Gymnastics Coaching.com

The Women’s NCAA Championships starts today. I’ll be posting live from the venue.

I arrived yesterday in time for the third of 3 training sessions. The gym was surprisingly quiet, I thought, and relaxed. Girls looked fit and ready to go. Very few did full routines.

Like the Men’s competition, this meet will be very tight:

Parity was the most commonly used word Wednesday afternoon during the gymnastics media session at the University of Utah.

Nearly all the coaches and many of the athletes used it to describe the 12 teams competing today through Saturday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. …

Nebraska coach Dan Kendig was easily the most diplomatic, saying, “Any athlete here is capable of sticking a 9.85 routine. That translates to a 197 score. Those (squads) who stick landings and put it together will advance.”

Jon Ringwood, Deseret Morning News

Jon M. Huntsman Center – home of the Utah Utes

Most impressive of the home winning streaks is the national record 170-meet streak that the gymnastics team compiled from 1979-2002. No other team in any NCAA sport had ever won that many consecutive regular season home competitions. The streak was snapped in the first meet of 2003 by eventual NCAA champion UCLA.

Utah’s diehard gymnastics fans have helped the Red Rocks attract the highest average attendance in the sport in 20 of the last 22 years. Since 1992, Utah’s attendance average at has never dipped below 9,500 and its 10-year attendance average is over 10,000 fans per home meet.

U of U

Kent Caldwell is a Floor and Vault specialist with University of Michigan in the NCAA.

In this routine he mounts with quad, dismounts with triple.

Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.

Compare Kent’s excellent performance with two attempts by Nastia Liukin. (She has done it better.)

nastia liukin quad twist – YouTube

Nastia Liukin 2005 US Classic FX – Quad twist ATTEMPT – YouTube

Male gymnasts train in Iran and the nation even hosted a World Cup in 2006. (Sadly female spectators were disallowed.)

Now a welcome, though blatantly political, initiative:

America has made a dramatic attempt to repair its relations with the Middle East by inviting Iranian athletes to train in the United States.

The move was made with the blessing of the US State Department, said the US Olympic Committee’s chief of International Relations, Robert Fasulo.

The USOC hopes that repairing relations with Iran will help secure their goal of hosting the 2016 Games. …

The plan is for wrestlers to become the first Iranian athletes to travel to the US in August, with others – including water polo players, gymnasts and athletes – following. …

The American initiative has been welcomed in the Middle East, where the Americans are also reaching out with similar offers to Syria and Lebanon.

BBC SPORT Iranian athletes invited to USA

gym in Tehran – World is Round

photo – Sarah Patterson

Only four teams have ever won the NCAA title in the 25 years of the Women’s Championships – Utah (9), Georgia (7), UCLA (5) and Alabama (4).

What do those successful programs pay their coaches?

Lya Wodraska writing in The Salt Lake Tribune just prior to NCAA Championships:

With 10 national titles, Marsden’s pay has risen from $1,500 to $154,000 a year.

As a graduate assistant in the P.E. department, Utah coach Greg Marsden was hired 31 years ago to coach the Utes’ gymnastics team for $1,500 a year, a meager salary that came with no benefits.

If his team wins the NCAA title this weekend, he’ll earn a little more than eight times that much in a bonus alone.

Marsden’s story of going from a paycheck well below the poverty level to one that is rather hefty isn’t unique, as college gymnastics is becoming more and more of a serious business for schools.

Marsden’s base salary is $154,350, making him the third-highest paid women’s college gymnastics coach in the country, behind Georgia’s Suzanne Yoculan ($189,000) and Alabama’s Sarah Patterson ($173,664).

… The rise in salaries can be attributed in part to Title IX, the federal legislation that calls for equal opportunity for males and females in education programs and activities that receive financial assistance.

The legislation is why Utah started its gymnastics program in the first place, and was used by Yoculan in 1994 to successfully barter for a higher salary.

… Yoculan has won enough, seven national titles, that her base salary plus incentives gives her a package of more than $300,000.

