Shouldn't every parent do this? ;-)

Good job,  Alla, Stepan and Heather!

Yefim!

Haven't seen him in several years.  He sure ages slow.

All the world's a playground...

...when you're a gymnast:

Post by Darryl Thompson.

That's my friend's 7 yr old level 4 gymnast, seeing a gymnastics mushroom out of a fixture outside of a Target store.

I believe this is a Czech gymnast, Itziu Cardena:

Post by D99.

If she's impressed....doesn't that mean it wasn't impressive?

At LASG:

Hat tip: GymnasticsCoaching.com

Short Gymnasts Got, No Reason...

So Rachel thinks she can dance?

Great job, Rachel!

Happy New Year!

Already used Nina Simone's version in Sheryl's video....but still love hearing this song; and finding another good cover, I was so inspired to make this video. And since Darryl's birthday is tomorrow, I made it Darryl-centric.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

And Happy Birthday (tomorrow), Darryl!

Real Men Wear Gymnastics Tights

Hooked on Brooke

Back at SMGC, I was teaching this new girl, Alyssa, in beg/adv. Throughout the class, I'd hear from nearby across the gym at another station, "Pssst....Alyssa"....and this cute little rugrat would wave to her sister. She did that every week, getting Alyssa's attention while in the middle of her own class. One day, I decided to shout out "Hey Brooke" and wave to Alyssa's sister, like I knew her, while she was in the middle of her own class. Just to mimic and throw her off. I hadn't officially met the kid yet and she looked over with a slightly confused look on her face. The following week, I was in the splits, stretching with Alyssa's class. Brooke's class hadn't started yet, and she wanders over to the floor and, without a single word, wraps her arms around me with the warmest hug while I was sitting there in the splits. She's had my heart wrapped around her, ever since.

Brooke had a bit of a tough adjustment to make, going from rec class at SMGC/LASG to a team developmental program at BGS. She misses the pits and the play and the more relaxed atmosphere of recreational gymnastics (and her friend Lexi, who remains at LASG).

Selfishly, I'm glad she followed me (didn't encourage her to), although I'd be happy for her wherever she is happiest. As far as I can tell though, she's happiest around me; and her mom says it's why they ended up coming to Broadway Gym. (^_^)

"Chances"

I've had "video-maker's block" for a while; but this is for Erin and Julia, who gently nudged for a new video.

I've got songs I want to do; but just can't seem to figure out what gym to use it for, what era, what level program, what person.....

Plus, I just don't have time to sift through all files for the perfect footage fit. This vid took me all of 3 hours at the most, I'd say:

She has the Strength of 12 Ordinary Mortal Men

Happy 12^th Birthday, Thea! A day late for you; a day early to say it to Robyn.

I didn't really have a video planned at all, but decided today, to scrap one together.

Thea's family made the decision for a change in gym environments, this summer. Overall, she's at peace with the difficult decision of leaving her coach(s) and teammates for the sake of her own growth, opening a new chapter in her gymnastics journey.



I decided to narrow the focus of this video on body-shaping for bars; and also the special role Al has played in training her.

He invested time in "further down the road" skills, planting seeds of L-grip giants, Germans, pirouettes, front giants, and stalders, among others. She's already done inverted giants in the strap bar as far back as 2 years ago, just from starting out with swings, back and forth.

Although I am no longer her coach, I've been sneaking in extra time with her, after practice, to maintain some of the drills she's been doing with Al, including lots of one-arm balances for bar pirouettes, including pirouettes and blind changes and different grip changes.

I'm also trying to help her maintain and improve her strength at doing presses- which seems on the decline (strength for handstand presses aren't stressed over at Broadway).

Knobby knees, bent arms, and posture continue to pose a challenge to her.

Right now, Thea is learning new things and is happy.

One, Two, Three, Four....Fifteen!!!!

