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NOTES FROM THE PUBLISH.:

Our publisher, Glenn Sundby, is away covering the World University Games in Moscow for the United States Collegiate Sports Council and GYMNAST magazine. In his absence he has left me to "Mind the Store", and introduce myself.

My name is Rich Kenney and I am the new art director, photographer, production manager and generally the Number 2 decision man at GYMNAST magazine.

Previously, I had been employed in the product design and development field and also as a coach at Gymnastics Unlimited in Addison, Illinois.

In my spare time from that involvement, I put together a little business providing awards," t" shirts, programs and photography of meets in the Chicago area. The USA vs. Japan meet and the Mid-West Gymnastic Championships are prime examples.

Prior to that I was captain of the University of Michigan gymnastics team under Newt Loken , and received my Bachelor of Science of Design degree from that University.

Gymnastics was instilled in my blood at Willowbrook High School (in Illinois) the gymnastics dynasty of Vic Lesch.

Having been trained at a great art school, taught by two outstanding coaches and with my professional and business background, I feel confident I will be able to help the magazine improve its quality and serviCe for the ever growing and demanding gymnastics world .

Promoting the sport of gymnastics has been Mr. Sundby's mission for many years and GYMNAST magazine is the primary product of his energy.

I have discovered in my short time here that the magazine is not the sole result of this promotional effort. There seem to be a half dozen or so projects coming and going through this office constantly, of which Mr. Sundby is a very important part. Because he is only human and there always have been and always will be only 24 hours in every day--­he has entrusted to me a great proportion of responsibility for the magazi ne. I am greatly honored by this assignment and determined to produce a quality magazine ... ON TIME

The problems of this magazine's production are real but definitely not impossible to tackle . With the contributions and constructive criticism of the readers, our staff, Mr. Sundby and myself we will make a real team effort to make this the magazine that gymnasts everywhere will depend on and enjoy.

R.K.

hi TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume XV / Number 6-7 June - July, 1973

4 FROM THE PUBLISHER, Rich Kenney 6 ON THE BEAM, Barbara Thatcher 8 VIEWPOINTS, Dick Criley 8 U.S.G.F. REPORT, Frank Cumiskey

10 JAPANESE TOUR

12 CHINESE TOUR, Frank Cumiskey, Barbara Thatcher

17 GUEST EDITORIAL: NEW POWER HORSE?, Ed Gunney

18 WOMENS ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS 24 CENTERFOLD, 26 MENS ELITE CHAMPIONSHIP

28 NEWS 'N NOTES, Renee P. Hendershott LETS LIGHT UP THE SUBJECT, Renee P. Hendershott BY THE BUS LOADS THEY CAME, Renee P. Hendershott DENVER SCHOOL OF GYMNASTICS FOR GIRLS EUROPEAN TOUR, Rod Hill FOR ALL BUT A FEW ... THERE MUST BE MORE TO IT, Renee P. Hendershott

33 BOOK REVIEW, Dick Criley, Renee Hendershott 34 RESEARCH Diane Splithoorn 37 TECHNICAL BULLETIN, Jackie Fie

38 INSTRUCTION: Pommel Horse ,Tadao Watanabe 39 vaulting Drills, Jim Turpin

40 SEQUENCE BY SCHULZ" Dieter Schulz

Cover: Sakiko Nozawa, competitor for the Nippon Gymnastic Club of Japan who toured the United States during May, 1973.

Publisher: Glenn Sundby, Associate Editors: Dick Criley and Renee P. Hendershott . Art Director: Rich Kenney , Staff Writer: Barbara Thatcher, Contributors: Frank Cumiskey, Jackie Fie, Ed Gunny, Rodney C. Hill , Diane Splithoorn, Jim Turpin . and Tadao Watanabe

GYMNAST magazine is published by Sundby Publications. 410 Broadway, Santa Monica, Ca. 90401. Second Class Postage paid at Santa Monica, Ca. Published monthly except bi-monthly June, July. August and September. Price 75¢ a single copy. Subscription correspondence, GYMNAST - P.O. Box 110, Santa Monica, Ca. 90406. Copyright1971C> all rights reserved by SUNDBY PUBLICATIONS. 410 Broadway. Santd Monica. Ca. All pl)otos and manuscripts submitted become the property of GYMNAST unless return request and sufficient postage are included.

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by Barbara Thatcher

Michelle Deluca, is this month's girl "On The Beam". Witty, attractive, and vivacious Michelle is a definite asset to the GYMNAST magazine staff. Her knowledge of gymnastics has helped us out many times and we couldn't work without her.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation ................. . I arr ived at Caravan of Camps in Santa Fe,

New Mexico on a beautiful June even ing not knowing what to expect. ............ .

Had I expected leisurely tour to five hour a day workouts, I would have been great ly disappointed. (The daily wo rkouts var ied from eight to ten hours and during the " Elite" camp held the second week, the workouts extended somet im es to 11 hours.) Had I expected to learn about volleyba ll , ping-pong, water ski ng or horseback riding I would have been even more disappointed. For except for a talent show and a trip to the mountains, the camp was devoted to the acquisiti on of knowledge in one area-----gymnastics.

And so to the staff of CO.C I ded icate my co lumn (granted that isn 't like dedicating a book but it 's a star t. ) and I wish to mention a little about them because of their influence on me and their part in making my two week vacation enjoyable.

Perhaps the two people who had th e greatest influence on me were Stormy Eaton and Bob Childers. Stormy (1971 NCAA FX champion) beca use of hi s tremendous energy and his amazing understanding of the fu ll twist. Th e guy ju st never stopped teaching. Three to four hours a day he wou ld spot tumbling alone and if that wasn ' t enough he wou ld often give up the majority of his lunch time to spot trampoline. And wow what a singer and quitar

6

Penny Martin and Jan Merritt are captains of the Gymnastics Unlimited Team of Shreveport, louisiana and two promising gymnasts for the future.

p layer and a real nut about o ld rock and r~1I Actually he never tried it on the high beam but music (actua lly just a rea l nut). And Bob (Big It does have posSib iliti es. And what a com~dlan, Bird) Childers of Oklahoma because he has got his imitation of a cricket IS fantastic and so to be one of the most creative instructors I've realistic. •• * ever met. According to Bob anyth ing on bars And how ca n I forget Tom Heineike of can be done w ith a twist (ANYTHING? Yes, Wichita, Kansas and his sensationa l game of anything) and the fir st time I saw him spot a side dive rolls over paper cups on top of the horse, roll o n beam I almost flipped. What a move! I his determination to teach everyone in camp a was a constant source of amusement to him sole circ le l Y, twist catch on bars in less than a constant note taking. Every time he would week and his great impersonation of a side expla in something on th e bars there I was, pad horse during the sta ff sk it for talent night. and pencil in hand. And he wou ld always turn * and ask "Did you get that down?" and I almost Or how ca n I forget Dave Thor and his full always did. I must admit I wa lked into ca mp twisting hecht off the unevens (yes it really was with one concept of a twist and walked out with the uneve ns) and his wife's great side horse a zi llion. routine or Rusty Mitchell's tumbling or Deby

• Anderson's beautiful leotards or Delene Darst's And then there was Cathy McGratlin of the never end ing patience when it came to

New Orleans YMCA, and Belly Axelson from teaching and watching compu lsories. Chicago, w ho showed me endless dance ., sequences for the floor and beam . Cathy and I And Wendy Cluff (or Wendella as she was even thought of a move I wou ld li ke to name in sometimes ca ll ed) will always rate a 10.00 III my her honor the ' "McGratlin". It 's basically a book as a st ill great tumbler, a genuinely nice cartwhee l into a sliding position on the beam. person and a terrific mountain climber. Oneof It 's a littl e tricky but we perfected it and the best times I had was w hen we started hopefully Cathy wi ll have one of her girls show pushing each other in the creek. But we both it for the first time at next yea r's YMCA managed to get a lot wetter when BobChilders Nationals. And remember you hea rd about it dumped buckets of creek water on us. first in GYMNAST magaz in e.

Steve Whitlock of Michigan was also wo rking on a very interesting move on the beam, stand ing sideways he would jump up to a handstand, then snap down to a back off.

Gymnastics is meeting new friends.

• And last but certain ly not least let me

mention Larry and Jan Bilharlz who made the whole camp possible . They are super nice people and really made me feel at home. And so just for them I w ill publish the lYriCS to "Roberta The Giant Gymnast", written for the staff sk it, by the staff, sung originally by Stormy Eaton land chorus with the sta rring role of "Roberta" originally played by Bob (6 feet, 4 inch) Childers:

Note:Th is song should be sung to the tune " Puff The Magic Dragon. "

Roberta the giant gymnast came to Santa Fe, To try and learn a glide kip or a double

flyaway. The sad part of the story, a forward roll she

could not do, And even when trying a ca rtwhee l she'd

always lose her shoe. ((This is the chorus) She met her first instructor It was tru e love at first sight.

Campers attending the "Elite" camp, a camp designed for advanced gymnasts, enjoy an alternoon in the mountains near Santa Fe.

Until sh e got to va ulting and squashed him in becau se the Senior Olympi cs has age group pre-flight. competitio n fro m age 25 on up. He certainly

She fl ew across th e floo r and let out w ith a has n' t lost hi s touch and captured th e scream. All-Around titl e as well as a first in rin gs, parall el . The ins.tructo r ki cked her in the --- and sent bars, hori zontal bar and fl oor exercise in his age her off to beam . group . Other no tabl e gy mnasts who also

At th e balance bea m, th e in stru ctor was participated we re Bill Tom, Anro Lascari, Ed rea lly mean. Gunny and of course my boss Glenn Sundby. I

Roberta sa id " Spot me o n a sta nding back." ;ea lly wa nted to be in it but as o ld an d decrepit But her weight she (th e instru cto r) could no t as I am, I just wasn ' t o ld eno ugh. Oh

hack. we ll.

Off she went to tumblin g to lea rn a bas ic tri ck But w hen th e instru ctor saw her bod he

suddenly got sick.

Chorus .•.•.. (The next part is sung very slow)

Then one night it happened, th e instru cto r cou.ld take no more.

Whil e castin g from the high bar, he let her hit the fl oor.

The expl osio n was terrifi c, it echoed far and wide;

And when th e smoke and debri s had cleared it look like she had died. Chorus ..•.•••..•

The morale of th e story is no t to be so FAT (special emph asis o n th at wo rd )

Or next time you try a basic tri ck you just might miss th e mat. Splat.

Well that's it fo r m y ex peri ence at camp. If you 've lasted thro ugh all of thi s, I' ll move on to other items.

Congratul ation s to John Crosby (You kn ow the NCAA Co ll ege Division All-Around winner; Olympian; Ni ssen Award Winn er etc. ... ), Steve Hoit o f. the Air Force Academy,. and Ray Gura o f th e University of Michigan fo r being amo ng th e 32 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners.

The $1 ,000 grants w ere awa rded to athl etes who competed in sports o ther th an football and b as ke tb all. Ch a lk up anoth e r breakthro ugh fo r gymn as ti cs.

Remember Art Shurlock, f orme ~ Olympian, fo rmer AA U Na ti onal champion and currentl y coach of th e UCLA (no I'm not spelling those initials out) team . W ell Mr. Shurl ock has made another Ol ympic tea m, this time th e se nio r Olympic tea m. That doesn' t mean th at Mr. Shurlock is rea d y fo r social sec ruit y of anythin g

So how did yo u spend your Fo urth o f Jul y? Well the Miles (Jack Miles) Gymnastic Club of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida spent it do ing w hat else ... gymnasti cs. Onl y thi s time it was befo re 26,000 peopl e in Yankee Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale. Of course man'y o f the people I'm sure cam e to see the fireworks di spl ay but accordin g to my source o f info rmation th e crowd just loved it and the 100 o r so gymn asts we re reall y inspired by th e w ho le thin g. Ron Gallimore was so psyched up th at he threw his do uble back on th e grass wh en th e moisture o n th e mats made it ve ry difficult to tumble. Ah gymnasti cs ........ What a spo rt.

Jumping fro m ex treme to ex treme, I now hop, skip, and jump (fve decided to go out for track) from Flo rida to W as hin gton, home o f Washington appl es, and th e we ll known Seattle YMCA gymnasti cs team. It seems putting on an exhibition with t he Chinese was a'grea t thrill fo r th em especiall y fo r Debbie Halle who acqu ired a new ni ck name "cow-pi-qua" (that's how it 's pronounced not necessa ril y spelt) whi ch means " rasca l" o r " funn y" . Both teams also .l ea rned hoI'\' to SilY good lu ck': fri end "and "see you.tomorrow " in each other's lanquage and I quess th ere were a few tea rs shed when it ca me time to say good bye. One newspaper termed this bond a so rt of ba lance bea m d iplo macy but it sounds li ke it went much deeper th an th at.

News Release o f th e month awa rd has got to go to Bob Peavy, coach at Washington State University, fo r hi s se nsation al

announcement o f th e birth o f his son, Matthew. I'd 'Iike to share part o f i t w ith you . .'.'.MATT, a future Olymp ic prospect, was highly touted beca use of h is no teworth y stati stics. Spo rtin g a 9.0 in hi s bes t competiti on (the we ight event), and a spectacular 53.7 in th e All-Around co mpetiti o n \21 !(2 inches; but co nverted to cent imeters fo r bett er

understanding intern at io nally), MATT drew rave notices from th ose w ho saw him first. A cco rdin g to scouting repo rt s, hi s stro ng point is th at he tum bles w ell. Hi s " head first di ve into open arms" du rin g his first competiti on was sensa tio naL ... . " Rea ll y cleve r.

I'm not too grea t w hen it co mes to poetry,

but Ruthie Budd o i th e Madison Gymnastics Troupe definit ely ge ts an " E" fo r exce ll ent fo r th e p oem she se nt me. A student at Madison College in th e Shenandoa h Vall ey in Virginia, Ruthie info rms me that nex t yea r her sch ool will have a regular competiti ve team. This yea r th e team had it 's ve ry fir st mee t and wo n. With th eir coach, Hayes Kruger, th ey hope to w in even more meets next season and hope to also contribute to th e g rowth of gymnasti cs in th eir communit y. Th e poem is ca ll ed" Patience". (And th at' s one thin g I co uld def initely use mo re of besid es talent. )

Patience is man's greatest virtue, O r so the saying goes. A gymn as t must have sa id it, Fo'r a gymnast surely knows, That in this funn y sport o f o urs Di scouragement run s high, And at times th e very best will f ind Thi s virtu e's passed him by. Wh en hands are ripped and throbbing Wh en eve ry muscl e's sore, (a n a gymn as t still have pati ence

To limp back in for more? Wh en you 've los t old moves yo u used to do And progress seems so slow, Ca n you still have faith in better days And not feel sad and low? Can you admit you 're fri ghtened Yet not gi ve into fea rs? Can you conquer pain, frustrati o n, And often even tea rs? When someone else does something You've tri ed so lo ng to do,

Ca n you feel rea ll y glad fo r her?

And not just pit y you ? And wh en success seems far away, Your effort s all in va in , Ca n yo u to rce yourself to wear a smile,

And di srega rd th e pain? If despite th e tribul ation s, You can say " I won't gi ve in. " M aybe someday yo u' ll di scover, Th at it 's now your turn to wi n.

Well once aga in it 's th at time aga in . Time for me to w rite of f. But befo re I cl ose t would like to introduce a new member o f our staff, Richard F. Kenney. (Act~all y we ca ll him Rich but Richard F. sounds more professio nal) Richard is our arti st or to be mo re fo rmal Art Director. He's very competent and also easy to get along wi th,however he ca n' t w rite and I ca n ' t d raw so if you have any p ictures o r ca rtoons, sei"d th em to him.(He liKes to get m ail too .) And send an y copy (that 's l e tt ~ r s ) to m e. Thanks. I w ill now close on littl e kn own fa.ct number 36 ..... ln th e 1932 Ol ympics, th e USA M en's tea m fini shed second. Amazlllg.

I had more to say but I've babbl ed o n enough. Besid es once again I have a bad case o f Florid a fever (Th e wea th er 's been poor here.) and I can ' t concentrate. So jo te ,down thi s address, P.O. Box 110, S.M. 90406 and be sure to

w ri te........ ** 7

II~ "'lltti I Its * *_BY DICKC----,RILEY

Recen tly I had the p leasure of ta lking w ith Cheryl Wagner (our Western Region reporter) and her fr iend joa n Kidder whe n th ey fo rsook a Ca liforni a summer for a few weeks in Hawai i. Now, neither Chery l nor joan wou ld necessa ril y be classif ied as a " women 's libber," but, let us say, th ey have stron g viewpoint s of th eir own about the role of women (and men) in gymnast ics.

Me: Of course, we've go t problems here too, but isn 't women 's gymnasti cs a lot of infi ghting all across the country?

Cheryl: Well , you know wha t 's behind it all . .. !

Me: " ?" Cheryl (continuing): It's th e men. Every meet ing you go to they're trying to run things. They want a vo ice o n pol icy mdking!

