Thursday Advanced Class: RO BHs

Naomi first started with us at SMGC summer camp and was pretty much a raw beginner. I'm glad we let her move up into the SMGC intermediate class (which is now called "advanced" at LASG), because she has been a reliable, quiet, diligent worker. She's a kid who pays attention, because she wants to be good. I can't recall a single time where I've ever had to discipline her on talking too much, being lazy, whiny, etc.

I thought I'd experiment and try a bit of instructional in this video, to see if it helps any of these girls. I think I can draw straighter lines and better curves on an Etch-a-Sketch, but my line drawings in the video will have to do, showing a more correct body position than the ones these kids have in their round-off backhandsprings.

STRETCH THOSE SHOULDERS JENNIFER!!! EVERY DAY!!!

Last Chance....

The last Saturday before the Academy meet, tomorrow.


Mulan Sweeney:
In spite of all the flaws and sloppiness, I'm duly impressed by how much this 6 year old has acquired and retained, in a short span of practice.

And she's absolutely unphased about the notion of performing in front of people.



Emma Totsubo:
I could not talk Emma into doing the Academy meet. She's better prepared than her younger sister, Leah, yet it's her younger sister who is willing to go out on a limb and do the meet (and Leah was in tears part of the time, in practice today; basically, she learned her routines today, and is justifiably, understandably a bit scared....yet she's agreed to do this!).


Lauren Kelly:
Lauren was sick with the flu about a week ago, and it didn't look like she was going to be able to do the meet, anyway. I know she was very excited Tuesday night and really wanted to do the meet. I think she is supposed to have something going on for tomorrow. Yet today, arriving late to practice, she said she would be here tomorrow. She's probably the best prepared out of my intermediates advanced girls, from SMGC. Keli pointed her out today, and asked when she'd be on team.

Just Forget the World

For Coach Robyn:

What Our Intermediates Have Been Doing in the Gym

Here are a few clips of Tuesday's intermediate class, as an example of some of the exciting things the girls are working on. This is the last week. before we go over to LASG (our last week of the session will take place over there, to acclimate our kids to the change in environment). Some training devices we do not have at SMGC (tumbling pits), which is present at LASG; others will be missed, such as this bungee zipline:

Corynn demonstrating RO BH:

Naomi practices RO 2 BHs:

Kaitlin shows how it's possible to do 4 in a row, with a little help:

You can hook as many as 3 bungee cords (those weighing about 70 lbs or less will find themselves floating) to each side of the belt; at one cord, it supports maybe around 20% of their body weight, making them about 20% stronger than they normally are, as Al puts it. Octagons and PAC-Men are good for body-shaping and hand-spotting is good for manipulating and reinforcing desired positioning. But the zipline makes it easy on the spotter and enables the young gymnast to be somewhat self-sufficient, and get in the numbers. Repetition is the mother of all teachers, even in the absence of constant nit-picking and spoon-fed corrections.

I think Lauren's first RO BH was done this way, before I had her try it on the platform into the portapit, with a spot. I think it accelerated the process. There is no "one size fits all", of course, but when Al introduced this method over the summer to some summer campers, we had several of them acquire their RO BHs by themselves, shortly thereafter.

Lauren's first time trying RO 2 BHs:

We only just started working on the level 4 routines for about a month, now, after spending the past year on level 5 elements, when we worked on them at all. The change is due to the fact that LASG does compete 4's. Lauren is the number one student when it comes to routine acquisition. It may not be polished, but even just the fact that she has it memorized, for how little time we've actually devoted to it, and that she can do all the skill elements says a lot about how much Robyn, Heather and I wish we had a dozen more like her.

Lauren performing Level 4 floor, after class for her mom:

I believe that Lauren's actually one of the rare students we have who has done her gymnastics homework, and watched YouTube vids of the level 4 routines, coupled with a good memory, and an interest. Lauren's only been doing gymnastics for about a year; I think she moved up to intermediates in the summer...maybe before...'ll have to look that one up.

I remember moving her up, based upon her maturity level more than her skill level at the time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well....a day late, anyway. This video was conceived of at the end of practice last night. Something in my conversation with Kathryn got me to mention how I heard for the first time, the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else but You", as sung by the actors in the movie "Juno" (which I have not seen, and only vaguely know about- Kathryn and Hannah made it known to me that I've been living under a rock, and the movie and song are so old, people are sick of it now). So anyway, I like the song, and am not tired of listening to it yet. I suggested I should use the song in one of my videos. Then suggested Kathryn and Hannah- who are best buds since perhaps diaperhood- should sing or pretend to sing the song. I had seen a number of YouTube cover videos yesterday of people acoustically singing the tune and had found a version I like. (Plus, it's sung by sisters, which suits Hannah and Kathryn perfectly).

