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I spent many days at Kingborough Gymnastics in Tasmania, one of a handful of Aussie clubs who have been awarded a 5 Star rating by Gymnastics Australia.

Club 10 has been developed by Gymnastics Australia. This scheme is an accreditation system that provides a framework for continuous improvement across ten key club operational areas.

The Club 10 vision is ” An accredited network of vibrant and successful affiliated Clubs providing a comprehensive range of Gymsports, to Australians of all areas and abilities”.

A Club achieves a Star rating, from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), through and comprehensive auditing scheme. Australia wide in 2004 only 5 clubs where awarded a 5 star rating.

Kingborough FQA’s

It seems to me that a rating system for gym clubs is a good idea. But many Aussie coaches told me that the new program is flawed. That achieving a high rating was far too much trouble. And that it will be some years before the 5 Star rating system is widely recognized by the general public.

We wait on that day.

In the meantime, I posted a few photos of Kingborough on flickr if you want to see what a 5 Star club looks like.

Friend of this site, Olympic Floor Champion 2004 Kyle Shewfelt let us know about 50 more photos (flickr) of himself and the Canadian Men’s Team linked from KyleShewfelt.com.

All pics by our favourite photographer – Grace Chiu

In Melbourne, Australia I saw an interesting variation on the Russian “tramp catcher”.

Interesting, but not nearly as safe.

I saw this one in Australia.

The bungie was tight. Quite challenging to hold alignment against the resistance of the rubber rope.

The Worlds #2 in 2006, Jana Bieger, had a problem. No place to train.

Bieger, 17, returned from the World Gymnastics Championships in Denmark last year with three silver medals, including all-around. But saying Bieger returned “home” with those medals is pushing things, because athletically speaking, Bieger had no home.

Three gyms, two counties, one possible squabble, one auto accident and one major financial investment — that’s the recent scorecard for one of America’s 2008 Olympic hopefuls.

“Hmmm, where are we going to work out next?” Bieger says, repeating the family refrain from late last year.

Good news. Biegers have opened a new gym just 5-minutes from home. This optimizes Jana’s chances of qualifying for the Olympics.

more details

Jana Bieger – official website

At Funtastics, north Idaho, I saw kids riding a “horse” while the coach double bounced them on trampoline.

They could even use a “rope” to try to hang on to the “buckin’ bronco”.

This is cowboy country. In fact, one of the 4-6-year-old boys has tried to ride a lively, wooly sheep for five seconds in a real rodeo. This is good training.

Roger Wangler, a 29 year old Swiss PE-teacher with a strong recreation background, is looking for an international position. His English is good.

In the future, Roger would like to work with a men’s competitive program.

rogerwangler (AT) bluewin.ch

Like most everyone else, we love Shantessa Pama. She is one of the most artistic, original gymnasts in the world.

Watch an interview and training video on GymnastTV.com (episode 21).

Shantessa Pama – official website

full size “wallpaper”

Eva (addicted2gym) posted a tightly edited montage of fantastic Chinese female artistic gymnasts.

Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.

I fear the new code will result in Chinese gymnasts with more difficulty, less artistry. That would be a shame.

I was so busy at the Great West Gym Fest that I took very few photos (flickr). And those few were not particularly good.

But if there is a better gymnastics competition hosted anywhere — I have never heard of it. This competition is excellent! They do more to make kids happy than any other event I’ve ever seen.

Close to 1600 gymnasts, a couple of hundred wooden bears — and even a few moose attended this year. It’s hosted out of one of the best hotels in the States, the gorgeous Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Funtastics Gymnastics Head Coach David Adlard runs the meet. Teams fly into Spokane airport.

Another venue was added for 2007 with a gigantic flag backdrop. I loved that it was the compulsory girls who got to compete on the stage podium, not the optional kids. What a thrill for them.

More information can be found on the Funtastics GWGF page.

Results are posted on MeetScoresOnline.com.