GYMN-L Digest - 30 Jan 1996 to 31 Jan 1996

There are 29 messages totalling 820 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating (5)
2. T.V. Alert
3. Belgium
4. FIGURE SKATING VS. GYMNASTICS (3)
5. GYMN vs. ANY SPORT
6. Olympic Trials
7. Jennie Thompson
8. Kim Zmeskal
9. Gymn/Figure Skating
10. olympic hopes
11. gymnastics v. figure skating
12. Sabae Worlds
13. USA TV: "100 Years of Olympic Glory"/Worlds EF
14. Introduction & Dawes question
15. figure skating vs. gymnastics
16. Rik Feeney Book Report
17. Olympic coaching (2)
18. Level four questions/Front handspring stepouts
19. help for my friend
20. GYMN-L Digest - 27 Jan 1996 to 28 Jan 1996
21. The Client - loser show
22. New CANGYM Badge Program - Old Badges for Sale

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 08:59:28 -0500
From: ***@NORFOLK.INFI.NET
Subject: Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating

I whole heartedly agree. In fact, I was just complaining about that this
past weekend to another "Gym Mom." I too enjoy watching figure skating.
However, I more so enjoy gymnastics and figure skating is on every weekend
(Saturday and Sundays) and has been for about 2 or three months now. They
are both artistic sports and it would seem that those who enjoy figure
skating would also enjoy gymnastics. Just this past weekend the European
Figure Skating Championships were aired on one of the broadcast networks
(European--no Americans!) They televise so few meets with American gymnasts
much less the European championships! Maybe gymnastics fans should write
the TV Networks to express their concerns! I have thought about that
myself. Maybe if they know how many people wanted to see gymnastics, they
might be more open to televising more meets. It's worth a try.
Connie

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 10:18:07 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating

>They televise so few meets with American gymnasts
>much less the European championships!

ABC has been televising the Women's European gymnastics championships since
1975. The skipped the '94 Stockholm Championships, but will show this years
AA & EF from Birmingham on consecutive weekends in June.

-Susan

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 09:28:20 CDT
From: ***@PROCTR.CBA.UA.EDU
Subject: T.V. Alert

Both Alabama vs. Georgia meets will be aired on t.v!!!!.

Dates:

Alabama at Georgia: Feb. 9th on Prime SportSouth
Georgia at Alabama: March 12th on ESPN

Roll Tide!!

Shawn

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 10:54:09 -0500
From: ***@UKY.CAMPUS.MCI.NET
Subject: Belgium

Is anyone on the list in Belgium? Or does anyone have contacts in Belgium?
Or the address of their Federation? I'm trying to locate a video of the
1988 Belgium Gym Masters Cup. Indianapolis tells me I need to contact them
directly, which I will do if nobody on the list is able to help. Thanks.

Chris

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 10:02:17 -0600
From: ***@SCOTT.NET
Subject: Re: FIGURE SKATING VS. GYMNASTICS

I love gymnastics more than figure skating also...but good luck on trying to
change the way things are...gymnastics does not get the respect, publicity or
acknowledgement it deserves.

Michele

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 10:07:28 -0600
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Re: Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating

Susan, you have a point about the European championships, but the
fact of the matter is, figure skating is the favored son of sports
right now.

ABC made a very good point about publicity at the national champs
last year, that the Tonya/Nancy thing had really increased its pop-
ularity, which I believe was in the original message last night. And while
gymnastics seems to have gained some stature lately as well (at least
the major events are getting broadcast), there is not as much
full and complete coverage (NBC's chacks aside). Major events like worlds,
nationals (I'll shut up about the primetime coverage since we already
argued it to death) and NCAA's get coverage in the US on the major
networks, but it's nowhere near complete.

I'd like to know what the current situation is in other countries
before I complain too heartily, though. Maybe Sherwin could offer
soemthing on the subject. I know England's gymn coverage hasn't been
great (judging by commentary a while back) but I'd like to know
what their figure skating coverage is like.

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 13:13:59 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: GYMN vs. ANY SPORT

The one true problem with gymnastics that other sports lack is that it
requires almost too much work, sacrifice, and effort (along with some
coordination and a fairly healthy body) to do. It seems that every other
major sport (track and field to swimming to the BIG THREE) can allow for
the average person to participate to some extent with there physical, e
economical, and social abilities.


