I have nothing to add. Except how happy I was that the Men’s Judging was not ridiculed in the media as it was in Athens. I fully expected a disaster in Stuttgart after the Men’s Tech Committee changed the interpretation of turns on Horizontal Bar after World’s 2006.
I expected Men’s Judging to be on the OUTRAGEOUS list. And it wasn’t.
This summer I spoke with defector Charlie Tamayo about the future of gymnastics in Cuba. They have been far less successful internationally since Charlie, a World’s medallist, departed.
Charlie told me Cuba is down, but not to count them out. They still have many talented coaches.
Dieter HOFMANN, assisted by former Cuban star Erik LOPEZ.
At the beginning of October a ten day’s course of studies for coaches of women’s artistics gymnastics ended at the national training center of CUBA GYMNASTICS FEDERATION in Havana.
The course was part of the F.I.G. program “Olympic Solidarity” .
At this course 2007 “Olympic Solidarity” took part 36 coaches from four Cuban districts but also all the Cuban coaches from the national gymnastics center, here in Havana.
Also guests from some different countries participated, representing Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala and also two coaches from Indonesia.
The F.I.G. was giving the authorization again to the teacher Dieter HOFMANN (SUI), who led 21lessons and 43 hours of theory and practice to such contents like long term development of gymnastics achievement, components and methodology of modern training and competition systems of young female and male gymnasts.
I caught up with Doug Davis of TumblTrak this past weekend at Region 2 Rising (R2R). And it’s not easy keeping up with Doug. Every time I turn around TumblTrak is introducing new products.
Air is the future of gymnastics apparatus innovation. Why didn’t I see this coming?
AIR BEAM
Get more LIFT with the new Air Beam! The Air Beam is a beam pad with a 2-inch “Air Floor-type” filler.
The spring from the Air Beam gives students a better air sense on beam, more confidence to learn new skills and less stress on the body. It is designed to strap firmly to the beam to cover either half of it (8-feet) or the entire beam (16-feet).
As with the Air Floor, the tightness can be adjusted by deflating or inflating the Bladder. Included with the Air Beam is a 1-3/8″ Foam Filler to stabilize it for use on the floor. The Foam Filler can be used by itself on the floor, on the beam for extra drills or in place of the Air Floor-type Bladder for a great transition to the beam itself.
After some consideration, Dave Adlard decided to screen the critically acclaimed, Academy Award nominated film White Palms at Region 2 (R2R) Congress in Spokane. None of us had seen the movie before the Saturday night social.
Reviews were … mixed.
Friends of mine said, “I don’t like the movie. It’s too dark. Too harsh. It has no ending.â€
There is a fair bit of profanity making it unsuitable for children. Fact is, profanity was common in Hungarian gyms and may still be today. (Using a fencing foil for discipline was not common, I hasten to add.)
Other coaches, myself included, liked the movie very much.
It’s a film produced on a low budget starring a friend of mine “Uldi†Zoltan Miklos Hajdu and features Canadian gymnasts Orion Radies, Silas Radies and Olympic Floor Champion Kyle Shewfelt.
The disclaimer is that the movie was “inspired by real eventsâ€. Dongo (Uldi) did not actually qualify for Worlds. Did not compete against Kyle in the finals on Vault at World Championships. (I did like the fact that Kyle finished ahead of Dragalescu on Vault, correcting the mistake made by judges in Athens 2004 Vault finals.)
The film deliberately made my home gym, Altadore Gymnastics, look bad. And my city, Calgary, look bleak.
So far as I know, there were no professional actors in the movie. I particularly liked Jerry Gibbons who played a parallel role to actual Altadore Head Coach at the time, Kelly Manjak.
Though the film is about gymnasts, there is surprisingly little gymnastics in it.
This movie trailer is in Hungarian, though the film itself is Hungarian and English with English subtitles. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Dieter HOFMANN, assisted by former Cuban star Erik LOPEZ.
Good news. 
Gymnastics Coaching.com 