GYMN-L Digest - 16 May 1996 to 17 May 1996
There
are 19 messages totalling 502 lines in this
issue.
Topics of the day:
1. re-intro,
Front Tumbling
2. TV
Alert--Junior Olympics coverage
3. Europeans
4. Oprah
TV alert (Australia)
5. TV
Alert--The Ultimate Athlete
6.
choreography
7. Dominique Moceanu
8. Olympic Trials tickets avaliable
9. The U.S. men's team training in Spartanburg, S.C. (3)
10. GYMN-L Digest - 15 May 1996 to 16 May
1996 (2)
11. The Dominique Moceanu article in People magazine (2)
12. ...curious???
13. Team Coach Wanted
14. NCAA Mens
Nationals
15. Apparently Moceanu didn't have Sever's
disease
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 16:05:37
+0300
From: ***@INFOCOM.KIEV.UA
Subject:
re-intro, Front Tumbling
Hello all,
Well, I'll re-intro
first.
I am an American who has lived in 5 countries and a few states and
I
love to learn languages, of which I speak eight.
I have been on this
list for almost a year (first
in the UK and now here in Ukraine). I love
Gymnastics and Trampolining, and always wanted to do it when I was
little, but at the age of 12 thought I was too 'old' to
start. But at
UCSD I decided to take a rec class at the age of 19 and a
half, and I
have been addicted ever since.
Matt
Kohls (who is also on this list)was
my first coach. As I am 5'11",
Matt made me realize that I was not too
tall or too old to do
gymnastics, as he is
6'1" and he flies. I was vice pres for one year
and
pres for two years
of the gymnastics club at UCSD, and almost never
missed
a day of workout. After I graduated for University, I got so
irritated when I saw Jennie Thompson do a Standing full,
that I vowed to
myself to learn how to do it,
which I did and still do (despite one neck
crunch)
and is the skill that I am proudest of learning because I do it
with knees and feet together in spite of my height, age,
never having
competed, and my thick (and thus
heavy) body type. I also coached in the
recreational
program (for adults and children)at UCSD(3 years), and also
at Poszar's in Sacramento (a
summer).
Here in Ukraine, I
have been teaching the kids in the Acro gym where
I
work out, English like "I can Jump"
and "I love to flip". But as a
profession
I am working with the Internet in a telecommunications
company
in which I am the only non-Ukrainian.
Matt, I was in Russia when you
wrote your post, so you were right at the
time...
:)
FRONT TUMBLING: a lone opinion
First of all, I want to
agree that some of the front tumbling we have
seen
is repetetive, but not anymore so than the almost compulsary boring
double
back.
I think the front tumbling upgrade value is good for the sport
on the
whole especially in the future. I know this
was probably discussed way
back when it was
introduced, but now we are starting to see the payoffs
of
this encouragement of Front tumbling. If you think about it, in
women's gymnastics especially, back tumbling has been
developing to the
high levels of difficulty for
years, while leaving front tumbling behind
(and
there was little encouragement to develop these new skills and
their training techniques).
Now after almost four
years of encouraging front tumbling, new skills
and
higher levels have been reached, and will continue to evolve if
front tumbling is still encouraged in the next code. We all know about
Pod
and a few other women doing double fronts, and even her half out. I
beleive that since rudi's were encouraged by giving them a higher value,
that is the reason we even saw tumblers doing double
twisting fronts
(Grosheva's double twisting front
was better than the one I saw Neil
Thomas do too).
Some people will not agree, but the report about a
couple
of men doing multiple sumi front passes into double
fronts is
incredible. Few would have even tried
such things in the days of the
obligatory double
back or two.
We have to remember that front tumbling is still behind
back tumbling
more than just because it is more
difficult technique, but also because
much of the
development of better training and technique of front
tumbling
has only just begun.
I personally would rather see a simpler front
pass in a routine than
another boring double back
done with bad form, especially if the other
passes
were already backwards. Of course, I think alot of
front passes
do not get enough deductions taken
for bad form (Kochetkova, is one who
comes to mind from 94).
Khorkina
and Pods are two that come to mind with front tumbling that
balances well with the back tumbling, and dance/choreography
and these
are the types of routines that will
ultimately benefit from having
varied highly
difficult passes. Vasilenko's double front is
incredible
(from the goodwill games).
I
know many miss the double backs, but I miss them as much as I miss the
Yurchenko full, and I think the many different front passes that have
replaced
that one pass make up for it, despite the less impressive power
in the average and weaker gymnasts (who did the double backs
with bad
form to begin with).
Please
remember this is just my opinion, and not meant to be a call to
arms....
all for now :)
jason
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 09:50:41
EDT
From: ***@BBN.COM
Subject:
TV Alert--Junior Olympics coverage
According to my local (Boston area)
TV Guide, our SportsChannel
will
be carrying coverage of the Junior Olympics on Monday
(5/20), from 2-4 p.m.