Salt Lake Tribune – Gymnastics: Sport’s success means money for coaches

NCAA pushing salaries up should be good for the rest of us.

TBGN Photo Gallery posted over 300 photos of the British Team Championships for women.

more photos – TBGN Photo Gallery – British Team Championships

Update 2010 – the movie is posted on YouTube.

I trained and hung out with amazing Carol back in the day at Altadore Gymnastics Club in Calgary.

Old-timers will have seen the Disney film Lefty, a documentary of her rise to All-American NCAA champion while competing for Cal State Fullerton.

<blockquote

In her freshman season she became the conference beam champion.

In her sophomore year she won beam and placed third in floor exercise at her school's conference championships. She and her teammates traveled to Seattle, Washington for the NCAA Championships. Placing second on beam and floor, she earned All-American honours.

Carol's determination and accomplishments caught the eye of the Walt Disney company. You see, Carol had been born with only one arm. Borrowing a nickname friends had coined for Carol, the inspirational documentary "Lefty" was released.

The documentary details Carol's 1978-1979 NCAA Season. Determined to win gold at the 1979 NCAAs, Carol trained her hardest that season. Fate took a nasty turn however, and she tore her right ACL while warming up for a UCLA vs Cal State meet. The injury was devastating, but provided Carol with insight, "Now I really know what handicapped is."

GymnasticGreats.com: Whatever happened to Carol Johnston?

Movie – Lefty.

I’m the website editor for Ruschkin Publishing who provide the best lesson plans in the world for schools. (Many gym clubs use them, as well.)

What are the Up Down All Around lesson plans?

60 lesson plans divided into three Series (A, B, C) of 20 lessons:

* Series A for children in Grades 1 and 2
* Series B for children in Grades 3 and 4
* Series C for children in Grades 5 and 6

I’ve included a document on that site which can be republished anywhere — your club website or newsletter, for example. It’s linked on the bottom of this page:

Up Down All Around lesson plans

Saturday, April 28 = All-Around Finals
Sunday, April 29 = Apparatus Finals

250 gymnasts from 37 countries will participate at the 2nd European Individual Championships 2007, which will held from April 26 to 29 in Amsterdam.

93 women (32 countries) and 157 men (38 federations; – out of 47 UEG members) have sent their definitive registration for this event….

GymFamily.Com

official website

World Champion Ferrari will be there.

AFP PHOTO / DIMITAR DILKOFF
larger version – flickr

There is a flood of information available on the upcoming NCAA Women’s Championships. It is superbly marketed.

In contrast, it is difficult to find details on the College Championship sponsored by USA Gymnastics.

Towson University’s Christina Ghani added two more titles to her all-around and team crowns by winning vault and tying for first on floor exercise during Saturday’s individual event finals at the 2007 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate Championships at Seattle Pacific University’s Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle. Ghani finished with a total of five medals, four gold and one silver. …

The annual athlete and coach of the year awards were presented at the meet. The winners were: Ghani, Senior Athlete of the Year; Cornell’s Paul Beckwith, Head Coach of the Year; Cornell’s Melanie Dillaplane, Assistant Coach of the Year; and TWU’s Catherine Schnoes, Mari-Rae Sopper Award.

Results – USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate Championships

More on the Seattle Pacific University website.

Has the leader of your country ever visited your club?

The Prime Minister of New Zealand opened an extension at my former gym.

Christchurch School of Gymnastics, the largest club in New Zealand (1600 members) built an 880sqm extension. CSG was Top Club (gymnastics and trampoline) in the country in 2006.

I give much of the credit to Executive Officer Avril Enslow. She built up this club from a church basement to one of the premier facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.

Avril is ultra-efficient, totally dedicated. And as one of the top FIG judges in the world, very well connected. Congratulations to the entire Flipping Brilliant team!

I started a club website back in 2002. But I see it has been upgraded significantly. Nice job. It’s one of the best club sites I’ve seen.

Christchurch School of Gymnastics – website

Incidentally, foreign coaches regularly travel to New Zealand to work for the club. In fact, Sheena Steacy from Altadore will be there for 3 months starting in May.