In fitting fashion, Adrian De Los Angeles earned a well-deserved national event title on the same apparatus that clinched his Sr. Level 10 all-around title, parallel bars. His 15.00 was a virtual carbon copy of his routine from Saturday afternoon (15.05), and it was good enough by .40 over runner-up Stacey Ervin. It was a great way for Michigan-bound De Los Angeles to end his stellar club career. Later, during the awards ceremony, he was awarded the [...more]
It came down to parallel bars and rings for Adrian De Los Angeles and Jake Martin, respectively. De Los Angeles had a scant lead of .35 points going into the final rotation. With both events being very strong for both gymnasts, it was a breathtaking spectacle. Martin went first and posted a respectable 14.60 on rings. De Los Angeles then proceeded with a clutch performance on one of his better events. His 15.05 was not only the highest score on that event, but it was more than enough to [...more]
Marty Strech needed a 12.30 on pommel horse to at least tie Tristan Burke for the lead going into Saturday's Level 9 all-around finals. Pommel horse is one of Strech's best events, so that minimum score didn't seem to be such a tall order. Well, Strech made it interesting after an atypical fall midway through his routine. Still, he had enough difficulty built in to his routine to [...more]
The 2011 Men's JO Nationals will be taking place in two weeks in Long Beach, CA. The rotation schedules have been published here. Region 5 definitely wins the award for the best regional venue. Their meet was held at Ohio State, the same weekend as the men's NCAA Championships. How cool that must have been for all the boys being afforded the opportunity to watch some great gymnastics put on by the college guys! Ohio was quite the hotbed for gymnastics, with [...more]
Hard to believe that the 2011 JO Nationals are only three weeks away. Most of the regional club meets are in the books, and congratulations to all those who have qualified. When you figure that approximately only about 7% of all gymnasts ever make it to the optional levels, it's a very significant achievement to qualify for JO Nationals. This year's extravaganza will take place in Long Beach, CA. If you've never been there, you'll be very impressed with the overall setting in the downtown area. The convention center [...more]
Jason Shen is kicking ass... on his blog, that is. The former Stanford gymnast posted his second installment of his trilogy about how his gymnastics career is helping him to... well, kick ass in the business world. This is a must read for all aspiring young gymnasts, showing them what it takes to kick ass inside and outside the gym. Jason does a great job drawing very real similarities between [...more]
Saturday was a big day for gymnastics. American Jordyn Wieber prevailed (barely) over Russian Aliya Mustafina. Oh wait a minute, wrong blog. You can read all about that here and here. The big news was Jonathan Horton gutting out a gritty win at the American Cup. Many folks, including me, thought that Horton might not yet be [...more]
StickItMedia is pleased to have Nicholas Bock as our guest blogger. Bock is a devoted gym dad to two young men who train under Coach Guonian Wu at New Hope Gymnastics in Fountain Valley, CA. Young Evan is a Level 6 and was the 2010 Region I Future Stars champion in the 9-year-old division. Cameron is a Level 9 and a member of the Future Stars National Development Team. This past summer, the Bock family traveled to China with Coach Wu to receive a personal and hands-on experience at a Chinese gymnastics school.
Nicholas thoroughly describes for us what a typical day is like for young Chinese gymnasts, who have been selected to [...more]
Orlando Metro’s Jake Martin made another statement as to why he may just be the top club gymnast in the country. Despite falls on parallel bars (13.40) and pommel horse (13.40), Martin still managed to make a run at 90 points and finished up with a meet-high 88.70. He put up a string of 15s on floor (15.10), rings (15.15) and high bar (15.20) to go along with a 16.45 on vault. His AA score is the nation’s [...more]
The 2011 Palm Tree Classic is shaping up to be the current season’s top men’s club invitational on the west coast. Hosted by Azarian Gymnastics, Meet Director Tim Klempnauer has lined up many gyms from all over the country. Included in the three-day competition is Sunday’s All-Academy Meet, featuring Air Force and Army. The Level 10/Elite all-around and event finals will take place at the same time. On Saturday, the Level 9s, 10s and elites will compete in three separate sessions. Among the top gymnasts battling it out will be the following: [...more]