Eastern on "Olympic Odyssey."
Since the SportsChannels
are regional, check your local
listings for when
"Olympic Odyssey" airs.
>>Kathy
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 15:50:31
GMT
From: ***@M4-ARTS.BHAM.AC.UK
Subject:
Re: Europeans
Hi
I apologise for
the fact that this is not going to be of any interest
to
most people, but I was wondering whether anyone is planning to be
at the Europeans tomorrow (Friday)? I haven't bought a
ticket yet,
but I understand there are quite a few
left, so I'm hoping to turn up
and get one. Mail me privately (preferably before
tomorrow morning!)
if you're interested in meeting
up.
I was shopping in Birmingham today and walked past the
Byelorussian
junior team - perhaps I should be
hanging around there instead!
Bex
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 12:39:46
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: Oprah TV alert (Australia)
<<
According to "The
Age" (Melbourne paper), the much discussed "Little girls
in pretty boxes" Oprah episode will screen on Channel
10, Monday, 20/05/96,
at 2pm.
Simone
>>
Since you have some advance, perhaps you can do some
organized things to head
off its damage to
clubs. //Good luck//Don
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 12:58:35
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
TV Alert--The Ultimate Athlete
This is a bit in advance, but on June 9
from 9-11 PM ET, a special called The
Ultimate
Athlete will premiere on the Discovery channel. It profiles an
athlete/program from several different sports. In the show, Meng Fai is
interviewed and
profile. It's a pretty interesting piece.
LeeAnn
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 19:23:40
+0200
From: ***@CTI.ECP.FR
Subject:
choreography
As a French gymnastics-addict, I particularly appreciate
the kind of
choreography
that the French girls now have.
But I would like to add a few words
about it. I share the opinion someone had in
the List : that
girls just travel from one corner of the floor to another one
and that's all.
That has lead me to ask a question : choreography is
part of
the
mark, isn't it ? So judges pay attention to it, don't they ?
So why has the
young Chinese girl (can't remember her name) won a gold
medal in the last World
Championships (she was great, that's
true, but her choreography was really
poor) ?
You
will tell me : "what about Boginskaya
?" .Well, she has initiated something
really different
in gymnastics although she sometimes dances ... strange (this
is just my point
of view !!).
As a conclusion : what is the
real part of choreography and general impression
in the mark ? Is
it worth working on choreography when you are not really good
at it ?
And
to finish, in my opinion Shannon Miller, Lavinia Milosovici and Svetlana
Chorkina are great
gymnasts as they are not only great acrobats but also
smashing
dancers.
Bye !
Sophie
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 15:00:33
-0400
From: ***@ZEUS.TOWSON.EDU
Subject:
Dominique Moceanu
I
want to jump into this discussion.
First, as an admitted
Dominique fan, I am concerned about her
getting too much pressure on her.
Now with that said, let me give everyone
something to think about. Last
week, I was watching at 1am the U.S. Olympic Trials for
handball on ESPN.
The way the announcers made it sound, the USA was one of
the contenders
for a gold medal. In reality, the USA got a berth because
in all team
sports the host country gets to be in
the Olympics. The announcers
didn't make it sound like that though. My point is that your
dealing
with the media in the United States. They always assume that America is
the favorite or least in the running for the gold. Since Dominique is U.S.
Champion,
highest finisher at Worlds, and a Bela gymnast
they
automatically make her a favorite. Basically these people are not
knowledgable on the subject. I think Bela
learned his lesson in 92, and
will try his hardest
to shelter Dominique.
Just a Thought,
Mikester
Bee
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 15:50:45
-0400
From: ***@WCHAT.ON.CA
Subject:
Olympic Trials tickets avaliable
I have
three tickets for US men's compulsories and one ticket for men's
optionals. They are in the second section. Anyone interested?
Let me know as
soon as possible and we can discuss price.
Vicki.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 16:49:49
-0400
From: ***@INETNOW.NET
Subject:
The U.S. men's team training in Spartanburg, S.C.
In the Thursday
edition of the Atlanta Journal, the newspaper stated that
the U.S. men's gymnastics team, which was scheduled to train
in Spartanburg,
S.C., would not do so. This
decision was made by USA gymnastics because the
Spartanburg city council
recently passed a resolution similiar to the
ones
in several cities all over the nation,
"condemning the gay lifestyle".
Just exactly does
"condemning the gay lifestyle" mean anyway
when uttered by
a government official? Should it
the statements of one man or a group of
people
affect the social and business interests of an entire city, state,
and region? This entire debacle started when ACOG bowed down
to some threats
by a few radical gay and lesbians
to protest during the olympics if they
gave any Olympic venues, sports, or anything to Cobb county,
GA, one of the
original cities whose commisioners passed one of these "resolutions".