I think that people (average TV viewer) gymn as something neat, but hey,
Basketball or football is something that *I* could do in real life, so
lets follow that sport.

Because of this probelm, gymn will never have the following that other
big sports have on TV, except for when the Olympics are on. And that is
primarily due to the "legendization" of a few of the participants in the
past.


Just my $0.02. (Okay, I've raised my shield to protect me from flames.)

Jeff

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:05:39 -0700
From: ***@CSN.NET
Subject: Re: FIGURE SKATING VS. GYMNASTICS

Colorado Aerials Pikes' Peak Cup in March is scheduled for broadcast.
That's because Tom & Lori Forrester did all of the contacting with the tv
folks themselves.

Basically, USA Gymnastics needs to get off the dime and start *promoting*
this sport! They're surviving on some sponsorships and on selling products
& the memberships to the faithful, but they're not doing an adequate job of
developing gymnastics' potential as a spectator sport. And there's CBS,
which, thanks to the cost cutting strategies of Larry Tisch, let all of the
major sports go by the wayside. Great for ice-skating exposure, esp. now
that Fox has jumped on the bandwagon, too. _Absolutely_ bad news for CBS.
I'll bet the new Westinghouse owners at CBS would love a properly presented
gymnastics package...and with Disney now owning ABC, gymnastics has
promotional opportunities galore.

Wake up, USA Gymnastics & do something! If one lone gym (albeit with a
great team & coaching staff) can put together coverage for the sport, a
coordinated effort ought to be successful.

Cindy

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 14:45:00 -0500
From: ***@WCHAT.ON.CA
Subject: Olympic Trials

A friend and I are going to Olympic Trials, but at the present time we are
uncertian of how we are getting there. Is there anyone else from Canada (we
live in Canada) going? How are you getting there? We have called for
flights, bus, train, renting a car, everything we can think of, but
everything seems to be really expensive. Any ideas would be greatly
appreciated.
Vicki.

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 13:29:06 -0600
From: ***@UALR.EDU
Subject: Jennie Thompson

I think this is great for Jennie (making a strong comeback and winning
the all-around, etc at Kodak)! She is another person who could make the US
team tough to beat in Atlanta. I wish her luck.


Britney

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 13:33:55 -0600
From: ***@UALR.EDU
Subject: Kim Zmeskal

I am another concerned fan of Kim's. I hope she hasn't given up on her
comeback! I am one of the many who have been wishing the best for Kim, and
have been really excited to see her in such great shape. Let's hope this
"slowing down" is temporary. What exactly was sore? I would be greatful for
any information anyone finds out.

Britney

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:53:28 -0800
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: Re: Gymn/Figure Skating


>figure skating is the favored son of sports right now.
^^^^^^^^^
Compared to gymnastics, but not *all* other sports, as you imply.

>gymnastics seems to have gained some stature lately as well (at least
>the major events are getting broadcast)

Major events have always been broadcast (excepting '80 Moscow).

>Major events like worlds,
>nationals (I'll shut up about the primetime coverage since we already
>argued it to death) and NCAA's get coverage in the US on the major
>networks, but it's nowhere near complete.

I thought ABC's Sabae coverage was pretty good (when was the last time you
saw a Worlds Comp. 1B on network TV?), with the men getting a decent
amount of airtime, for a change. As to why other international meets go
untelevised here, maybe it's because of the fact that so few of the top US
gymnasts bother to attend the big European meets? When was the last time
Miller, Dawes, or Moceanu, for example, competed at a DTB Cup or French
Intl? (The same can be said for the top US men, also, I think.) Miller
*did* compete at the '91 DTB Cup, and Sports Channel managed to cover
it... In any case, though, a lack of US competitors at major foreign
meets shouldn't be a reason for non-coverage here.

Debbie :-)

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 15:56:11 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: olympic hopes

Well, I couldn't resist sending you all my Olympic hopes and biased
predictions.