So this is a quick video edit, using a mish-mash of footage stretching back almost 3 years, up to what I filmed of them, yesterday.



It sounds like Kathryn will probably discontinue gymnastics when we make the move to LASG; and Hannah will be getting back surgery this year for scoliosis, all but effectively ending any ambitions for competitive gymnastics. I wish the two of them all the best of luck in their future endeavors!

They've left me with some pretty fond memories to cherish. I will miss them.

Intermediates Class of 2007

I tried to include a bit of footage of everyone. That's about 24+ different girls! Anyway, this is another quick video edit.

I love my intermediates!

Level 5 Floor for Intermediates

Since SMGC does not compete level 4's, I have the intermediate classes work on elements from the level 5 routine; that way, if any of them make it to team, they'll have a sort of "head start". In terms of the dance elements being progressive, moving from basic to something more advanced, I don't see it. It's silly that prior to the second tumbling pass, what differentiates 5 from 6 is a flexed toe in 5 and a pointed toe in 6. That's just....pointless; other than to confuse transitioners, who end up jumbling parts from 5 with parts from 6.

I wonder how often a level 6 gymnast doesn't realize she has kept a level 5 interpretation in her routine, goes unnoticed and uncorrected by the coaches, and then makes its way before tired judges who, after watching a hundred routines, fails to catch the error.

Anyway, most of our intermediates only train once or twice a week, in two hour classes. They don't always get to practice routines; but some really get into it.

I thought I'd put some videos up of the routines; that way, we can spend more time polishing in class and less time memorizing.

Hopefully, they will also get a "feel" for the performance aspect, and see how different gymnasts and different gyms interpret the same routine differently.

The following video is of Michele Wunderlich during practice, April 4th:


This is a video I took of my friend's daughter, Nika (who I taught her first backhandspring to):



The routine scored a 9.1 or 9.2.

Here is a 9.6 routine at the So. Cal State Championships, by another Nica. Outstanding dive roll!

The following is of one of my adult clients. Mari only recently began working on the level 5 floor routine and her background in dance and movement shows through in this partial clip:




Here is her first time doing a round off backhandspring without a spotter present, on the floor. November 24th:



I encourage all of my intermediates to run "level 5 gymnastics" through the search function on YouTube. You can learn quite a bit from observation and study. In my day, I didn't have such access at my fingertips. I had to monitor the tv guide for any gymnastics on Wide World of Sports or other sports programs, and set the VCR. Now you are no longer limited by only watching elite level gymnastics on tv; but through the internet, we are able to peek in on home video training sessions of anything from high level gymnastics to awful low quality gymnastics.

Ruby Tuesdays and Thursdays

Ruby and her sister Delphine have been on and off, taking gymnastics at SMGC.

Mostly off.

After summer of 2006, Delphine focused on ballet; but we were fortunate enough to have Ruby as a holdover, staying on into the Fall.I think she started out in the beg/adv, then within the session, I knew I wanted to bump her up- along with her kindergarten friend Georgia- to intermediates.

Ruby was a good student, and I was sorry to see her not continue after this past summer. She had a good memory for routines (since we don't compete level 4's, we just start 'em off memorizing level 5's), not at all slow at acquiring new skills (she started doing kips on the strap bar before the start of summer), and was never a disciplinary problem. Overall, she just added so much to the intermediate group. It's always great, too, when you have kids who are able and willing to come at least twice a week (Tues and Thurs for intermediates, as well as Sat); it's much more difficult to build up a strong, well-rounded gymnast who only trains for 2 hours, once a week.

Ruby's now joined her sister in ballet. I had high hopes that she loved gymnastics enough to push forward into someday moving up to team; I was also hoping Delphine would eventually defect and join her sister in the gym. Perhaps, someday they will return.

Being twins, I did notice a remarkable difference in physical musculature, over the past year that Ruby did gymnastics consistently. Both her and Delphine are naturally on the thin side; but gymnastics training has given Ruby much more muscle mass than her twin sister.

This was a quick and easy video edit; and one that I had wanted to do ever since Ruby wore that t-shirt of hers, which appears in the video. So even though she is not currently with us, she is still special, and she is missed.

Georgia of the Jungle Gym

Happy Independence Day!

I really wanted to use "George of the Jungle" for her theme music; but couldn't find a version that could work...probably something to do with the fact that this is "Georgia" and not "George".