Me: Doesn' t it all go back to Madame Villancher (Former FIG Women 's Technical Cha irman) whowou ldn 't even allow men in th e gym when she was lecturin g? I think that is o ne reason men can 't judge women 's gymnasti cs.

Cheryl: I don 't know about th at, but I o nce hea rd it exp lained that men just didn 't un d erstand e nough dbout women, physio logicall y and psycho log icd ll y, and that 's why we d idn 't want them invo lved. Th ey ca n judge o n the local level tho ugh.

Me: Isn't biomechan ics th e red l key to improving our gymnastic technique? I mea n, if gymnasti cs moves are subjected to rigoro us biomechanica l anal ys is as Gerry George wants us to do, then the technique develops from basic physics and an understa nding o f wh at a person 's body type permi ts him to do, So men and women o ught to be ab le to judge and coach th e same. Cheryl: I was at a clinic where jackie Fie was

exp laining a move- li ke th e swing for th e wrap around on th e uneven bars. Some ma n insisted his girls had th e ri ght technique because they were straight - bod ied , bu t in order to achieve thi s, th ey all had to pike. Jack ie had to explai n to him that girls aren 't built like boys, thdt th ey ' ve got ' curves her e and ' there-- part icularl y th e hip region - dnd so th ey sho uldn 't be ex pected to trdin for d techniqu e th at suit s th e boys ve ry well . He d idn 't say m uch af ter that. Joan: At the last USGF Congress d bunch of men were silling in th e back of th e room grum bling and /IGthing was gelling done. Find ll y o ne man stood up and ilsked them to grumble elsewhere beca use th ey we re embarrass ing him. Th e other men coache~ looked at him as if to say, " A re you fo r the women or so mething?"

Me: Well , w hy ~h ou ld wom en continue to exe rcise thi ~ obv iously di scr imindtory at titu de!

(It is hard to de~cr i be a look--the k ind yo u get in rep ly to a ~ ill y question like th dt. I 'll post Cheryl 's las t word on th e mdtt er, but I dm sure some of o ur readers w ill hdve th eir own

8

viewpoint s. If yo u wou ld like to shdre th em w ith me and our redders, I ' ll be hdPpy to turn over some space for rep lies, Send your typew ritten, doub le spaced, co ncise (no more th an 2 pages) thoughts o n m en in women 's gymnasti cs to VIEWpo int s, ' l3o x 110, Sa nta Mon ica CA 90406)

Cheryl : I do n't reall y have d good dnswer for that.

** Communication is th e name of th e ga me. The Med ium is th e M essage!

Today's society is very much awa re of th e importance of the spoken, wr ill en , (and tJped) wo rd . Thus, it is w ith great pleJsu re thJt I recognize Mr, Frank Cumiskey of th e USGF for his part in resto rin g ou r dWJreness in th e ex istence of th e USGF. Fran k edit s th e USGF News and mdk es d specia l ellort to Jnswer JII the lellers to him. He is understdnd,lbl y upse t whe n the USGF is accused 0 1 not be ing informati ve.

May I tdk e d Cdse in point ? In 1972 th e USGF fo rmed d M en 's Technica l

Comm ittee, wh ich hdd it's fir st get-togeth er in Denver and a second one at Eugene, Oregon. Eve ry State Chdirmdn WdS provided d se t o r object ives and d iscuss io n hds been pub li shed o n how to redch tbem in t he Df'cf'mb(~ r '72 GYMNAST, I would , however, li ke to note th em here:

" The duties ot a 1 echnica l Comm ittee Member w ill be:

1, To conduct o r ca use to be conducted, Age Group Division ' Competiti o ns to r l3eginner leve l , Intermediate Level , dnd Advd nced Level.

2. To conduct or ca use to be cond ucted, Nat iona l Leve l Competition s for junior Leve l and Elit e Leve l.

3, To co nduct w it h regiond l counterpart s, d Regiona l Championship fo r th e Nd t iondl D ivision , junio r ,Ind Elit e Leve ls.

4. To conduct Invitdtiond l Competiti o ns in all level; .

5, To di~~emindte IniOrllldtio n in th ei rared in both d iv i ~ i o n ~ co ncernin g rul es, rul e chd nges, competiti on dates and othe r perti nent in formatio n.

6. To submi t ndmes, dddresses dnd dges of all· competitors to th e Nat ion,1I Offi ce to enable us to ma in tain record~ 0 1 ,III gymlhl sts dS to their progres~ ion.

7. To sa nction dll cOllljJetition s w it hin their area and to mdke Leltdin thd t th e Rul es o f Compet iti o n ,lIld Eli gib ility of the USGF dre fo ll owed.

8. To form a competition committee to assist in bu il ding and ~ t re n g th e nin ggymnd s t i cs in the' area .

Among cI ,Irifi cd ti on s hdve been th e relat iomhi p w ith th e AA U dnd th eir junior' O lymp ic progr,lfn (th ey hdve their progrd lll , th e USGF hd ~ th ei rs ,lIld t he two M e decld red by

the USGF no t to be in competiti on) and th e matter o f in ternal orga ni za tion with in a state

w hereby th e USGF Men \ Techni cd l Chairman recommend~ thdt stdt e chdirmdn aid in establi shing ~ta t e o rg,lIliLdtions dnd that th ey coope rate with ex i ~ tin g o nes. It WdS no ted th dt a state o rgani za ti on could nJllle it s own representati ve to the USG F Men 's Technicdl Commill ee, There ure four Regiondl Chairman.

Th e USGF M en 's Technicd l Comm ittee appa rently operates w ith quite d degree of openess at the Nat io nal leve l. We also have a USGF Wom en's Technical Committee. There are supposed to be 135 m embers o n the committee (contrast w ith 51 on th e M en 's) . An outline of th e commit tee was published in December 72 USGF News and a li st of State Technical Directo rs in the February 1973 'USGF News.

I wou ld like to invite a similar statement of purpose from th e USGF Women 's Technical Committee together with clarifications co ncerning the structure, duties, and responsibiliti es of the various levels of the Committee.

**

II.S •• ;.I~. ___ .ec ••••• et;-.---./

The USGF Congress w ill be held at the St. Lou',s-Marrl o tt Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri on November 2,3 and 4,1973. Th e banquet will be held o n Fridd Y, November 2 dt B p,m . 50 plan to arri ve o n Fridd y. O lylll jJic Committee meetings w ill be held on Friddy. Pl edse make your hotel rese rvations w ith th e Mdrri ott ho tel and se nd your rese rvdt ion 10 th e USGF Off ice iIi Tu cso n , Ari zond, 130x 4699. Enclose your check for $15 .00 wh ich inclu des the regist rdt ion and banquet. If you do no t intend to dllend th e banq uet j u ~ t send $10.00. This promises to be d grea t Congress, pled se ge t your reservdt ions in ea rl y.

A ~ h o rt res ume o f some of the results 0 1 co mpetiti o ns we se nt gymndsts to compete in:

W e sent Kim Chace to the South African Games in March and she was lo udly cheered'by th e crOWL]; .I S she won th e A II-A rour;d

competition w ith 37.50 poin ts and th e uneven bar ~ . o,ild nLe oeam allli f loo r ex ercise, ,III w i th ~Lore~ 01 ') .50. M r ~ . Uel ene Udrst se rved as ~upe ri or judge in the Ch,Hnpionships.

The USSR Invitational Championships, Riga, Russia .... April 6-8, 1973

Thi s competi tion w as held .I t th e end 0 1 A pril in 1972 and th e sw itch to th e beg inning of A p ril made it imposs ible to send dn y mal e gymnasts since the top gymrl as ts were compet in g at th e NCAA Cha m pionships th e s,ime w eekend in Eugene, Orego n.

Roxann e Pierce and Kim Chace we re se nt along w ith coa ch L.C.Cha ce . Coa ch Ch ace report s thJt the tra ve l Jrrangements w ere fin e, ex cept th at upon arrivdl in Moscow they had a 14 hour train ri d e to Ri gd w hich WdS tirin g.

Roxa nne fi ni shed 6th in th e A ll- A round and Kim wa s 10th . Coach Chace fee ls th at due to th e fact that th e USA girl; we re up 2nd and 3rd o n fl o or exercise alllith eir sco res w ere low . As th e co mpetiti o n prog ressed th e sco res we re hi gher fo r a like exercise.

Roxanne made th e fin,lI s in two event s and fi ni ~ h ed 4th on ba ldnce bedm and 5th in vaul tin g. Coach Chd ce report s warm greetin gs from all Ru " ian off icia ls and th e Director of th e USSR Fed erati o n di sc ussed J probab ilit y of having a tw o event competiti o n w ith th e second o ne in Ivioscow . Thi s w o uld entail stayin g in Russ ia for two ex tra d ays . The att endance w as very li gh t for both m en's an d wome n' ~ event s w it h sOlll e increase d urin g th e final s.

FIG Tour of Brazil, May 14-25, 1973

A most interestin g id ed to p ro vid e a stimulu s for gymna sti cs w as J tt empted by th e Bra zili an Gymna sti cs Federation. Th ey app li ed to the Int ern at iona l Gymna sti cs Federation to suppl y gymna sts, th e bes t from ea ch co untry, to do a se ri es of exhi b iti on s in f ive c iti es . FIG w as happ y to undertake th is tdsk dnd asked for th e bes t available gymna sts from th e top cou ntri es in gymna sti cs.

Wom en gymna sts such as To uri scheva, Burda, Sc haeffe r , Schm eisser, Schorn and ou r own Chace and Pierce we re in v it ed. The m en in vit ed w ere NJka yallld , Ho nma, Fujimoto, A ndri anov, Klimenko, Ko es te and our o w n j o hn Crmby. They ex hibit ed before a to tal of 130,000 ~ p e cta t ors .

M r. Max Ban gert er, sec.-etM Y of FIG , w as th e Chef de M iss ion and co nducted a fi ne tour w ith th e Brazilian ho sts. Th e trip not o nl y d emonstrat ed th e bes t gymndsti cs to th e Brazili an peop le dnd th eir gymnasts but the 30 gymnasts w ho pdr ti cipa ted were db Ie to train and exhi b it together forming th e fo undati on for lasting friend ships. The USGF th anks FIG and Brazil for allow ing our gymndsts to take part. The rad io and te levision cove rage wa s great and o nl y tim e w ill te ll .IS to wh eth er gymna sti cs wi ll p rosper as a result of thi s tour.

Second Women's International Championships, Antibes, France. june 16,17, 1973

Ern es tin e' W eave r, coach and judge, took Roxanne Pi erce and Kim Chace to An ti bes to compe te in th e ir seco nd In vitati o nal Champ iomh ips. O ur g irl s d id a fine job , wh il e Mrs. Wea ver act ed as judge. Roxanne wo n th e A ll-Aro und wi th J sco re of 37.65 and Kim w as 2nd w it h 37.30. Roxann e also w on the vaulting and the uneven bars allli Kim w on th e balan ce beam ,lIld floor exercise.

Pre-World Gymnastics Championships called th e Golden Sands Invitational. Varna, Bulgaria June 8-10, 1973.

GMy Morava injured h is sho ulder on th e la st day o f prac tice Jnd could not compete and since each cou ntry is lim it ed to tw o gym nas ts, two m en and two wom en, we onl y had 'on e mal e gym nast.

Th e USA gymn,rsts w ork ed ve ry we ll and fini shed a ~ fo ll ows : Nancy Thies- A ll-A round total-71.10; ti e 5th in AA; 3rd o n balance bea m ; 3rd in floor ex ercise; 5th in vaulti ng. Debbie Hill -10th in th e A ll -A round ; ti e 4th in th e unevens; t ie 5th o n floor exe rcise. Jim "Ivicek-tlth in th e A ll -A round ; 5th on rings; ti e for 3rd in vaulting; 3rd on para ll e l ba rs; ti e fo r 7th on high bar.

W e w on a total of four m eda ls w hi ch was a good show in g, howeve r, the other countr ies loo ked ve ry good and we w ill have to w o rk ve ry hard to do w ell in th e "1974 World Gyrnna sti cs Gam es.

The USGF also ~e "t Mr~ . Grete Tre iber toge th er w ith janette A nderso n and Debb ie Fike to th e N HK Cup in japa n from jun elO-20. Th e repo rt ha s not ye t been rece ived.

(:JlGA ...... . ... ... .. . ............. . W e ha ve received m an y letters con cerni ng

th e ar ti c le pertaini ng to Olga Korbut , w hich is ve ry inte res ting sin ce it is a d irect result of th e acti on s of the Wornen 's I nt ern ati ona l Techni cal Cornrn it tee rn eeting , janu ary 21-30 at St utt gart.

Th e m eet in g start ed off on thi s note ' Beam: Too many acroba ti cs. The techni cian s should finall y come to understand th at acrobati cs sho uld be rese rved for th e f loor exe rcise.

The exercise o n the beam should include a mi nimum of acroba ti cs linked w ith balan ce positi o ns, turn s, rh ythmi c steps etc.

Extensive ac roba tics on th e bearn are not on ly prejudi cia l for the gymnasts b u t they also make th e execution rath er jerk y w ith fr eq uent pau ses instead of th e rhythrni cal cont inui ty that is required.

Thi s statern ent probabl y led to th e ac ti on by th e seven rn embers of the Techn ica l comm itt ee which pa ssed six to on e wi th Mrs. Demindenko vo tin g aga inst th e proposal wh ich was as follo ws : THE CLOSED SOMERSAULT ON THE BEAM_

In view of th e fac t th at this e lement is peculiar to th e beam, th e Wom en 's Technical Comrn itt ee has decided to prohibit it. In thi s w ay, it is hoped to avo id danger fo r th e gy rnna sts, Thi s type of e lement can on ly be performed as a di smoun t.

In june in St utt ga rt , th e comm ittee also d ecid ed to bar any movern ent on the uneven parall el bars th at o ri ginates from the fee t, such as O lga's stand in g -on th e hi gh bar and flippin g to th e sa m e bar. This rul e w o uld also includ e her disrnount.

Mr. Ga nder, accord in g to th e news arti cle , says th at there is nothing final con ce rnin g th ese d ecision s as th ey still rnu st be approved by th e Federat ion's Assem bly in Rott erdam nex t November.

Th is off ice is receivin g man y lett ers from peop le th at seern to think th at th e U SG F hJd somethin g to do w ith thi s ruling. Ho w should we vot e in No vember? Sho uld li rn it at ion s of move m ents be p laced o n th e bearn and unevens? Wh,ll abou t a p ress to a hand stand on th e beam-- is this peculi ar to th e beam? Cl n thi s be comidered drt isti c gy rnn as ti cs? Is a back handsprin g less dangerou s th an a ba ck

som ers,lU lt ! Th is move m ent is app roached in th e Sdm e mann er as a bd ck so mersault. If you mi ss your grip o n a bd ck handsp rin g, th e inj ury could b e grea ter th an rni ss in g yo ur fee t on J

ba ck so rn ersdult. Isn 't ,I front aer ial more dangero us since you cann o t see the b edm w hil e you can on th e bd ck som ers,lUlt. Sin ce acro batics is dllowed o n th e bcdm-- --d o es it make sense to se lect ce rtai n sk ills and leg islate again st th em.

As O lga says-shouldn 't gymn as ti cs dictdt e the style. Th e judges all gave her first p lace w hil e she w as doi ng these move m ents. Doesn ' t judging to a d eg ree di c tate move m ents?

W hat w ill happen to th e beam if they elirni nate all acrobatics and j ust all o w walking ba ck and forth and waving th e arms w hil e smiling? W hy not e limin ate smiling? Profess iona ls smil e to th e audi ence to enhance th eir act. Shou ld ama teurs be fo rced to srn il e as on th e bea m and floor ? (a forced smil e in ma ny

cases) * WHAT DO YOU THINK? *

KORBUT MAY RETIRE

Moscow (AP) - W ith th e routines that made her th e darling of the 1972 M uni ch O lympics under att ack , d iminuti ve Olga Korbut has w arn ed th at she m ay fo ll o w he r routin es into retirem ent.

Th e 1tl- year-o ld Ru ss ian star , vo ted Assoc iated Press Femal e A thl et e of the Year fo r 1972 reacted stro ngly to th e recen t pl an b y th e I nt ernation al Gym nasti cs Fed eration to ban from future cornp etition s ce rtain elements of her prograrn--parti cularl y the double backw ard (DOUB LE BACKWA RD ?) somersault on the bala nce bea m.

" If th e decision is put into effect,"Ol ga said in an interview publi shed in th e off icial spo rts organ Sovietsky Sport , " then I simpl y do not see any pl ace fo r myse l f in gymnasti cs ."

Th e 89-pou nd Olga had captured th ree go ld m edal s (including the team m eda l) at Munich and on th e balance beam had ach ieved a score just .10 of a poi nt from being perfect.

Preparation had begun long ago for new and even more comp lex rou tin es for nex t month 's I nt erna ti o nal Un iversit y Games, an event Olga said she w ill probabl y now mi ss.

" Th e point is no t th at the fact that I w ould be compe ll ed to rep lace m y cornb inatio ns in two event s," she exp lained , " It 's not simple to do that, but in th e end it is possible.

