Characteristics of a Gymnast

Gymnastics is one of the most difficult sports an individual can do. It requires strength, flexibility, and determination to name a few. A gymnast needs strength in order to perform his/her skills well and safely. Once one skill is mastered, the gymnast can move on to a more difficult skill. This is one aspect about gymnastics that separates this sport from any other sport. Unlike football, for example, a football player learns how to play, and then spend the rest of the time perfecting it. In gymnastics, the athlete learns the basic skills then can always improve and grow. For example, once the gymnast learns and masters a cartwheel, he/she can learn a round off. 

It is also important that the gymnast is flexible so he/she can perform safely. Flexibility can also make the skills easier for the gymnast.  In addition, flexibility makes the gymnast's skills look better and clean. An example of a gymnast having flexibility would be the gymnast being able to keep his/her arms or legs straight throughout the routine. 

Another aspect that a gymnast must have is determination. There are many times when a gymnast has a fear of a skill or is learning a new one. In order to be successful, the gymnast must figure out how to overcome the situation. They go through many hard and difficult days, but determination gets them through. Since this sport is so hard on the body, injuries are very common. It is very possible that a gymnast will have a severe injury in his/her career and be unable to practice. It can be hard to stay motivated and stay positive. However, with determination, any situation can be overcome. 
All these aspects are very important to a gymnast. Gymnastics is a difficult sport but can also be one of the most rewarding sports.

Image: http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/32300000/Aly-Raisman-gymnastics-32311275-3205-2200.jpg

Inspiration: Source of Color

For my blog, I decided to incorporate the color blue for a few reasons. The first one is it is the main color of USA Gymnastics. Blue is used in its logo and is the main color of its web page. This color is also important because it is a color the United States is associated with. Since the main gymnastics organization uses this color, I believe it is important to use when it comes to my blog.

In addition, it is also the most common color around the gym. For example, many of the floors you see in gyms are blue. This color is also used in the uneven bars, parallel bars, balance beam, and the rings. There are a few different companies who supply gymnastics equipment; however, most of it you see is the color blue. Also, the landing mats and other safety mats are the color blue.

Lastly, blue is used in many competitive gymnastics leotards and other outfits gymnasts wear. This color is used by gymnasts who are trying to make the Olympics or are at the Olympics. Blue is a symbol that represents their country and builds pride in the gymnast.

When I was working, I realized how much this color is utilized in the gym. I was teaching a preschool gymnastics class and we were playing the color game for warm ups. For this game, I give the children a color, number, and a body part, such as arm, toe, hand, or knee. They must stay in the assigned area and complete the activity then come back and put their backs against the wall. When we were playing this game, I realized I was able to find many more blue mats and equipment than any other color in the gym.

As far as using this color in my blog, I believe it is an easy and relaxing color on the eyes. Blue is a very calming color and does not distract the reader from the important information, in this case, the text. This color makes a great background color for these reasons.


Source: http://ssdstudent.net/SMS/wd_1213/prui/web2_1.jpg

Sources of inspiration (Design)

Gymnastics has always been a big part of my life. I started taking preschool classes and slowly worked my way up to competitive gymnastics. I've competed at level 9 with 10 being the highest. While still in high school, I began coaching the younger competitive gymnasts as well as preschool classes. After graduating high school, I began teaching more while I was attending the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). Upon CCAC graduation, I transferred to Slippery Rock University (SRU) where I kept my job on the weekends and sometimes covering my co-workers shifts if something came up. Since I have always been involved in this sport, it is all around me, which is why I decided to have my blog centered around it. 

In my day-to-day life, I see pictures and clothing which reminds me of my gymnastics career. I got called into work this week to cover someone's shift and was reminded about my blog. Up to this point, I have chosen pictures that reflect the content of the blog. For every blog, the image is the same size and in the same place for consistency. This makes it easier for readers to go through and read it as everything is formatted the same. I have chosen a light blue background for this blog because blue is a main color for gymnastics. For example, the floor and the majority of the mats are blue. I also included gymnasts in the background for a few reasons. Gymnasts are amazing athletes and are very fun to watch. The pictures incorporate their skills and ability in their sport. Overall, these are a few of my sources of inspiration as far as my design inspiration. 

Image: http://www.wilkeysgymnastics.com/gymnastics.jpg 

USA Gymnastics Championships

Every year, Procter & Gamble along with Covergirl and Gillette host the P&G Gymnastics Championships. In addition, some of the USA Gymnastics staff travel with those involved in this organization to run classes for other gymnastics staff. The goal is to help them become better instructors. They also offer these classes to give others the opportunity to learn different teaching styles and ask any questions in order to help them be better gymnastics instructors and help the gymnasts learn as much as possible.

