The weekend of January 16-18 was the first big weekend of the 2009 season for men's club gymnastics competition. Three notable meets held were the Vitaly Scherbo Invitational in Las Vegas, Windy City Invite in Chicago and the West Point Open.
The Scherbo meet featured Junior National Team members Jake Dalton from Gymnastics Nevada, Jeff Langenstein from San Mateo and Jordan Gaarenstroom and Adrian De Los Angeles from SCATS. Azarian's Donathan Bailey and Sam Mikulak of SCATS, also national team members, [...more]
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Ten year-old David Finning knew what he was doing, yet he didn't consciously have a means to get his message across. It wasn't until one of his neighbors turned him in to his parents that he finally got the opportunity to officially become a gymnast. On that fateful day while his parents were at work, David somehow convinced his older brother and sister to help him position the family's backyard trampoline against the house. David then jumped down from the roof of his house onto the trampoline for added acrobatic effect, and ended up flying over a fence into the yard next door. Out of concern for David's safety, his neighbors busted him and called his mother at a local school where she worked.
David's father, Scott Finning, decided it was time to do something about his son's precocious obsession with being airborne. Scott found a local gym near [...more]
The 2008 club season ushered in the new scoring system, which consists of an "A" panel and a "B" panel. The "A" panel meaures the requirements, difficulty and connections of a routine, and the "B" panel measures execution. The new system affected only the optional clubbers (Levels 8-10), while the compulsory clubbers (Levels 4-7) still enjoyed the old "10" system.
The compulsory men will finally get a taste [...more]
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John Orozco has certainly made an indelible impact on men's club gymnastics over the past several years. Consider the following achievements:
* 2008 VISA Championships: 1st place All-Around
* 2008 JO Nationals: 1st place All-Around (Level 10/14-15)
* 2007 VISA Championships: 1st place All-Around
* 2007 JO Nationals: 2nd place All-Around (Level 9)
* 2006 JO Nationals: 3rd place All-Around (Level 9)
* Current member USA Junior National Team
Orozco, who trains at World Cup Gymnastics in Chappaqua, NY under Coach Jason Hebert, is on the fast track, [...more]
StickItMedia Exclusive Interview
Danell Leyva has been dominating men's club gymnastics for the past several years. In fact, he has been so good that he competed in the senior division at the 2007 and 2008 VISA Championships, finishing 9th AA and 11th AA, narrowly missing a trip to the 2008 Olympic Trials.
Leyva is on track to possibly become one of the youngest gymnasts [...more]
StickItMedia is excited to announce that we are conducting interviews with many of America's top men's club gymnasts, and we will be bringing them to you right here. The 2009 club season is just around the corner, and the season is shaping up to be one of the best ever. StickItMedia hopes to provide extensive coverage of the upcoming club season. We are also lining up interviews with some busy college guys. Stay tuned.
We encourage our readers to submit interesting stories and/or interview opportunities. We want to hear from everybody in the club community. Club gymnastics is the lifeblood of [...more]
StickItMedia recently had the pleasure of interviewing Team Gattaca's Diego Garcia. Diego is an Account Executive, and is responsible for marketing Team Gattaca's camps and events and assisting with general athlete needs. Team Gattaca was founded by Manuel Galarza in 2003 as a means to give back to the gymnastics community. Galarza is the CEO of Gattaca, Inc., a web publishing company that caters to web advertising-based clients.
SiM: Briefly provide our readers with a history of Team Gattaca.
Garcia: The CEO of Gattaca, Inc. started Team Gattaca in 2003 as a response to the growing need for corporate [...more]
A lot of chalk, sweat, and pain kept two of the hardest working young gymnasts in Region I at the top of their respective podiums for their early competitive years. Less than a year apart, they had never before competed against each other until last season. Meet after meet in 2008 found them dominating their competition, finishing first and [...more]
Cal has announced the signing of three new recruits, further enhancing the Golden Bears' chances of winning an NCAA championship in the years to come. Donothan Bailey, Jeff Langenstein and Steve Lacome will be added to the roster for the 2010 season. Bailey has an impressive resume and is a perennial top 10 [...more]
The two top joint NCAA-Club men's gymnastics meets in 2009 will be held about a month apart, in locations separated by only the short expanse of San Francisco Bay. Last week, we talked about how we would like to see the 2009 Stanford Open televised. As it turns out, another great meet, the Pacific Coast Classic , will be televised by Comcast Sports Net. The 2009 PCC will take place the weekend of February 20-22 in Oakland, CA. A Japanese collegiate all-star team will tangle with Stanford, Cal, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Air Force. A complete list of participating club teams is not yet available, but it's safe to assume [...more]