" But , more importa ntl y, I wa s told w ithout rese rvat io ns to radica ll y revise m y po int of v iew toward gymnasti cs . It ha s al ways been co nsidered gyrn nasti cs ha s th e r ight . to d eterrnin e it s own style. Yes, th e routines are difficult , but our jo int motto has been to stri ve for hi gher co mplex i ty,

Olga said ' her coa ch in ve nted her comp li cated routi ne and th e two ha ve neve r p lanned to make such a routin e a " secret " .

"We showed it to th e w ho le wor ld and it wa s accept ed," she said.

" Probab ly th ere are othe r wa ys too , but I neve r realized that ou r w ay w as wort h y of co nd emnat io n and should be ba nn ed, W e never imposed it o n anyo ne and we didn ' t ask fo r pri vil eges."

Th e threat of a retirernent brought sooth in g word s fro m th e Federation Pres ident A rthu r Gander in Chi casso , Sw itzerl and . He sa id th e ru les, whi ch wou ld bar M iss Ko rbut 's most appl aud ed feats as too dangero us, still rnu st be approved by th e Fed eration 's Assembl y in Rotterdam nex t N ove mber.

9

NIPPON GYMNA S TICS CLUB TOK Y O -JAPAN

JAPAN - USA COMPETITION / EXHIBITION TOUR - 1973 Sa nctioned By : United State s Gymnastic Federation and the Japan Gymnastic Association

Spon sored By : GYMNAST Magazine

GYMNAST magazine was proud to sponso r --_________________ _ _________________ -'

the f irst A meri ca n tour of th e N ippon Gymnasti cs Club, th e largest gymn as t ics club in Japan.

Du rin g the month of May, the cl ub put o n numero us exhib iti o ns and pa rt icipa ted in seve ral co m pet iti ons across th e United States. Clubs such as the SCAT's d f Lo ng Beach, th e AZTECS o f Sa n Diego and the KE N O S gym tea m o f Texas we re just a few of th e clubs th at hos ted th e Japa nese tea m d uring th eir visi t. Other teams-- the Di ab lo Gym Club, th e Denve r Schoo l o f Gymnast ics and th e Puebl o Schoo l o f Gymnastics also gave th e Japa nese team an adeq uate idea o f the strength of the c lub program in t he United Sta tes.

Members of the ippon Gym Club incl uded Ol ymp ian Taka ko Hasegawa, " A ll Japan" champio ns Ch izu Morisak i and J unko Hyodo plus prom ising yo un g gymnasts Yuki Kawa i, Sa kiko Nozawa and Satoko and Noriko Okaza ki.

Th is was a club to ur, not a natio na l tea m to u r and so was not necessa ril y an indi ca ti on o f th e ve ry b es t of th e Japanese co mpetito rs. However, th e N ippo n Gymn ast ics Clu b had some f ine perfo rmers many of w ho m sho uld become increas ingly we ll kn own o n an in ternat iona l leve l. Hopefull y th is w ill merely be th e first of ma ny exchanges between cl ubs in the Un ited Sta tes and Japan.

•• • •

10

The Nippon Gymnastic Club . Ph o~.JS by Glenn Sundby

Ta kako Hasegawa Takako Hasegawa

Sakiko Nozawa Noriko Okazaki Photos sub mitted by Jim Gault

'1oriko Okazaki

Satoko Okaza ki

12

The People's Republic of China Exhibition

By Barbara Thatcher

There is a say ing among athl etes f rom th e Peop le's Republic of China w hich trans lated mean s, " Friendship first ; competition second.", and this belief ca me across ve ry clearly during the Chinese gymnast ic exhibition at the Los Ange les Sports Arena on May 31st.

The warmth of their sm il es, their obvious enjoyment in merely performing routines and their friend liness towards other performers was in distinct contrast to the often serious and businesslike manner of the Russians or Japanese.

Th ere were severa l other differences between this exhibition and the one given by the Russian women gymnasts two month~ before . The audience was much smaller and would have perhaps been even smaller had the Americans not performed and not had in parti cular,'Ca th y Rigby Mason and Steve Hug among them. Both gymnasts ad ded a ce rt ain amount of glamor to the evening and one of th e highli ghts of the night was Steve Hug 's doub le pommel horse routin e with one of the Chin ese gym nasts.

Th e Chinese were good, in l act excell ent in seve ral areas no tabl y vaulting for th e ladi es and para ll el bars fo r th e men. However overa ll th e ladies did not seem to ha ve th e finesse that th e Am eri ca n girls di splayed on oth.e r events and th e Ch inese men were as good as th e Ame ri ca n men but not that much bett er. Th e Amer ica n men 's tea m had many sp eciali sts, Ted Marcy on pommel horse , Bob A nderson o n Free Ex, and Steve Digg le on rings. A ll executed ni ce routines. However, th ese gymnasts are not ye t co nsidered th e bes t in th eir parti cu lar event and so rea ll y th e on ly outstanding gym nast for the United States was Steve Hug. He was also the on ly all -around performer on the squad and none of the Chinese men were speciali sts. Hug had troubles on the paralle l bars and the rest of hi s routin es except for th e floor exe rcise, were close to m ediocrity.

Impressive were the Chinese women at vaulting . The ladies executed some nice twisting va ults, quarter on, quarter off, half on, half off, wh il e the Amer ican girls threw some nice but bland Yamishitas. Equally impressive though were the American gi rl s on balance beam. Kyle Gaynor of the SCATS had an interesting run which included a sp lit leap followed by two aerial front wa lkove rs to a pose, need le sca le and a tu rn in sca le position . Cathy Rigby Mason 's routin e has been lengthened for ex hibition purposes and inc luded a front aeria l, back handspring to chest roll , several whip up to handstands and it was nice to see that since her retirement from competition she has not forgotten how to do gymnastics. Of the Chinese women Wang Kuei-ping was perhaps the best on bea m. Her routine included nice dance elements and a ve ry fas t no hand roll as we ll as a ba ck handspring and gainer dismount.

-

Double pommel horse exhibition

Chinese dance routine

The uneven bar rout in es for both groups included the usual twists, hechts, handstands and attempted handstands on the high bar. Richard Pascale (the " o ld man" of the American squad) threw two very nice handstand back toss to handstands on the parallel bars and drew much app lause from the audience. Chu Te Jui was possibly the best of the Chinese on parall el bars and hit a very so lid routine which ended with a full twist dismount.

For both the men and women on each team floor exercise was a strong even t. Tumbling elements for the men included seve ral doub le full twists, double backs, and side flips are definitely " in " thi s yea r in floor exercise. For the women the tumbling was not that comp li cated and th e hardest tumbling was round -off , ba ck handspr ing, back flip, and ro und-off, back h,lIldspr ing, layout back. Tin g

Chao-fang did execute a pleasing round-off back handspring full twist however.

The exhib iti on ended on the same happy note with which it began. There were songs played from each country and th e genera l spir it which preva il ed was one of comrad ity. Numerous times this season gymnasncs has brought togeth er people from different nations who have different philosophies and different lifestyles. Hopefully the apparent harmony that was present between the Chinese and United States gymnasts will extend past the gymnasium and into the larger world . This was the f irst opportunity the United States has had to see the progress of· the Chinese in the sport of gymnastics and hopefully it will not be the last. Perhaps even one day American gymnasts wi ll compete against the Chinese gymnasts in the ir own country. • ••

Mr. Lu, Chinese Deputy Leader presents Mr. Les Sasvary, with a gill and banner. pholos by " ' nk Endo Mr. Kong, Chinese team leader with frank Bare.

Liao Jun-tien

. \'

Chinese delegates with frank Cumiskey Photos by Glenn Sundby Gordon Maddox and Jim McKay

13

__ _ _ __ _ _ ~ _ ._ _ _ • _ F _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ - __ - ------

t~HIIA -II.S.A . . Madison Square Garden

By Frank Cumiskey

Much has been written concern ing all th e foreign teams that the USGF had as gues ts thi s year . The tours by th e Hungarians, Romanians, Fre nch ~ Japanese High Schoo l boys, Ru ss ian girls and the Chinese team s we re unqualifi ed successes. These team s covered the length and breadth of ou r land.

The off icial match es we re all f in e matches and the China-USA match at Madiosn Square Garden, wh ich was an unoff icial match, was very interesti ng.

Th e match was judged by two officials and on ly one sco re was flashed. Jack ie Fie and Sharon Va ll ey judged th e women's match and the American girl s won each event to w in the match by 2.50 poi nts.

The men's match was also judged by two men, Frank Cumiskey and Andre Simard of Canada. Th e match was ve ry excitin g and the team s we re ti ed go ing in to th e last even t, the horizontal bar.

Gary Morava, th e last man to compete needed a 9. 20 to tie the co mpetition. Gary, many times has scored higher than 9.20 but as he stooped through to hi s d islocate giants, he got behind on hi s circ le forwa rd and shot ve ry low and suffered a bad break and sco red an 8.60 which cost th e USA team the match.

Naturall y the las t man up has th e sco re th at is looked at for the loss. However Marshall Avener also broke o n the high bar and received an 8.70 a nd he also is ca pable of a 9.40 and th ere we re other spots.

All in all it was a good compet ition and the Chinese men had some fin e movements. A wh ippet on the rin gs w ith a co ntinuing forward ro ll to handstand . From an upper arm hang on the parall el bars, back upri se handstand to

Tsai-Huan-tsung

Tsai-Huan-tsung Richard Klingerman immediate hop pirouette .• • ___________________________________________ _

RESUL TS OF ALL AROUND COMPETITION PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA vs. U.S.A.

AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, N.Y. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1973

P.R. CHINA FX PH R V PB HB Tota l P.R. CHINA V UPB B FX Total

1. Yang Ming-Ming 8.80 9.40 9.40 8.60 9.30 9.46 54.90 3. Chiang Shao-Yi 9.30 9.25 9.30 9.20 37.05 3. Tsai Huan-Tsung 9.00 9.20 9.20 9.40 9.40 8.30 54.50 5. Ting Chao-Fang 9.10 8.70 9.00 9.20 36.00 6. Yai Chu Sheng 9.00 9.10 8.70 9.20 860 9. 20 53.80 6. Liu Chin-Lin 8.50 9.30 9.00 8.90 35.70 8. Yin Hsi Nan 8.90 8.50 8.50 9.10 8.00 9.30 52.30 8. Tang Chi-C hich 8.80 9.05 8.70 8.65 35.20

China team score 26.90 27.70 27.30 27.70 27.30 27.90 164.80 Team Total 27.20 27.60 27.30 27.30 109.40

U.S.A. U.S.A. 2. Marshall Avener 8.70 9.50 9.30 9.30 9.20 8.70 54.70 1. janelle Anderson 9.30 9.50 9.40 9.30 37.50 3. james Ivicek 8.70 8.60 9.60 9.00 9.30 9.30 54.50 2. Debbie Fike 9.35 9.40 9.45 9.00 37.20 7. Gary Morava 9.30 8.50 8.90 9.20 9.20 8.60 53.70 4. Diane Dunbar 9.60 9.35 8.70 9.10 36.75 7. james Culhane 8.60 9.10 8.80 8.90 9.00 9.30 53.70 7. Nancy Th ies 9.45 8.00 8.80 9. 20 35.45

USA Team Score 26.60 27.20 27.80 27 .50 27.70 27.30 164.20 Team Total 28.40 28.25 27.65 27.60 111.90

-- . - -- - - . -., . - -- - - - - - - _.

14

Tsai-Huan-tsung

Cathy Rigby Mason

Frank Bare and Glenn Sundby, two people who helped make the Chinese Tour possible. The photos on these two pages were taken at the e.hibition in Los Angeles.

Oebbie Fike

Ting Chao-fang

Tang Chi-chieh

Ting Chao-fang

15

Photo submitted by Mr. Wang Chia-tung Chiang Shao-yi on balance beam ling Chao-fang vaulting

Ning Hsiao-Lin on floor exercise Yang Ming-Mzng on pommel horse

16

Ting Chao-lang on lIoor exercise

~ NEW POWER HOUSH

By Ed Gunney

A quick review of the Sept.-Oct. 1962 edition of the MG (it is in front of you-of course it is) reveals an interesting fact. Red China, in its competitive debut, defeated that strong

Italian team with Carminucci and Menichelli to take fourth place. The teams defeating rookie China were Japan, USSR and Czechoslovakia. YuLieh-feng even placed 15th in the alJ-around compared to Carminucci's 18th and Tonry's 21st.

It has taken 11 years to hear again from Chinese gymnasts. According to a theory of mine, the gymnastic scene may be greeting a new powerhouse.

Under the assumption of anatomical geometric similarity between two gymnasts of different heights, certain conclusions can be reached about the suitability of each for gymnastics. First, if each athlete's physiological capacities are identically developed, we should expect each gymnast to be equally strong in proportion to his body. However, this is not so

Muscle tissue contracts with a strength directly proportional to the cross-sectional area of the contracting muscle. Thus the difference in size between our two gymnasts would seem to dictate that although our taller gymnast may be heavier, the increment in his linear dimensions (meaning longer levers of the body's appendages, the origins and insertions of the tendons) should also compensate for the increased weight as his strength increases with the second power of this linear increase (area is related to the second power of linear . dimensions) . WRONG AGAIN. Weight is related to volume which increases to the third ' power of the linear increment.

From this we see that, between two athletes equally trained · and with identical somatotypes (body builds}, the taller would be at q disadvantage by having a smaller strength/body' weight ratio than the shorter gymnast.

Second, the taller gymnast has a center of gravity necessarify higher on the ground than the shorter gymnast. When in a handstand on the rings, the taller gymnast's p~nduhjm vibration will be faster as his center of gravity is closer to the fulcrum. This means the taller gymnast must display a greater amount of preciseness in timing in order to achieve the same results because, for the taller gymnast, the same timing deviation results in a greater number of degrees of being " off" in relation to creating or dampening ring swing.

Third, the tallf'r gymnast requires proportionally greater areas to run in during free exercise. A six foot gymnast needs 20 feet more area than a five foot gymnast (all elsebeing equal) in order to achieve proportional results from a three step run.

The tall gymnast also consumes a greater area of the high bar and parallel bars when he pirouettes, leaving him less room in the direction of the turn with which to further work and be creative in . This disadvantage is further magnified when it is recognized that the taller gymnast must also work with a greater degree of uneven spring from the bar as he is necessarily required to work closer to the uprights.

Fourth, the thickness of the high bar and the rings is uniform. The six foot gymnast weighing 150 Ibs cannot even work out as long as the 100 pound five foot gymnast because though lie weighs 50% more, his hands are not 50% wider and therefore he has a much greater pressure/ square inch on his hands. The taller gymnast is thus more susceptible to blisters.

Often we hear that the taller gymnast looks better than the shorter. This is not necessarily true. If we have stipulated that the tall and short gymnast have identical somatotypes, their linearity and proportionality are the same. The mesomorphic ectomorph (a muscular, slender build) in japan will be as aesthetically pleasing as a talierDave Thor or jack Beckner. But our gymnast from japan will have a much greater degree of strength per body size and consequently will not need to exercise his timing as precisely as his taller counterpart in order to attain the same results. He also will "look" as tall and aesthetically pleasing-all else being equal.

Couple these principles with laws of statistics and one could predict that japan, a nation where the population is not typically tall, should produce greater numbers of greater gymnasts per million people. However, there is a country with an even greater number of small people. This greater sample predicates that the larger country,China, could be a likely country to defeat the gymnastic dynasty of japan. ---

I firmly believe that China, probably soon to be entering international competitions in all sports, will replace Russia as the second place gymnastic power and may eventually overtake japan. • • •

17

GWomen~ GElite &hampionships

~ULT

PRE. IQTAL ~ ~OO

All-Around Compo Vault

1. Joan Moore Rice 37.10 9.45 2. Roxanne Pierce 37.15 9.50 3. Nancy Thies 36.30 9.20 4. Janette Anderson 36.65 9.10 5. Debbie Fike 36.30 9.25 6. Kim Chace 35.95 9.50 7. Diane Dunbar 36.10 9.20 8. Pam Simone 35.25 9.25 9 • . Claudia Fizell 34.95 9.05

10. Kathy Howard 35.75 9.25

The judges for the 1973 Women's Elite Championships.

Y l'\ 1Y 1

1973 ---USGf ELITE CHAMPIONSHIP -

Beam Bars

9.15 9.15 B.B5 9.40 9.40 9.20 9.05 9.20 9.15 9.20 B.55 9.40 9.00 9.05 9.20 9.00 915 9.20 8.90 B.75

BAl

-

Floor Total

9.50 7435 9.35 74.25 9.40 73.50 9.15 73.15 9.00 72.90 9.30 72.70 9.10 72.45 9.05 71.75 9.05 71.40 B.25 70.90

1973 WOMEN'S ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

MA Y 4-6, 1973

For Joan Moore Rice this competitive season has been a good one. All-around winner at the AAU Senior Nationals held the last weekend in April , she went on to claim another all-around victory the following week at the USGF Women's Elite Championships in Seattle, Washington.

