We could discuss the possibility that these “sixteen” year old’s are lying about their age but let’s leave that out of it. If you base your thoughts on the actual results (article published August 12th 2008 – the day before the Women’s Team Final) – how do you feel? China won the Team Gold, the USA won silver. USA won 7 individual medals in the women’s competition (only one being a bronze) and China won five individual medals (only one being a gold).

I like to think it’s down to physical, natural ability and doesn’t have a lot to do with their smaller sized frame and age – what about you?

Here is a summary of Michael’s list:

• Don’t think of your child’s sport participation as an investment for which you want a return.
• Don’t show negative emotions while you are watching your child at a competition.
• Don’t do anything that will cause your child to be embarrassed.
• Don’t make enemies of other parents.
• Don’t interfere, in any way, with coaching during competition or practice.

Are your gym parents doing any of the above? I can certainly relate to the point  “Don’t show negative emotions while you are watching your child at a competition“. I have heard and seen some parents make negative reactions to their child wobbling on beam or stepping forwards in a dismount.

Would you add anything more to the list?

From British Gymnastics:

Women’s Artistic
Beth Tweddle
Rebecca Downie
Danusia Francis
Nicole Hibbert
Jennifer Pinches
Hannah Whelan

Men’s Artistic
Sam Hunter
Ruslan Panteleymonov
Dan Purvis
Theo Seager
Louis Smith
Kristian Thomas

Great to see Danusia Francis, Jennifer Pinches and Nicole Hibbert included in the Women’s team but no Daniel Keatings in the Men’s Team. What do you make of the selection?

This Saturday, six members of Bath Rhythmic Gymnastics Club will be performing live on the BBC1 National Lottery Show. Helen Christie, Annabelle Bartlett, Lynne Hutchinson, Sarah Dennis, Hannah Waite and  Francesca Fox are among a number of groups showing off skills developed using Lottery grants. The National Lottery is underway searching to find the country’s favourite Lottery-funded projects.

Read more This Is Bath.Co.Uk

I’m hoping we’ll have an even better year than last year by both winning & taking part in competitions, learning new skills and developing as gymnasts. Good luck to everyone else in your 2010 – 2011 season!

Women’s Artistic Gymnasts

Marissa King

Imogen Cairns

Laura Edwards

Rebecca Wing

Jocelyn Hunt

Men’s Artistic Gymnasts

Reiss Beckford

Luke Folwell

Danny Lawrence

Max Whitlock

Steven Jehu

Rhythmic Gymnastics Team

Francesca Fox

Lynne Hutchison

Rachel Ennis

I was reading through the forums on the Chalk Bucket. The 7 page thread began with this post :

I’m just curious as to what other gyms policy is for allowing parents to watch. As of now, my gym allows parents to stay. The problem I find is that many try coaching through the window or from the second floor! I think it might be a distraction and there are some kids who turn around to get mom or dads reaction after each skill. We are making some renovations and are thinking of a 2 way mirror.. parents can still see, but kids won’t be distracted. Is this a good idea?

In our gym, we don’t encourage parents into the gym to watch. I find it to be very distracting for the gymnasts. We have a viewing gallery above the gym and the parents can watch if they really want to. I always find that the children show off but in the wrong way, by trying to be funny and messing and eventually end up getting hurt by not concentrating. I don’t mind so much for our Recreation gymnasts who only train for an hour, often it’s not worth the trip home for Mom and Dad to have to run back out the door again to collect their child.

I’ve been reading this thread and noticing that a lot of members said that they didn’t have parents in the gym as they tend to try to “coach” their own child, even from window. I haven’t  noticed this in my own gym. I’d like to think that the parents leave it up to us coaches, the trained professional to teach the children. We organise displays and shows later on in the year for the parents so that the children can have time to work on their moves and then once they are comfortable and ready, show them off to parents, friends and family. If a child has worked on a move that they’re really proud of, we of course invite the parents in to view the great work they’ve done on the particular move.

So how do you operate classes in your gym? Is it ok for Rec parents to watch? Do you have an allocated area for parents to watch from? Or do you ban parents from the gym altogther?

Read more on GetBracknell.co.uk

If you or your company are in a position to help, please call Fundraising Officer Mo Davies on (0118) 988 5090 or 07715990976.

Check the full article out here.

Is it self-funding?  How much of a problem is sports funding for Irish gymnastics in your opinion?

We are a non-profit company meaning we’re eligible for grants. However, as gymnastics is still such an unknown sport in Ireland, we’re constantly fighting to get any money at all as it all goes to the more well known sports such as Gaelic Football.

Every year, we have a goal to fundraise a certain amount which we do lots of ways such as a sponsored tumble (where the kids get people to sponsor them in tumbling for a certain amount of time), a public display (we set up some mats in the middle of the pedestrian streets in Galway and the kids have fun performing), among other more traditional ways. However, funding is definitely our biggest challenge.

How hard/easy is it stay on top of coaching education in Ireland?

Right now, very easy!! However, that is only very very very recent as the coaching education office in this country has taken a serious interest in bringing Irish (and foreigners living in Ireland) coaches up to speed with coaching qualifications.

While the final level available for a coaching course is still quite low in comparison to other countries, the main concern has been bringing current coaches up to date and raising the overall level. People who have only ever coached or done gymnastics in Ireland wouldn’t be as familiar with a lot of big skills because the level has only significantly increased in the last couple of years.

At Renmore, we’re lucky enough to have a very international coaching staff (I’m from America, Sally is from England, and we also have a men’s coach from Germany, a rythmic coach from Latvia, and another American coach), so our education about coaching gymnastics covers a wide part of the world. I think this also helps the coaches who wouldn’t have the background of high level gymnastics to get into it a bit more.