USA team:Miller, Dawes, Moceanu, Phelps, Strug, Borden, Powell
Romania Team: Milosovici, Gogean, Amanar, Marinescu, Cacovean, Hatagan, Bican
Russia Team: Khorkina, Kochetkova, Fabrichnova, Grosheva, Galieva,
Kuznetzova, Bobrova

AA: 1)Milosovici 2)Khorkina 3)Miller other finalists: Dawes, Moceanu
Team: 1) USA 2) Romania 3) Russia
Vault 1)Amanar 2)Podkopayeva 3)Chusovitina, other finalists: Strug, Miller
Bars 1)Khorkina 2)Mo 3)Dawes, other finalist: Phelps
Beam 1)Miller 2)Marinescu 3)Khorkina other finalist: Moceanu
Floor 1)Amanar 2)Khorkina 3)Chusovitina, other finalists: Dawes, Miller

P.S. As far as Zmeskal is concerned, even if she got back to the difficulty
that she had before her retirement, I still don't think she would be
competitive on any event excpt maybe floor. Her bars and beam would be very
lacking, although I'm sure she could learn a 10.0 vault.
my $0.76
~Liz

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 16:46:59 EST
From: ***@PRODIGY.COM
Subject: Re: gymnastics v. figure skating

In the Boston Herald today, for Friday and Saturday, figure skating
was #1 in the Neilsen ratings.
Maybe if gymnastics got more primetime exposure and got ratings like
the figure skating did we would see it more often on tv. I for one
would really like to see more gymnastics on tv. Especially more than
just the top 5-7 gymnasts. The big 3 networks show very little and
what they do show leaves a lot to be desired sometimes. ESPN seems
to be showing more lately but you really have to look for it in the
tv guide. My thanks to everyone here who does tv alerts, I
appreciate it.

My $.02+

Linda

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 16:53:04 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Sabae Worlds

Are event finals from Sabae scheduled for this weekend on WWoS?

Jeff

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 23:19:58 GMT
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: Re: Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating

> Maybe Sherwin could offer
> soemthing on the subject. I know England's gymn coverage hasn't
> been great (judging by commentary a while back) but I'd like to
> know what their figure skating coverage is like.

the situation in the UK is this: let's compare the two sports
using last year's figures...

***

Gymnastics:

On terrestrial TV, there was less than an hour coverage of gym
in the whole of 1995. There was 13 minutes of European Youth
Olympic Days, and half an hour of a Milosovici documentary called
"Peak Performance". No coverage whatsoever of Sabae Worlds.
Although the BBC provide cameras and cameramen for the rhythmic
European Cup which took place in England, they did not show that
either.

On satellite/cable TV, situations are much better thanks mainly
to DSF the German channel. They showed about 40 hours of artistic
gymnastics, and 32 hours of rhythmic gymnastics, nearly all of
them live. EuroSport also chipped in with about 10 hours artistic
and 7 hours rhythmic. They've covered all the main meets one can
hope for including Worlds (artistic and rhythmic), rhythmic
European Cup (camera work by BBC but shown by EuroSport), artistic
European Cup, French International, Cottbus, DTB, Messe Cup, etc.

So for gymnastics it's a case of "all" (for satellite/cable) or
"nothing" (for normal terrestrial TV viewers).

***

Figure Skating:

After the attack from you-know-who on whats-her-name, EuroSport
went skating crazy when they showed meets like Worlds and Europeans
with *every single routine live*. Now it's calmed down a bit with
mostly (but not all) live routines. In the Europeans Championships
last week, they still showed about 21 hours of live skating coverage.
The BBC showed about 3 hours of highlights in total (apporximately).

***

So the conclusion is this: If you have satellite/cable TV, the
situation looks good providing that DSF continues its good work.
The two sports have similar air coverage with respect to "meet time/
air time" ratio.

For terrestrial TV, gymnastics is a real no-no according to the TV
bosses whereas skating is still getting enough air time to satisfy
the normal viewers.

Since the British are not too good at either sport in the
international scene, I think that is why both are not well covered
by TV at the moment. Skating has the edge since it is generally
more popular and the Brits currently have Steven Cousins to cheer
about in the mens discipline.

