Archives for December 2014

December 31, 2014 by GymCasticCrew Leave a Comment

GymCastic’s Top 14 Episodes of 2014

2014 has been a great year for GymCastic. Month after month, our community of gym nerds has expanded, which has motivated us to work even harder to bring you great gymnastics coverage.

If you have missed any episodes, we hope that this list gives you a chance to find some new favorites.

14. Episode 99: The GymCastic Interview with Princess Catherine Lyons of Europa and Coach Rochelle Douglas

13. Episode 124: Event Finals at the 2014 World Championships

12. Episode 104: Gabby Missing in Action and the US Championships

11. Episode 112: Junior & Senior Women’s Prelims from the 2014 US Championships

10. Episode 94: Women’s European Championships – Part One

9. Episode 90: The 2014 Women’s NCAA Championships!

8. Episode 105: The Chicago Secret Classic Preview, Cuba Is Back, and Nadia Promotes Adult Gymnastics

7. Episode 77: The GymCastic Interview with Aly Raisman

6. Episode 87: NCAA Regionals and Russian Nationals

5. Episode 82: Cottbus, the English Championships, and Danusia Francis Finally Gets a 10

4. Episode 114: Fallout from Gymnastike’s Handling of the Maroney Hack – Plus Jenni Pinches Discusses Tumble Episodes 3 and 4

3. Episode 80: Marta did commentary for Nastia!

2. Episode 113: Junior and Senior Women’s Finals from the 2014 US Championships – Plus an Interview with Kim Zmeskal-Burdette

1. Episode 89: Everybody Loves Raymond (Plus, Pac Rims, the Men’s NCAA Championships, and the Russian Nationals)

December 17, 2014 by GymCasticCrew Leave a Comment

130: Mary-Anne “Mez” Monckton

Mary-Anne Monckton beam series — Mary-Anne Monckton doing her aerial layout series on beam . Photo by Nadia Boyce.

The 20 year-old is a student of the sport, should probably be a in the next episode of The Hard Way To Success, she still loves gymnastics despite seven surgeries, she gym nerded-out because she made a beam final with Catalina Ponor, is inspired by the number of women (20 and older) who held their own in the all-around final in Nanning–she is Australia’s Mary-Anne “Mez” Monckton! Emma and Jessica discuss the following gymnerdery with Miss Mez:

Why she hated gymnastics at first and being chosen like Nadia at age 7.
Surviving seven surgeries with her love for gymnastics intact!
Trying not to freak out while competing in beam finals with her gymnastics idol, Catalina Ponor.
Thinking the wrong score was posted when she placed second to Larissa Iordache on beam in Doha.
Her description of the beloved post-beam finals celebration with Ellie at the Commonwealth Games.
Tales from Nanning, her favorite competitors there and her opinion on the tie-breaking procedures for finals.
Being coached by the infamous, Ju-Ping Tian.
Explaining her desire to do American NCAA gymnastics to her Australian mother.
Why she became a student of the sport (AKA super gym nerd), not just an athlete.
Jet lag tips everyone can use.
Her thoughts on Australian Gymnastics Jail and how the team for the Commonwealth Games were chosen.
She tells the most endearing Peggy Liddick story you will ever hear and shares Peggy’s sage advice.

Follow Mez on Twitter, her YouTube channel for progress videos or Instagram.

Get us to 100 ratings on iTunes before the end of the year!

December 10, 2014 by GymCasticCrew 9 Comments

Episode 129: Why Gabby Left Chow (or Chow left Gabby?) & Glasgow World Cup

Larisa Iordache 2014 glasgow world cup blue leo leap — Larisa Iordache ended the year on a high, winning the 2014 Glasgow World Cup.

This week we’ve included time stamps for each segment of the show per your request. Let us know if you like it. Uncle Tim, Emma, and Jessica chat about:

The Glasgow World Cup (00:00): massive moments of joy, shooting fire, Vanessa Ferrari looking tired, pulling shorts up to belly buttons, John Orozco and Oleg Verniaiev scamping around Glasgow, why Pauline Schaefer of Germany stole the show. Plus the juniors we fell in love with from Espoir.
The Mexican Open (34:14): The Four Amiga’s: Boguinskaya, Daniela Silivas, Podkopayeva, and Chusovitina; the greatness that is Marta Pihan-Kulesza’s exquisite form; the return of the fierce little Italian, Enus Mariani to international competition; and most importantly, our review of the latest super bling $10,000 leotard by GK.
NCAA previews (52:49): Our thoughts of Chayse Capps new floor routine, the genius that is Stacey Ervin’s stick-a-thon floor routine and our gratittude for NCAA gymnastics after the long artistic drought that is the elite gymnastics code of points hell.
Our favorite items from the 2014 Ultimate Gym Nerd Gift Guide (1:01:16) and what Uncle Tim’s gymnastics nieces want for Christmas. It involves heavy excavation machinery.
Uncle Tim gives his review of Cirque du Soliel’s steampunk-inspired show, Kurios–complete with droplets of man sweat and what made the wive’s in the audience smack their husband’s mouthes closed. (1:05:34)
Gymternet News (1:13:43): Gabrielle Douglas’s agent dished all the dirt on why Dougy left Chow’s, an explanation for Mustafina’s poor performance in Stuttgart, the coming out stories of a rhythmic and artistc Olympian, how we feel about men’s and women’s Olympic trials being held separately, new skills in the code of points and why you should sign up for college Fantasy Gymnastics.
Mail Call (1:41:43): An outraged Russian listener, Irish Daniel asks what we think of Verona van de Leur announcing her comeback, and a very knowledgable listener takes gymnasts to task for copyright theft against choreographers.

