Gymnastics Coaching.com

Smart dismount for girls who are good at forward twisting.

Christine (Peng-Peng) Lee from Seneca Gymnastics, 2nd AA Jr. at the 2007 Canadian Nationals. Coach Carol-Angela Orchard.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

As usual, Cirque du Soleil had a kiosk set up in the training gym at Canadian Gymnastics Championships 2007. Cirque’s always been a big booster of gymnastics and trampoline sports in Canada.

This year Cirque handed out over $5000 in prize money to Canadian National Champions.

The company is all about excellence. Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in athleticism and artistry.

And what’s good for gymnasts and coaches is good for Cirque du Soleil.

Dana Brass from Cirque du Soleil Casting in Regina.

Just home from a LONG week at Nationals in Regina.

I had hoped to post more from the competition floor — but got too busy after being asked to be a commentator for local cable TV. (Fun, irreverent, unscripted, amateur.)

This was the biggest Nationals ever: 1100 athletes in Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline and Tumbling — all in one venue. The level of competition in Artistic was strong in Senior despite the new Code of Points. I was less impressed with the level of athletes below Senior though, of course, their are many individual superstars coming up. Especially some of the Jr. Artistic Women.

For many Artistic gymnasts, this was the first chance to see the best Rhythmic girls in the country. Gymnasts easily relate to Trampoline and Tumbling, but Rhythmic is a foreign culture. Personally, I really appreciate the artistry. It was a treat to see superstar Alexandra Orlando compete in person.

Super scorer Stu Cram has posted all results in all disciplines on his Gym Score Depot website.

For me this is the only way to find out what happened. (It was impossible to follow any one athlete or apparatus in the 14-ring circus.)

Some news stories on the competition are linked from the official meet website.

The best photos were taken by Grace Chiu.

And I have some (not very good) photos from the meet posted on Flickr.

Nationals 2008 will be hosted at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta.

Kaká’s photos from the Brazilian championship of Artistic Gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Flickr: Kaká’s photos tagged with gymnastics

GrinnellGirl from Evanston, Illinois has posted some great OLD gymnastics photos to flickr.

Girls have often been exasperated when boys jump up on beam and do tumbling skills first or second try. Any strong male tumbler / trampolinist (with some guts) can do back tuck, for example.

Click PLAY or watch a 20-year-old male gymnast doing low beam on YouTube.

(Russian born) West Australian Daria Joura defended her national women’s all-around crown with a stunning display at the Australian Gymnastics Championships at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne on Friday.

Training partner Lauren Mitchell finished second in her first year as a senior with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Chloe Sims from Queensland in third.

Joura collected four gold medals, winning the all-around title along with the individual apparatus gold on floor, vault and the uneven bars.

In doing so, she led the Australian team to an upset victory over reigning world champions China, coming from behind on the final apparatus to win by less than half a point.

Joura’s combined all-around total of 120.350 was made up of two consecutive 60-plus point displays, both bettering her previous best all-around total of 59.875 achieved in finishing fifth at last year’s world titles in Denmark.

The 17-year-old opened with her signature double-twisting Yurchenko vault, earning 15.100, the first time she has broken the 15-point barrier with the difficult manoeuvre.

After another improvement on the uneven bars (15.600) her only stumble before her final floor routine came when she toppled off the balance beam to score 14.125.

… After hearing the news of their team win over China, whose team included two members of last year’s world championship winning team, Joura said the unexpected victory had overshadowed her individual performance.

Joura dominates Gymnastics Championships – Breaking News – Sport – Breaking News

Inside Gymnastics magazine is great.

I really enjoyed their Jan / Feb 2007 edition — Gator Time, it’s a swamp thing — with a major feature on the fantastic 2007 Florida NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Team.

Their FREE on-line offerings are not nearly as good. (They say it’s improving.) But check this excellent feature on up-and-coming America athlete Samantha Peszek:

Inside Gymnastics’ radar screen for the 2008 Olympics.

News – Inside Gymnastics Magazine

photo from Samantha Peszek – official website

I recently signed up for Facebook as it’s a great way to network with other acrobatic coaches. (I found MySpace useless.)

Once you are a member of Facebook, simply search for “gymnastics coach” or any other search term of interest. The resulting list is very interesting.

You can also join “Groups” on topics of interest. This is even better, I find.

For example, I joined a Group called “Gymnastics Coach’s Corner“.

More interesting is a group called “concerned about Olympic Men’s Gymnastics rules” which I joined because I am concerned about Olympic Men’s Gymnastics rules. Especially the changes to Horizontal Bar.

The 2004 Olympics for Men was a disaster due to judging scandals. Now the International Gymnastics Federation has changed regulations less than 2 years prior to the 2008 Olympics. This is unfair to the athletes. It may lead to a repeat of judging scandals in Beijing.

This group asks the FIG to repeal those changes until AFTER the next Olympics.

Join the Group “concerned about Olympic Men’s Gymnastics rules” on Facebook. (Free membership required.)

If you don’t know Canadian photographer Dory Dynna, I’ll bet you’ve seen some of his excellent photos over the years.

These days Dory is much involved in the dance community in Vancouver.

Some of his OLD OLD photos I happened to find still posted on the internet including some from Emma Lake Gymnastics Camp. (I put these pics up as I happen to be back in Saskatchewan where Dory started.)

Many more including female Artistic stars of the past – GYMNASTICS PHOTOS – Dory Dynna