I've had the hardest time thinking of music for the footage I have of Francesca, to tell a story. Since I knew her birthday was coming up, I decided to go with the germ of a video idea I had of her and her teammate, Courtney. I wanted to play with a long cut with a camera fixed in place, so I could make images disappear and also blend to create ghost images.

The Saturday I took the long clip (Oct 11, 2008) of these two doing giants on bars, Julia said putting the camera on them was good, because that was the most giants they had done in a while. The editing toward the end is a bit rushed, due to crunch time, but I think it still works.

Happy sweet 15, Francesca!

Coaches don't let coaches coach drunk...or something like that

Text messaging while driving isn't the only danger we face....



Hey, just think of it this way: Could be worse....they could be texting while coaching at the same time.

Cell phone technology has revolutionized our society...not always for the better. I remember back when kids wore fake pagers as a status symbol. Today, who carries around pagers? Now I see kids sporting around their iphones and Blackberries; and I'm not sure the diseases inherent in frivolous cell phone usage outweighs the benefits of having them at all. Of course, by no means are kids the only ones abusing the privilege of the technology.



I think we're still learning how to process and manage today's technological wonders smartly and responsibly.

Disclaimer: Lest I get any coaches into trouble, just keep in mind that the "propanda/agenda" video makes it look worse than it is. (It's called "story-telling).

*08/10/2009 UPDATE* (Welcome Gymnastics Coaching readers!)

Update: 08/26/09

New cut:

The Song of Erin

Well, this was kind of a spontaneous video....and abstract!



I wonder if Erin has any Irish blood in her?

Happy Birthday, Erin!

"The Song of Erin will rise in our hearts again"!

Happy Independence Day!

Dedicated to Ariana's grandfather, Donald Sokol, who enjoys his 75th birthday, today!

Crislin is Not Alone

And no message could have been any clearer...If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change...

Noticing Crislin's mom putting up tribute posts on her Facebook for the King of Pop, although not a fan myself, I was moved by her passion to put together a video for her and her daughter.

*UPDATE* Steve McCain linked/shared/embedded this concert video of MJ in Bucharest on Facebook, singing "Man in the Mirror". I don't know whether to be jubilantly mesmerized by his charismatic star-power over people's emotions or a bit frightened by it.

They Call Her "Ita".....

....but that's not her name. It's Elvira Villa. And she goes by "Ita".

Ok, I may just live long enough to regret this....

Just Malaika's Imagination

This video is from Malaika's birthday party last September 2nd. It was a lot of fun to work, given the number of kids I knew (former SMGC students) who attended but don't get to see anymore.

Lilly, I think, was shocked to see Teri and I, and disoriented by our presence at LASG (I can't remember, but she said some "funny" and "curious" things about the gym switch, and why we left). I seem to recall her expressing some irk and ire, as though holding me accountable to SMGC's closing.




When we were at SMGC, at the end of her class, Malaika used to always ask me to make her a paper airplane. It was kind of a ritual, like when I used to come in and share my breakfast with Anna.

Madison's comment about the haunted maze in the video's closing credits can be better referenced and contextualized by clicking here. I should revisit that updated video, and prefix it with this clip of Madison, talking about it.

It took me 8 months to get around to doing this video. It just kind of happened accidentally while sitting in front of my computer, Friday morning, perusing my music library files as well as going through video files, looking for pictures to send to those who appear in them. Less than 24 hours later and....whalah! Video made, wrapped, printed!

I miss these kids and am grateful for being able to preserve some of the memories!

Malaika's currently been fencing, and loving it!

Gymnastics Meet at All Olympia

Julia's Epic Fail Moment

This happened on February 5th. She really gave me a scare, but was none the worse for wear. Looked hyperextensively pretty bad, though.

I first learned about the phrase "epic fail" from Julia.

Aside from this video, I'd like to publicly say that Julia is the most thoughtful and considerate human being on the face of the planet. Catastrophic success, right there!

Thanks for sending me the video message! It made my life!