Sherwin
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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 18:53:30 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: USA TV: "100 Years of Olympic Glory"/Worlds EF

TBS and Olympic-sponsor Panasonic have put together a three hour special to
celebrate the centenial Olympic Games. It will include profiles on famous and
forgotten athletes, as well as commentary on political events that effected
the Games.

Among those listed to be profiled (gymnasts only): Lyudmila Turishcheva, Shun
Fujimoto, & Olga Korbut.

"100 Years of Olympic Glory" will air premiere on TBS April 15th, 1996 at
8:05 pm EST and have 4 encore presentations (all times EST): 15 April at
11:05 pm, 16 April at 10:35 pm, 18 April at 3:05 pm, & 23 April at 8:05 pm.

And don't forget that ABC will-finally- air the W EF from Worlds during it's
"Wide World of Sports" show this weekend shown at 4:30 pm in most areas of
the country.

-Susan

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 19:31:26 -0500
From: ***@GNATNET.NET
Subject: Re: Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating

I agree with your feeling that we need more gymnastics on TV ( I have
no interest in figure skating whatsoever, it bores me ), and it is well
taken that we receive few meets without Americans, however, last year's
European Cup was broadcast on either ABC or NBC, and the European
Championships are scheduled to be broadcast this year. This will not be
the first time. I have a tape of the 1990 Europeans.
Kerry
>
> I whole heartedly agree. In fact, I was just complaining about that this
> past weekend to another "Gym Mom." I too enjoy watching figure skating.
> However, I more so enjoy gymnastics and figure skating is on every weekend
> (Saturday and Sundays) and has been for about 2 or three months now. They
> are both artistic sports and it would seem that those who enjoy figure
> skating would also enjoy gymnastics. Just this past weekend the European
> Figure Skating Championships were aired on one of the broadcast networks
> (European--no Americans!) They televise so few meets with American gymnasts
> much less the European championships! Maybe gymnastics fans should write
> the TV Networks to express their concerns! I have thought about that
> myself. Maybe if they know how many people wanted to see gymnastics, they
> might be more open to televising more meets. It's worth a try.
> Connie

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 18:35:56 -0700
From: ***@ASU.EDU
Subject: Introduction & Dawes question

Hi, my name's Leslie and I've been a fan of gymnastics since
I was about six years old and started taking lessons. I mostly watch women's
collegiate gymnastics now but occasionally I watch the elites.
My question about Dominique Dawes is, a couple years ago I heard that
she was going to go to Stanford on a gymnastics scholarship after the
Olympics. But the Gymnastics Insider doesn't have her on the list of
Stanford recruits for 1996. Also, IG reported that she's a freshman at the
University of Maryland. So has Dom decided not to go to Stanford? It would
be understandable because the coach that recruited her (Breck Greenwood)
is no longer at Stanford, but I'd be very disappointed because I've
followed the Stanford program for years (I'm an alum) and Dominique would
be by far the best gymnast in the history of the school, and would probably
break every school record on the books. Oh well; the team will still be
very good and very competitive with Amy Chow and Larissa Fontaine on board.

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 19:06:13 -0700
From: ***@ASU.EDU
Subject: figure skating vs. gymnastics

As a fan of both sports, I understand why FS gets so much
coverage compared to gymnastics. There are many more female figure
skaters who look like real women than there are gymnasts who do. Yes,
there's Boguinskaya and Khorkina who are lovely, and this year's American
Olympic team will be one of the oldest ever. But 19-year-old Shannon Miller
and 18-year-old Kerry Strug still look, to me anyway, like little girls.
Moreover, neither of them was able to beat the 13-year-old, Moceanu.
Boguinskaya and Khorkina are my favorites, but they are the exception
rather than the rule. And Boguinskaia has trouble competing technically
with the little ones. (Alexandra Marinescu, in this month's IG, cruelly
suggests that Boguinskaia "get out of the sport".) If I want to see women
compete, I watch the collegiate ranks. The gymnasts there have a greater
sense of musicality, better form on their skills, and better artistry on
average than the little ones.
In figure skating, being bigger means gaining speed going around
the rink, which is an advantage that tiny teenagers don't have. Thus
women in their twenties like Nancy Kerrigan, Josee Chouinard, and Tonia
Kwiatkowski, can compete with the teenagers. And in figure skating, artistic
impression is a separate category in scoring, whereas in gymnastics, it's
often secondary to the difficulty of the skills performed. Since
artistry is so important, figure skaters work on it more, and the end
result is that figure skaters are, on average, more artistic than
gymnasts. (I know that's a big generalization.) I think the attraction
of figure skating is focus on artistry and beauty.
Don't get me wrong, I like gymnastics, but it's disheartening to
watch the gymnasts get tinier and tinier (Mo Huilan, a beautiful dancer,
but she looks about ten) while the improvement in the tricks gets less
and less satisfying (diminishing returns on extra twists and flips.) I
can understand why the general viewing public is not too intersted.
Please address your flames to ***@asu.edu.