This kid's pretty strong...I joke that she's Thea V2.0 and her classmate Kaitlin is Thea V3.0; but of course, they are each their own unique selves.

One stuntguy working out in the gym earlier in the year noted it one day, how strong Georgia is; and Georgia's classmate, Ruby, piped in with a footnote, "And she's only in kindergarten!".

Georgia and Ruby started around the fall of last year in beginning/advanced; but they were moved up to intermediates by the end of the session, when Georgia was still only five years old. She's now six.

Ruby's done gymnastics on-and-off, along with her sister Delphine; after summer camp, I was happy to see that one of them, at least, decided to linger on into the school year. And she brought her younger friend, Georgia, along with her.

For a long time, Georgia only came once a week. Happily now, she attends classes twice a week. One of the great things about having kids who are naturally strong, is that they are motivated to do the strength work. Georgia often does more than is assigned to her, when it comes to strength and conditioning. She is often heard saying, "One more time..." when working on her stiff-stiff, straddle press to handstand. I'll assign something like 10, and she'll discard the bad ones and only count the ones she deems worthy of being counted, in her estimation.

During the brief time she was in beg/adv, she was able to do standing backhandsprings on the trampoline; then lost them. The tumbling footage seen is mostly her best stuff, thus far; but for a while, she had a lot of difficulty getting off her hands and feet in her tumbling.

Her one weakness is that she tends to do everything slow. I don't think she lacks fast-twitch muscle fibers; it's just that she seems to be secure in areas where she is in control of what her body does. And when you are required to move fast through the air, in the beginning, it may feel like you have to relinquish some of that control, leaving gravity in charge. Georgia's learning how to deal with that.

And in the meanwhile, she is feelin' stronger everyday!

Rock Me!

I liked the song, hence a video. Don't try explicating any sense of it to the footage. Quick edit job, too.

This is of the intermediate class, this past year. Footage stretches from December of 2005 thru to December of 2006. Some of the kids are no longer with us; others have progressed on to team; a few are brand-spanking new to the class.

The violinist, btw, is Isabel Bleimeister, who provides, somewhat, the framework. Enjoy!

Gymnastics is a "Breese"

Addison Breese is one of those darling kids who you have the pleasure of seeing, "grow up". I think I've only known her for 2 years at the least; perhaps it's been 3. In some ways, it feels even longer than that; and yet she's growing up so quickly, it feels like time is flying right on by me. I've seen her move up the ranks from beginning/advanced and into intermediates; we didn't let her over stay her welcome there and it wasn't long before we pushed her on to level 5 team.

I think her most dramatic transformation happened when we had our annual Spring Fling in May. Still in intermediates at the time, she worked hard on her level 4 floor routine to be performed in front of an audience.

Addie's best asset is her flexibility; but it's also been a crutch, as she over-relies upon it to "coast" through certain skills. Once she understands how to maintain body tightness and the importance of proper body-shapes through her skills, she will see dramatic improvements in her performance. As it is, right now, her body flops around like a wet noodle; or like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz if he were to do a round-off backhandspring (I almost chose the Scarecrow's song...but then thought: "If I Only Had a Brain" would come across as too insulting).

Besides...I wouldn't want to sabotage my chance at having dinner with the Breese family, later on tonight. (^_^)

I think I forgot to mention in the closing credits that in the video, Addie does all her own stunts. (^_~)

Thea the Gymnast Chapter Five: ~Theaphany~

This will probably be the last in the series, making "Thea the Gymnast" a pentalogy. Have no fear though: a brand new series begins December 25th (at least, that's my target goal).

As much as I love the Basil Poledouris epic soundtracks, it's time to move on to a newer theme. Since one of Thea's strengths is her strength, the Conan music seemed to fit. This latest and last video, however, doesn't focus on her physical strength, but on one of her weaknesses. Knobby pidgeon-toed knees, sickled feet, and initially, a lack of understanding of form and artistry, Thea's actually come a long way in less than a year. I think her ongoing transformation can find representation in how she used to do the final pose in her level 5 floor routine, to how she does it at the end of the video. I used to secretly chuckle at it because you could tell she had no clue what the whole point of standing there at the end of the routine was all about. The footage is mostly taken from around summer of 2005, December 2005, then throughout 2006, up to summer.

I had a deal of difficulty editing this one. I just wasn't sure what to put in it; and I felt like I was riding on fumes, as far as the footage goes. Nothing terribly exciting; mostly just spare part footage; but still fun to make for Thea (I think I just like listening to the music).

