Quote of the Day

Emma Totsubo on Wednesday: "I can always do it when no one is watching."

Fine.

Let the judges know they can take a coffee break and get some fresh air while you do your bar routine. When they come back, you can let them know how you did and what score to give you.

Broadway Stars is now comprised of those who haven't seen competition yet. Hopefully, most will compete in 2 months.

Claire's had a lot of trouble with the single-leg shoot through and started getting into a bad habit of letting go with her left hand to cheat it. The other day, out of momentary resignation, I told her when she gets up to do her bar routine for the judges, ask them to sit to her right where they won't see that hand come up off the bar.

Quote of the Day

Kort pulled Esperanza, age 5, out of her Perfect 10's class for a moment on Monday to evaluate her on potentially being invited to Hot Shots. He decides he wants to talk to her mom and asks her: "What's your mommy's name?"

Esperanza: "Mommy."

Lame.....

I just figured out that YouTube has disabled my primary account, "due to terms of violation" regarding copyright infringement. A couple of days ago I got two back to back notices regarding my video uploads of Chainey on Mr. Rogers:

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Family Communications, Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:

Chainey Returns to Mr Rogers Neighborhood Pt I MOV04802: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfGDElz857M

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Given that there were 3 videos (with Chainey's second appearance in 2 parts), I didn't even think to head 'em off at the pass and disable the third video. I uploaded it so long ago, my mind wasn't thinking of preemption. So it seems 3 strikes and I'm out. Seems grossly unfair to have my account deleted in this manner. If I had subsequently uploaded more copyright infringing videos after their notice, then I'd say that qualifies as "repeat violation".

Ah well.....some 200 videos (origami, gymnastics, and others) that I have to consider whether or not it's worth the time to upload....

Caption This

Xiao Qin of China, also known as the 'Pommel King', tries to hold on with one hand as he falls from the pommel horse in men's gymnastics at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 5, 2006.
REUTERS/Bobby Yip

Extra!, Extra!, Read All About It!

LASG's Academy Meet & Expo
fundraising event
Sunday, October 19, 2008 from 1pm to 3pm.
Registration cost: $45
Spectator Admission: $6
Contact LASG for more info

Happy Birthday, Ana!

It just occurred to me that today is Ana Frandell's birthday. If I had remembered it earlier today, I would have worked on finishing up a video of her I started over a year ago.

For some reason, I've had Sept 7th lodged in my head ever since Ana quizzed me on it a few years ago. She basically stopped showing up to gym (no official quit day that I can recall) before SMGC closed down. 2 weeks ago, she started coming to a tumbling class for cheer on Wednesday nights (the one night the higher level team girls from SMGC don't come on). She definitely tumbles like a trained competitive gymnast and not a "chuck it" cheerleader.


I remember putting the following up on the closet wall at SMGC, over by the stereo as a joke:



It was created using an online newspaper generator.

Some parent apparently read it on the wall, and thought it was real.

I recommend checking out this video, in honor of Ana.

Happy Birthday Ana!

Tales of the Weird..."What's that smell?"

Do you smell what ______ is cooking?

Last Thursday, during my advanced class while we were on tumbling, I smelled poo. Not flatulence; but something fierce....like someone baking brownies in their pants. Usually, if it's just gas, I might ignore it; especially if I knew which kid did it by the accompanying trumpet sound. I don't want to embarrass anyone who might be ashamed of it; so sometimes I don't draw more attention to it than is already present. But the smell Thursday night was so suffocatingly gross, I had to throw the question out there: "What in the blue blazes is that smell?!" I then got caught up with the task at hand of spotting and coaching, leaving the girls to figure it out for me as they began mumbling amongst themselves to get to the bottom of it.

I moved down to the other side of the floor to spot anyone who needed it on front handsprings or backhandsprings- whatever it was we were working on. Well, eventually I look down our makeshift runway wondering who's holding up the line as the traffic flow of tumblers stopped; and what do I see: Anna with her nose buried in Malaika's rear-end. I noticed it just in time to hear Anna tell Malaika, "I don't smell anything." Wow. Now that's friendship for ya.