Check out our Gift Guide here. Draft your fantasy gymnastics team by December 27! collegefantasygymnastics.com

Kayla Nowak of University of Oklahoma (AKA Mrs. Jake Dalton) doing her infamous Knock-Knock-Open-The-Door choreography at the 2011 NCAA Championships.

December 8, 2014 by GymCasticCrew 2 Comments

The Ultimate Gym Nerd Gift Guide

Welcome to the gift guide that will fulfill all of your gym nerd needs; with something for the baby tumbler, coach, adult gymnast, fan or hardcore athlete on your holiday gift list. There are even some DIY options for you crafty types.

1. X-Bands. If you are tired of your stupid grips getting loose, these are for you. The X-Band is a safety band that prevents gymnastics grips from coming undone and it comes in lots of fancy colors.

2. LegacyBox. Do you have millions of hours of meets on VHS or *gasp* Super8 film, slides or negatives? For the true gym nerd who has hoarded a million years of meets, this digital conversion service will preserve your [in Gollum voice] treasures.

3. Advent Calendar App. The 24 exercises of Christmas. Staying in shape over the holidays can be combatted with this fun gymnastics conditioning app.

4. Christy Linder Photography. Hire the gymternet’s favorite photographer all for yourself! Guaranteed to capture the hard core actions shots and the adorable emotional moments she’s famous for.

5. Custom Paintings. One of our favorite blogs, GymGab, has a great post here, about two artists who will create custom gymnastics portraits.

6. Yoda Pants. Why stick to boring ol’ workout clothes when you can rep’ all of your fandoms at the same time! Star Wars pants on + gymnastics = champion super nerd status.

7. True Nude Colored Briefs. Do you dye your own panties or sports bra to match your skin tone? Sick of “nude” color being no where near the color of your skin? Then one of these companies has the answer for you. Nude Barre, developed by a dancer, and Nubian Skin have the full color of the human rainbow for you to choose from.

8. Keep Calm, Coach. Show your coach that you understand her pain.

9. Plum Leos. All you need to know about these is that the girls at MG Elite wear them – Jazzy, Ari, Laurie, so yeah.

10. LeoCards. Get a postcard pack of 8, poster size, request a custom print of your favorite gymnasts iconic leo or have one specially made for the gymnast in your life. We would die if we had LeoCards of our adorable level 5 leotards.

11. Home Gym from Tumbl Trak. The ultimate fantasy gym for your living room champion. Pure joy!

12. Star Stuff Shirt. Because no one does gymnastics fashion more beautifully than Cloud and Victory.

13. VagaCare. For that friend at adult gymnastics who just had a baby and can’t do a cartwheel now without having to run to the bathroom. This is the cure-all for a the postpartum gymnastics blues. Now she can do trampoline without having to pee!

14. Acro Blocks. Be just like Kristin Allen; master your handstands with these sturdy, portable, hand balance training blocks.

15. Toe Point Stretcher. Whether you are watching from the couch, or practicing in the gym, every gym nerd needs to have great toe point. Since this is the machine used to torture ballerinas, you can be sure that it works.

16. Let The River Flow Book by Vanessa Atler. The embattled star has written a children’s book filled with the wisdom that allowed her to find peace.

17. TICKETS! Everyone needs to go to ALL the meets! American Cup, NCAA’s, P&G’s, the Glasgow World Championships or even Olympic Trials in 2016!

18. DIY Shadowbox. Give the gift of memories, perfectly preserved in a tiny glass box. Imagine these with a first pair of grips. Awwwww.

December 3, 2014 by GymCasticCrew 4 Comments

128: Aly is Back

Raisman prepares for bars back on the national team — Aly Raisman training in the recent USA Gymnastics documentary

Uncle Tim and Jessica chat about:

Komova’s triumphant return to international competition (nobody cares if she watered down)
Oleg’s baby mohawk, Ruggeri’s floor , Roxana Popa’s hot new bars steal the show at the Blume Memorial.
Why does Boguinskaya make Chusovitina pose in front of lingerie shops wherever they go?
Our jazz hands filled love for Elythora Thorsdottir and Axelle Kinckaert’s big band choreography.
Why the Romanian juniors are leading the charge for artistry and uniqueness in eastern Europe.
Should all competition bibs feature names instead of numbers like the did at the Stuttgart World Cup?
Afanaseyeva is back with a new floor routine and a huge neck tattoo. Seriously.
We lament for the Mustafina who could have been in Stuttgart (it wasn’t pretty, e.g. helicopter legs triple full is back).
The adorable VK fan chat with Oleg Vernaiev. That American’s are the friendliest and he still hates high bar!
All the reasons to love german announcers especially when they talk about Donell Wittenberg and Hambuchen.
Andres Breischneider does the double twisting kovcas again! You better STEP UP Epke!
Who has the best team on paper — the NCAA signing day debate.
The 43-year-old mother of three, Louise Andrew’s experience competing in the masters gymnastics (AKA being the coolest mom ever).
The cheerleader who’s never competed in gymnastics, Laney Madsen of Gym-Max, was invited to national team training camp.

Archives for December 2014

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