Gymnastics Coaching.com

One of the great advantages of digital photography is the ease by which coaches, athletes and parents can get professional “action” shots from competitions.

(I still remember the day when parents begged me to come on to the competition floor in order to get a good angle for a personal photo.)

The only problem now is browsing the hundreds of available photos on-line to decide which ones to print.

Altadore gymnast at the WOGA (World Olympic Gymnastic Academy) competition, Feb. 5th, 2007.

I got a chance to visit of the 2000 Olympic site at Homebush near the airport in Sydney, Australia. It still hosts about 1800 events each year, an impressive legacy.

Not bad for land which was once written off as “industrial wasteland”.

We had a personal tour of the impressive aquatics facilities. (Thanks Elanore!)

It seems I won a gold medal … for something.

Rick McCharles

more photos on Flickr

Rick McCharles

In the 1990s I worked for Gymnastics Saskatchewan in a similar position to the one now available.

Gym Sask will be hiring a Technical Director for artistic gymnastics (men and women), tumbling and trampoline, as well as rhythmic. They are a quality organization.

For more information, email kmiller @ gymsask.com

I’ve seen and heard of more serious accidents from a seemingly “harmless” skill than from any other single difficult skill.

What is it?

Cast to low bar. Then jump from low to high bar. (There are 2 places where kids are often injured.)

Click PLAY or watch the short video clip on YouTube.

The frequency of injury has increased steadily as the rails have widened for younger and younger girls.

Gymnastics Zone cautions:

Don’t Underestimate this Maneuver

Perhaps the apparent simplicity of this movement is one of the causes of accidents. The dangers, as evidenced by the accidents we have seen, are real and significant. All of the injuries occurred the same way with a jump to the high bar from a stand on the low bar (as in the Level 5 and Level 6 bar routines). The bar is caught initially, the feet swing forward and the grip is lost.

Often Causes Arm Injuries

During the resulting fall, the gymnast instinctively reaches back with one or both arms and the weight of the body on the arm causes an injury ranging from shoulder or elbow sprain, fracture, compound fracture to dislocation. It is possible that this skill could cause a neck or back injury, if the gymnast peels very late. …

Spotting This Skill Safely is Very, Very Difficult

Spotting this skill is deceptively difficult. We do not believe that any coach can safely spot this skill standing under the high bar waiting to see if the gymnast catches the bar or not. There are two reasons for this. The first is that often the gymnast appears to have caught the bar, which makes the coach instinctively relax, and then the gymnast peels. Even coaches with the most determined level of spotting concentration can fall victim to this predicament.

This Fall Happens Faster Than the Reflex Capabilities of a Spotter

The second problem with spotting this skill from the ground is that the swinging action rockets the gymnast straight down to the floor very, very quickly during a fall from this skill. This is especially true when the gymnast jumps to the high bar with an arch jump, which causes an involuntary tap action when the feet get out in front of the bar and speeds the hands peeling off and the speed of the fall. Even coaches with the fastest of reflexes will be unable to safely and consistently catch gymnasts falling this fast, especially if it is unexpected.

Gymnastics Safety for Gymnasts
Injuries Seem to Occur with Gymnasts New To The Skill

Quick to complain when I DON’T like aspects of the new code of points, one of the trends I do like is specialization.

Specialists have always been an important part of American College gymnastics. It has finally now come to FIG in a big way.

Cheng Fei, for example, may never have made the Chinese Team in the past because she is not a consistent enough All-around competitor. She’s a Floor and Vault specialist.

Cheng Fei was the first Chinese woman to win a gold medal on vault at the Worlds. In fact, she has won more gold medals internationally than another Chinese female in history.

What a shame if she had not been on the team.

Check out how low she contacts the horse on her vault preflight.

Gymnastics clothing has really improved since 1914!

Acrobatic athletes should wear tight-fitting clothing without pockets.

Baggy clothing is OUT. It is not safe.

From a coaching point of view, it is far easier to assess technique and “line” when the athlete is wearing tight-fitting togs.

In fact, training without a shirt has become part of the “culture” of Men’s Artistic Gymnastics. It’s almost a coming of age ritual when competitive male gymnasts start taking off their shirts in the gym.

In Brisbane I met representatives of Taishan Sports and saw samples of their gymnastics equipment.

Very good quality at great prices.

Taishan won the Beijing Olympics Gymnastics contract, I understand, and will enjoy a high level of visibility for their products.

More companies, more competition, is good for coaches and gymnasts.

TAISHAN SPORTS – Gymnastics Equipment

Around the world there are still some gyms using scrap foam, often available free as trim from foam factories.

It is less safe as it “compacts” more easily than the foam sold as gymnastics cubes.

Also, many jurisdictions do not allow scrap foam due to fire regulations. Most does not have fire retardant.

This van is now retired. But it served many years taking gymnastics out to kids.

Taking equipment to children rather than transporting them to a gymnastics gym solves the problem of transport. But it is a LOT of work for the mobile coach.

Adelaide, South Australia

Check this out.

One Aussie girl used some long socks funky fingerless gloves as her safety strap gloves for horizontal bar.

Functional and fashionable!