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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 22:56:06 EST
From: ***@COMPUSERVE.COM
Subject: Rik Feeney Book Report

Title: "GYMNASTICS: A Guide for Parents and Athletes" By: Rik Feeney

I wish this book had been available when I first set foot into a gym and was
gobbled up by the "Beast". A really appropriate title would be a paraphrase of
another book on the best-seller list several years ago; "Everything You Always
Wanted to Know About Gymnastics, But Were Afraid to Ask."

Rik has done a remarkable job of cramming 171 pages 'chock full' of information,
humor, pictures, cartoons, and stuff you use. With tender care, he takes your
hand and guides you from "Day One", when you arrived in the gym with child(ren)
in tow, convinced that you were placing upon the world podium, the next Nadia,
Kim, Svetlana, or "whoever that person was." to the "Grand Finale" when the
grips and other 'badges of honor' are hung from the mantle.

He explains every subject with concise, non-technical, terms that are
understandable to even "Rip-Van-Winkle", should he awake from his long nap and
find himself confronted with this strange activity where people do things to
their bodies that would land them in the dungeon were they to visit this torture
on another human being.

My first reaction was: "How do we get this into the hands of every man, woman,
and child riding this planet into oblivion?" Rik is very conservative with his
subtitle
"A Guide for Parents and Athletes". May I suggest "A Guide for Gymnastics
Enthusiastics", no, that doesn't adequately cover its use either. It belongs in
the hands of all of us who have come to love the sport and want to learn all we
can about it. A gold mine of information that will serve you well wherever you
stand along the road to "wherever they're going".

Flip to any page and start reading "How to Get a Gymnastics Scholarship to
College", "The Injury Factor: I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!" "Judging,
Scoring, and Evaluating a Competition", "A Typical Team Workout", "The Basics of
Gymnastics", and the list goes on.

In the first paragraph of Chapter 7: "To compete, or not to compete", Rik says;
"If I were writing a horror novel, this would be the time to lock all the
windows and doors in the house. Snuggle deep down under your covers until you
feel safe, then get ready to read this hair raising tale of what happens to
normal families once they step into "The Competition Zone" Hey..I've been
there--done that!

I intend to send a copy to all my doubting friends and relatives, if not to
convert them, at least to explain what happened to their otherwise rational
friends and relatives.

Rik is a former competitive gymnast at Temple University, has coached young
gymnasts and owned gymnastic clubs for many years. He coached in Australia in
1988 and was the national coach for the Bermuda Gymnastics Association in 1989.
His articles on gymnastics have appeared in many magazines, including USA
Gymnast and International Gymnast.

To order: "Gymnastics: A Guide for Parents and Athletes" by Rik Feeney, send
$19.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling to:

Richardson Publishing
741 Post Lake - Suite 109
Apopka, FL 32703

Joe

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 23:05:49 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Olympic coaching

What if two or three coaches have the same amount of gymnasts make the
Olympic team? Then who becomes head coach? If Bela has Kerri & Dom M. and
then Mary Lee Tracy has Jaycie Phelps and Amanda Borden, they each have to
gymnasts on the team. Then who would become head coach?

