Gymnastics Coaching.com

Great photo sequence of Liukin’s sweet layout Geinger.

It comes from one of the free “wallpapers” on Ultimate-Athletes.com.

That is the site which developed website content for Shawn Johnson, Hollie Vise and others.

Teaching giants (Kenmotsu) on parallel bars, for me, is the same as on horizontal bar: maximize the downswing, optimize the upswing (by shortening the body).

For athletes small enough to be able to not bend knees through the bottom, they can be very similar.

I’ve seen kids do a series of 5 giants very much like horizontal bar. Their coach (Kelly Manjak) experimented with giants to “Tkachev” (reverse straddle cut to handstand) with one of the boys.

There are two main differences between horizontal bar and parallel bars:

athlete normally will release and regrasp at the top of the swing

most gymnasts find it more difficult to hold on through the bottom of the swing

The first is the lesser problem. Start by spotting giants without releasing. (Gymnast ends up in an unusual grip.) Add the release and regrasp much later.

The psychological barrier of fear of slipping is more likely what will stop boys from swinging aggressively.

Two tips on parallel bars:

Canadian National Coach Edouard Iarov taught me not to spot the hand on the bar — which was common practice where I coach. This is the giant, he told me. Once a boy feels confident he can “hang on” to the bars, learning the giant is easy.

Secondly, introduce giants facing out on the end of the parallel bars. (The opposite direction of the photo.) If the gymnast ever slips, landing on mats off the end of the bar (flyaway) is much safer. It also requires the gymnast hang on as long as possible — to avoid travelling forwards.

Mike Boyd training giant at Taiso. Coach Rhett Stinson.

A study by Spiros Prassas (somewhat outdated) includes photo series and video clips: Giant Swings on the Parallel Bars

Gymnastics 体操 – Created by katakanadian.

more photos like this – Liukin – Endo

This game is always a winner, quite appropriate for large groups and mixed ability groups. Everyone is moving, all the time.

Here you will see adults playing with kids age 6-16.

About 5 “chasers” carry blocks of foam trying to tag any “runner”. Once tagged, the runner becomes the chaser, the chaser a runner.

Everyone must leap island-to-island (mat-to-mat). Anyone touching the floor is penalized with some quick task — eg. 5 sit-ups — then is back in the game.

Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.

Sean McCann, USOC Sports Psychologist, published a thoughtful article in the most recent US Olympic Coach E-magazine.

One of the ironies of a coaching life, is that the great majority of the long hours that elite coaches spend are not evaluated, while a small minority of their work (competition) is endlessly and publicly scrutinized.

McCann offers 10 tips for coaches preparing to do the job. For example:

Prepare for the worst (but expect the best). Coaching in the last few minutes is much easier when you have done all the work you needed to in the hours, days, weeks, and months, preceeding the last few minutes. …

When you have effective contingency plans for the worst case scenario, you can relax as a coach. You can only know if they are effective if you have actually practiced these situations in training.

Essentially, the goal is to organize competition simulations in which your athletes have to handle conditions at least as tough as the worst case scenario. Examples include competing without a normal warm-up, changing the time of competition, playing loud crowd noise (USOC Sport Psychology has a 30 minute crowd noise CD we have distributed to coaches and athletes), and any other logistical wrinkle or challenge you can throw at your athletes.

Newsletter Article

The Chinese women’s and men’s teams were the prepotent winners of the team competition of the 15th ASIAN GAMES, which ended with the finals today.

GYMmedia.com report and final results

The gymnastics event was a huge success by all accounts.

Yang Wei – AA winner

Another excellent, comprehensive article from James Bathurst.

I’ve always liked variations of this drill. But I have seen it overused by some coaches. There is a risk of injury past 90 degrees. Be cautious.

One Legged Squat

The up-and-coming American powerhouse is definitely one to watch for Beijing.

I like her official website, loaded with video and animation downloads.

Good luck Shawn!

Another of Natalie Behring’s fantastic photo set from Beijing, China.

17 Feb 2006

“A boy trains at the Shichahai Sports School in Beijing. The Shichahai school is one of China’s more famous sports academies and one of its most visited. Criticisms of its harsh practices have been leveled by visiting Western media and sports figures periodically for more than a decade. China has a huge network of sports schools known for recruiting promising young athletes in the hopes of turning them into world champions.”

… Yang Wei said Li Ning remains as his idol.

“Li Ning has been my idol since I stepped into gymnastics. I have won eight golds in the Asian Games, but I am far behind him in international events,” Yang said.

As a gymnast for 17 years, Li Ning has collected eight golds and 11 medals at the Asian Games. He retired after the 1988 Olympics.

Li Ning still keeps the Chinese record of 14 world and Olympic gymnastics titles, with the closest challenger Li Xiaopeng short of two.

After his retirement from gymnastics, Li Ning built a sports wear and gear company named after him, which is currently the top brand in the Chinese industry of footwear and sporting apparel.

Yang Wei reaches dizzying height in Asian Games – Xinhuanet

At 26-years-old, Yang Wei may now be the favourite for 2008 Olympics.

photo – CCTV.com