Theanthropology

Thea and Oona graduated from intermediates to level five team at the end of 2005. Since I hadn't been working much with team, I haven't done as much filming of Thea as I would have liked to have done, this year. And when I do work with team, I'm too busy actually coaching to do much in the way of filming.

Thea has been a favorite subject matter for me to video-chart for a few reasons. One is that she seemed to take an immediate liking to me from day one, when she moved up from Sara's intro class to my beginning/advanced; and whenever that happens, it's hard not to like someone back. That was over 2 years ago. What I remember about her is that she had really long hair and would tap my shoulder and say, "Watch Michael...I can do 20 chin ups." And she loved doing them. Not so much anymore.

So that brings me to reason #2: she's a pretty strong kid. Not the strongest I've seen, but she could be if it were the primary focus of her gymnastics; which it is not. She only trains about 9 hours a week; about 4 when she was in intermediates.

I've always been attracted to the beauty of a gymnast's strength. When I was young and strong, I felt superhuman, being able to move my body around, suspend it, seemingly defying gravity. It was like my body weighed a feather. I miss that feeling. When I watch Thea, I think she is experiencing some of that feeling. It's her physical strength that has helped her progress and acquire her skills as much as anything. I think she is actually lacking a bit in the coordination department; yet her physical strength is able to compensate for that, and she is capable of acquiring skills pretty rapidly because of it, in many instances. She probably takes her strength somewhat for granted, not knowing what it is like not to be so strong and light; it's kind of like one's fast twitch and slow twitch muscles, where you either have it or you don't.

Thea's biggest weakness still is her understanding of body shape and artistic form; once she grasps these things, she should blossom into a very elegant and powerful gymnast.

The third reason why she now has 4 music videos made of her when some of the kids I have worked with over the past 2 years (I've only been doing this film-making for about that long) have yet to see even one of themselves made, is that the music I originally selected and the theme I had chosen for her, is ripe for movie parody sequels. Usually what dictates what project I'm going to do next is artistic inspiration. For some of the girls, I just don't have a particular theme or song in mind, to tell a story. For Thea, I have it all charted out, based largely on the music. I have a number of favorite "epic-feel" soundtracks in mind. And there's just something fun about making a series; I do it so I can listen to the music as much as anything else.

I was going to include footage of her doing level 5 routines; but it didn't seem to go with the music (and I've been squeezing everything I like out of the two Basil Poledouris soundtracks I have- Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer). I've pretty much exhausted these two soundtracks and will either go with Last of the Mohicans or "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". Not sure if I'll keep the "Conan-like" main titles. But I do like consistency...



I'm not absolutely satisfied with the footage; but it's the footage I have. I rarely get to "stage" what I'd actually would like to film, from a cameraman and cinematographer's strandpoint (remember: I'm usually supposed to be coaching, not playing film-maker). Or ask for a second take. So usually what I put together in the videos are from scraps and a roll of the dice of what I happen to capture on film, at the moment, good or bad.

If you've missed the previous episodes and are too internet/blog-navigation-challenged to check the sidebar and figure it out, here are the previous vids:

Riddle of Strength and Thealogy

Theatricks

Only Time (Will Give Us Our Round-Off Backhandsprings)

Between the months of March thru April, we had about 8 or 9 girls in intermediates get their round-off backhandsprings on the platform/resi pit; and a few have since been doing it on the floor.

This video is of the intermediate level gymnasts, sifting through footage dating back to April of 2005. Most of the clips, though, are of the more recent group of intermediates, charting a small part of their march to success.

Mackaroni!

Mackenzie Solton is the kind of student teachers can't find fault with. Good attitude, diligent listener, hard working, burning desire to succeed and move up, no lip-service, et cetera. Because of that, even though her skill level wasn't quite there yet, we decided to go ahead and bump her up into intermediates.

She started taking occasional privates with me last summer, and through into December. Two of her primary goals were to get her backhandspring and her round-off backhandspring. So, this video charts her progress from the beginning phase up through to when she finally got her RO backhandspring last month. She's had to work very hard for her gymnastics skills, as none of it seems to have come easy and naturally. I'm sure that has only helped build her character.