Later on, I smelled the smell again. Not a clue where/who it emanated from. But someone was definitely baking brownies.

The last part of this unsolved mystery is that I also witnessed Anna, later on, holding one of those floppy floor objects (for the pre-schoolers) and fanning Malaika's tushy-bun.

Hmmm.....

Strangely enough, I have this funny clip from Winter Camp 2007 at SMGC I am planning to use in a Malaika video:

Now that I think about it, footage of Thursday's odor problem might have gone nicely with this clip.

Malaika's Birthday Party and Computer Woes

This picture was taken by Neil (father), sent to me by Stacey (mother) from Malaika's birthday party yesterday at the gym. Good to see so many familiar faces.

Lots of fun. I'll write about it in detail, if I get around to making a video. Weird to have a birthday party at the gym on a weekday.

Disappointing for me last night to have lost the greater bulk of videoclips I've taken from 2008, all on one of my external hard drives that somehow became corrupted after trying to reconfigure my windows media player to import music from the hard drive (I recently had my computer "fixed"). Lost some really good stuff, waiting to be made into videos. Entire files were either corrupted or the contents simply vanished. This includes some of my music videos, some of which I do not have copies; so the only existing evidence are the lower resolution videos on the internet.

I recovered a few from the recycle bin, as I was trying to burn some vids for Thea, and disgarded "temporary files" a few times, when they wouldn't all fit on one disc. Thankfully, this includes salvaging copies of Julia's videos and at least one of Erin's.

Modem also broke down last week, so I've not really had a lot of access to the internet. *sigh*

LASG Summer Camp Kids Support the Troops

Camp is winding down; but camp director Robyn managed to get some of the remaining kids to write cards to be sent to soldiers serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Quote of the Day

"That's too girlie!"
-Nava Lewine, age 7, resistant to learning the level 4 floor routine, because of the dance elements. August 26, 2008

Child Abuse or Champion-Building?

A young Chinese athlete exercises in front of a Chinese flag at a gymnastics hall at the Shichahai sports school in Beijing December 5, 2007.
REUTERS/David Gray


What is the secret to China's success? Well....besides this, there are other cultural-political matters of deep significance:




A coach counts down the time as boys hang on a bar for five minutes as part of a training session at the Gymnastics Hall of the Shanghai University of Sports August 7, 2007.
REUTERS/Nir Elias


Is this type of spartan training and coaching chlid abuse or champion-building? Keep in mind, that what you see in the videoclips might appear to be worse than is actually going on; and that this sort of intensive molding and shaping of young athletes is not unique to Chinese culture or communist states.

Also see CNN coverage of elite gymnasts at Parkettes.

On Cheng Fei: Chinese gymnast endured childhood sacrifice

"Our family was poor so we hoped Cheng Fei could in some way change her life," said her mother, Xu Chunxiang. "So we thought maybe being a professional athlete is good for her."

But now that decision is history, and all that remains in the young woman's quest is Olympic gold, and the riches that come with it.

For every gold medal Cheng wins, the state authorities are expected to reward her with more than $150,000 in cash and bonuses, a huge sum in a country where college graduates are fortunate to earn $500 a month. There could also be lucrative marketing deals.

But Chinese athletes are taught that they are competing for national glory, not individual achievement or future riches. And Cheng, puffy-cheeked with a penchant for reading military books, seems unlikely to pursue a career in the limelight.
She rarely grants interviews. Her parents say that in telephone conversations with her, she often responds by saying little more than yes, no and O.K.

And after winning three gold medals at the World Cup in Tianjin, China, in May, dominating a tournament in which the U.S. team did not participate, Cheng pouted at a news conference and declared: "I think I can do better. I wasn't at my best."
Friends say it was a glimpse into the character of a young gymnast who, initially driven by her parents and the state, now pushes herself to the limit.