With her on that victory stand were fellow Olympians, Roxanne Pierce, who placed second and Nancy Thies who finished third. The rest of the top ten list included many lesser known gymnasts but if this meet is any indication of tf)eir potential, several have a promising future on both national and international levels.

To gymnastic followers on the West Coast Janette Anderson's fourth place and Debbie Fike's fifth place finish in the all-around was no surprise. In the last two years both ladies have steadily progressed towards more challenging, high level competition and this year had the opportunity to compete against international teams. Debbie represented the United States against teams from Hungary and Romania and Janette was selected along with Debbie for the Romanian competition. Debbie, a fifteen year old from Lakewood, California, excels in bars and vaulting and secured a place in the finals in these events. A top performer for the Seattle YMCA squad Janette's control and grace on balance beam did not go unnoticed in this meet and she managed to reach the finals on beam and floor exercise.

It was not a good meet for Kim Chace. As experienced and accomplished a competitor as she is her efforts only managed to gain for her a sixth place in the all-around . However she did go on to the finals in vaulting placing third, uneven parallel bars placing second and floor exercise finishing fifth. But for another Florida girl, Claudia Fizell, the Elite Meet was encouraging. Claudia was injured earlier in the season at the Hungarian meetat Penn State, but recovered quickly and in time for this meet. She was fairly strong in compulsories and powerful enough on bars to keep her up among the top one third.

Absent from the Elites were many of the names of. gymnasts who had qualified for this meet in last year's Olympic trials at Long Beach. Cathy Rigby and Linda Metheny have retired as well as Cleo Carver and Barbara Fleming. But still very active in gymnastics are SCAT performers Dagmar Hintnaus, Kyle Gaynor, Sandi Gross, Gail Wycoff and Cindy Eastwood. Of these girls, only Sandi Gross came close to placing in the top ten all-around group with a 12th place finish.

One other notable gymnast was Diane Dunbar, a Northern California girl, who qualified in the second Elite Qualifying Round held in March near San Francisco. She is very strong in vaulting and is an excellent tumbler.

This meet should become increaSingly important in determining this country 's best gymnasts and possible Olympians. Two qualifying rounds were held several months before this competition and a total score of 70.00 points was required in order to go on to the Seattle meet. It 's interesting to note that only half of the girls in the meet scored over 70.00

• •• 19

4

~ault photos by Glenn Sundby Sequence photos of Roxanne Pierce.

~.J .1973 ... "J USGr EUTE

CHAMPIIlNSHIPS

Vaulting Finals Prelim Kathy Howard

Compo Opt. Ave. Finals Roxanne Pierce 9.45 9.50 9.475 9.55 19.025 Joan Rice 9.20 9.45 9.325 9.55 18.725 Kim Chace 8.95 9.50 9.225 9.50 18.575 Diane Dunbar 9.20 9.20 9.200 9.40 18.600 Debbie Fike 9.15 9.25 9.200 9.40 18.600 Kathy Howard 9.30 9.25 9.275 9.30 18.575

20

1973

USGF' ELITE 5 ----. 6 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Prelim. Roxanne Pierce Uneven Parallel Bar Finals Compo Opt. Ave. Finals Total Roxanne Pierce 9.25 9.40 9.325 9.60 18.925 Kim Chace 9.25 9.40 9.325 9.40 18.725 Joan Rice 9.20 9.15 9.175 9.50 18.675 Debbie Fike 9.10 9.20 9.150 9.40 18.550 Nancy Thies 9.00 9.20 9.100 9.40 18.500 Janette Anderson 9.05 9.20 9.125 9.1 0 18.225

Rice (Moore) Debbie Fike

21

Nancy Thies Debbie Fike

Roxanne Pierce Prelim.

Balance Beam Finals Compo Opt. Ave. Finals Total Nancy Thies 9.00 9.40 9;200 9:50 18.700 Debbie Fike 9.15 9.15 9.150 9.30 18.450 Joan Rice 9.30 9.15 9.225 8.95 18.175 Janette Anderson 9.35 9.05 9.200 8.95 18.150 Diane Dunbar 8.85 9.00 8.925 9.20 18.125

CHAMPIlNSHIiS Roxanne Pierce 9.20 8.85 9.025 9.10 18.125 Winners in the balance beam competition.

Janette Anderson

22

Nancy Thies Joan Rice Prelim.

BAL 81 Floor Exercise Finals Compo Opt. Ave. Finals Total Joan Rice 9.40 9.50 9.450 9.45 18.900

[OTA'=. f Nancy Thies 9.15 9.40 9.275 9.45 18.725 Roxanne Pierce 9.25 9.35 9.300 9.40 18.700

l!l GOO Janette Anderson 9.20 9.05 9.175 9.35 18.525 Kim Chace 8.90 9.30 9.100 9.30 18.400 Diane Dunbar 9.00 9.10 9.050 9.25 18.300

~.J 1973 ... ~ U5Gf" ELITE

CH AMPIIlNSHIPS Floor Exercise winners

Janelle Anderson pholo by Rich Kenney Roxanne Pierce

23

Men's Elite ChaDlpionships

Men's Elite Championships Penn State University

Twenty ~ur of the count~~ b~t male~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ gymnasts assembled at Penn State University, May 4-5, for the Championships of the USA, the · masculine equiva lent of the Women 's Elite Championships he ld the same weekend in Seattle , Washington .

The meet served to determine the Elite or top 15 all around men in the nation and was also instrumental in selecting the men 's team for the University Games to be held in Moscow during August. The two day meet featured performances by such nationally ranked competitors as 1973 NCAA All Around champion Marshall Avener, Gary Morava (second AA 1973 NCAA's) and Jim Ivicek (fourth AA 1973 NCAA's) who placed first , second and third respectively in this competition.

Olympians Jim Culhane and John Crosby rounded out the top five in the all around division.

In add ition to indi vidua l competit ion, the gymnasts competed on teams according to their region . With three past Olympians (Avener, Culhane and Crosby), and several other very capable performers the team representing the Eastern region easily won with 527.90 points and was a full ten points ahead of the team from the Mid East region .

The Western region lacked a really outstanding gymnast and probably would have been much stronger had the team been able to acquire the services of the West Coast 's top all around man and two-time Olympian Steve Hug, absent from the meet because of a schoo l photography assignment. However he was named to the World University Games team anyway because of his excellent colleg iate gymnastic record .

Particularly weak in both compulsory pommel horse and rings the Western region on ly managed to cha lk up 488.85, almost 50 points behind the top team.

The top six performers in each event following compu lsory and optional compet iti on went on to compete in the individual finals, wh ich were surpr ising in a number of ways.

Not surprising was John Crosby's first p lace win in floor exercise, nor Marshall Avener's victory on pommel horse but Jim Ivicek 's performance on rings definitely was impressive especia ll y since parallel bars and vaulting are considered his better events. His 9.45 routine

put him ahead of Avener and Dave an w ho usually prove to be much

:er than Ivicek in this event.

\ ,

CHAMPIONSHIP OF All-Around Winners (L to Rl: John Crosby, Jim Culhane, Gary Morava, Marshall Avener, lim Ivicek, and Jay Whelan.

Photos submitted by Still Photography Service ....•..............................................................................

Second in va ulting at the NCAA's this year, the junior from the Un iversity of New M ex ico just bare ly made the finals in this event and then on ly scored a mediocre 8:575. Gary Morava, the winner, executed some fin e vaults and it was a nice finish to a disappointing season for him in that particul ar event. The NCAA vau lting champion in 1972, Morava did not even qualify for that event in th e NCAA reg ionals.

Another interesting area was hori zontal bar where John Crosby was the top man followed by Morava and Joe Sweeney. Crosby 's stronger events usually tend to be floor exercise and vaulting. Although he was not in first place going into the finals the 9.50 ave rage he secured was hard to beat. It was a good night all th e way around for Crosby.

In the past this meet has not ranked in importance with say the NCAA Championships or even th e AAU Senior Nationals in

determining the top ma le gymnasts in the United States. However Gene Wettstone, meet director, is confident that this wil l change. In th e past th ere were no real qualifying sco res necessa ry to enter this meet and it was virtual ly open to any gymnast. Thi s year though there were reg ional meets held around th e cou ntry, and a regional selection committee elected the coach , decided w here the regional trials would be held and selected th e final team.

To qualify for thi s meet a gymnast must have obtained a 96.00 compulso ry optional total in an international , national , con ference, reg io nal or championship meet. Whenever poss ible, a non co ll egiate performer who had been unable to qualify in such a meet was given the opportunit y to qua lify in a special reg ional meet.

Avener, Morava, Ivi ce k, Crosby, Hug, Mike Carter and Jim Stephenson were named to the World University Games team. •••

THE ELITE 15 FOR 1973 .O.LD:~'7':CWt!S

The Elite 15 for 1973 (L to R): Ro b e rt Ro th, Jim Ste phe nso n, M e l Hill , Doug Fitzja rre ll, Dave Butzman, Ray Gura, Steve Posner, M a rsh all Ave ne r, Jay Whela n, Ted Marti , Mik e Carte r, Jim Culhane, Jo hn C rosby, and Jim Iv icek.

FX PH R V PB HB

1. Eas te rn Regio n C 43.70 42.70 43.20 44.50 43 .65 43.15 scores: 0 45.10 43.35 44 .35 45.25 44 .95 44.00 2. Mid East Regio n C 41 .75 41 .60 41.35 43.60 40.95 43 .95

0 44.25 42.00 43 .75 44.50 44.50 45.00 3. Mid West Regio n C 43.35 35.35 43. 00 43.45 41.15 42.00

---- 0 45.10 41.00 45.35 44.60 44.45 44.90 4. W estern Regio n C 42.35 35.50 39.55 41.70 38.55 43.20

0 41 .90 33.50 42.65 44. 15 42.85 42 .95

All-Aro und

Co mpulsory Optiona l Final Score Co mpo Opt. 1. Marsha ll Aven e r 52.15 54. 95 107.10 9. M ike Ca rte r 51.00 51.50 2. Ga ry Morava 52.10 54.70 106.80 10. Dave Butzma n 48.55 53.60 3. Jim Ivicek 52.25 54.20 106.45 10. Ray Gura 50.10 52.05 4. Jim C ulh ane 52.30 52.65 104.95 12. Do ug Fitzja rre ll 49 .75 52.35 5. Jo hn C rosby 50.50 53.95 104.45 13. M e l Hill 50.15 51.55 6. Jay Whe lan 51.40 51.65 103.05 14. Jim Ste phe nson 48.00 52.45 7. Te d Ma rti 51.30 51.40 102.70 15. Ro bert Ro th 48. 25 52.05 7. Steve Pos ne r 50.40 52.30 102.70

INDI VIDUAL FINALS

TOTAL

260.90 267 .00 527.90 253 .20 264.00 51 7.20 248.30 265 .60 513.90 240.85 248.00 488.85

Final 102.50 102.15 102.15 102.10 101.70 100.45 100.30

Floor Exercise C&O A.ve. Ave. Final Sco re Final To ta l Va ult ing C &O Ave. Ave. Final Scores Final To ta l 1. Jo hn C rosb y (East) 9.275 9.500 18.775 1. Ga ry Mo rava (Mid-E) 9.200 9. 125 18.325 2. Doug Fitz ja rre ll (Mid-W) 9. 175 9.300 18.475 2. John C rosb y (East) 9.1 75 8 .B50 18.025 3. Steve Posne r (West) 9. 050 9.200 18.250 3. Mike Ca rt e r (Eas t) B.975 B.950 17.925 4. Jay Wh e la n (East) B.975 9.150 18.125 4. M e l Hill (East) B.975 B.900 17.875 5. Gary Morava (Mid-E) B.950 9.000 17.950 5. Do ug Fitzja rre ll (Mid-W) 9050 8 .750 17.800 6. Jim Ste phenson (M id -W) 8.B50 B.B50 17.700 6. Jim Ivicek (Mid-W) B.950 B.575 17.525

Po mm e l Horse C& O Ave. Ave. Final Sco res Final Tota l Pa ra lle l Bars C &O Ave. Av . Fin al Scores Final To tal 1. Marsha ll Avene r (East) 9.050 9.150 18.200 1. M arsha ll Avene r (East) 9. 150 9.300 18.450 2. Jim C ulhan e (East) B.BOO B.350 17.150 2. Ga ry Morava (Mid-E) - B.B75 9.100 17.975 3. Gary Morava (Mid-E) 8.500 7.950 16.450 3. Jim Culhan e (East) 8.950 8.400 17.350 4. Ray Gura (Mid-E) 8.775 7.200 15.970 4. Mike Ca rter (Eas t) 8.625 B.650 17.275 5. Te d M arti (Mid-E) B.425 7.300 15.725 5. Jay Whe lan (East) B. B25 B. 350 17.175 6. M el Hill (East) B.625 7.000 15.625 6. Jim Ivicek (Mid-W) 9.300 7.BOO 17.100

Rings C &O Ave . Ave. Final Scores Final To ta l Horizo ntal Ba r C& O Ave. Ave. Fina l Score s Fina l Total 1. Jim Ivicek (Mid-W) 9.200 9.450 18.650 1. Jo hn Crosby (East) 9.1 25 9.500 18.625 2. M arshall Ave ne r (East) 9.350 9.250 18.600 2. Gary M o rava (M id-E) 9. 150 9.350 18.500 3. Dave Butz man (M id- E) B.925 B.950 17.875 3. Joe Sweeney (West) 9. 050 9.050 18.100 4. Ca rl Walin (Mid-W) B.B50 B. 900 17.750 4. Jim Ivicek (Mid-W) 8.B75 9 .100 17.975 5. Clark Jo hnson (West) B. B75 8.B50 17.725 5. Dave Butz man (Mid- E) 9.025 B.900 17.925 6. Ro be rt Ro th (Mid-W ) B.775 8.350 17.125 6. Bill Ba rnwe ll (W est) B.950 B.550 17.500

27

Mrs. Renee P. Hendershott 17605 Fries Avenue

Lakewood, Ohio 44107

NEWS Renee ~endershott_ . Women 5 •••••• _ 'N NOTES Co.ordinating_

editor .

Editor's Note: This fine article deals with the many aspects of using flash photography. However it must be emphasized that the majority of flash photography should be done during regular gym workouts, during warm ups at meets or during exhibitions, NOT during competition. The use of flash during competition has often produced disasterous results (gymnasts falling from the equipment or losing their concentration). Therefore be sure to use flash equipment with much care and caution.

LET' S LIGHT UP THE SUBJECT

By Renee P Hendershott

If you have experimen ted for a while with gymnast ic photography, you have probably gotte n some great pictu res, gymnastica ll y speak in g, but many have been poorly lighted. It is difficult to take good pictures, especially in a small gym with light walls and a lot of defects and immovable objects in the background . Below I present you with a problem c lini c covering the li ghting problems you are likely to meet.

Problem No.1: The walls are very light and sk in is light. Pictures show very poor cont rast between skin and background.

Fig. 1 Poor contrast between wall & subject.

Answer No.1: If the gym is very large, you shou ld get the subject as fa r away from the wall as is physically possible and use flash. This will light on ly the gymnast and give a nice dark background . The photo in Figure 2 was taken in

28

a huge gym . In th e background are the audience and many other things that wou ld appear in the background if the gymnast had been c lose enough for my flash to li ght the background.

Fig. 2 Good contrast achieved by moving subject far from the background and using flash.

If the gym is sma ll , and it is not possib le to move the gymnast very far from the wall, turn o ut all the lights in the gym except for a small lamp placed as far from the wall and gymnast as possible. This is for the safety of the gymnast so she can see what she is doing and wi ll a lso be needed by you so you wi ll have enough li ght to be able to focus. (If there are windows, and a lot of day light is coming in ... wait until night to shoot.)

Now the wa lls and the gymnast are dark. The idea is to keep from throwing li ght on the wall, but to li ght the gymnast.

Remove the flash from the camera and attach a 12 foot extension coru between th e camera and the flash gun. (You may not be able to find a cord this long; just buy two and put them together.)

You will be moving around a lot. This is bad on the socket in the camera and on the orig inal cord coming from the gun. To avoid expensive repa irs, tape the cord down to the camera where it plugs into the socket and tape the attachment of the extension cord with the orig in a l gun cord down to the gun. Now when you move around, or trip on the cord only the masking tape and extension cord itself w ill be disturbed .

Have an assistant to hold the flash gun for you , or tie it on to an extendable photographic flood li ght stand so you can get it up high. Have the gun aiming in the same direction that the photoflood li ght (substitute a 75 watt bulb in the stand) is aimin g. You can move the photoflood stand into different positions and take a GOOD PRELIMINARY LOOK at what effect your flash gun wi ll have when it flashes. The important thing is to put the light at such an angle that it does not shine directly on the wall behind the gymnast.

