Gymnastics Coaching.com

This is one of the best and funniest sports profiles I’ve ever seen. It happened right after Kyle Shewfelt won Floor in Athens.

Rick Mercer hosts the top rated arts and entertainment TV show in Canada — now called The Rick Mercer Report — and when you see this clip, you’ll understand why this comedian is so popular. He’s hilarious.

If Dragalescu from Romania had won gold on Floor in Athens, he would have been awarded US$65,000 by his, one of the poorest governments in Europe.

The payoff for a Canadian winning Olympic gold? ZERO!

Mercer is merciless in bringing that point home. I hope the Sports Canada bureaucrats were squirming when they watched this interview.

Click PLAY or see the video on YouTube.

Moving images on the internet can be very distracting.

But if the movement is subtle, and the image cute enough, I still like some of them.

Animation Factory – Royalty Free Animations, 3D Clip Art, Backgrounds, PowerPoint Templates, and Video Clips

If you wanted to use some of these on your own website, it costs US$30 and up for membership.

TRIVIA

The Portuguese-Canadian hip-hop star Nelly Furtado was named after the fantastic Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim. (Nellie Vladimirovna Kim)

The same Nellie Kim that is currently President of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee of FIG.

I remember her better as the one somewhat unfairly overshadowed by Nadia in 1976. Nellie Kim competed Tsukahara with 1/1 twist (Nadia did pike Tsuk) and double back on Floor (Nadia did 2/1 twist). Both those skills were Olympic firsts.

I have not seen the Autobiography of Nellie Kim (86 pages), but it is for sale and available in English. Two additional books are available but only in Russian.

Yes, Nellie Kim. She won a load of gold medals at the Olympics in 1976 and I was born in 1978. My mom thought the name sounded cool, so I am Nelly Kim Furtado.

interview with Nelly Furtado

Promiscuous

I love these little animations, even if it is the old vault horse.

This is the Tsukahara vault, of course. The name of Mitsuo Tsukahara is immortal now that this vault has his name.

Born in 1947, Mitsuo won three Olympic team gold medals: 1968, 1972, and 1976.

His son was an even better gymnast, I would say.

This gives new meaning to the term bubble boy.

Waterball, DanceBall, BimboBall, MoonBall, …

Enter through a zipper. You can walk or run on water. Recommended to add more air every 30min. Dance and performance troupes have used them off-water.

You can buy one from Hammacher Schlemmer for US$274.95

The New Zealand activity of zorbing is spreading around the world.

What is Zorbing? : Rolling down a hill in a gigantic plastic ball.

Adventure Blog – zorbing

Every day in my feed reader, I get a post from CrossFit Kids.

We’ve blogged about the excellent CrossFit program before. It’s an exercise regime for adults using body weight resistance like gymnastics. They may be in a gymnastics gym — or in the workplace inventing alternative exercises with what they have at hand.

All good.

My first reaction was that kids should be taking regular gymnastics class for the first few years. Then moving into CrossFit and whatever other sports / fitness activities they want to do as an adult.

On the other hand, if Mom or Dad is doing CrossFit — why not have the kids join in?

Decide for yourself. Check CrossFit Kids.

The Olympic Champion is profiled in a new book. It’s geared for girls age 9-12.

Might make a good Christmas present.

Carly Patterson: Be Strong (Positively for Kids Books: Gymnastics)

Consider the plight of a gymnastics Mom with a 3-year-old who does not want to go to a structured class.

So last week was the start of a new gymnastics session. Jacob didn’t want to go when he woke up in the morning. I told him we had to at least go and say hi, which is the line I use for everything. By the time we get there and he sees all that’s happening, he’ll most likely forget that he didn’t want to go. But here is the catch: If he decides he still wants to leave, I have to follow through. Maybe we’ll compromise and stay just long enough to get something out of it, but if I told him that we can leave, then I can’t turn that promise into a lie. This is a big part of my ‘mutual repsect’ philosophy.

Jacob didn’t want to stay. We hadn’t paid yet, so what was I going to do, force him to stay and watch while the money went down the toilet? At 3 years-old I don’t think I need to worry that I’m teaching him to be a quitter. We simply went in and told them we wouldn’t be coming back for this session. I told Beth that we would try again in January. That’s what I plan to do.

Murphy’s Law: Gymnastics Drop-Out

photo – Arial at drop-in preschool

A pretty common problem.

Some 3-year-olds, especially girls, love to go to a class with a teacher. Love to “follow the leader”.

But many, perhaps most children, do not.

For the past 10-years I’ve been advocating “drop-in preschool” for those kids. Come when you want, supervise your own child, pay only for the gym time you use.

I find parents are terrifically appreciative of this option. It was by far our most popular preschool class for parents and coaches at Taiso Gymnastics, Saskatoon. More popular than “parent and tot”.

We paid one or two “supervisors”, but no coaches. (Check with your insurance company first, of course, if you want to do this.)

I feel there is no need to go into a completely structured class until the kids start school.

The best spotting on tramp is not a belt, not hand spotting … it’s a throw mat thrown by a skilled coach.

Brett MacAuley, long time Trampoline and Tumbling Head Coach at Calgary Gymnastics Centre, really likes the new throw mat developed by Dave Ross.

“… extra strong fabric covers which have no seams in any wear areas. New more comfortable handles.”

Rebound Products – What’s New

Throw mats these days are a lot thicker than we used back in the 1970s when I counted on them to save my life.