Gymnova Equipment

World Autism Awareness Day

“I’ve learned that every human being, with or without disabilities, needs to strive to do their best, and by striving for happiness you will arrive at happiness. For us, you see, having autism is normal—so we can’t know for sure what your ‘normal’ is even like. But so long as we can learn to love ourselves, I’m not sure how much it matters whether we’re normal or autistic.”
—Naoki Higashida, 13 year old author of The Reason I Jump



NYTimes:

Describing why, exactly, he likes to jump, Higashida tells us: “The motion makes me want to change into a bird and fly off to some faraway place. But constrained by ourselves and by the people around us, all we can do is tweet-tweet, flap our wings and hop around in a cage.”

Excuse me, but where's the disability again?

You know, I'm watching this and asking myself, "Where's the disability?"

I love the corner move after the first pass where he egg rolls.  It reminded me of some of the stuff you used to see in men's collegiate back in the 70s and 80s when routines didn't look like carbon copies of each other, choreographed solely to fulfill starting values and bonus points.

So nice to see clean basics and the fingerprint of good technique stamped upon a gymnast's every move.

There are a lot more on the British Gymnastics channel.


From 2012:

Potential to be Realized

"Autism is not a problem to be solved, but a potential to be realized" 

- Larry Nassar, Gymnastics Doctor Autism Foundation

Abby Hahn began gymnastics when she was 6 years old, as a treatment for her autism. She's progressed in the sport beyond expectations.

Hat tip: Coach Molly

Lauren: Round Three

Because I need to lose the weight and get more cardiovascular exercise, I try to arrive early enough before I start teaching, to pound the heavy bag in the gym.

For some inexplicable reason, Lauren has fixated it into her head that as soon as the gloves come on and I start hammering the punching bag, that's the time to start bullying me. She just will not let me exercise in peace.

On My Way to Wanna Be

I woke up 3:30 this morning, just out of the blue; got out of bed and went to the computer. 2 hours later, I printed out this video, uploaded to YouTube, then went back to sawing some Z's until I had to be up at 6:30am to get ready for work.

Lauren Dances to Ita's Count

Lauren and Ita DIscuss Party Planning...and Wine

"I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool!"

Big Fun instructor, Porfirio Gomez, is the epitomy of Latino heat and Caribbean cool, all rolled up into one complete package. Take a tour, into the life of what it means to be cool...and hot!




Just re-edited the video with some better footage, after a rush job to get it done in time for our staff party last weekend. This is version 2.0.

"Idaho Smith and the Obstacle Course of Doom!"

One of my favorite Big Fun films:

"We Did it...Dan's Way"

One of my adult clients asked Dan what his theme song would be and without hesitation, Dan replied, "My way...Frank Sinatra." So there we have it. Since I used a version where he duets with Pavarotti, I scraped up all the footage I could gather of him and one of his Big Fun clients, Michelle, to duet in the video with him. Hey, it was either this, or "The Odd Couple" theme. It was a fun one to make.

Whackity-Whack!

Non-Alcoholic Tequila

"Top Fun"

Greg Demer is an autistic adolescent who's grown from a big kid to a really big kid over the years that I've known him. He started out in the regular classes, then I taught him for a while in the adult program. Currently he works with Sara Bonchek and Big Fun once a week. Greg loves planes and knows everything about them. If you play the Top Gun soundtrack during workouts, or play the song "Danger Zone" from it, be prepared to hear it over and over again! For a time, he was very close to getting a back flip on the trampoline. He's a bit big now for handspotting, but it can still be done, as he has enough sense for the skill; I still think he has it in him to one day do it by himself. When that day comes, he will truly be flying!