An example on beam would be to put the light so that it shines on the suj ect from one end of the beam. It wi ll shine at the wall at the othe r end of the beam, but you will not be photographing that wall. You can move the lamp so that it shines down on the gymnast, or down so that it shines up on her for different effects. Figure 3 is a n examp le of the clear deliniation which can be obtained between gymnast and a perfectly chalk white wa ll . This boy was only about two feet from the wa ll .

Fig. 3 Better contrast obtained by removing flash from camera and lighting from the side.

Because he was so close, there was some lighting of the wall , but not enough to spoil the shot.

Below in Figure 4 note the dramatic effects which can be obta in ed w ith a gymnast as littl e as six feet away from the wall in a dimly lit room.

Fig. 4 Dramatic effects with imaginative lighting. Using the " preliminary look" technique with

the flash on the light stand is really helpful in the beginning, because you can see ahead of time just what the li ghting effects wi ll be. It can be left on while taking the flash pictures, because it is not strong enough to interfere with the light of your flash gun. It is fun to plan different imaginative dramatic lighting effects.

Problem No.2: Pi ctures show very distracti ng shadows cast from the gymnast 's body onto the wall beh ind . Figure 5 is a good examp le of this. The shadow is sti ll with in the li mits of the gymnast s body so that it can not be cropped off. Many otherwise excellent pictures are spoi led in this manner.

Fig. 5 Distracting shadows can be avoided. Whenever yo u shine a light on something a

shadow wi ll be produce d . It will be especia ll y noticeab le when the subject is close to the wa ll .

The photographer must exper iment and find an ang le at which to place the flash gun, so that the gymnast 's body and apparatus are either completely separated from the shadow so th e shadow ca n be cropped off in printing, or so th at th e shadow is behind th e gymnast and does not sta nd out as a separate en tity. Study Figures 6, 7 , 5, and 9. (C stand fOf ca mera , S for shadow, and L fo r li ght position.)

l y

s

C Fig. 6 No shadow

s

C Fig. 7 Can' t crop this off without cutting into image of gymnast

s

lC

Fig. 8 Shadow behind subject. Blends in well (better when subject far from wall.)

l

C

Fig. 9 Here you can crop off. the shadow.

Problem No.3: When can one use natural o r available li ght with no flash for act ion shots?

Answer No.3: Th e less li ght th ere is in th e gym the longer you r cam era shutter must be left open to expose th e film sufficiently. If your light meter indi ca tes that you ca n use a speed of 1/ 500th of a second or more (dayl ight condi ti ons) you are al l set. You can shoot from any distance or ang le, and be fairly we ll assured that you can " stop " th e action. In this case you can even experiment w ith " depth of field " You can throw th e background out of focus and get a nice clea r shot of the gymnast by usi ng the larges t lens open ing possible (as indicated on your li ght meter ... remember the smaller F numbers on your came ra dial actually

mean larger diaphram openings) . If you wa nt the background in focus, use a sma ller lens opening (larger F stop). Figure 10 is an example of lighting cond itions being such that a ve ry wide lens opening had to be used. The gymnast was " lost in th e crowd " , so to speak. It would have been better in this case to have used flash.

,., 1 • ~-.

Fig. 10 Lost in the crowd.

If the lighting cond iti ons are such that you can not use a speed above 125th of a second , you can still get good action shots if you take them using the following techniques:

1. There are many opportunit ies to get lovely still shots when there is no movement on the part of the gymnast. You can take pictures like in Fi gure 11 and often get some lovely lighting effects with just th e light available in

the gym. I n thiS case the gym was darkened and there were spot lights coming from above the group, and the effects were quite dramatic.

Fig. 11 Still shot with available light.

1. If the subject is moving, the photographer must be more expert: Place you rself so that the gymnast is coming toward or away from you . Less action is seen from this ang le. If you wish to take shots from the side, you sti ll can get good shots if you catch th e subject at the PEAK of the move when there is the LEAST ACTION. This takes a feeling for gymnast ics on your part. Figure 12 is an examp le of an action shot taken ,at the peak of the acti on. (shutter speed of 1/ 125th of a second)

/" Fig. 12 Atthe peak of the action at 1/125th of a second.

Another technique which you should use is to stand farther away from th e subject (16 feet or more). The farther away yo u are from th e act ion, th e easier it is for the ca mera to STOP the action.

One thing to remember is that if you are go ing to photograph something from a grea t distance such as beyond 25 o r 30 feet, your flash unit is not going to do yo u any good. It won ' t li ght the subject . . . so you must use available light anyway. Available light should be used when photographing from th e

bleachers or when taking pictures of th e v ictory march o r groups way across the gym. For less expensive flash units a distance of 16 feet or less is really best if the flash is to have any effect.

There are some electronic flash units whi ch are effect ive as far as 50 feet. One unit se lls for about $80.00 and the battery for it is about $20.00 (Th is is really cheap because .f9r $20.00 you get 1000 flashes. It costs about $35.00 to get 1000 fla shes using the small " AA" batteries needed by many smaller fl ash units.). Another . great feature to this type of gun is that you can' turn it down to half power when shoot ing closer shots and the recharge time is only about Y2 second . This way you can shoot as fast as you want to without those everlastingly long waits for recharging. (The particular one I have seen is made by Braun, model number ~L 515).

Problem No.4: The shutter speed which one uses with electronic flash is quite low ... about 1/ 60th of a second, but the flash goes on and off much faster than this (sometime during that 1/ 60th of a second) . This is why we can get fast act ion shots with a slow shutter speed. The problem is that parts of the body are blurred as if the action is NOT being stopped . Why is this? It doesn ' t always occur.

Answer No.4: Figure 13 is a strik ing example of this very problem . Here we are getting what are called " ghost images".

Fig. 13 Ghost images.

The ava ilable light in the gym (in this case, a ;pot li ght from above the gymnast) is so strong that th e film is being exposed during other parts of the 1/60t h of a second during which the shutter is open . It is actually a double or triple exposure.

29

This often happens when the lighting conditions read around 1/ 60 of a second Fl.4 and you are more than 16 feet away from the subject. Moving closer to the subject will allow the light from the flash unit to have greater effect than the available light.

Another solution wou ld be to purchase the . stronger flash unit so that the avai lab le light can not over-power it.

just remember, you can tell if this is going to happen by taking a meter reading to see what the diaphragm opening would have to be if you were using available light at 1/ 60th of a second. Then determine how far you will have the flash unit from the subject. This wi ll determine how big the diaphragm opening will be when you take flash pictures. If the opening is the same or sma ller (larger F stop) for available light this means that you will be getting ghost images. You must be able to use a lens opening at least two notches smaller than your light meter indicates you wou ld use with available light (or two F stops larger) to prevent the ghosts when using flash. If you can not, move in closer until you can use a sma ll enough lens opening with your flash.

Problem No.3: Pictures are clearly defined, but are just too flat, grey, and uninteresting looking.

Answer No.5: Using some of the lighting techniques suggested in the answer to problem No.1 could solve this problem.

Fig. 15 Off the camera flash in darkened room same gymnast.

I hope this will be of some help to you . Now let 's see you get busy and take some good pictures at some of these meets for which you have . .. up to now, been submitting only writtf'n results . Help us to make The

GYMNAST Magazine the prettiest in print!

• • • • 30

. Rudy and Janet Bachna

BY THE BUSLOADS THEY CAME

This year marked the 10th Anniversary for the Kent State University gymnastic spectacular GYMNASTICS IN MOTION--Held on April 27th and 28th, this event drew crowds of 5,000 both evenings. Engineered by Rudy Bachna and his wife janet, Gymnastics In Motion is an example of gymnastics without competition.

Although there were many pure single performances of routines from the Olympic events tastefully interspersed throughout the entire show, there was much more to be seen. To start things off right, dozens of little children, both girls and boys gave a short demonstration of what they are learning in the community program run by the University.

As things progressed a great variety of acts such as beautiful mass floor exercises done by the combined men and women's gymnastics teams, circus acts such as performances on the Spanish webs, the human jump rope, exciting moments when many bodies were literally flying through the air with serial vaulting, or flipping on mini tramps, funny times when the clowns tripped over the mats and gave out free ' balloons to all the kids .. . oh yes and that funny routine when two boys were embell ished with balloons inside their leotards got up on the uneven bars and did complete bar routines (men's lib?) . They fell off in unison on their "additions" which promptly popped to clue the slower members of the audience in that their femininity was just temporary. (I heard a little girl telling her mother about those "gi rls ". When her mothertried to explain, she said "No mom, they were girls. They had bows in their hair. " )

And then there were the serious moments (but never for too long) when awards, good byes to departing seniors, honors

(Kemember Debbie Ban Drosky the gal who arranges and plays all the floor exercise music for the Kent women 's team, being on the team herself? She is graduating magna cum laude with a 3.7 point average) and gifts for janet and Rudy. (Would you believe a garbage can and a AM-FM clock radio???) ... I'm sure there is a story there someplace. All in all there was a great feeling of warmth expressed by members of the teams for each other and for their beloved coaches janet and Rudy Bachna.

Everything ended appropriately when the . men in white, the women in blue and the children in red marched out and all suddenly

lay down to form a striking American flag ... Kent's contribution for a happy and physically fit American youth .

For those of you who would like to know something about the program at Kent, janet and Rudy Bachna have been a coaching and teaching team for 20 yea rs. They began the gymnastics program at Kent in 1959 and under their supervision, both the men 's and women 's

activity has increased. They have coached and managed several Pan-American and Olympic teams, served as judge.s and offi cials at International competitions both in the U.S. and abroad. Both have held FIG International Judge's Certifications.

The Kent State women 's team notched up 59 consecutive victories in th e regular season" competition, 13 of them this year, before finally losing a close battle to Clarion State, which no rmall y f ini shes in th e top fi ve nat ionall y.

They finished eighth in Collegiate Nationals last year and moved up to the seventh spot in 1973. The girl's overall record as a team is an astoundi 77-4.

The philosophy for gymnastics at Kent is threefold ; the first phase is to give individuals with little or no previous experience in gymnastics the opportunity to learn skills and gain physical fitness and recreational benefits. They have skill classes for men and women in education and for other interested persons so that they may learn to do many of the gymnastics skills themselves. They gain valuable teaching experience by working with some 300 children from the community. There is a gymnastic club serving the needs of all interested students. In addition to the many exhibitions presented by the group, competitIOn is provided at the novice, intermediate and advanced levels.

The second phase o f the Kent philosophy is to better prepare men and women majors in hea lth, ph ys ica l educa tion, recreation and athleti cs to teach and coach gymn asti cs in their future teaching positions. Over 40 young men and women from the Kent program have now graduated and are coaching in high schools, colleges, V's and recreation departments all ove r th e count ry. A num ber o f them have th eir own priva te clubs and have stud ents whi ch have done we ll at th e Na ti onal level. A sent imental highli ght is the fact that many o f th ese young men and women have met in th e gym, dated and marr ied , and are now husband and w ife coachi ng teams. Rud y and Janet have counted 24 weddi ngs during th eir days at Kent.

The third phase of the Kent philosophy is to train skilled men and women gymnasts to their greatest potential whether it be local or International competition . Gymnastics is a highl y respected spo rt at Kent. There is $250,000 worth o f equipment and a tremendous phys ica l pl ant to serve th e needs of every individual. Th ere is ample time alloted every day for workouts, and th e administration is highly cooperati ve in sch eduling classes for gymnasts invo lved in the competiti ve program.

•••• ,DENVER SCHOOL OF GYMNASTICS FOR

GIRLS EUROPEAN TOUR

by Rod Hill

We left Denver Thursday morning, the 25th of January and flew non-stop to Dullis Airport in Washington D.C. We we re met at th e airport by Ruth McBride and taken to our motel. That evening we worked out, and returned to the motel. In our party was Debbie Hill, Alicia Johnston, Lori Frasco, Trish Reed, Sharon Akiyama, linda Antonio, and Kim Montagriff. These girls were the final seven who qualified for the trip through a series of meets over the four previous months.

Our first qualifying meet was held the 1st of October. In this one every girl in the school was allowed to compete if they so desired. We

eliminated down to the 30 top scores. One month later, we dropped to the top 20 scores. Th e 1st week in December, we had our thir d meet and el iminated to the top ten, we had two injury petitions, so 12 girls went into the final trials. Unlike what happened at Long Beach, when the Olympic Team was picked, we had a rule that any girl who did not make the final trials, o r fail ed to complete th e meet. would be eliminated.

The final trials were held on Wednesday night before a packed house at the Denver School of Gymnastics. It was one of the finest meets ever witnessed in Colorado. There were only two falls all night, as girl after girl performed to their highest expectations. When the night was over, we knew we had a very fine team to represent us. Debbie was the high scorer with Trish Reed second and Linda Antonio third .

We left Dullis the next evening. We flew on a 747 to London, where we met with Ray Taylor, the Great Britian Federation Head . We left two hours later and arrived in Stockholm, Sweden about 3 in the afternoon. Here we were met by Rolf E Bjork and parents of the SOL-flickorna GF Gymnastic Club with whom we would' compete the next night. This club turned out to be the number one group in Sweden.

We were taken from the airport into Stockholm and placed in three homes. I must

"add here before going any further that the people of Sweden treated us as well as it is humanly possible. They were just tremendous at all times . The following evening we competed against the Swedish team. The stands were overflowing with spectators, and the standing room area behind the stands was full.

Each team competed with seven girls with the top five scores counting. The judges were all from Sweden . The conditions of the meet were good. All the equipment was of the System Ruether type except the floor exercise area. The floor exercise pad was a carpet over a rubber base. It was adjusted without much trouble. .

The first event was vaulting. We started well with most of our girls scoring in the high eights and low nines. The Swedish team scored mostly in the sevens and eights. Next we went to the bars, where we pulled away from our hosts. Each of our girls hit their routines with great consistancy. Debbie ended up with the highest score of the night with a 9.7. Most of our scores were in the nines. We next went to balance beam. The Swedish team was fairly steady, but lacked the tricks of our girls. Our girls were likewise steady and again we scored in the high eights and low nines to middle nines. The final event arrived and the team score was in no doubt at this time. Again our girls scored very well as they hit their routines with few bobbles. The final team score showed about a 35 point spread.

fhe awards ceremony was unusual for our girls. Each girl in the meet rece ived a c rys tal finger bowl. For winning the all-around, Debbie received a huge crystal bbwl. Trish Reed received a similar bowl fo r finishing second in the all-around. Linda Antonio received a smaller bowl for finishing third. Debbie then received a small bean pot type trophy of scoring the highest in all four events. Th e team trophy was a twenty foot candle wound around a small stand. The girls exchanged pins and patches.

The next day we were taken on a sight seeing tour of Stockholm by Lennart Anderson . They took us to lunch, then we were met by the girls

31

of the Swedish team and with our interpreter jean (an exchange student from Ohio), we continued our sight seeing.

The following day, we rented a volkswagon van and left Stockholm. The weather was very good and we drove South. We reached the southern tip of Sweden at 10:45 that night and drove aboard a ship that would take us across the sea to Germany. We slept in cabins on the ship and rested comfortably throughout the 7 hour trip.

We arrived in Germany early in the morning and drove all day until we reached Munich . The girls wanted to see where the Olympics were held. It was cold in Munich, but we arrived in time to do some shopping and sightseeing. I was a little strange for Debbie and I to return t the place where there was so much joy an, sadness. It was physically the same, but far les. crowded.

We stayed in a hotel in Munich and were a little worried about a snowstorm that suddenly came up.

The next morning the snow had cleared, but it was cold. We left Munich and began the drive to Zurich, Switzerland. We drove through the rest of Germany, then the Western edge of Austria and into Switzerland. The land was beautiful and we enjoyed the trip very much. We arrived in Zurich late in the afternoon and just had time to do some shopping. We got a hotel room and rested that evening and got a good nights sleep.

The next day we started early and drove West toward England. We decided to go into France at the last minute and drove all day, arriving in Paris about eight that evening. We were supposed to be in England late that afternoon, so we were now behind schedule. We decided to forego seeing Paris the next morning and drove to the coast of France where we boarded a ferry for England.

We had wondered what it would be like driving on the wrong side of the street in England, but f"und it easy to adjust to and very natural after a half hour or so . We drove to London where we were met by jeff Quirk and taken to Potters Bar (the hunting grounds of Henry the VIII). Here we were put into homes. The next day we worked out at a local school before the entire student body. That evening we did a fund raising exhibition for the Potters Bar team; before a turn away crowd . It was a very pleasing experience. We were guests of honor at a reception presided over by the Lord Mayor of Potters Bar. Again in Potters Bar we were treated tremendously. It is hard to put into words how good these people were to us. I will never forget this little town on the edge of London.

The next day we were driven to central England to Lee Green. We were taken to a sports center in the country. We found ourselves in the most beautiful country I had ever seen. The land was as green as you could imagine, and as far as the eyes could see. We were put in small bungalows at 'the sports center. The next afternoon we worked out before a packed sports hall. We were hosted by an old friend, Nick Stewart. We had met Nick at the World Games in 1970 and had been good friends since that time: That evening we put on our official exhibition before another packed house. Again we were treated like royalty.

