Gymnastics Coaching.com

Christopher Peddecord is a dynamite new photographer and a a BFA candidate at the University of Utah in ballet.

more gymnastics photos – flickr

more dance photos

I saw this set-up in the high performance gym in Homebush, Sydney, Australia.

This is about as good as it gets.

Who will be the first to do a cartwheel at the North Pole?

The South Pole has been done.

Sandwichgirl owns it.

(via Boing Boing)

With more than 700 artists from some 40 countries, Cirque du Soleil is an exciting place to express artistic talent within a challenging environment.

Dancers are not only an essential element of our productions; the nature of our shows means that we need more and more of them! Technical precision, stage presence and versatility are the overall qualities we expect from our dancers.

We are looking for dancers with the following abilities:

* Modern, contemporary and/or jazz dance;
* Classical dance;
* World and ethnic dance;
* Acrobatic rock’n’ roll;
* Acrobatic abilities an asset (trampoline, tumbling, etc.);
* Improvisational skills;
* Unique and diverse styles;
* Sensuality.

Requirements:

* Sex: male or female;
* Age: 18 and over;
* Very good stage presence;
* Multi-talented an asset.

Cirque du Soleil official website – Casting

(via L.A. Daily News)

One of the many great photos by Mynd Ársins.

PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2006 on Flickr

… Picture of the year 2006 in the annual photo contest that the Icelandic Press Photographers Association.

This is Sif Palsdottir, The Nordic champion in artistic gymnastics 2006.

List of all the winners.

FIG adopted the “vault table” — and tens of thousands of the old style vault horses became superfluous. (Jan 1, 2003 the table became mandatory for Levels 5-10 in the USA.)

What did you do with your old horse?

Here’s one idea I saw in Australia.

It’s used for vault drills jumping from tramp, landing in the pit.

Editor of this site, Rick McCharles, will be attending all sessions. Email me if you want to meet up there to talk gymnastics coaching.

2007 NCAA® WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Hosted by the University of Utah
Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, April 26-28

Championships 2007 – University of Utah

Editor of this site, Rick McCharles, will be attending all sessions. Email me if you want to meet up there to talk gymnastics coaching.

2007 NCAA® MEN’S GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Hosted by Penn State
State College, Pennsylvania

The nation’s top collegiate gymnasts will converge on Happy Valley to vie for individual and team glory from Thurs., April 12 through Sat., April 14 in historic Rec Hall.

Penn State Gymnastics

Another great new video from the smart people at GymSmarts.

It’s a 3 disk set on advanced tumbling:

I – Twisting Backwards
II – Multiple Flipping
III – Warm-up & Conditioning

Learn the philosophy and advanced techniques of Tony Gehman of North Stars Gymnastics Academy in New Jersey.

Tony’s developed dozens of elite female gymnasts over the years and is one of America’s premier clinicians.

From GYMSMARTS.com, click on the GYMSMARTS TV CHANNEL (new for 2007) to see a preview of this DVD and much, much more.

There are two main models:

1) private ownership
2) volunteer Board of Directors

It would be difficult to find a professional gymnastics coach who prefers a Board of Directors.

The privately owned club — especially if it is owned by the coaches — is far more stable. More predictable. It is governed by the free market.

Volunteer Board managed clubs are up and down. They have good years and bad.

Most of the club management horror stories I hear come from volunteer Board clubs.

Yet in Canada most clubs are governed by a volunteer Board. This is a legacy of well-meaning federal government legislation. Socialist thinking is that “democratic” governance is better over the long run than the free market.

In fact, it has hobbled the development of gymnastics clubs in Canada. The gyms in the USA without a penny of government assistance are far ahead.

Ultimately the privately owned clubs anywhere will be more efficient. Quicker to react. More decisive.

That opinion stated — my own club is run by a Board of Directors. And (right now) it is an excellent Board. We met this past weekend with an expert consultant in the field of strategic planning for non-profit organizations.

She strongly recommended this book.

The Strategic Board: The Step-by-Step Guide to High-Impact Governance

If you have input on this topic, please leave a comment.