Men's NCAA 1979 Event Finals

Digitally transferred from super 8mm by Steve Bonham:

Sophina DeJesus on Ellen Wednesday

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.

Gotta get focused- It's Monday!

Well I guess that's one way to learn focus..
Posted by Stick-It TV on Saturday, January 16, 2016

Hat tip:  Greg Roe Trampoline

Not uncommon practice amongst college teams (although this one is a bit off the charts- lol).


I always liked this video of Mike Chaplin holding the imaginary boom camera:

GoFundMe for Cassie Whitcomb

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.

TBT

Can you name the gymnast and the maneuver? 

Photo of the Day

Source

Gym College

Happy Veterans Day!

Source

UCLA Rising

Christy Linder writes of her fiancee:

Soooo excited to share this finally!

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. 

Life of a Gymnast

This....is just......simply......A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

SUU's Michaela Chernoch:



Parker Walbeck:

I have spent the last few months capturing Michaela's final year of her gymnastic career. This video represents a lifetime of dedication and hard work towards a lifelong passion. Aside from her talent, Michaela is one of the sweetest, most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I'm so glad to have been a part of her last year of gymnastics. Hope you enjoy :)

Shot over the past 5 months with a Canon T3i, Mark II, Mark III with:

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto

Also shot by her parents Wally and Debra Chernoch over the years

It makes me kind of want to purchase equipment and be a professional filmmaker.....just for the fun of it.  *Drool* and  *more drool*

Part of what I find inspiring in this video, is that the home movie footage clearly shows that she wasn't trained with a perfect foundation of muscle-memory shaping and technique before being allowed to move on, and "chuck" less-than-perfect skills.  And yet she still managed to "clean it up" and develop into a solid, collegiate gymnast.



I'm now a fan of both Chernoch and Walbeck....actually, I think Walbeck's converted me to now cheer for SUU!




And I just figured out, that I filmed her unique vault; and either she or her parents swiped my video!


I'm flattered!



*UPDATE* 8/8/2013 06:38

I guess I passed this over when Rick posted this video back in June.