A cool place for friends and family members of Santa Monica Gymnastics Center to come hang out. So nuke the popcorn in the microwave; Snoopy dance...dance..dance around the room...then pull up a chair, and be prepared to laugh and cry; to feel embarrassed and inspired; and to just sit back, relax and enjoy these music videos.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Chainey's first appearance on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood
Blurb:
Chainey Umphrey on Mister Rogers' NeighborhoodEpisode 1566Albert Chainey Umphrey (born August 2, 1970) is a retired American gymnast. He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, helping the U.S. team to a 5th-place finish in the team all-around. Umphrey was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 2, 1970, and took up gymnastics at age 7. He attended Albuquerque Academy and graduated in 1988. While in Albuquerque, he trained at Gold Cup Gymnastics along with future Olympians Lance Ringnald and Trent Dimas.Umphrey competed in college gymnastics at UCLA, where he was an All-American and two-time team captain. He was a member of the U.S. national team from 1989 to 1997, competing at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 1991, 1994, and 1996. His best result was a 4th-place finish on the horizontal bar in 1994. He also won a gold medal for the team all-around at the 1995 Pan American Games.Away from competition, Umphrey also worked to promote the sport of gymnastics and appeared at clinics around the United States. He was a guest on the children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1986 and again in 1995, demonstrating gymnastics skills and training methods.
Did you know Gracie is a walk on at UCLA? Her story is incredible how she found this fit. I am so proud of this JH Girl! Sometimes the journey isn’t a straight line.
Amazing how certain things go viral. Mainstream and social media picked up on Sophina DeJesus' floor routine, as if nothing like this has ever been choreographed before. Collegiate routines, especially, have long been infused with a wide range of dance styles including hip-hop and ethnic.
Bruins visited the Ellen DeGeneres Show today. Segment will be aired tomorrow. Not sure what time (I don't get television). I'm sure if you miss it, you'll be able to find it posted on the website or YouTube.
A former UCLA Bruin, Cassandra Whitcomb recently had spinal fusion surgery:
As many of you probably know...I finally received the spinal fusion
surgery I've been needing for a while on Monday. I was no where near
prepared for the recovery that it
entails. For the past 5 days I have found myself in a gloomy mood
feeling as if the pain will never go away. But for some reason, I woke
up today and I told myself it was gonna be different. I wrote out some
goals on a white board to be accomplished by the end of the day. Such
as, sitting up in a chair for 15 minutes or changing my bandages. Simple
but something to strive for. I realized that this is a new chapter in
my life. Many times new chapters are scary and bring something new and
so we don't recognize the chance to grow and learn. Well I am taking a
moment today to reflect on just how far I have come with this injury,
what I have endured, and how much better my quality of life will be
after recovery. Anything worth having is going to require some work to
get there. So I'm getting to work
Cassandra's mom:
Cassie is a former International/National Team Gymnast (about 6 years!)
and was on the National Tops Team for about 5-6 years prior to that! She
spent most of her young life competing in Gymnastics (since she was 4
1/2 years old!) Her passion was always to be the best she could be.
Regardless of her pain, she just kept going. When she made the National
Team, she worked through many injuries to help her team win gold medals
in many countries (Belgium, Italy, France, United States, etc) You can
find several videos on you tube: "Cassie Whitcomb"...
Random clip I filmed of her doing an exhibition routine a few years ago:
Go here if you are able to donate; and/or help spread the word to others who might contribute.
Rodger, former UCLA gymnast and inventor of the Xpodz, along with Logan, were filmed by ABC 7 news in Los Angeles during their last Operation Mend visit, October 30th. Their news segment aired today, Veterans Day:
WESTWOOD LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
Veterans returning from war need all types of support. One program
includes a very special therapist: a golden retriever named "Logan."
Logan is helping vets and their families heal.
Logan Thomason is preparing to honor America's veterans in the best way he knows how: by showing them lots of love.
Instantly
he brings a smile to the face of retired Army Specialist Paul Hoy and
his family, especially Hoy's 8-year-old daughter.
Hoy was injured
in an IED attack in Afghanistan. He's now part of UCLA Operation Mend,
receiving medical care from doctors, and from dogs.
"They're fun, they're very calming, they soothe you," said Hoy.
Logan has his own name tag at the hospital. He's a registered therapy dog and he's helped hundreds of patients over four years.
Logan's owner says dogs can be instrumental in the healing process, especially when it comes to veterans.
"If
I were to walk in by myself, they'd probably look at me and look back.
He walks in and he races up to them, puts his head in their lap and they
immediately start to pet his head and they're relaxed," said Sgt.
Rodger Thomason, UCLA People-Animal Connection. "I'll just sit there and
say nothing for a few minutes there, and they look at me and, 'Oh, is
this your dog?' So the conversation begins that way."
Thomason says vets that start out shy then open up.
"For me it's very rewarding to see somebody light up and just start talking about animals and everything else," said Thomason.
Hoy has advice for other vets.
"If
you come back and you find it's difficult to cope, just reach out to
people and don't let the problems overwhelm you," said Hoy.
Some long-time readers of Gymnast Crossing may remembervideos from Santa Monica Gymnastics Center of a old school gymnast named Rodger who the club owner, Al Luber, was friends with. Both former UCLA gymnasts themselves, Al let Rodger come in to workout and relieve stress. His daughters also took gymnastics, with the eldest on team.