Cheng's road to Beijing began in central China, here in Hubei Province, a bleak industrial region where her father worked as a shipping clerk and her mother toiled in a tire factory.

She was born in 1988, an only child in a nation with a one-child policy. From the beginning, her parents say, she looked like a boy, so they treated her like one. Her father, a disciplinarian who had studied martial arts, pushed her from an early age, even pressing her to do calisthenics every morning before primary school classes began.

"I trained her like a military soldier," said her father, Cheng Ligao, who now owns a shop in Huangshi. "She followed me step by step and I shouted to her, 'One-two, one-two...."'

Yao Juying, her first coach, recalled a remarkably disciplined and focused child.
"I cannot believe how hard-working she was at that young age," Yao said. "I've been doing this for 24 years, and I've never found a second one like her."



~~~

The hardships imposed on athletes in China's national sports system are well-documented. Under pressure to produce athletes of gold-medal caliber, coaches typically force children to endure painful stretching and muscle-building exercises.

"Gymnastics is a really painful thing, especially for pretty young kids; it's torture," said Zhao Hanhua, Cheng's coach at the Wuhan Institute, where Cheng's portrait now hangs on the wall as inspiration to other youngsters. "So we tell the kids, 'This is your lifetime challenge."'

Cheng's coaches say she went through excruciating pain to make her feet turn inward so that she could perform better on the balance beam.

"The training was pretty tough, especially during leg stretching," Cheng's mother recalls. "She cried crazily, like she was dying. Her father and I accompanied her and our hearts almost broke into pieces when she cried that heart-wrenchingly."
At one point, Cheng pleaded with her parents to let her quit and return home. "We asked her to hold on because we had invested so much and lived so bitterly," her mother said.

It's Not How Old You Are.....?

Gotta love controversy.

Caption This

Alicia Sacramone of the U.S. competes on the balance beam in the women's team artistic gymnastics final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 13, 2008.
REUTERS/Mike Blake

Political Gymnastics

A little history on Al Luber...who's a little older than 7

Today, Thea told me about how level 4 gymnast Miriam was making him laugh. She relayed one exchange of theirs, where Miriam asked Al how old he is. Al told her, "Older than you." Miriam replied back, "So....you're seven?"*

The following is from an email Julia forwarded to me a while ago. Thought it might be a good time to post it.

Al's old engineering buddy goes to my church small world, huh? I say Al sould wear that outfit to class sometime, hahaha

-----Original Message-----
From: Terri-Rae Elmer <>
To: Julia Wallace <>
Subject: Fw: Julia's Gymnastics coach
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:05:44 -0700

----- Original Message -----

From:

To:

Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 6:51 PM

Subject: Julia's Gymnastics coach

Hi Terri-Rae,

I thought your daughter might enjoy showing her gym coach the following photos, all of which I found on the FBI's Most Wanted list. (Maybe you can take them off this email and print them on some glossy paper for Al.)

As I mentioned to you, he has an electrical engineering degree from UCLA and he worked with us at Hughes Aircraft Company. I remember that he was always doing extra work teaching swimming and gym to youngsters at that time. One day someone mentioned that he was a UCLA jock in gymnastics. I asked him if there was anything he could show us about gymnastics, since I knew nothing at all about it. We were in a lab and he looked around and spied a desk. He was a little tentative, but he said, "Well, I guess I could show you something simple." He went over to the desk and leaned back on it as if he were going to sit on it. He put his hands down on either side of his hips an gripped the edge of the desk. He lifted his body off the desk and held his feet off the floor. Smoothly and gracefully, he slowly rotated his hips, thighs, knees, and finally his feet between his hands and u over the desk. I think he even brought himself up into a handstand. Wow, were we impressed! And he could solve Maxwell's Equations, too!

[Rest of the email truncated]

Joe Owens

*It's possible Thea might have relayed her story a bit off, since Miriam is 8 years old (so maybe Miriam asked if Al was 9?).

Believing in Yourself

If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found. ~Author Unknown

This morning, I was at the gym with a client. Al was there for summer camp. While my client and I were stretching, he came over to me and asked, "Is this yours? I found it over by the trash can." It was an orange piece of paper folded up, and read: "Michael- I wanna fight you" It was signed, "anonymous".