Andrea

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 23:23:32 -0500
From: ***@YORKU.CA
Subject: Re: Olympic coaching

If Bela and Mary-Lee each had the same number of gymnasts on the
team, then the coach of the highest ranked athlete would be the head
coach, the other would be the assistant. Actually, I think the coach of
the number one gymnast is always the head coach, regardless of how many
are on the team in total. If you went in total, then Tom or Lori Forster
would have been the head coach in Sabae, instead of Bela, who was the
coach for #1 ranked Moceanu, since they had Strug, Thompson, and
Kulikowski on the team.
Chris.

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 23:33:57 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Level four questions/Front handspring stepouts

Hi.

Level 4 Questions:
On bars: Is it better for a kid to unsuccessfully mount with a kip and then
pullover to get up, or is it better to just mount with a pullover? I had a
judge tell me last year that the most one could be deducted for attempting a
kip is 1.9. The start value mounting with a pullover is 8.0. She suggested
that everyone should mount with a kip, even if there is no chance of making
it.

On beam: the dismount - is it better to let the gymnast fall the wrong way
(instead of pirouetting) or to spot her if she appears to be missing it?
That is, she ends up doing a handstand snap down instead.

Front Handspring Step Out:
Anyone have any drills or pointers on this skill? My girls are consistently
losing the full .6 on it. I have a few that block, but they come up so piked
that they lose everything else.


Thanks!
Debbie

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Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 21:09:43 -0800
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: help for my friend

Friend of min has a rather ambitious plan.
Hopefully you all can help me.
He is trying to compile a list with every gymn, phone#, team name int the US.
Go ahead and mail them to me, Ill forward them.
When the job is done Ill mail copies to all who ask.
Please do not post to the list (Im on thin ice enough as it is!)
Please mail them to me

texx@netcom.com

And Ill forward them to his database.
(I might even offer it in a web page)

Anyway, I need data

gymn name, address, phone, team name, other data you deem important

ANy of you want to help ?

-texx

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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 01:04:22 -0400
From: ***@CAPITALNET.COM
Subject: Re: FIGURE SKATING VS. GYMNASTICS

I'll try not to turn this into a dissertation or my life story but...

Since I was a child, I always enjoyed figure skating. I got into gymn
late after it looked like skating would cost too much. Ice time and
coaching is quite expensive. Try to imagine paying for gym time, plus
paying your coach for each apparatus, plus conditioning!

Now that I can afford it and I'm too old and too feeble to do gymnastics at
a level that I'd enjoy, I've taken up figure skating. The thing about
figure skating is that anyone can start at any age. I'm enjoying my Sunday
nights with an hour of free skating followed by an hour of ice dancing.
Many of my gymn skills transferred easily so it's been great learning all
kinds of skating skills in a short amount of time. And those CFSA tests
should keep me busy for the next 20 years or so.

When I think about watching gymn or skating, I would have to say that I
enjoy watching women's gymn the most, followed by ice dancing/men's
singles/pairs skating (depending on who's great in Canada at the moment),
men's gymn, then women's singles skating.