Rodger Thomason is also a brilliant product design engineer. If any of you remember Mitch Gaylord's fitness product- I think it was called the Gaylord III that, if memory serves, was like one of those strength towers with a set of rings on it- Rodger was the guy who designed the prototype.
He was also the go-to-guy who made the prototype for the Perfect Push-up.
He suggested ways to improve the design; but the clients were not
interested. So Rodger came up with his own invention. Ergonomically
easy on the wrists, Rodger's product is accessible to a wide range of
people who need to stay in shape- from wounded vets, the elderly, those
in physical rehab, to the hardcore athletes and fitness buffs. Check it
out and support the Kickstarter campaign by making a contribution and/or by spreading the word:
Jason
wrote, sang, & produced this song RISE for this year's UCLA
Gymnastics home meet opening video (with only a tiny tiny bit of help
from me). He also directed & produced the video as well. It gives me
chills every single time I watch it... and for whatever reason I get
nervous every time it plays on the jumbo tron at Pauley Pavilion
Please watch at 1080P with your speakers turned UP!!!
Christy helped coach team developmental at BGS for a while. Now she has an official photo gig with the UCLA Bruin Gymnastics team.
Christy's photo blog is here. Check out her post and photos of the season opener against the Florida Gators.
Caslin's boyfriend Hisonni Johnson wrote and directed a pilot series, Grayson: Earth One. It debuted this last weekend on YouTube as webisode installments.
Series Synopsis: "Grayson: Earth One' is the re-imagined origin story of
the hero known as Nightwing/ Richard Grayson. The series takes place in
a new continuity on a new Earth separate from the DC Universe, freeing
it from continuity restraints.
Starring Stephen McCain as Richard
Grayson, Daz Crawford as Dr. Victor Friese, Rileah Vanderbilt as Helena
Bertinelli, Angela Gulner as Barbara Gordon and Katie H. Young as
Carrie Kelly
I met up with Steve about a month ago to run through some stick training (he said his character uses two sticks/batons). I haven't done any serious training in over a decade, but used to be a senior student under Dan Inosanto and was under apprenticeship to Mark Mikita during the 90s. Steve remembered how much training I was doing in martial arts, at the time, and so gave me a call to do some catching up.
Back then when I was intense about martial arts, I knew a number of guys from the Inosanto Academy who went on to have successful careers in stuntwork. I taught some of them gymnastics classes and privates while others came in for open gym at SMGC.
I've met some of the most well-known names in the MA community, as well as trained with and trained under them. In my experience without putting anyone else down, Mark Mikita is quite simply the most well-researched, most well-rounded student, practitioner (master), and teacher of the fighting arts. He is the "real deal" when it comes to realistic, functionalized fighting and developing adaptability for self-defense in varied, real-world environments, outside of the squared circle or the octagon ring. He put himself through chiropractic school to better understand how to attack the human skeleton. He leaves no stone left unturned and brings a variety of combat arts (including combative firearms training) and related fields all under one umbrella, sometimes under the Filipino moniker of "kali" or "escrima". Essentially, for him, he will utilize whatever works.
For a serious martial artist like Mark who would just as sooner paint all the windows to his school black, invite no one, and keep the training group small and intimate rather than commercialize the art, he too is currently working and starring in an independent film.
In my opinion, he's the best kept secret in the martial arts world. Where so many people spout on about Bruce Lee's philosophical beliefs as it relates to martial arts, and end up doing exactly what Bruce Lee was against, Mark truly lives and breathes the following:
a new Internet meme has usurped that once-ubiquitous horse-gallop dance.
It’s called the “Harlem Shake.”
For the uninitiated, it consists of
users uploading videos to YouTube that last about thirty seconds in
length and feature the opening of electronic music producer Baauer’s
song “Harlem Shake.” The videos begin with the song’s sample of a man
giving a shrieking siren call of “Con los terroristas!”—Columbian
Spanish for “with the terrorists”—followed by one person, usually in a
ridiculous mask or helmet, dancing to the song alone as the beat builds.
He or she is surrounded by others who are stationary, blissfully
unaware of the dancer. When the directive, Then do the Harlem shake
is uttered about 15 seconds in, the bass drops and the video
metastasizes into pure chaos—the entire coterie engaging in paroxysms of
dance for the next 15 seconds in outrageous outfits, and wielding
bizarre props.
Thefirst video was uploaded to YouTube by amateur comedian Filthy Frank on February 2.
As of February 15, over 40,000 “Harlem Shake” videos have been uploaded
to YouTube, totaling over 175 million views. The cast of theTODAY show, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, this year’sSports Illustratedswimsuit models, and even a battalionof the Norwegian Army have gotten in on the act.
Christy Linder was a former Michigan State University gymnast who I worked with at Broadway Gymnastics School. She now has a gig as a professional photographer with a floor pass at Bruin meets. Last Sunday, her musician boyfriend Jason Sharp was also on floor at Pauley Pavilion, filming some of the sights in HD video. He's since edited and added original music:
Well, I wasn't planning on attending many UCLA meets this year, given the limited seating (Pauley Pavilion is under reconstruction) in the Wooden Center; but Amy put me on the guest list and encouraged me to come. They were expecting a packed house and tickets did indeed sell out.
I opened a new YouTube channel specifically for stuff I feel more comfortable with advertising and sharing publicly with to a wider audience. My other account I prefer to remain more low key.
I actually filmed pretty near all the routines on all apparatus this time. It'll take me a while to upload most of it, though.
I'm still not planning on attending many home meets this season. But who knows? It's always nice to see familiar faces at these things.