It was here that we met Avril Lennox, the British National Champion. 'It was announced that she had won the Churchill Grant and awarded a trip to the United States to train for three months. It was also announced that our

32

gym in Denver was the one selected for her training. We felt very good about this.

The next day we drove back to Bletchley, north of London. Here we would compete against the National team of England in the first sports event ever held in a fantastic new sports center. They were still putting the finishing touches on the building when we arrived.

We were housed in a dormitory near the sports center and settled down for a night of rest before the competition. We learned that the National team had been split, with one team traveling to West Germany and the other one would compete against us the following evening.

The next day we did a little shopping, then took the English team back to the dorm for rest. That evening we competed before another packed house. We soon found the English team to be young like ours. We had more experience and it began to tell on the first event. The ;coring was very low for both teams.

After the competition we were taken to a Country Club for a reception at which Ray Taylor was our host. Ray treated us very well throughout the tour. He worked many hours and talked to me several times long distance arranging stops for us.

Early the next morning we were driven to London for a sightseeing tour, then we boarded a plane for the United States. We arrived in Chicago that afternoon, then flew on to Denver for a big reception in our home town .

Suming up the trip, I can do it in this way. I took the girls to Europe for two reasons, to get International experience and to help relations between our country and the nations we visited. It was a tremendous experience for all concerned. As stated before, we were treated very well every place we went. Our girls not only performed well on the floor, but presented themselves very well off the competitive area. I had made two trips with our U.S. team in the past three years. I saw many , instances, where I thought people from the United States did not leave a good image of our Country. I feel from our club's trip we corrected some of this. Not once did the girls get out of line. Thev conducted themselves as ladies at all times. Each piece of clothing was carefully made and carefully designea so tnat there could be nothing said about the dress of our team, as it had been said about the National team that went overseas two years ago.

I feel that in our small way, we strengthed the relations between our country and any country we visited. I feel the International experience for our girls was worth every penny spent. We exposed future top gymnasts of our Nation to Europe, and opened doors for future trips. (We plan to visit Europe or the Far East earh year).

The teams we mel were not me strongest In

the World, but they were good teams, building to future strengths. It was a beginning for us Internationally, and it was a good be~inning.

• • •

FOR ALL BUT A THERE MUST

MORE TO IT by

Renee Hendershott

FEW ... BE

There are 6 young women on our USA team. · . people ... SIX! Do you people realize how many THOUSANDS of young girls are studying gymnastics???!!! Yes ... a great many of them do have an Olympic goal .. and many young coaches would give thei r eye teeth to produce an Olvmpic team . . BUT it takes years and years to do this.

IN THE MEANTIME WHAT ARE YOU ALL GOING TO DO? ARE YOU GOING TO WORK EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK TOWARD THE OL YMPIC GOAL? GO TO MEETS .. . COME . . . WORK SOME MORE??? KEEP HOPING . . . KEEP WORKING??? GIVE UP EVERYTHING???

Well .. this will work for a few years until your gymnasts get in their early to middle teens. When they get closer and closer to national calibre the many dissappointments and sacrifices and pressures will become harder and harder to swallow. Suddenly one day many of them begin wondering why they are doing this. They get lost. They see other girls around them doing all sorts of interesting things that they would like to be doing. The Olympic goaf just becomes too much to handle. At this point many just quit ... even some with great potential!

Coaches ,and gymnasts alike must learn one very important lesson in life. Yes, we can all aspire to be one of the greatest in the field ... yes . .. we should work hard to achieve this goal · .. BUT ... let us compare ourselves with a very obese person who must lose 100 pounds. This person must not think always in terms of losing 100 pounds. She must set smaller goals too .. . 10 pounds to start with. Keep thinking strongly of losing 10 pounds. When this goal is reached. · . 10 more . . . keep hacking away . .. but a little at a time ... yes .. . there will be little set backs, but it won't be so hard to get back on the road to losing that next 10 pounds. Yes the larger goal is in mind, but at the same time this person is enjoying achieving many smaller ones.

Now, let us look at the SCATS. They are going to travel to Europe this year. They will give many exhibitions. These exhibitions are not just strictly bar routines, floor exercises, vaults, and beam routines. They put on a real show. The do mass demonstrations, a bit of modern rhythmic

beam routines. They put on a real show. They do mass demonstrations, a bit of modern rhythmic gymnastics, comedy, costumes. Every member of their team is able to participate in some way " even the littl~ ones who are not so advanced.

Do you realize the cultural experience these gals will be enjoying???!!! How many of us have been across the United States to Germany ... to Czechoslovakia . . . to Italy .. . Greece .. . Israel. · . India .. . Thailand ... Australia ... New Zealand . .. Taiwan .. . japan ... Hawaii and back .. Is this a sacrificial life ... No! Sure they work hard and many want to get to the Olympics . .. some will .. . most won't . .. but in

the meantime, they are enjoying a ve ry full life.

Well , yo u say Bud Marquette can do that. He had a reputation . .. Cathy Rigby made the way for the SCATS .. . we ' re not ready for that ... besides they have an unlimited supp ly of money. HOW DO YOU THINK THESE TEAMS WITH MONEY GET THAT MONEY? THEY HAVE PARENTS CLUBS ... BOOSTERS CLUBS WHO HAVE MATURE PEOPLE IN THEM. THEY DON'T LOOK ATTHE FINAL GOAL AND JUST GIVE UP . .. THEY TAKE IT TEN POUNDS AT A TIME . .. THEY KEEP HACKI NG AWAY IF THEY FIND A PROJECT LIKE SELLING CHANCES FOR A WIN ... MAKE A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLARS THEY DON'T WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR TO TRY AGAIN . . . THEY DO IT EVERY MONTH!

Some parents clubs make 2-400 dollars a month doing some of the things m entioned in a recent issue of the Gymnast Magazine ... spagetti dinners ... potlucks whatever. They care about their children. You see coaches and

·parents .. maybe it does not pay io stick a child in the gym severa l hours a day to get no return but the pressures of MEET after MEET! Sure . . . they are out of the way . . . peace and quiet in the home for a few hours everyday ... they are staying out of trouble .. . working .. . achiev ing. For a long time you PARENTS think everything is fine when that magic hour arrives and you r teenager is suddenly in deep emot ional trouble . .. lost ... look back and see if yo u really did your part ... WELL I hope it won ' t come to this point fo r you.

Coaches, I hope you will inspire your boosters club to do more for their children. Parents, I hope you w ill get busy, get together, get on the stick and show your kids you rea lly do care. They are great! They are the cream cif the crop! You are lucky to have them! Support them! Do your part so that they will develop into happy and productive human beings .. . NOT MIXED UP EMOTIONAL WRECKS!

Yes parents . . . you too must learn that lesson in life . . HOPE ... CARE ... keep hacki ng ... chip away ... work on sma ll goals ... BUT KEEP AT IT! YOU MUST GIVE YOUR CHILD

MORE THAN MONEY FOR LESSONS WORKOUTS MEETS AND SACRIFICES. YOU MUST GIVE HER THE CHANCE TO BE A HUMAN BEING.

HATS OFF TO BUD MARQUETTE WHO HAS SHOWN HIS BOOSTERS ... THE WAY ·

HATS OFF TO ROD HILL WHO IS BEGINNING TO DO MUCH THE SAME WITH HIS TEAM.

HATS OFF TO THE PARENTS WHO CARE.

••••

Feminine Gymnastic, Phyllis Cooper, Burgess Publishing Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota 250 pg, spiral binding, Price $5.95. 1973

REVIEW by Renee P Hendershott

Thi s manual represents iI monumental effort on th e part of Ph ylli s Cooper and i llustrato r A.

Bruce Frederi ck. Th ey have film ed hundredsof gymn asti c skill s and th en drawn th em from th e fi lms o n paper in se ri es so any beg inning gymnast or coach ca n see w hat th e sk ill is and get an idea o f w hat is happening during each ph ase of the skill.

A long w it h the illu strat ions, M iss Cooper has meth odi ca ll y exp lained performance and spotting techniqu e, common errors made by begi nners, common movements done af ter th e ski ll, and va ri ations.

The method of illustration would have rea ll y been idea l if all Olympic ca lib re gymnasts had been used in fi lming. Some of th e ski lls we re performed ve ry we ll , but many were not. In some cases the author has pointed out mistakes

r ight on th e figures in th e illustration s, but no comment has been made in many cases w here th e subject showed poor technique. Perh aps in fut ure ed iti o ns, more co rrection s ca n be added to the illustration s.

Th e poorest secti o n in th e book is on dance techniques. Th ere is just not enough detai l there to get anythin g from th e cove rage give n. Th e illustrations are especiall y poor w ith no attempt at correction.

On the o ther hand, a ve ry nice feature is seria l drawings of routin es and sk ill sequences which can give th e beginner an idea of how skill s ca n anrl should be connected .

At th e beginning of each section Mi ss Cooper gives safe ty hints for th e event which should be very helpfu l in preventing injuri es.

In th e back she has a good discussion on class organ iza tion , and what to look for when ord ering equipment. Sh e even gives examples of tes ts for eva luatin g th e progress o f th e stud ent.

At th e end , the re is a chapter on how to run a meet w ith many examp les of fo rms to be used , duti es for personnel, organiza tion , equipment set-up etc.

Begi nning coaches wi ll find thi s manual of great help in learnin g spo ttin g techniques and leadu p skill s. Beg inning, intermediat e, and advanced moves are cove red. It is suggested tha t anyon e using th e book should depend on the w ritt en mater ial for ex pl anation of co rrect techniqu es rather than re lying entirely on th e pictures. Using bot h together, one should be ab le to get a fai rl y good start w ith a gymnasti cs

progra m. • • • JUDGING GUIDE AND COURSE. 1973. The United States Gymnastics Federation, POBox

4699, Tucson, Arizona. 85717. 138 pp. $5.00.

Review By Dick Criley

Fran k Cumiskey, w ho prepared thi s book on judging men's gymn as tics, deserves a lot 01

credit. Men 's jud g ing h as ev o lved , internati onall y, to su ch a high plan e that th e average prospecti ve judge figures he ca n not possibl y m as te r all th e intricac ies o f th e trade. " o t so," says Mr. Cu miskey as he deftl y proceeds to lead o ne step by step through 87 lessons right on to Lesson 88, a th eo reti ca l exa minatio n.

I se t o utl ast fal l to instru ct a judging class and had to try to orga ni ze it on the basis o f judgin g classes I have been exposed to . It was qu ite a cho re, and I w ish thi s guide had been ava ilabl e.

Th e course is o rgani zed into 1B Chapte rs w hich dea l first w ith judging compulso ry exe rcises and th en w ith optiona l routines. Th e judge lea rn s th e relativ ely few ru les for compulsories and how to appl y them ; a know led ge of difficulty is no t necessa ry as the moves are prescr ibed in ad va nce. Sections on poor position, techni ca l execution, diff icu lty, and genera l rul es of competition expand the " up to 0. 3" concept , elaborate on what is poor position , and provide examp les o f what is intended by th e terse wo rdin g o f th e FIG Code of Points. W ith th e di scuss ion o f each event is a reprodu ct io n of the A - B-C diagrams, includ in g th e most recent Complement.

The presentation i·s generall y good throughou t, but th e USG F press has done an injustice to th e book w ith a va ri ety of different typefaces, faulty pa ste-up, and - in th e comb- bound copies- th e ho les go right thro ugh printed cop y because of insuff icie nt margin s. On th e oth er hand , we get sentences like, " Th e gymnast ma y touch th e end with hi s hand befo re th e feet pa ss the end on Kehreing back to th e saddl e he ma y to uch the end after his legs pass th e end and before the Kehre-in to th e sa ddle. " (p. 27) We also get a repeat of FIG arti cle 54-4 which still remains a muddle. We also ha ve a lesson 60 and 60A, but no 60B, or at least my own copy does, but the review co py lacked pages 36-51, wh ich included lesso ns

49-60A.

The A-B-C section s of the FIG Code include the descr iption w ithin the sa me box as th e dra w in gs, so it is unfortunate that in thi s Gu ide, the desc ription is placed below a line as if in another section. Thi s led to th e loss of descripti on for the doulble front sa ito (VII-15) in floor exerci se and a few other mix-ups which can be co rrected if on e knows th e FIG Code. The new ring part, felge to support and full twi sting di smount was pas ted in upside down. All the new stockli parts cou ld have been entered into th e appropriate part of the pommel horse A-B-C's as th ere is nothing to pro hibit such a logical arrangement. It would also have been poss ible to have enlarged som e of the drawings, especiall y in th e pommel horse, to make them eas ier to stud y.

There are a number of section s wh ich are repea ted w ith each lesson o n th e different apparatu s. Nonethel ess, repetition is a use ful teaching too l and th e beg inning judge w ill apprecia te the reminders. However, it does seem strange to include Artic le 37- 10, wh ich perta ins to proper bod y positi o n in holds, in a pommel horse lesson.

Continued on page 42

33

RESEfftU~H L " ~ ;~~ ...

/' ) ! L ~ .. . ................ ' .......... .

: DR. H.J. 81ESTERFELDT, j.R. " GYMNAST" R£SEARCH EDITOR

Athletics Departmenl- SlU Arena Carbondale, Illinois 62901 I. "USA .. ........... ~ ............. , .................. .

Editor's Note: The fo llowing study of two fundamentally d iff.e rent tec hniques fo r takeoff on forwar,d handsprings an d sa llos seem s toO me to be important at leas t in pa rt beca use there is reaso n to beli eve th at th e strength requirements for the two approaches are essen tiall y di fferenL We wo uld be interes ted in a fo rce platfmm stud y of the two techniq ues to verify th is conj ectu re, Certain ly th e technique we teach to a given gymnast shou ld be made wit h considerati on o f the gymnasts strength and flexib ility, The rebound approach appears to demand the greater amo·unt of strength, but I am unab le to guess about any physical p rob lems likely to be assoc iated with eith er approach, '

Cert ai'n ly similar com idera{ i'O ns apply to the rebound / pu sh-off !-ro m th.e hands also, The o nl y such slud y in m y han ds is too f ra,gmen tary to be pub lished,

AI·I correspondence con ce rning th is sect ion sho uld be add ressed as fo Ho ws: Or. H.J. gf~ted;eldt, Jr. " Gymnast" Resea¥ch Editor Athletics Oep3i'.tme~t -Stli SIU Arena Carbondide, IrJif.l'Qis, 629f>1 , USA

TIit: SfNCU FOOl TAKE-OFF fOR TUMBtiNG EXEItCtSES(* ) Comparat i.ve study af the run, skip-step ane HutSe! tlf basic tlilmil\i.ng e ",e~dses wit h s-ingle foot take-o U.

Diane !iplithoorn Laoorat();fY of M'ove~en! Analysis, Unwer5i ty af Brussels, Paul HegerlaiiA 28 8 - lOliG 8;~u!i!iets.

(*) Summary o,f a thesi·s sup erv>tsed by DR, ,_ BORMS pro mot·or : ProL DR, M , HEBBELI NCK

INTROOUCT10N Whefl conshdeTtng the take-o,fl fGf tumb linlg

exercises, we ca'll dist inguish b.etweeR tw.Q

defini te groups:w~tll do ubLe take-o ff and w ith si ngle tak e-o f I.

hn t he second group t he int roductory pa:rt consists o f a run, the sk ip-s{ep and th e com mencem ent (outset) , These three pans were the subj ect o f t h is scientific and comparat ive stud y, beca use it had been es tabl·ished that th e success of a move is largely dete rm ined by the fntroducto ry part.

The existence of different t-ec hniques for the run , skip-step and ou tse t, has given r ise to the fo llowing ques-t ion: " Haw man,' f-or,ms are usee fa r the outset, and oow shoilld the run and skip-step be exe,cute ti to obtain aM ideal take­~f fur a certain tumMing mG\'e~" In th is article

34

we shall give a bri ef descri p ti o n of the methods w hich we re used, We w ill also try to se lect those resul ts whi ch have a pract ica l va lu.e for th e gymnasttc coach, ANAL YS.JS OF THE FIELD OF STUDY

The scie ntif ic pan of the stud y w as a fi lm analysis of six ba sic fl oor exercises, (fi g, 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6) , To app roach the subject objecti ve ly w e ma,de a stu dy of all the known fo rm s of fl oor exercises,

Fig: 1 HANDSPRING

Fig: 2 HANDSPRING (preceded by a floating period)

Fig: 3 fORWARD SOMERSAULT

fig: 4 CARTWHUL

Fig: 5 CARTWHEEL (preceded by a floaling period)

~y~ FiJI' LATERAl SOMERSAULT

Th is preparati ve stud y enabled us to claSS ify all vaul ts in to two groups: tumbli ng moves executed fo rwards and tumbli ng moves execu ted sidewa ys, By con sidering the p lacement of the hands, w e ca n d istinguish another th ree goups in each cl ass; th is leads to th e fo llowing tabl e:

ROTATION

FORWARD:

Hands Placed Immediately: Handsp ring

ROTATION

SIDEWAYS:

Cartwheel Arab Spring

Hands Placed After a Floating Period: Runn ing Roll (*) Cartwheel (* ) Handspring (*)

Hands Not Placed: Fo rwa rd Somersa ul t

TABLE 1.