An
entire county was stripped of any involvement
with the Olympics, by the
Atlanta Commitee for
the Olympic Games (ACOG). Cobb County is right next
to
Fulton county, the site of the city of Atlanta
and the "olympic ring". There
are olympic venues in almost all
of the other counties surrounding Fulton.
I had to state that to give
most of you an overview of what is going on.
ACOG has stated recently that
" they are in the business of hosting and
putting
together the Olympic games, not getting involved in social issues".
If
that is the case, why did ACOG strip Cobb county of
the planned
volleyball venue there? Also Wayneboro, GA.(in south GA) was
pressured in to
caving in to ACOG, etc. because
it's city was on part of the olympic torch
relay route.
Now USA gymnastics has decided to move
the olympic men's gymnastic
team out
of Spartanburg, S.C. because word got out
that some county commissioners
"condemned the
gay lifestyle". The men's team was scheduled to train there
for ONE WEEK, July 3-12. Now all of a sudden, they have to
move the team. In
my view, all the teams should
train the Atlanta area, site of the Olympics.
There are plenty of facilites available to accomodate
the men's, women's,
and rhythmic teams.
There
are some people in Atlanta who are protesting the GA state flag. They
say it is racist and should be removed. No one involved with
the Olympics,
ACOG, or otherwise has uttered a peep about the GA state flag
and the
protestors. Nor should they. ACOG, USOC,
MAOGA, Coca-Cola, IBM, and every
other group
involved with the olympics should concern themselves
with
putting together the best games ever. Not
worry about the idiots
commissioners in Cobb
County, the state flag, the Postal Service and their
stamp
tee-shirts, or some nudie bar that wants open across the street from
the COCA-COLA Centenial Olympic
whatever park (not an Olympic venue, some
rip-off
tourist trap).
I think the decision by USA gymnastics to move the US
men's team out of
Spartanburg was silly and uncalled for. These guys were
VISITING Spartanburg
ONE WEEK. Unless the men's team was gay, no one should
have a problem with
what a small fry like
Spartanburg does, and what kind of business they see
fit
to tend to. You don't schedule your vacation plans on what the local
town's politics are.......do you? If that is the case, DON'T
COME TO
ATLANTA. We have enough garbage and nonsense going on here to scare
away a
lot of folks.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 21:35:52
+0200
From: ***@MAIL.TELEPAC.PT
Subject:
Re: GYMN-L Digest - 15 May 1996 to 16 May 1996
I think I can answer
this question. A gymnast from Portugal, Diana=20
Teixeira, qualified to the
Olympics (I think through the World Champs.,=20
I=B4m
not sure); there is another girl (Nab=E3o) who is on the same level=
as=20
she (they dispute 1st and 2nd AA in National competitions).
I just read=20
in a magazine article today,
covering Portuguese athletes in the=20
Olympics, that
which ever is in the best overall form will go.
Well, I=B4ll take the
opportunity to ask a question: I receive the digest=
=20
form of GYMN-L; how do I switch to the "normal"
form? Thanks in advance.
Isabel F.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 17:12:59
-0400
From: ***@INETNOW.NET
Subject:
The Dominique Moceanu article in People magazine
I
recently saw the article about Dominque Moceanu in People magazine. I
liked
it. It was good for anybody who doesn't know much about her. It was
pretty accurate too. I have friends who know Dominque personally, so I knew
just
about everything that was in the article.
Yes, I agree she is under a
lot of pressure. But it's really too late to
stop
it, nor is there anything we can do about it. We will just have to see
how she holds out. Personally, me being a 24
year man, with more life
experience, and
maturity, I can only say I would be affected by the world
looking at me during the Olympics. The
whole world. Everybody involved or
even
interested in gymnastics, her parents, her friends, the media (who
really only wants a big story), USA gymnastics, the world,
will be watching
her. Everybody will be expecting
her to win a medal. The press has already
proclaimed
her "America's best chance for gold". The olympics are being held
in
the United States. She's been hailed as the next Nadia Comeneci.
And
according the media, gymnastics is one of the
most popular olympic sports.
The women's
gymnastics tickets were the first to sell out, especially the
women's all-around final. The world will be watching and
waiting.
Whewwwwwwww. Hey, even I might bust
under all of that pressure, and I am not
14. Because, what happens if I
don't "bring the house down"? We just have to
wait
and see come July 20.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 16:21:13
-0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject:
Re: GYMN-L Digest - 15 May 1996 to 16 May 1996
How to get off digest,
for anyone who needs to know:
Send mail to listserv@psuvm.psu.edu
No
subject
in the body of the message, set gymn-l nodigest
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 17:19:28
-0500
From: ***@ASTRO.OCIS.TEMPLE.EDU
Subject:
Re: The U.S. men's team training in Spartanburg, S.C.
