A nice photo set taken during a competition at Auburn.
Georgia won that competition and went on to win the NCAA.

A nice photo set taken during a competition at Auburn.
Georgia won that competition and went on to win the NCAA.

October 29th to November 10th, 2007 – Quebec City

The 2007 Trampoline, Tumbling & Double-mini Trampoline World Championships will be conducted in Canada by Gymnastics Canada (GCG) under the auspices of the Fédération internationale de gymnastique (FIG).
Some 250 men and women will compete for the titles of World Champions in the individual and team competitions in all trampoline sports: individual trampoline, synchronized trampoline, tumbling and double-mini trampoline.
About 1500 athletes will also meet for the 2007 International Age Group Championships (IAGC). The World Championships will be each country’s only chance to qualify for the 2008 Olympics’ individual trampoline competitions in Beijing, China.
Quebec City is one of the most fascinating tourist towns in North America. This huge meet is a good excuse for you to plan a trip.
photo – Grace Chiu
How can I have never heard of a sport organization with 3.2 million members across the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada? It was founded in 1968.
Originally USSSA stood for United States Slow-pitch Softball Association. However, in 1998 USSSA expanded in other sports. Gymnastics was added in 2005.
Gymnastics clubs that join can opt in to camps, clinics, and competitions offered by USSSA. Those are less expensive and less competitive than USA Gymnastics events.
What often stifles upstart organizations are insurance issues. With millions of members, insurance does not seem to be a problem for USSSA.
I distrust all monopolies, even sport monopolies. More choices for coaches is positive.
Good luck to the USSSA!
More information on the USSSAgymnastics.com website.

Yang Wei still the man to beat.
Chinese world champion Yang Wei beat Japanese duo Hisashi Mizutori and Hiroyuki Tomita to lift gymnastics men’s all-around title at the Doha Asian Games here on Monday.
Yang Wei scored 95.500 points against 93.400 points by Hisashi Mizutori and Yang’s arch rival Hiroyuki Tomita followed in third with 93.250.
World champion Yang faces down Tomita in all-around

They are going to be tough to beat in Beijing.
Members of Chinese men’s team stand on the winners podium on the Medal ceremony for the gold medal of the men’s team of Gymnastics Artistic at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 2, 2006.

People’s Daily Online — China wins Asiad gymnastics men
Chinese sweep gymnastics gold – Gulf Daily News
He is considered a sports hero in his home country of Bulgaria, but here in Rochester, Marian Penev is an admitted rapist. The 40-year-old former gymnastics coach pleaded guilty Monday in both state and federal court to having intercourse and other sexual acts with a 13-year-old student. He had denied it for nearly a year, but today Marian Penev admitted to what he did to one of his students. Now, he will spend the next ten years in federal prison.
I’ve not been posting stories like these as they are so often sensationalized. I fear the risk to children will be exaggerated for profit as was done with eating disorders in the book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes.
The fact is — there are few children better protected, more nurtured, than kids in a gymnastics club. They are far safer at the gym than at school.
On the other hand, I don’t want to deny the (slight) risk either. Competitive gymnasts are extraordinarily compliant when it comes to the influence of their coaches.
Takeshi and Eito Yasutoko, brothers, are two of the best aggressive inline skaters in the world.
Takeshi (the “Samarai”) is famous for a trick for some unfathomable reason called a Double Viking. It’s something like a double back with a half twist — but with the twist done in the most awkward way possible in order to make it more spectacular.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
(via Roller News)
Where I live there is often a slight drop in numbers after Christmas. But others see registrations climb.
Kelly Dornon-Heimsoth, owner of Siouxland Gymnastics, Dance and Cheer Academy, said the months of January and February are the busiest for her facility.
During these months, the academy averages a 10 percent increase in enrollment, Dornon-Heimsoth said.
There are more than 400 children enrolled in artistic gymnastics there, about 150 to 175 children in the dance/cheer program and about 80 to 90 children in the White Tiger Martial Arts Academy, also located within the facility.
Strength and flexibility are two of the main benefits of gymnastics, Dornon-Heimsoth said — attributes that will help youngsters in any sport they decide to pursue as they grow.
The article states
About 7 percent of U.S. children ages 6 to 11 were overweight in 1980. By 2004, that number had ballooned to 18.8 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The statistics are even more daunting among adolescents. Only 5 percent of U.S. children ages 12 to 19 were overweight in 1980. By 2004, that rate had more than tripled to 17.1 percent.
Sioux City Journal: Winter months thwart kids’ exercise

UWEC Gymnastics team poster – Rick Mickelson, University of Wisconsin
Former rhythmic gymnast Elena Lev is a work of art. She performed this simple but captivating act in Cirque du Soleil’s AlegrÃa for 7 years.
This is the most watched video on YouTube tagged with the word “gymnastics”.
You’ll join over 560,000 other fans if you click PLAY, or watch Elena on YouTube.