METHODS

Latera l Somersa ul t Be nt Latera l

Somersau lt

In th e bib liographica l stu dy w e could t race specific techn iques desc ribed fo r specified tumbli ng moves, A mo re or less complete, systematic and comparat ive study cou ld no t be fo und, To determi ne the most recent tec hniq ues, w e have sent questi o nnaires to 30 expert s in f l-oor exercise, twenty of th e co nsul ted ex perts w ere fo und w illi ng to answer th e 236 questi ons o n th e preparati on of n ine basic fl oor exercise s, (1)

Bonenkamp, M , (Til burg); Borms, j, (Brussels); Delsing, j , (Antwe rp) ; Desch rijver, j , (Wi lr ij k) ; Dufour, W , (B russe ls) ; Duquet, W , (Brusse ls); Fa maey-Lamon, A, (Bru ssels); Gagn ier, E, (Iowa); Giall ombardo, j , (W ilmette); Govaert s­Grymonprez, V, (Deurne); M ill man, D, (Stanfo rd ); M us, L (lepe r); Peek, R, (Sacramento) ; Sanders, 0, (Am sterdam ); Sa mpso n, 0 , (USAF) ; Spaa s, M, (Hasselt ); To nry, D, (Ya le); Van Akeh, (Hasse lt) ; Van A ssche, L (Leuven ); Van der Marliere, G, (Antwerp ), (More in fo rmation ca n be obta ined upon request),

The q ues tions co ncerned part iculars o f th e preparat ion of n ine moves, Th e qu es ti onnaire also gave us an excell ent meth od to note every detai l. The same method was used to classify the bi b liographic in fo rma tio n and to trans late the picture sof th e ci nematographi c info rmation into words, The most recent f il s o f World and O lympic Champio nships were analysed, CINEMATOGRAPHIC STUDY

The f il m wa s mad e in the sporthall of th e Higher Insti,tu te of Physical Edu ca tio n of th e Free University of Bru ssels, The vau·l ts we re een, both Belgian champions and studen ts at ~h e V,U,B, Thwugh the synthesis it became clear that basic floor exercises can be classif ied as follows: 1( direct m_ es: hands are placed befo re the ta ke-oU foot leaves th-e f looL (Ca rtwheel and handspring,) 2) Moves with a floating period: th e gym nast is co mp letely free from th e floo r befo re the hads are p laced , (Handsring and ca rtw hee l w ith a floati ng period ,) 3) somersaults: here the gymn ast performs a comp let e ro tation without usin g the hand s, (Fo rwa rd somersa ult and lateral so mersaul L)

The arab spri ng, the runnin g ro ll wi th a f loati ng period and the bent lateral somersa u lt belong respecti ve ly to th e fi rst, second and th ird froup, but beca use o f the special characteristics o f th ese fo rms, w e thought it bett er not to app ly the ge neral conclusio ns to these th ree tumbling moves,

(* )= preceded by a floating period. Table 1.

To make the descri pt io n of the movements as cl ea r as poss ible, we propose to accep t this termino logy: (f ig. 7) 1 = pu shing leg 2 = swing ing leg 3 = arm on th e side of the sw inging leg 4 = arm on the side of the p ush ing leg

Fig: 7 Terminology

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS I DIRECT MOVES (f ig. Ba, b, c, d, e, f.) (fi g. 9a, b, c, d, e, f. )

There are th ree important requirements for a good out se t: - th e forwa rd speed sho uld be maintained - th e transfer o f th e bod y weight upon th e hands should be gradual - enough rotation energy sho uld be ga thered.

1. The run and the skip-step During th e two steps preced ing th e skip­

step, th e gymn as t swings th e arms sli ghtl y sidewa rd s. During th e upwa rd phase of th e skip-step, th e arms co me fo rwa rd s-upwa rd s, but th e sw ingi ng takes place in fro nt o f th e body so as no t to impede the fo rwa rd speed o r to leave th e general p la ne o f the movement. The fo rwa rd in cli nati o n of the body, during th e skip-step, (fi g. Ba, 9a) is ve ry impo rtant fo r maintaining th e fo rward speed. 2. Placement of the pushing foot

In thi s phase the gymnas t p repa res th e gradual w ight transfer o f the body upon th e hands: -the trunk is inclined fo rwa rd to enable th e p lacement o f th e hands on th e f loo r w hil e th e pushing leg is ex tend ed . -du e to the long fo rwa rd step, th e center o f gravity co mes as low as poss ible, so as no t to ove rtax the we ight on th e arms w hen th e hands are placed. It is ve ry import ant to keep th e stretched arms and trunk in th e sa me li ne to assure th e supporting fun cti o n. Fro m thi s ph ase o n we noti ce a di fference betwee n the handspring and th e cartwheel. Fo r the ca rtw heel th e t runk and shou lders turn to al low th e movement in the lateral p lane. 3. Action of the swinging and pushing leg.

These acti o ns go toge th er w ith th e p lacement of th e hands. Beca use th ere is no introducto ry floa tin g pe ri od fo r d irect vau lts, th e stretching o f th e pu shing leg is aimed parti cu larl y to make the gy mn as t ro tate. To obtain a smooth body-we ight transfer on th e hands, a substantia l di stance between th e pushing foo t and th e hand (s) is necessa ry. Conce rnin g th e pl acement o f th e hand s we d istin gui sh the fo llowing techniques: fo r th e cartw heel the body neve r leaves the fl oo r co mpletely. The second hand is pl aced afte r th e pu shing foo t has lef t the floo r. Thi s techn ique assures a good we ight transfer and enough ro tati on ve locit y. For th e handspring : The body leaves the floor completely at th e moment the hands leave the ground because

~ « [ai " I -_,

-U ~-. a b c d e

Fig: 8 HANDSPRING

a b c d e

Fig: 9 CARTWHEEL

a b c d e g h Fig: 10 HANDSPRING preceded by a floating period

a b c d f g h Fig: 11 CARTWHEEL preceded by a floating period

15

the forward speed is translated in height. This · rebound effect is possible through a correct attitude of arms and hands, and can be improved by turning the fingers slightly outwards because this locks the joints of the elbow. II TUMBLING WITH A FLOATING PERIOD

It was cl ea r f rom the co ntradicto ry answers of th e va ri ous expe rts, that some of the answers on th e questi o nnaire w ere based o n one technique, and some of a totally different technique for obtaining el evati on duri ng th e fli ght f ro m fee t to hands. What we shall ca ll th e " jumped pu sh-off " involves a down and th en an up mo ti on , bending at th e knee. Th e " re bo und pu sh-off" involves a nea rl y r ig id pushing leg, th e take-off somewha t rese mbl ing th e rebou nd of a sti ck throw n onto its end on th e groun d.

The r'un and upward phase o f the skip-step is th e sa me as fo r the moves without fl oatin g peri od .

In the second half of th e skip-step fo r th e jumped push-off, th e arms move downwa rd thro ugh fo rwa'rd (Fig. 10c, ll c) . Thi s fo rwa rd mo ti o n lifts up th e trunk--th ere is no contact with th e floor un til later. Th e kn ee of th e sw ingin g leg bends as we ight comes on it. Th e center of gravity is no t so far fo rward as in a direct va ult , and th e knee o f th e pu sh ing leg is bent co nsiderably, then st rai ghtened to ga in elevzt io n. The arm action is q uite important, (Fig. 10e, ll e), fo r w ithout it th e body w ill be inve rted too· quick ly, at th e cos t o f both eleva ti o n and ove rturned position w hen th e hands reach th e f loo r. In summary, we have a lo ng step--a smaller fo rward inclinati on--and arms mov ing downward . (Fig. 10d, lld )

To tall y d ifferent is the rebound push-off. Here we see a short step--an ankle, knee and hip joints nea rl y fi xed--arm s remain ing inline w ith th e trunk . There is an almosts imultaneous acti on of both legs. As soo n as the swingin g leg leaves the floo r the pushing leg stretches. Th e arms re main ex tended since th e ro bo und is too brie f to all ow anything. Th e swin ging leg is th e only element that gives rotatio n. Th e arm pos iti on ca uses a slower ro tatio n during th e floatin g per iod. The fo rceful movement o f th e swin ging leg and th e high flight make th e inve rsio n possible before the hands to uch th e floor.

For bo th techni ques th e arms must be in the ex tension o f the bod y at th e m oment th at th e hands to uch the fl oor. Fo r the cartwheel with a a floating period, the ro tati o n of the trunk and the shoulders is started w hen th e body-weight is transfe red to the pu shing leg. III THE SOMERSAULTS (fig. 13, 14)

In somersa ul ts and tumbl ing moves wi th a fl oating peri od , th e bod y leaves th e fl oo r completely afte r the out se t. But due to th e fac t that fo r somersa ults th e complete ro tati on mu st be perfo rmed with o ut the use of th e hands, th e outse t is mainly co nce rn ed with produ cing rotzti on .

The skip-step. During th e skip-step th e gymn ast swin gs th e arm s more fo rce full y upward s. Thi s w ill give him th e oppo rtunit y to use th e arms to th eir best advantage . Th e fo rward inclination, due to the speed, is no t lessened , but it ca uses a hyperextension in th e hips and th e sho ulders. This stretched pos ition all ows bo th th e arms to be pull ed down q uicker and the hi ps to be flexed mo re fo rcefull y. Fo r th e forward somersault the arms are bent dur ing th e ir downwa rd pull to increase th e ro tati on. Fo r th e lateral somersault a good gymn ast o ft en c hooses the m ore aesth etic fo rm with the arms stretched .

36

I ( V

a c

, , ; ! '\1 _ _ _ e g

Fig: 12 HANDSPRING preceded by a floating period with

rebound push-off

a b c d e g Fig: 13 FORWARD SOMERSAULT

a b c d e g

Fig: 14 LATERAL SOMERSAULT

1/

---~ ----_ .. _-_ .. _ - - --Fig: 15 a) push-off

preceded by period

for vaults a floating

b) push-off for somersaults

The push-off. The pushing leg, th e swing ing leg and th e arm s are elements to ga in height and rotation in moves w ith a floa tin g period and in somersa ults. When w e o bse rve th e positi on at th e moment the pushing foo t leaves

th e fl oo r th ere is, however an impo rtant difference between both gro ups (fi g. 15). In th e outse t o f va ults with a floating peri od , the ex tensio n o f th e pushing leg is in th e first p lace a f.ac to r giving height , w hil e the arms

accentuate th e rotation. For somersa ults (fig. 15b), th e ce nter of grav ity has already passed th e pushing foot , so that the ex tension of th e pushi ng leg, and the movement of th e swi nging leg act so lely in favor of th e rotat ion. The arm s are in the exact posi tion to accentuate height.

When we compare the flight of somersaults with th e fli ght of moves with a floating period (fig. 16), the cyclogram shows a remarkable difference in height of the hips. The somersault is not as high because here the outset is aimed more at increasing the rotation (fig. 17) . Position of the gymnast during the floating period. We have to make th e followin g distinction:

Tumb lin g moves w ith an introducto ry high flight : th e body, during th e first inve rsion (till the hands to uch the f loor), is completely f ree from th e ground ; examp les: handspring w ith a floating period , ca rtw hep l wi th a f loat ing peri od.

Tumb li ng moves with a second high f li ght: here th e body is free from the gro und during th e second invers ion (from th e in ve rsed positi on til l the feet reach the floo r); example : handspring.

I n somersa ults the gymnast tri es to accentuate the second flight to facilitate th e " li fting up " . Th erefo re the somersa u lts be long to th e secund grou p.

To obtain enough rotation , th e gymnast pulls th e arms forcefull y downwards and brings his trunk in a nea rl y in ve rted position dur ing the movement of the swing ing leg (F ig. 13f, 14f) EPILOGUE

A compa rati ve stu dy is indeed not easy to read, it demands the reader 's constan t co nce ntrati on.

The interest shown in th e subject and the spontaneo us co-operation o f th e ex perts, gave us th e ass urance that the problem is rea l and th at th e results ca n be used in th e daily practice ' of gymnast ics.

By Jackie U Fie, Technica l Chairman

TKHNICAL BULLETIN ON MEDIUM AND SUPERIOR DIFFICULTIES

Page references refer to the Women's F. I. G. Code of Points.

1. UNEVEN BARS A. Mounts

1. Squat va ult over LB catch HB (p . 24 M 6 without y, turn) -Medium -(See p. 22 M edium) 2. Jump over low bar w ith Y1 turn ca tch high bar and kip up to the high bar without th e body resti ng o n the LB at any t ime:-:(p. 23 Medium No. 3) - Superior combinat ion .

3. Glide kip - no difficu lty unless in a comb ination with another movement such as squat throu gh, back hip circ le, etc. 4. Glide single leg ove rshoot - no difficulty

/ ."

.'

..... _ ... _ ... _ .. \ / .

L ,.~-_ ; ", '" -::' -- .

.. ' ..... -...... ... ,

....... .. ./

Fig.: 16 CARTWHEEL preceded by a floating period

Cyclogram

\. \

fi-·~ · --.... · ...... . .. ..... /..( ''' ., ....... . -- --...... ." .. '

.......... "'-. .. .. /'

Fig.: 17 LATERAL SOMERSAULT

Cyclogram

...... "'- . ..... ..... .:'"

........... " .

:'..................... " ...... .

' .

;,

un less in to an immed iate split/ circle ca tch, or simi lar movement 5: G lide double leg overshoot - Med ium

16. Facing high bar, jump to high bar kip wit h leg stradd led o r closed to free front support on high bar - Medium.

6. Glide kip catch hi gh bar as a mount (p. 25M No. 10 p. 26 M No.1) - Medium. 7. Ju mp to back so le :circle (stoop or straddle) on low ba r to undersw ing catch on high bar­Medium. However, the jump to a straddle is not suited to bars as a mount unl esS" preceded by a horizonta l cas t. 8. Why is a ba ck kip supe ri o r o nl y as a mo unt and not in a ·routine? - Th ere is no logica l technical expl anation and this inco nsi stency should be corrected by th e FIG. 9. Faci ng the high bar,jumpto hang , in a p ike position , y, tu rn over the low barto beat o n low

-bar (underswing y, turn to stomach w hip) -Med ium . 10. Jump from th e board to a free back hip circle on low bar to gl ide - Superior. 11. Jump from board to free ba ck h ip circle to handstand on low bar ~ Superior. 12. Stradd le over low bar Y1 turn to eag le catch on high bar - Superior - Stradd le over low bar Y1 turn to mixed grip on high bar -Med iu m. 13. Gl ide kip Y1 turn ca tch high bar - Medium. 14. Jump with Y1 turn and back straddle over low bar catch low bar - M edium. 15. From a runnin g approach, jump full twist ca tch low bar glide kip - Superi or.

• • • CSt N\"'a~"t~c. 5 l~ .

. . W\ (\ f\ \ 1\ ~ fi

d \I"I\O~"t oS

37

Instruction:

POMMEL HORSE

By Tadao Watanabe

Translated by Yoshi Hayasaki

Side stand fro'ntway-Drehflanke turn)-immediate Kreiskere to Croup

Here I observed the combination move of the compulsory side horse mount. (side stand frontways-Orehflanke (Y2 turn)-Kreiskere) whfch was used for the 1972 Olympic Games. The move has a ded uctible va lue of 1.10 points according to the FIG rule which was forwarded in July, 1971.

Some of the apparent faults in performing this move are 1) too much pike at Drehflanke Y2 turn, and 2) Ext ra hand touch on Kreiskere. It was not an easy job for me to form the ideal picture of the movement, after watching many faulty performances, since it was our first competition of the compu lsory exe rcise. However, I can say that at least three factors must be comb ined for the creation of a qua lity performance. These are: 1) Horizontal movement, 2) a large range of movement, and 3) steadiness of performance.

My main interests in this observation were simply to find out how far our gymnasts have progressed in the ski ll at this early stage, and also what needs to be done to further improve performance.

It seems that in the Drehflanke, turning and transfer of the body are initiated at the moment

A

B

c

38

of take off. Of cou rse, there must be the assist of an effective push off of one arm, st rong support of the other arm, and stron g shoulder rotation to make the movement successful. The Drehflanke is done wit h the front part of the body facing the surface of the horse, but the Kreiskere is performed with th e front side up. The hips must be turn ed sharp ly to make a smooth transition and give proper support for the Kreiskere. The trunk must ad here closely to the supporting arm to stabili ze the axis of rotation . The head must be turned sharpl y toward the direction of movement, and the body must be kept at a set angle larger than 90 deg rees, to maint ai n th e speed of movement.

These are some of th e important things I took into consideration before the meet, and keep ing these considerations in mind, I observer! the gymnasts at the NHK Championsh ip.

REMARKS:

Gymnast A: Has good horizontal movement and a large range of motion, particularly in the Drehflanke, but a minor problem remains in the Kreiskere.

Gymnast B: Has major problems in perform ing both the

Drehflanke and the Kreiskere .