Well I'm
delighted that the US men's team has decided not to train in
Spartanburg. As far as I'm concerned, the team
shouldn't be spending it's
dollars (food $,
lodging $, etc.) on a city that "condemns the gay
lifestyle."
Garlfar, gay men, lesbians, and bisexual men and women make
up 1/10 of the
population. That means we are 1/10 of the gymnasts
in the US. A city that
condemned Italians or Jews or Irish people would be a lousy
place to stay
for a week, no? So why think differently about a city
that condemns "the
gay lifestyle?"
Ilene,
who wouldn't know she had a "lifestyle" if the news media didn't
keep telling her so...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 16:25:18
-0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject:
Re: The Dominique Moceanu article in People
magazine
NCAA's held in your own backyard (Tuscaloosa). 15,000
screaming fans
going nuts over everything you do.
Five other teams with as much talent
as you, and
just as much performance ability. One team, Georgia, with
more talent and the ability to hand the loud crowd. And what
does Alabama
do? They only nailed the highest
Super Six score on record, with three
perfect
scores, and nailed routines on bars and beam after an earlier
performer fell.
Sometimes pressure is
overhyped.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 17:52:44
-0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject:
Re: The U.S. men's team training in Spartanburg, S.C.
By the same line
of reasoning it would be okay for the US Gymnastics
federation
to have had their training camp in Bosnia prior to the
1992 Olympics. After
all, no one on the team was a serb so it shouldn
t matter?
You
have to wake up and except two things:
1) It isn't okay to hurt a
small group of people (or just ignore the
legalized
hatred of them) just to satisfy others. Sooner or later you'll
see that we're all just a bunch of little groups of people
and one
day the group your in will be
'condemned'.
2) Anyone who thinks that the Olympic movement and
the parties involved
in it (local and federal) are
not political should let me sell them land
in the
ocean for farming. If the USOC wasn't interested in local
politics, then there wouldn't have been a 1980 boycott. If
the IOC wasn't
interested in politics, then the
2000 Games would have been in China or
Istanbul, and if ACOG wasn't
interested in politics, then the
Games wouldn't have been pulled out from
Cobb county.
I, like few people on this
list, have been to Cobb county and i
know that
even though you are in a county which
borders Atlanta, you are in
ANOTHER WORLD at times.
I can't see why there are all the complaints,
since
it is so close to the other countys that the people
that the
people can easily travel to them and
avoid the burden of millions
of people coming into
there towns and cities.
As someone who used to live across the
street from Georgia Tech (the
Olympic Village), if I was still there, I'd
like the peace and quiet.
Jeff
Dina, Dina, Dina.
P.S.
Please respond privately and not to the list.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 00:33:28
-0400
From: ***@PILOT.MSU.EDU
Subject:
...curious???
I have been watching some old gymnstics
tapes with a friend and there are a few
things
that jumped out at me that made me curious.
I have noticed that after Soni Meduna completes her
routines that she always
shrugs her shoulders
forward. Is there a medical reason for
this or is it
just habit?
Also, speaking
of habits, I know that is has been mentioned before but Domonique
Moceanu tends to say "you
know" an awful lot in her interviews, and I am afraid
to say that Bogninskaya has picked up the habit.
Just
something to think about,
Jason
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 01:06:55
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Team Coach Wanted
Menlo Park Gymnastics, a comprehensive program of
over 1400 students, located
on the beautiful San
Francisco Bay Peninsula has an immediate position
available
for a compulsory level team coach. Duties include teaching
developmental classes, coaching the Level 6 & 7
compulsory team, and
developing the
exhibition/demonstration team. 30 - 40 hours per week with a
salary of $14-$15 per hour. Please e-reply or contact
Michael A. Taylor,
Director, at 415-858-3480.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 01:07:07
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
NCAA Mens Nationals
Looking for a copy of
the recent ESPN broadcast of the NCAA Men's National
Championship. If
anyone has a tape that I could buy/trade for, please let me
know. Thank you!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 01:28:13 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Apparently Moceanu didn't have Sever's
disease
I just found this in an article in AOL's San Jose Mercury
Center. The entire
article was enormous, covering
many sports.
Has anyone heard this as well?
"Meanwhile,
national champion Dominique Moceanu apparently has
overcome a
heel injury that kept her from hard
workouts for 2 1/2 weeks. The problem
apparently
was a bad bruise and not Sever's Disease, the painful
growth-plate
syndrome that sometimes hits young gymnasts."
LeeAnn
------------------------------
End
of GYMN-L Digest - 16 May 1996 to 17 May 1996
*************************************************