In the news, Jessica, Uncle Tim, and Evan answer your letters, tell some of our most embarrassing gymnastics-show off stories then discuss:
Jesolo
- Bailie Key’s new mature choreography on floor. Hint we luuuuuuuv it!
- Norah “The Great” Flatley and her glorious beam routine at Jesolo.
- The vile Balking Rule takes a point away from Kyla Ross on vault.
- Madison Kocian and her stadler filled bar routine and new coach.
- The big tumbling and fun routines by Italians Erika Fasana and Martina Rizelli.
- The ridiculousness of Flag-aggedon.
- Our genius solution for adding in international quality compulsories for elites without making four-year-fans bored out of their minds at meets.
NCAA Conference Championships
- Champion Utah and runner-up Stanford blow away the competition at Pac-12s
- The semi-shocking rise of UC Berkeley over UCLA for 3rd place.
- Our favorite standouts: Risa “Flash Dance” Perez, Kristin “Horror Story” Klarenback, Nicolette “Perfect” McNair and the pointed toes of the Stanford bar lineup.
- The Michigan domination at Big 10 where the defending NCAA champ on floor closed out her senior performance with a perfect 10.
- Standouts Emily Wong and Lindsey “Precision” Mable, well deserved 10s!
- Who will drop kick one of the big teams in the throat and stage a major upset at Regionals (AKA the first round of do-or-die NCAA Championships)
GYMITATION CONTEST: Enter our #gymitation contest by imitating your favorite gymnast. Just take a photo or video of you doing a pose, skill or impression of a gymnast. Tell us who you are imitating, tag us and include the hashtag #gymitation. We’ll pick our favorites to win one of these fantastic four prizes! This is the last week to enter. Check out the prizes here.
Mar 19, 2014 | Imitating Kelly Garrison’s choice words during a routine for the #gymitation contest @gymcastic
Some of the Gymitation Contest entries so far. This is the last week to enter.
Bookmark our Amazon link here! A little portion of what you spend goes back to the show.
- 83: University of Georgia Head Coach Danna Durante
- The Most Annoying People To Watch Gymnastics With
- 81: Jenny Hansen
- 77: Aly Raisman
- 75: Classic Episode – UCLA’s Miss Val
- 74: Melanie Sinclair & A Review of Cirque’s Amaluna
- 69: 2009 World Champion Kayla Williams & Alabama’s Sarah Patterson
- 65: NCAA Judge Dean Ratliff, Early Recruiting & Saving Temple Men’s Gymnastics
- Episode 27: Tricia Woo – An Artistic Gymnast Finds Her Home in the Circus
Some photos of the self-made number signs from the Barbie Meets in the UK.
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Regarding the balking rule on vault, I’m in favor of it. I appreciate Jess’ safety argument and Evan’s point that meet directors have failed to protect the gymnasts in the past, but when you begin the run you’ve begun your routine. Besides, a gymnast has 30 seconds to salute and then a few more after saluting to prepare for the vault – so there is plenty of time to focus and limit distractions. At this point, elites really should know their steps, how to stay focused and the order of their priorities (safety first). If they need to balk for safety, it’s really the parents’ and the coaches’ responsibility to teach that to the athlete. Similarly, it’s the responsibility of a program to pick gymnasts capable of competing skills safely and expertly.
I’m guessing the rule was instated because of gymnasts like Yamilet Pena Abreu – she balked in the vault finals on her Produnova at the Olympics. When the four year fans tune in, they don’t expect to see balking of any kind. Similarly, a rule exists for beam and bars that if you touch or show intention to mount but fail to being the exercise, you are penalized for that as well.
Bars: -1.0 for running under the bars, touching the spring board, or touching the apparatus and failing to begin the exercise
Beam: -1.0 for touching the spring board or the apparatus and failing to begin the exercise
Regarding everything else, thanks for your updates and insight! I love listening to you guys