Gymnast c: Has some problem in perform ing both the

Drehflanke and the Kreiskere.

OBSERVATION:

Gymnast A: Has effective push off with the right hand in

the Drehflanke and an ea rl y extension of the left elbow, making a good beginning, and also sw inging we ll. He maintains a large trunk angle, thus car rying the movement smoothly in the horizontal plane. However, th ere is a slight delay in grasping th e right pommel. This creates a slow body turn from front side down

to up. He also has a problem in stab ili zi ng th e turning axis, because of the slowe r attempt to bring the lower ri ght side of the hip to the ax is arm . (Characteristic- in co n siste n cy of performance) Gymnast B:

Push off w ith the ri ght arm is not strong enough to carry through the horizontal move ment. Hi s extension of th e left elbow is too slow, the body forms too much pike, and the feet are low throughout. Thus the execut ion of the movement in the hori zontal plane is very difficu lt. There is little attempt in turning the body and stab ili zing th e ax is. The head and the right shoulder are not playing their major rol e of leading the body toward the outward direction. There is no attempt to compensate balance of left and right. It looks as if his left shoulder was moving over his ri ght. Gymn-ast C:

Like gymnast A he starts with an' effect ive push off, but gymna st C lacks th e range of motion. He should have more vigorous leg swing, otherwise hi s over all execution is well done. He has attempted early grasping of the pommel and a good action of turning the hips. The stabili zation of th e ax is arm is done early, and the body is moved with a good lead of shoulder and head . The form is well balanced by the shoulders while the left grip is stead il y attached to behind the lower left hip. (Characterist ics: co nsistent, but lack of sca le.)

SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS: (General) 1. Creation of larger range of movement is needed by aggressive leg swing. There is inconsistency of the movement on the hor izonta l p lane. 2. Attempt to grasp the pommel is too slow. 3. Th ere is a lack of hip turn . 4. Axis arm should be stab ilized. 5. Placement of th e supporting grip should be lower and in back of the hips. • •

Instruction:

VAULTING DRILLS by Jim Turpin

Head Coach Almaden Villley Gymnastics Club 1971 All American Vaulter

Photos by. Keith Reynolds

DIVE ROLLS

Objectives:

1. To develop a correct take-off procedures. ~. To develop body control while in the air.

Execution:

The gymnast runs from about forty to fifty feet and executes a dive forward roll onto a crash pad.

The spotter stands sideways between the board and crash pad. His hands should be up (picture No.1) to force the gymnast to go up. As the gimnast arrives at the board the spotter's inside hand is placed on the gymnast 's thighs and the second hand is placed at the upper abdomen. The spotter now guides the gymnast to the crash pad (Pictures 3 and 4).

The gymnast should tighten up as she leaves the board and remain so during the entire flight of the drill. Keep this in mind-the upper bod y should be directed up and the lower bod y should come up and over the upper body. Spotting hints:

1. If the gymnast tends to lean too far forward place your inside hand about face high and lean towards the gymnast. This will keep her from leaning forward with her upper body but still allow her to reach forward with her feet, thus putting her in a blocking position.

1

3

2. If the gymnast does not turn over enough the spotter should apply pressure with the inside hand which is on the upper thigh and slightly drop the second hand which is on the upper abdomen. This will force her to turn over.

3. If the gymnast turns over too much the spotter should apply pressure with the second hand which is placed on the upper abdomen.

4. If the gymnast does the drill correctly the spotter will merely guide her through the air.

2

4

Look for these Mistakes: 1. Gymnast leaning off the board. The

5potter will feel much pressure. See Hints No.1. 2. Gymnast over-spinning and landing on

her back. This is usually caused from poor upper body di.rection.

3. Gymnast not tight in the air. This wi 1-1 make it quite difficult for the spotter to help direct the gymnast in the air.

• •• ~----------------________ M __ ~~ _____ ~ __ _

L .... .. . O~~

39

SEQUENCES BYSCHULZ

Photos by Dieter Schulz

Top: O lym p ic seq ue nces of Ka rin Ja n z d o ing a fr o nt somie betwee n th e ba rs. Upper right: Olga Ko rbut do in g he r hi gh layo ut back ha ndsprin g to c hest ro ll down stradd le sea t. Lower right: Ol ga Ko rb ut executes a tu ck back so mersau lt. Bollom: Layo ut back ha ndsp rin g to chest roll down d e mo nstrated by Ol ga Ko rbu t.

40

42

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Continued from page 33.

I wo uld like to hdve seen d reference to th e proper dimensio ns of dPPdrdtUS, run ways, mats, and the like although these often change from one level of compe tition to the nex t. A lso, while th e res t of th e world measures metrically, we do not, and th e inclusion of Eng lish equi va lents wou ld give us a chance to co mmence th e menta l changeover (fo r instance, is 20 meters- th e length of th e long horse runway-closer to 60 ft, 65 ft, o r 67 ft?)

This book reminds me of th e Judging Correspondence Course w hich Helen Sjursen put out some yea rs bdck . In fact, i t may have had its genesi s in her Men 's Correspondence Judg ing Course as Mr. Cumiskey helped edit it. Now we need an up- da ted treatm ent of this same type for wo men 's gymndsti cs.

It will probably seem stran ge to readers of th e GYMNAST fo r me to crit icize the proof-reading and typog raphica l errors of th is book when each of our issues spo rts so many of i ts own , but that is o ne of the jobs of a rev iewer. Th ese things do no t diminish in anyway th e importance or va lue of the book , but it does make yo u wonder if someth ing more ma jor might have gone un- noticed.

In hi s preface, Mr. Cumiskey writes, " It is my opinion that anyone who follows thi s co urse will be abl e to judge accurate ly." and further, " In order to be a good judge, it is necessa ry to first lea rn the ru les and th en imp lement them w ith live gymnasts perfo rmi ng. Th e most important factor is practice. Don ' t th ink you are above practi ce . Th e most u ifficu lt point to get across is to impress people w ith th e fact that they do not know it all .. . Don 't ru sh ahead, proceed slow ly."

Th is last caution is especiall y app li ca ble as there is so much material to cover. Yet now, it becomes poss ib le to develop judges in some of our (gymnastically) underdeve loped areas. The course ca n be tak en wi thout an instructor, alone or in a gro up although th e obvious choice wo uld be in a group w ith an instructor

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A. Womens's Compu lsories 240 ft. 9.6 min . $ 39.50 (c) $ 24.50 (b&w)

:B Women 's Highlights 525 ft. 21 min . $ 87.00 (c) $ 50.00 (b&w)

C Women's Finals 1,100 ft. 44 min. $ 175.00 (c) $ 85.00 (b&w)

D M en 's High lights 555 ft. 22.2 min . $ 92.00 (c) $ 55.00 (b&w)

E M en 's Fina ls 955 ft. 38.2 min. $ 155.00 (c) $ 75.00 (b&w)

Specia l p ri ces are ava ilab le if three or more films are purchased. Write for quotat ion.

" Thi s is based on a project ion speed of 16 f rames per second, The films were taken at 24 frames per second; therefore , the .performances can be viewed at slight It slower than-normal motion·when ·projected at 16 frames per second.

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LEATHER HANDGRIPS #A-Good (most popular)' .. .... ....... $2.00 pro #B-Bette r (one-piece) .......... .. . 2.50 pro #C- Best (ex tra st ro ng) ........ ..... 3.25 pro Lampwick handgrips (S-M-L) ............. 1.90 pro

PANTS Cotton/ ac rylic st retch .. .. ...... ..... $7.95 pro Nylon stretch pants White.or Cream ... .. .......... 16.00 With toe7pc. , add $1 .00 extra

SUSPENDERS Va " elastic w/ metal cl ips. Adjustable and de ta chable. Comes in white , blue or red .............. $3.95 ea.

WOODEN RINGS Meets all specifications .. .. .. .. .. ..... $24.95 pro

CHALK Block or powder ........ .... Lowesl prices

T-SHIRT Navy w/ white embroide red gymnastic figure Sizes: S-M-L

GYM SHIRTS Cotton with adjustab le flat Nylo n step·'n , white

GYMNASTIC TRAVEL BAGS 6y," Wxl0 y," Hx16" L Available in Blue o r Red

FILMS 1970 Yugoslavia

.. ..... .... .. .. $3.25

.... ...... $4.50 .......... .... .. $7.50

....... ... ... .. $5.50

World Gymnastic Championships Super 8 - in color

The world 's most exciting combinations, twists and new techniques have been recently filmed . See th e winning an d top optiona l routines, for a ll Olympic events, in sem i-slow motion' taken from the best locations. No Rentals. Men's - #14 - 400 ft. .. ............. $35.00 Ppd. Women' s - #16 - 400 fl. .. ........... $35.00 Ppd.

1972 MUNICH OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS

Super 8 IiIm - in color

See the most spectacu la r Olympics ever held with many new moves and combinations. The Finals includes the top 4-6 compet itors e ntire routines held in the new Olympic Sportshalle. No Rentals. Men 's Finals #22 400 ft. $38.00 Ppd. Wo me n 's Finals #25 350 ft. $34.00 Ppd.

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Super 8 colQr film

An historic ex hibition of the Chinese gymnastic tea ms at the Los Angeles Sports Arena . All Olympic events for both men and ' women are covered , plus an ex hibition of unique group exercises a re included. Performing along with th e Chinese teams a re some top USA gymnasts.

#26350 ft . SPECIAL $30.00 Ppd.

Order from, FRAN K EN DO 12200 South Berendo Ave. Los Angeles, Calif. 90044

We stock all items for immediale delivery

.... COACHES WANTED .... Pos itions a re ava il able fo r gymnasts who

wish a caree r-t ype jo b teachin g and coaching gy mnas ti cs exclusive ly in a priva te ly. owned gymnastics schoo l. Present openings require males with pe rfo rmin g and teaching stre ng ths in Trampoline and Tumbling but with suffi cie nt all-a roun'd kn owledge 10 leach girl s' classes, boys' classes , and coach a boys team . We need pe rsons with rece nt competili ve ex pe ri e nce and w ho ca n still pe rfo rm we ll enough for ex hibitio n work.

Future positio ns will be ava il ab le in Fe bruary; 1974 and Septe mbe r, 1974 fo r bo th male and fem ale instru cto rs.

Sa laries to be competiti ve with New Je rsey area teaching sa la ri es .

Contact: Doug All C/ O ALT'S Gymnastics School 455 Broad SI. Shrewsbury, NJ 07701

Ph: 201 - 747-0070 ............................

lWICKEL A Distinctive Line

of Men's and Women's Uniforms

• Why Settle for less?

FREE CATALOG •

ZWICKEL Gymnastic

Tailors

P.O. Box 309 Jenkintown, Pa. 19046

MOVIES

-MUNICH OLYMPICS 1972-See the greatest women gymnasts in their best routines. Rigby, Korbut , Janz, Tourischeva, etc. Gymnasts name and score given prior to each routine -- you be the judge. Vault in slow

motion.

-RUSSIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS-World womens gymnastic team chan 'pions competing. to represent th e USSR in Munich.

Optional ro utines on all events. Filmed in Moscow .

MUNICH super 8 & 8mm -

16mm -

MOSCOW

400 ft . . $35.00

800 ft. - $85.00

super 8 & 8mm - 400 ft . - $35.00 video tapes· price o n request

-SPECIAL OLYMPIC PACKAGE­Munich games-Moscow trials

Super 8 - 2 reels 400 ft. ea . - $55.00 ALL FILMS IN COLOR

Send check or money order to:

Mitchell Barosh ClNECAMERA Box 746 Kailua, Hawaii, 96734 Phone 261-2485

Gymnastic Trophies

It's NEW*

c51 waVEL BY ~aDNEY C. CJfILL

~9U4NTgOLD .....................

I Want Gold is the first fictional novel ever done about the sport of Women 's Gymnastics. In this work, the author has tried to show as many of the trials and tribulations as possible, it takes for an athlete to make an Olympic Team.

As the story states many times, the sport of Gymnastics is possibly the most beautiful athletic endea vor a girl can go into, but as the story also brings out politics , favoritism etc. , can make it one of the ugliest endeavors a girl can go into.

LeeAnn Beaumont is a dedicated, hard working girl who wants to represent her country in the Olympic .Games. She is willing to give that extra bit of her life in order to reach this goal. She learns that athletic ability is not the o'nly thing it will take to make the team. It is a hard lesson, one thathas sent many a good athlete to the sidelines, but LeeAnn is more than a good Athlete. She is the exception, the one in several million. * *

---------------------------Please rush me my copy of "I WANT GOLD". Find $4.95 enclosed (Plus 6'10

sales tax for California resident orders} •... I understand if I order before the deadline Oct. 1, 1973 the publisher will cover all costs of handling and mailing as an I ntroductory bonus. *

~ML _____________________ _

ADDRESL ____________________ _

CITY STATE ZIP -------------------------* All orders received after Oct. 1st should include 50</: to cover postage and

~handling. Send order to "I Want Gold", Sundby Publications, P.O. Box 110, .JJI Santa Monica, Ca. 90406 ------.--------------------

LET

IN!

GREAT STYLES

FOR ACTION

GREAT STYLES

FOR ACTION

GREAT STYLES

FOR ACTION

WRITE FOR TAFFY'S NEW CATALOG OF GREAT STYLES FOR ACTION

1571 Golden Gate Plaza. Cleveland. Ohio 44124

~ Pharr Road. N.E .• Atlanta. Georgia 30305

134 E. Third South. Salt Lake City. Utah 84111

5960 Northwest Highway. Dallas. Texas 75225

550A Washington Street. Wellesley. Mass. 02181

BOB ANDERSEN'S

SCANDI SPORTSWEAR Anyone can achieve th e Scandinavian look with these latest imports from Denmark. Leotards and warm-ups in all sizes and colors . Sizes to fit 2-6 year olds, also available on special order. Send for our Brochure.

WRONA'S Gymnastic Apparel

RD #1 Elmbrook Village Beave r Falls, PA 15010

412 846-7078

ALL GYMNASTIC NEEDS Serving

Pittsburgh and Tri-State Area

30 Years Experience

gymnastic aides-*-BOX 475

NORTHBRIDGE. MASS

BASIC SYSTEMS (charts with teaching manual)

Girls (6) ................ ... .. $ 8.00 Boys (8) . ............. . 1 0.00 P.E. Instructor's Manual only .. 2.00

__ Girls __ Boys CHARTS Int. Parallel Bars (5) . 6.00 I nt. Rings (3) . . . . ........ 4.00 Basic to Int. Side Horse (2). 3.00 Basic to Adva nced Tumbl ing (4) 5.00 Int. Uneven Parallel Bar (5) . 6.00 Advanced Parallel Bar (4) ..... 5.00 Advanced Rings (3) ..... . ... . ..... 4.00 Girls' Competitive Vaultinq . 4.00 B ~sic tOAdvanced Horizontal Bar(6) 8.00 Int. to Adv. Balance Bea m (6) 8.00 GYMNASTICS ILLUSTRATED... $9.00 Basic Tumbling Film 60.00

1972 OLYMPIC GYMNASTIC FILMS Men Supe r 8 400 ft . $40.00 Women Super 8 400 Ft. $40.00

(Individual Fin~lists)

BOOKLETS The Side Horse ........... ......... 3.00 AIDS Meet Advertising Posters ... .. . .. 1.00

__ Girls __ Boys Scoring Kits . . ... .......... 1.50

__ Girls __ Boys Handguards .. . . . .. .. ... . .. ... . . . .. 1.95

_ . Sm _ Med _Lge

TOTAL$ ___ _

Order from Gymnastic Aides, Box 475, No rthbridge, Mass 01534

Nome __________ _

Street

City ______ _ State _ _

School Zip __

I

Order from SCANDI SPORTSWEAR 1406 Pacific Ave. Venice, Calif. 90291

W.D.21

STILL RINGS SKILLS and TECHNIQUES

By John W. Hinds Jr.

Over 90 pages of sequence and strobe action photos combined with easy to understand text, Makes "Still Rings Techniques" a welcome addition to any coach or gymnasts' library.

Deluxe Library Hard Bound Edition . .. $6.95

Comb Bound Workbook Edition . .. $5.00

Enclosed pl ease find $ ... .for . . . . Hard Bound and/ or Comb Bound copi es of STill RINGS SKillS and TECHNIQUES.

ORDER FROM: Sundby Publications 410 Broadway Santa Monica, Ca. 90406

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT ...

AMERICAN IS HARD TO BEAT!

Yes, Jimmy, you and thousands of top coaches, teachers and competitors agree that American is 1 st in performance, quality and value. American equipment was selected for use in nearly every major gymnastics championship this past year.

Write for our free catalog of gymnastics apparatus, mats, tramps, and PE equipment. It will give you something to think about.

American Athletic Equipment P. o. Box 111 Jefferson, Iowa 50129

Official equipment for the 1973 USSR Gymnastic tour ..

D __ E ----oI WORLD'S LARGEST MANUFACTURER

OF GYMNASTIC APPARATUS

NISSEN CORP., 930-27th AVE. S.w. , CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 52406 PHONE: 319 /365-7561