One of her biggest hurdles was overcoming a very inconsistent, slow, and rather crooked round off. In fact, there was one time I was spotting her on her RO BH, and she threw one of her old crooked round offs and launched herself like a battering ram straight into me. The top of her head collided with my forehead like a hammer on an anvil. It hurt. A lot. I did years of boxing and combative sports, and I couldn't recall a headbutt, kick, punch, or kali stick that hurt worse than that did and made my head explode with stars. I worried if she were ok, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. But do you know what the first words out of her mouth were? "Are you ok?" I can't tell you how selfless that was of her to ask me that, and be concerned about my welfare (yes, Mackie....I wanted to cry); because I could tell it physically hurt her. But she didn't cry. I later learned through her mom, just as I suspected, that she was a bit shaken up by the experience, and held it in until she got in the car. Through the rest of workout, she had contained her pain and kept her composure. Sometimes Mackie's biggest obstacle can be her self-confidence in executing a skill, when I know she's physically capable. So I worried if this would set her back or not from getting her round-off backhandspring. Well, she's proved to be made of sterner stuff; and with the determination of a mack truck, she's been plowing through her gymnastics obstacles!



This is a video I've been wanting to make for a long time! But I couldn't make it until MacKie delivered on her round-off backhandspring. So I've been very patient on holding on to much of the footage used in this one.

Cirque du Isabel

Isabel has long been one of my all-time favorites (does it seem like I say this about everyone? I mean it every time it's said...). When I first barely knew her, she had requested that I work her birthday party, 2 and a half years ago. Since that time, she and I have only grown closer together. A very sweet, good-natured kid.
Rarely seen (we tend to lose her during soccer season...then there was that period where she had broken her arm...), I always look forward to Saturdays, for that's when there's an outside chance of her being at gymnastics practice.
Isabel's also an accomplished violinist. Her parents chose the music for her video, which was made upon request for Izzy's grandmother (celebrating her 80th birthday this January!). Apparently she loves these songs from Cirque du Soleil. They kind of grew on me too, as I edited the video. Overall, I'm pleased with how the video turned out and I hope it is enjoyed by Isabel and her family.

The footage was taken throughout 2005, with the bulk drawn from summer camp and winter camp.




Isabel's always been thoughtful, and over the years, she's made me a few things. I think I still have some origami in my locker that she folded for me; and a bead...she gave me a bead! I'm pretty sure I still have that inside a groinpack (I wear my buttpack in the front so as not to get robbed..hence: "groinpack)I no longer wear. Since it's from her, I treasured it! This is a drawing she made me a couple of years ago:
















And here's a poem she made me last week, during winter camp:

Numera Oona!

Merry Christmas! I thought I'd string together footage I gathered over the past year of one of my prized intermediate girls who has now just graduated on to Level 5 team. Congratulations Toona!

Thea the Gymnast Chapter Three: ~Theatrics~

Thea turned 8 in August; and, in part, because of the movie music I used in her previous videos, I thought it'd be fun to continue the theme of parodying epic movies; and what blockbuster hit is without its endless string of sequels? So, I shall continue to chart Thea's progress. Her silliness in the beginning, I think, is because she was finally seeing the fruits of my labor in filming, and went through a brief phase of hamming it up for the camera. It's interesting to see how much her gymnastics has matured within just the past couple of months. That's in large part due to her coach Alexis. Thea has a lot of problems with form, and Alexis has not tolerated sloppiness from her. The last clip is a tease of Thea in the dawn of acquiring the dance elements in the level 5 floor routine. I am quite impressed by how far she has developed, almost overnight, in her sense of performance and grace; and also her ability to retain, as she used to have a bit of difficulty in memorizing routines. I think it's just that she's starting to "get it", and beginning to understand what artistic gymnastics is supposed to look like. She will graduate on to team next session, after the holidays, along with a couple of other fellow intermediate class gymnasts.

Thea

Thea's greatest strength is her strength. She just turned 8, late August, and I'm hoping she'll get a planche and a v-seat press to handstand within the next 6 months. Just this past Thursday, she did it on the push-up bars with some level of control, including lowering down back through to the v, and stooping through back up to the handstand again. She just needs more consistent control, better understanding of form and bodyshaping.

Sometimes, I don't even think she knows what she is capable of. I remember one day asking her to do an aerial, which she hadn't really done before. She landed it, and shrugged it off, like no big accomplishment. But typical of her, there are days when she can't pull it off; or can't do her kip. I think her physical talent is ahead of her mental capacity to understand what it is that's required of her to execute and perform.

She's started to do multiple handstand pirouettes in a row, including doing them out of straddle-up handstand forward rolls; but again, she has no real sense of body tightness and form. As strong as she is, she is weak in her core hollow-shaping.

I thought I'd chart her progress into a series of continuing movies...an epic story to the theme music from Conan...


"The Riddle of Strength":



"Thealogy":

Haley was Made for Me and Me

I've known Haley for several years now. She's been in intermediates for about a year, and I first taught her when she was in beginning/advanced. She's a master at giving you the, "I'm cute and adorable and you know it!" look.