I've been trying to lose some weight by hitting the heavy bag every day, so I can start doing gymnastics again (Ita says I need to cut down on my calories after looking at the contents of one of my Japanese fruit drinks). Al thought maybe it was from someone who's seen me punching the bag, was going to challenge me, then thought twice and tried to throw it away in the trash.

The handwriting looked too neat to be that of a little kid. Quite a while ago (before I started working on the gym's punching bag) Julia used to periodically say to me, "I wanna fight you.", for whatever reason, in the manner of a schoolyard bully. So, my first and only guess as to who "anonymous" was, is Julia.

When team came in to workout in the evening, it was confirmed by Julia that she was the author of the note. But she hadn't thrown it away; she had apparently stuck it in my camera under the lens cap, and it must have fallen out.

She asked me if I had gotten her email, but I hadn't until I got home this evening. It was so moving, and I feel so important to share, that I asked Julia for permission to post it for others to read. I hope it gives hope and reassurance to others who have had similar experiences and are struggling and can relate; and I hope it makes coaches pause and think about the role they play (and can play) in the lives of young athletes, to impact and to influence....

Julia's Story

Believing in yourself is naturally one of the most neccesary characterics not just for gymnastics, but for any sport. If an athlete does not believe that he or she can perform the skills needed in order to succeed in their sport, it will be difficult for the athlete to do well. However, sometimes even more important than believing in yourself is having the motivation that you can succeed; in other words, having an instructor and peers who believe in you. Without having the confidence only others can provide, an athlete will have trouble believing that they have the ability to succeed.

I feel my story is different from many. Unlike most gymnasts at my level, I started gymnastics much later in life, at age ten, where most agree that a female gymnast should begin training at or before age six, if she wishes to compeat at higher levels. When I began gymnastics, I had very high hopes and almost too much confidence for a gymnast at my level. I always felt that my coaches were holding me back and that I was much too advanced for the mediocre skills I was being asked to perform. I thought that I could do "much harder stuff", if only I was given the chance. Needless to say, it took me nearly two years, when I began compeating level four, to come down from that cloud and realize that at my age, I would never succeed in gymnastics. For two more years I continued to work on the same skills over and over again because I was not allowed to try anything more difficult. It was often implied by my coaches that I wasn't good enough to work harder skills. As time went by, I sunk into a state where nothing I did seemed to be enough.

I was improving, though. In those two years, my scores began to rise entire points, from 8.6's to 9.6's, but that still wasn't enough. I was told I had to score at least a 36 all-around to move up to level five, but for some reason, a 36.7 wasn't sufficient and I was kept at level four. The only person I felt who truely believed I could do better was one of my coaches, Lily. Often, when my hands were too ripped up to do bars, Lily would take me and teach me the level five beam and floor skills. I even learned my front tuck on the floor with her. But of course once my other coach caught on to what was happening, I was sent to condition if my hands were hurting.

Before my decision to transfer to SMGC, I was ready to quit gymnastics entirely; it wasn't fun anymore doing the same things over and over. My head was filled with people telling me what I couldn't do. I was fed up. It took a while for Gianna Woodruff (who went to my school) to convince me to try out SMGC before thinking about quiting. It took a while longer to convince my mother to let me try out SMGC. I have vague memories of that first Saturday there. I know I met Oona Nicholas and Jesse Stone, who told me I was FLEXIBLE. I had never been complimented by fellow teammates before. Where I came from, everything was a competition; by telling someone else they were doing well, it was admitting you were doing poorly.

Monday I returned timidly to SMGC to find Oona on the trampoline. I was NEVER allowed on the trampoline at Broadway. That workout was fantastic. For the first time in a long while, nobody was holding me back or telling me I wasn't allowed to try something. It was an exhilerating feeling because I was finally beginning to love gymnastics again.

Tuesday, my mother insisted I give Broadway one last try, before making the decision to transfer. I won't go into the details, but I don't think it was until I left that class in tears, that my mother truely understood my reasons for wanting to move and how important it was to me.

