performing in Le Reve, at Wynn Las Vegas. He’s has a tremendously physical role.

Check out the new site:

FrederickNicolas.com
(Adjusting the wide of your window changes the layout.)

If you like it, and want a quote on a site for yourself, email Rick McCharles.

Parkour great Daniel Ilabaca, the Urban Monkey.

Flickr

See the entire set of photos by BombDog.

Kyle literally grew up at Altadore Gymnastics, spending most of his life there from 1989 to 2004 when he won the Olympics on Floor. (Currently he trains at University of Calgary.)

The highlight of our 40th anniversary was an informal speech by Kyle. He’s a remarkably eloquent and likable speaker. The story of his start in gymnastics at age-6 though to Olympic breakthrough for Canadian gymnastics is heartwarming.

Though girlfriend Melissa, and his Mom and Dad had heard Kyle speak at events like this hundreds of times, they still appreciated this one.

Thanks Stephen Neal for the photos.

If you’ve been following the recovery from an injury at World’s on his personal blog, let me confirm Kyle is walking very well. (But did not jump up on the Power Track to do any tumbling.)

KyleShewfelt.com

GemGemz is a quality site focused “on women’s collegiate gymnastics: from recruiting, to training, to competition.”

Check out an excellent series GemGemz is posting on the Top 5 Elite College Prospects. Their (gutsy) picks, so far:

Number 1 ~ ???
Number 2 ~ ???
Number 3 ~ Christa Tanella
Number 4 ~ Randy Stageberg
Number 5 ~ Darlene Hill

Obviously those American girls who have turned “professional” are no longer eligible.

I wonder how their picks match up with Suzanne Yoculan’s list.

GemGemz points out that collegiate gymnastics has quietly become the most highly attended form of the sport. That University of Alabama and the University of Utah average more than 11,000 fans per meet. There are professional sports teams that draw fewer fans.

GemGemz.com – focusing on NCAA Women’s Gymnastics

(via Chalk Bucket)