Gymnastics Coaching.com

The American Juniors are fantastic.

Much of the media coverage went to champion Shawn Johnson from West Des Moines, Iowa. She has a Chinese coach, Liang Chow.

“Shawn Johnson?” Bela Karolyi said, his voice rising and his eyes growing wide. “Wow. Wow. Wow!”

Coach has single syllable for junior champion: Wow

‘Peanut’ Looks to Beijing – AP

For me the highlight was the Bars rotation which included the WOGA and Great American Gymnastic Express Juniors. It was a coaching clinic where you could contrast and compare two fantastic coaching styles. I give Great American the slight edge. Those kids have unbelievably good form and position. They reminded me of my favourite gymnast of the 2004 Olympics Courtney McCool also coached by Al and Armine Fong of Great American.

But there are dozens of fantastic gymnasts coming up in the USA, many from lesser known clubs.

The future looks bright.

Many credit Marta Karoli for fine tuning the National Team program.

She has done a good job. But the huge American base of clubs and the competitive free enterprise system is the more important secret of success.

Just like Artemev in the Men’s competition, the winner of the Women’s meet was a very artistic, foreign-born, fan favourite.

Like most everyone, I love that a girl with a Rhythmic Gymnastics body can be so successful in Artistic gymnastics. Congratulations Nastia Liukin!

Competition Results – Senior Women.

There was some controversy over the high score awarded Nastia on beam after she took as big a wobble as I have ever seen without falling off. But I and most other pundits are too confused by the new scoring system to be able to comment. We need an analysis by up-to-date beam judges.

Personally I am thrilled that Nastia repeated as National Champion. Her form has improved since Worlds and she could peak for World Championships in the Fall. I will be cheering. Her Bars and Beam are thrilling.

The best highlight of the Senior meet, however, was Alicia Sacramone on vault. Her lift off the vault horse must be the highest ever seen.

more photos on Alicia’s official website

The USA is the team to beat at Worlds 2006. And the future looks bright as the Juniors coming up are even better.

It’s blurry to watch high powered tumbling on YouTube. The screen resolution is low.

But I was interested to see tumblers finish big tricks facing forwards. The extra half twist adds variety.

Click PLAY on the video below or watch the clip on YouTube.com

UPDATE: USA Gymnastics names U.S. Men’s Team for 2006 World Championships

I was happy to see the All-around won by artistic, stylish Sasha Artemev. He does remind you of his father, 1984 USSR Champion Vladimir Artemov.

more photos of Artemev from Inside Gymnastics

Artemev was not the favourite. Everyone was talking about David Durante coming into the meet. Unfortunately Durante had a lot of surprising errors.

ARTEMEV EARNS FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE – Inside Gymnastics

I had not seen the US Men in a couple of years. Clearly they are much improved on Vault and Rings.

David Sender is world class on vault launching Shewfelt (Yurchenko 2 1/2) like Kyle Shewfelt.

I spoke with the judges on P Bars and they were happy with the routines they saw. The new code rewards C-parts so we are seeing, once again, beautiful swings in sequence.

The Junior competition was disappointing. The athletes have potential — but competing FIG rules is working to the disadvantage of progress. The Men’s program needs to rework their age group regulations in light of the new code.

Here at the USA Congress past customers of Jeff’s workshop for Club Owners are still raving. It’s simply the best bang for your buck for those who want to improve the management of their clubs.

Jeff Metzger, President and Founder

Who should attend?

Is BOOT CAMP for everyone? No, it is not. BOOT CAMP is an investment and, like any investment, one size does not fit all. BOOT CAMP is only for those GymClub Owners or managers who intend to make a career in this industry: short-timers will not reap value, as BOOT CAMP is not a quick-fix. …

What about small GymClubs? Can a small operation benefit? Absolutely: the size of your club has no bearing on the value of BOOT CAMP, as it focuses on and teaches a strategy to help you establish and reach your goals. …

I highly recommend you sign up with American Gymnast.

It’s FREE (for now).

By far the most exciting thing I saw at the USA Gymnastics trade show is a preview of the next generation update of the site fronted by elite gymnasts Jay Thornton and Steve McCain.

They plan a roll out of hundreds, even thousands, of high quality video clips. It will be by far the best gymnastics coaching resource on the internet. I couldn’t be more excited.

The launch date for the video library is not fixed but the version I saw looked great. It could be ready to go any time.

American-Gymnast.com hosted a brilliant nightclub promotion party in conjunction with Championships 2006 to help get the word out.

Members have full access to the training tips section.

What a routine! Triple-twisting double back mount. The last artistic gymnast to compete “Miller” in competition — so far as I know — was Steve Elliot in the NCAA.

I am really sorry the Korean powerhouse tumbler didn’t make finals in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Click PLAY below or watch the clip on YouTube.

Turn down the volume.

Dwight Normile feels he “got robbed”. That is debatable, however. A 9.675 is not a bad score for a routine with this many conspicuous deductions. The NEW code of points will certainly reward “Ri Jong Song” difficulty.

The biggest story for me at X Games 12 got little attention.

Fabiola da Silva is the leading female medal-winner in X Games history, a seven-time in-line skating gold medalist, but she won’t even be in California when the games are contested …

… women’s in-line skating was dropped two years ago after organizers said the sport was no longer popular enough to be included.

… When the games debuted in 1995, six of 29 events were specifically designed for women and another, the Eco Challenge, paired a man and woman. Of this year’s 16 events, there are only two — skateboard vert and skateboard street — for women. …

“I really don’t understand why they don’t have more women’s sports at the X Games,” Da Silva said. “It’s really a bummer. They have the opportunity to help women, but it seems like they just keep cutting us off.”

“We’re committed to having women at the X Games in a meaningful way,” Skipper said. “By no means do we have a gender-driven agenda here. I think we just hit a little bit of a blip, but it is our intention to have more events with women in the coming years.”

For Women, It’s Nearly Ex Games – Los Angeles Times

I want X Games to succeed. I have more faith in ESPN than I do in the IOC when it comes to running an international sports event.

But they are bungling this. ESPN needs to return skating to the line-up. It’s my favourite event. And Fabiola should be prized as one of their brightest stars.

actioncom.com.br

Just off to the first competitive session.

Championships includes Artistic, Rhythmic & Acrobatic disciplines.

details on the USA Championships website

Gymnastics and trampoline training is ideal for divers.

Olympic and World 10m women’s platform champion Laura Wilkinson was a Level 8 gymnast.

Here’s a great photo of another gymnast / diver posted by “CoachCashMoney” on Flickr.

larger, original, high resolution version