That year at SMGC, I learned more skills then I could ever had at Broadway. While I was making enormous progress, advancing to level five states and even placing first on vault at a meet, my friends back at Broadway informed me that they were still stuck on level four. I was flying, and not just figuratively. With coaches who would tell me what I was doing right and not just what I was doing wrong, I felt as though nothing was stopping me anymore. In mere months, I got my kip, front handspring, back tuck, back walkover on beam, free hip and fly away, all just from having people who truely believed in me and what I could do.

A year and a half ago, I would have never believed I would be getting ready to compeat levels six and seven, and yet here I am, with all my confidence back as though I am ten-years-old again. Nothing will hold me back or stop me from persuing my goals. Fear is temporary, it will pass, but having those to help me overcome my fears is most important. I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who care about me and don't tell me I can't do something; "I can't" is something I no longer say, but instead I say "I can" and "I will".

It was a lucky day for me when Gianna taught me how to kip on the school's chin-up bars ;)

Julia Wallace

Of the millions of participants in the sport, who cross our paths, who we have an opportunity to coach and nurture, how many will ever amount to the level of Olympic caliber gymnast? It is a shame when coaches focus primarily on the fraction of 1% of the thousands of gymnasts who might be a champion, neglecting the majority of gymnastics participants who might not amount to the level of elite competitor (let alone competitor); their experience and exposure to the sport can be just as rewarding as the experience of a world champion winning a hunk of medal.

One of the most rewarding moments I have had as a coach, was when I finally got a student of mine to do a basic forward roll. It took her 3 months.....just to get a forward roll. Things just clicked one Saturday morning, after I had her try it over the resi-pit. After she "got it", she was forward-rolling, everywhere we went, from event to event. It was deeply rewarding, more so than teaching someone a double back, who gets it after only several tries.

To me, gymnasts like Julia are winners, because they participate on their own terms, live to reach their full potential, and squeeze out as much as they can from the sport they love...and will continue to love after hanging up the grips.

I'm also glad Julia didn't quit after Broadway because I never would have been able to make two cool videos (nor challenged to a fight by a punk girl):
A little less conversation

and

the making of...

The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. ~K. Patricia Cross


A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Adams

Food for Thought for the Parents Out There

A departure from my regular "style" posting on this blog.....

Are You a Bad Sports Parent?Photo credit: International Gymnast Magazine

One of the things I heard expressed by some parents who came to SMGC from other gyms, is how refreshing it was for them to be able to observe their children without separation from them by physical barriers. Well, as in many things in life, there are advantages and disadvantages to that.

Another great article, incidentally, is Parenting the Average Athlete. Here's an excerpt:

Teams will always be comprised of athletes who are different. Teams will always have “stars”, “athletes with a little less of everything” and “athletes with even less of everything.” That is the way it has been, is now and will be in the future. The kids had better learn about it and get used to it.

They are going to be faced with the same situation in EVERY aspect of their life where there is a group. Middle school, high school, college, sports, business, relationships, everything. We can’t all be stars in everything we do. To learn that you are talented in some things and that others are more talented in other areas is a huge life lesson.

Another life lesson is to not avoid the areas that you are not a “super star” in. I see too many situations where an athlete is pulled out when they show average ability rather than “star” ability. I also see many people with the attitude that if their child isn’t a star then it is a negative situation. I don’t believe that.

I think we are building a well rounded young adult who should work hard in areas that may not be their “star” areas. I also think that these kids are being cheated when they aren’t being told that maybe others are better than they are. There is nothing wrong with that. These kids are resilient and they can take the truth. We don’t build confidence in ourselves by having to be the “star” in everything we do.

A team is great because of a lot of people, not just the “stars.”

And if the kids are going to give up because things aren’t “easy” for them, wow.

-Tom Burgdorf