GYMN-L Digest - 5 Nov 1995

There are 6 messages totalling 189 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. New Intepretation Release (v.11) (men)
2. Women vs. Men
3. GYMNASTICS ATTIRE and ROUTINES (2)
4. GYMN-L Digest - 4 Nov 199...
5. Mailing Lists

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Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 14:03:57 -0500
From: ***@AMANDA.DORSAI.ORG
Subject: New Intepretation Release (v.11) (men)

Version 11 (10/28/95) of the NGJA Interpetations (Men)from Butch Zunich is
available as

http://www.dorsai.org/~kenach/pub/adntrp11.pdf

or through my home page

http://www.dorsai.org/~kenach

Ken

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Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 13:20:21 -0600
From: ***@CARLETON.EDU
Subject: Women vs. Men

I have been pondering this question for awhile. It might seem trivial, but I'll
ask it
anyway. Why is it that male gymnasts seem to be able to attend college and
compete while
the women of college age all seem to deferring or taking limited class loads
until after
Atlanta (i.e. Miller, Dawes, Bordon). I realize that the men are usually older,
but those
women that are college age seem to have to make a choice between college and
gymn while
the men can have it all. Just wondering. -Meg

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Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 16:02:30 -0500
From: ***@YORKU.CA
Subject: Re: GYMNASTICS ATTIRE and ROUTINES

Ameera, I hope I can answer these questions for you.
> 1. Why girls wear slippers on beam
This is just a matter of personal preference of the gymnast. Some
choose to go barefoot, probably because it better accentuates the girl's
toepoint and bodyline. That doesn't mean that if a girl does wear shoes that
her toepoint is bad, however. The beam is very hard, and by wearing shoes,
the girls can protect their feet. Perhaps some actual gymnasts could post on
whether or not they used shoes on beam and why.
> 2. Why some boys opt for the shorts on floor and the pants and socks on
> high bar
While commentating, Olympian Peter Vidmar was asked the same question.
His reply was that, while tumbling, the gymnast likes to be able to "actually
grab some skin", and not to have their hands slip off if they were wearing
pants. While this makes sense, I think I wouldn't mind being able to grab
some skin while dismounting highbar (especially if doing a triple somi;
however, I'm not a gymnast myself, so I can't really say).
> 3. What are grips and why do some girls use them on uneven bars and
> others don't
Grips are made of leather, and they usually have two (but sometimes
three) finger holes. Some even have a dowel just below the fingers to create
an even more secure grip. Again, to wear or not to wear is the choice of
the individual gymnast (although I've never seen a man not use grips on rings
or highbar; I think it's due to the size of the bar). Some women like to
"feel the bar" with their actual hand while performing, while others enjoy
the extra security the grips provide, which actually allows them to perform
even more difficult skills (case in point is Boginskaya, who is using grips
now for the first time in her career, and her bar work is better than ever).
Another factor, with some teams, is the fact that the leather supply in a
certain country may be low, so it is hard to get grips (Romania, for example;
Carol Orchard explained this during 1994 Worlds Broadcast).
> 4. Is there a compulsory leotard ( Country leotard ) and all around and
> even final leaotard. Meaning why do so gymnasts change leotards
and
> why other gymnasts keep the leotard that their country has
provided.
During team competition, all gymnasts from the same country must wear
the same leotard. They can wear whatever leotard they want during AA of
event finals.
> 5. How often do people change their rountines. Is it before
> international competitions.i.e Worlds and Olympics. I read in IG
> Feb 95 that Cuchini Cup ?and the rest of those competitons show
> what the gymnast have been working on in the gym.
This would depend on the individual athlete, in terms of how fast they
learn and perfect new skills. Some athletes rarely change their routines
(for example, Ludmilla Stavbchataya used the same floor music between 1989
and 1993), while gymnasts like Boginskaya or Milosovici change their music at
least once a season. Another factor is the code of points, which is updated
every four years. If a gymnast continues to compete after an Olympic Games,
he or she will have to change/update their routines in order to meet new
requirements.
> 6. Is it possible that a coach will tell the gymnast to do the same
> routine although the new routine is already planned. Why?
It is possible, during a team competition let's say, that a "safe"
routine might be better than a newer, more difficult one. In that situation,
a coach may decide not to let a gymnast perform a new skill or combination,
in order not to risk a fall which could be too damaging for the team score.
It should be noted that changing an entire routine (except for womens floor),
is rare. Routines tend to evolve, with gymnasts adding new skills or
combinations as they are acquired.
> 7. Which coutries get to go the Worlds in 1996 in Puerto Rico?
I'm pretty sure that any country can send athletes to the 1996 Worlds.
You don't have to have a certain ranking to send athletes. Each country can
send six men and four women (with no more than three on each apparatus).

I hope I've answered your questions, and please, if anyone disagrees
with me, or if there are any inaccuracies in my answers, please let me know.
Christopher

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Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 18:13:23 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: GYMN-L Digest - 4 Nov 199...

i used slippers on beam for awhile in competition and it helpd me stick.(i
stuck every routine i did if i wore them) but i did have difficulty on bars
and floor and vault with them. except i had cheapy $11 but, they worked!
they were simple white ones with elastic crisscross straps and a leather
sole

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Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 18:14:46 -0500
From: ***@GATEWAY.US.SIDWELL.EDU
Subject: Re: GYMNASTICS ATTIRE and ROUTINES

[...]
> > 3. What are grips and why do some girls use them on uneven bars and
> > others don't
[...]
> Some women like to "feel the bar" with their actual hand while performing,
> while others enjoy the extra security the grips provide, which actually
> allows them to perform even more difficult skills (case in point is
> Boginskaya, who is using grips now for the first time in her career,
> and her bar work is better than ever).
[...]

Perhaps this isn't as much of a factor at the elite level, but I know I
wear grips partially because if I didn't I wouldn't have any skin left on
my hands :). See, when you do bars a lot, or even just a little bit, you
have a tendancy to get "rips" which is basically when the top layer of
skin on a callous just rips right off. It's really painful because it
exposes new skin that is really tender (washing your hands *kills* when
you have a new rip). While a rip is far, far, far away from a serious
injury, it's pretty commonplace and *very* annoying. Someone likened a
rip to a blister on the heel of a marathon runner -- certainly not
something you scratch out of a competition because of, but just enough to
make you a little off your game. So some gymnasts wear grips to help
prevent rips (but you still rip anyway if you do enough bars, even if
you're wearing grips).

Lisa

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Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 20:53:28 -0600
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Mailing Lists

Date sent: 5-NOV-1995 20:52:25

Anyone know of any other gymnastics mailing lists out there? I
am looking to see if there are any others.

While I'm at it, anyone got the addresses of the skating lists
that get mentioned her from time to time?


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End of GYMN-L Digest - 5 Nov 1995
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