So having seen "both sides of the fence", I think these sports have a lot
to learn from each other, some trivial but some worth considering:
-You don't get to learn figure skating at school --though I'm seeing
less and less gymn in the schools these days :(. You don't usually have
to get up at 5am to go to the gym because you have to share rink schedules
with hockey. And in gymn, you don't have to wear a skirt and curtsy.
;+)
- There should be high level (elite/HP) skills testing in Canadian
gymnastics, and I don't mean the badge program. I just spent the last 3
days observing CFSA tests which are evaluated by judges. They do this in
the US too.
- Gymn judges get paid, skating judges don't
- You don't hear or see much about collegiate skating as you do about
collegiate gymn.
- Skaters don't train as hard as gymnasts. During my skating sessions, I
find that I'm the only one who's always moving. Skaters throw one element
then go back to the boards to stand around. I'm still programmed for
circuits and doing things in combination. I have yet to see a skater sweat
in training.
- Beginner gymnasts don't need to wear helmets like in skating.
- You get more free clothes and free food when volunteering for gymn meets
(like at Nationals and Worlds). I'm volunteering for Canadian FS
Championships next week and have to "buy" a sweatshirt for a uniform.
- Skaters (their parents) pay a lot more for costumes and travel. Each
member of the precision team here that went to Sweden recently had to pay
$350 for each team jacket. Big bucks for the clothing vendor.
- Tickets to arena-sized gymn meets are too cheap, with the exception of
the $200,000 Georgia Dome suites. Charge more and bring more $$ into the
sport. I paid $34 per seat for vertigo level seats at the Palladium
skating spectacular and it was just an exhibition! I've paid as much as
$60 a seat to see Kurt Browning. I've never had to pay more than $25 for a
gymn show ticket ('92 Tour in Worcester, MA).
- A gymn meet or exhibition is harder to put together because you need to
truck in men's and women's equipment and crews. All you need for a skating
meet or show is a lighting director. The rink already has a Zamboni and
lights. Plus you don't have to find someone to buy the rink when you're
done with it. I surmise that this is why there aren't very many gymn tours
or professional competitions.
- Gymn meet organizers settle for break-even earnings, while figure skating
meet organizers strive for profit maximization (why volunteers have to buy
uniforms, as above).
- Figure skating simply has had more drama perhaps because its participants
are adults so it's more "prime time": Harding v. Kerrigan, Kerrigan v.
Baiul, Battle of the Brians, pro reinstatement, the marriages of
Christopher Dean, the sudden death of Sergei Grinkov, the deaths of male
skaters to AIDS, a skater named "Elvis", Rudy Galindo lives in a trailer
and then wins the US title, divorced pairs & dance couples who still skate
together... I don't need to watch soap operas or other fiction -- this is
sufficient. Stuff like this sells TV airtime.
- The Champions Series (Grand Prix) was recently set up with broadcast
rights on Fox and CTV. This was a simple packaging of 5 international
meets in the fall that have always been there (Skate Canada, Skate America,
Trophee de France, Nations' Cup in Germany, and NHK of Japan). Now they
give prize money and points towards a finals which is before Worlds.
There's no reason we can't pull off something similar in gymnastics with
say Subway World Gym Challenge, DTB Pokal, Chunichi Cup, American Cup, etc.
Actually, GCG, USAG, & some other federations were supposed to discuss
this in December. We'll see what happens!
- Skating programs are often re-broadcasted. I've never seen a
re-broadcast of a gymn meet. Write to your TV networks!
- More to the point that you can skate for life (Don Jackson is
late-60-something and still throws double jumps), pro skaters can make a
living from skating. They don't need to do much else. Most gymnasts drift
from the sport after they have retired. Very few stay in coaching or
judging. I'm glad the Reese's meet (Peanut Butter Cup?) has the
"old-timers" but it's still far from a pro thing. So we all know that Bart
& Nadia can still do gymnastics, why don't they do as Torvill & Dean have
done and set up their own tour? Build it -- we will come!

G'night,

Grace

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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 01:10:25 -0500
From: ***@DELPHI.COM
Subject: Re: GYMN-L Digest - 27 Jan 1996 to 28 Jan 1996

Don't know... I only know he's had a bad cold for a few days!

-Jeff-

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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 01:19:22 -0400
From: ***@CAPITALNET.COM
Subject: The Client - loser show

I apologize profusely for alerting you all to the episode of "The Client".
For those of you who tuned it, I hope it didn't ruin your evening.
I just watched it. It was simply bad television and doesn't merit further
review. But I must ask one question: Does CBS hate gymnastics?

Regards,

Grace

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Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 01:19:24 -0400
From: ***@CAPITALNET.COM
Subject: New CANGYM Badge Program - Old Badges for Sale

Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique (formerly known as the Canadian Gymnastics
Federation) has announced a revamping of their development program. This
Cangym program offers some spiffy new badges with more levels, and replaces
the old red/white/blue/merit/bronze/silver/gold badge program. I will be
putting more information on the new program on the GCG web pages by the
end of next week. This page is at http://www.capitalnet.com/~chiug/cangym.html.

In the meantime, GCG has asked me to announce that the red/white/blue...
badges are still available and may be purchased at cost. There are also
several copies of the French language edition of the program books (I, II,
and III). These may be purchased by recreational clubs in any country.
Please contact Chantal Claremont at GCG: (613) 748-5637 for further details
or to place an order.

Regards,

Grace

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 30 Jan 1996 to 31 Jan 1996
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