Gymnastics Coaching.com

I’m just working my way back through the posts of a cheeky new blog. Check the tag line:

It’s something of a gossip site. The blogger makes no claims to expertise. She’s just an opinionated fan of women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

I like it. Very entertaining. And where else would I be tipped off to video clips like this? — Alicia Sacramone punching out some dude. Awesome!

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Apparently the guy dared Sac to punch him, and she did. Only she didn’t think that it would actually hurt.

Interesting and fun stuff « difficulty plus execution

Also, … (hopeful) speculation that Courtney Kupets might make a run at Olympics 2008. Or 2012.

Blythe posted the same sentiments about Courtney on Gymblog. And I feel the same way too. Courtney Kupets is awesome.

But would you choose to compete against Shawn Johnson if you had the chance, instead, to lead Georgia to it’s fourth NCAA team title in a row?

Check out the new blog: difficulty plus execution.

Just remember those are opinion posts. Not hard news.

I don’t know enough about Brazilian superstar Jade Barbosa.

… In 2007 Jade participated in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, winning a gold medal on the Vault, a silver in the Team Competition and a bronze in the Floor final.

At the 2007 World Championships, Jade won a bronze medal in the Women’s All Around. She also qualified to the Vault and Balance Beam finals.

… in 2007 she was the Senior All Around Champion, defeating 2006’s champion Daniele Hypolito.

Jade Barbosa – Wikipedia

I like this bittersweet montage on her trials and triumphs, so far:

Click PLAY or watch Jade on YouTube.

The editor has more videos featuring Jade on her YouTube channel called Ginastica Artistica (Brasil).

Brazil produces more than their share of the best gymnasts and acrobats in the World. Good luck to Jade preparing for the Olympics.

Sing Lo has a terrific collection of 2004 Olympic synchronized diving photos. A couple of low resolution samples:

Cassandra Cardinell and Sara Hildebrand USA – larger original

larger original

see all photos in this set – Olympic synchronized diving gallery – Pbase

Sing Lo is certainly one of the best sports photographers in the world. (We link to him from the right hand navigation under Gymnastics Photos.)

His home page is easy to remember … comaneci-salto.com

The latest, greatest video from Eliza. Very inspiring.

A montage I made about the potential the US has for the Olympics next year. I tried to include as many gymnasts as I could, but I was limited by the amount of quality footage I had.

Music – “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns and Roses

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The USA has so much depth. It’s intimidating.

I’m never surprised to hear gymnastics is happening at any remote part of the world.

Coach Don Anweiler is recently arrived at a club in Vestmannaeyjar, off the S.W. coast.

And the club is already 20yrs old!

Obvious, but important, information from Abid Hussain. This article might be useful to distribute to parents. A brief summary:

1.) Make sure you are wearing the appropriate attire. Flapping clothes, dangling jewelry and body piercings can get caught in equipment, scratch or cut the gymnast, as well as other people.

2.) Be serious during practice. Be aware that horsing around and other rough and tumble games can cause injuries, especially in areas where people are practicing and it is not safe to goof off.

3.) Youngsters with long hair should tie it back or secure it under a bandanna so it does not get in the eyes or get caught in the equipment.

4.) Gum is a no-no during practice or competition; it can easily become stuck in a gymnasts throat or windpipe during performances.

…

read more – Gymnastic Injuries

Another good point is to disallow MP3 players during practice. In New Zealand I saw older gymnasts checking their phone text messages between rotations. NOT a good idea.

This article came from Gymnastics Rescue, a site I’ve just started investigating.

Josh Centor founded Double-A Zone, the NCAA blog, in November 2006. Josh was named NCAA coordinator of new media communications in April.

Racial diversity in coaching is still a big issue in the NCAA. Josh’s recent post:

The Black Coaches’ Association released its annual hiring report card on Tuesday, and the results weren’t anything to cheer about. Although the 11 schools that received “A” grades for their hiring practices was a record high, the 10 that received failing marks also set a new, less appealing precedent. …

Details on College football coach hirings …Double-A Zone

That article got me thinking about racial diversity in gymnastics coaching here in North America.

I have coach friends of many ethnicities and nationalities. In fact, I would say, in general, that minorities are disproportionately well represented in Canada and the USA.

Do we get a positive report card for diversity?

… Next issue: Are women paid equally to men? Do women have equal opportunity to be hired for Head Coaching positions?

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Many have been inspired by the great NCAA gymnast April Burkholder.

Media Credit: JOEY BORDELON / The Daily Reveille – link

The most decorated gymnast in LSU history … Earned a school record 14 All-America honors – three on the vault, beam, floor and in the all-around and two on the bars … Two-time SEC and NCAA Central Region Gymnast of the Year (2004 and 2005) … Earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2003 … Four-time All-SEC selection (2003-06) … Just the second gymnast in LSU history to earn all-conference honors each of her four seasons, joining Jennifer Woods who did so from 1993-96.

LSU official bio

Is April the first gymnast to have her own bobblehead doll?

Has scored the second most 10.00’s in school history, recording eight overall – four on the floor, two on vault and two on the beam …

April Burkholder bobblehead on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Leave a comment if you know of any other gymnast bobbleheads.

I saw on CNN that T.I.P. (Teamwork Is Perfection) won the crew division at the Sony Ericsson UK B-Boy Championships over a team from Russia.

While looking for highlights of that performance I stumbled on to this video of another Korean team called Extrem Crew.

It’s both the best and best edited of any hip hop dance video I’ve ever seen.

Don’t miss this one.

Daily Motion.

UPDATE – CNN video of T.I.P. winning in London

We’ve already linked to Perfect 10’s World Championships Review Part 1 – the GOOD.

Now …

THE BAD

US Women’s leotards

Cheng Fei’s new Floor music

Vanessa Ferrari’s Comaneci salto on bars

Vanessa Ferrari… injured, tired?

Ksenia Semenova’s win on bars over Nastia Liukin

Ekaterina Kramarenko’s disaster on vault in team final

Li Shanshan’s fall on her full turn in the beam final

Australian Women’s team performance

Read the details on perfect 10 » World Championships Review, Part 2.

Good list. Happily short.

Overall, Worlds was a surprisingly good competition considering the demands of the new code. I expect the number of falls will decrease as the girls stabilize their routines for the Olympics.

World Champion 2006 Ferrari

I still feel Ferrari is the gymnast to beat for Beijing. Needless to say, the American and Chinese girls will have her in their sights.