In the afternoon, the gymnasts participate in a competition. Afterwards, there are a few more classes, and then an evening competition. This is a great learning experience for gymnastics instructors as it can help teach them a new way to teach a skill or help the gymnast learn in a different way. With this information, it can eliminate frustration on both the gymnast's end and the coach's end. Also, this opportunity can be a great way for instructors to meet other instructors who work in different gyms. As they spend all day together for multiple days, they can get to know each other and share ideas, such as drills to help gymnasts or a way to help push through fear on a skill. The gymnasts can attend the gymnastics competitions in the afternoon, which is a fun and learning experience for them. At these competitions, they are able to see many skills done correctly and may help them learn in a different way.

Currently, USA Gymnastics is promoting this event that will take place this year on August 13-16.

Image: https://usagym.org/pages/homeImages/spotlight-2015pgchamps.png

NCAA: women's gymnastics

 

Only a few weeks after facing one other at West Virginia University, the University of Florida and the University of Oklahoma are determined to defend their NCAA titles this week at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships. This competition is scheduled to take place from April 17-19 at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena in Texas.

 

ESPN3.com will stream live Friday's national semifinals. There will be two rounds of competition this day. The first round will begin at 2 p.m. and will consist the following universities:University of Florida, Stanford University, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Michigan, University of Georgia, and University of Utah. At 8 p.m., the second part of the competition will begin and will consist the following universities: University of Oklahoma, Oregon State University, University of Alabama, University of Auburn, Louisiana State University, and University of Nebraska. The gymnasts will compete as a team on Saturday, April 18 at 7p.m. In addition, the event finals will be on Sunday at 3 p.m., and national semifinals will be on NCAA.com at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

 

The gymnasts have worked many hours to be where they are today. Congratulations to all the gymnasts competing at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.

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NCAA Men's Gymnastics Competition Results

Over the weekend of April 10, the men had their NCAA gymnastics championships held at the Lloyd Noble Center on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. At the team competition on Saturday, April 10, the University of Oklahoma won the title. This was very exciting for this college as they have not won a title since 2008. Their head coach, Mark Williams, celebrated the win with his team. In second place was Stanford University followed by Penn State.

As far as the individual competition, U.S. Senior National Team Member Akash Modi from Stanford University was the all-around champion.  He was followed by the University of Illinois' C.J. Maestas, and Bobby Baker who finished second and third.

As the sport of gymnastics is very challenging, some individuals had a great competition and others did not. Gymnasts are strong and are able to work through difficult situations. Those who struggled at this competition will keep their heads up and improve on the years to come.



Image: http://www.sportslawtalk.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NCAA-logo-jpg1.jpg
Source: https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=15774

Meet Nastia Liukin

Nastia Liukin was the 2008 Olympic champion in gymnastics. She was born in Russia to Valeri and Anna Liukin, who were both champion gymnasts in their native country. When Nastia was a little over two years old, her parents moved to the United States in order to give her the best opportunity to succeed. Because her parents were always involved in the sport of gymnastics, Nastia spent a lot of her childhood in the gym. As her parents know all too well how hard the sport of gymnastics is, they had no intention of her becoming a gymnast. However, since she spent most of her time at the gym, her parents and coaches noticed her talent and began working with her. By the time she was six years old, she was a competitive gymnast. When she was twelve, she was an Elite gymnast. She continued training for the 2008 Olympics.

While at the Olympics, she helped lead her team to the silver medal, just behind China. Individually, she earned a bronze medal on the floor exercise, a silver medal on balance beam and uneven bars, and was the gold medalist overall. After the Olympics, she began training for London in 2012; however, she was unsuccessful in making the Olympic team. Even though she was unable to compete, she supported her team by attending London as the athlete representative for the Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG). Since her career in gymnastics is over, she currently spends her time following her interests for fashion, acting, education, as well as philanthropy.


Image and information:
http://parksandresorts.wdpromedia.com/media/disneyparks/blog/wp- content/uploads/2011/06/nld093818LARGE.jpg
http://nastialiukin.com/welcome/bio# 

Men's NCAA Competition

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1906. The NCAA is responsible for regulating 23 sports in over 1,200 colleges and universities around the United States. This organization is responsible for setting the rules and requirements when it comes to the sport of gymnastics.

The first two rounds of competition for men began on Thursday, April 9th, and will be held at the Lloyd Noble Center on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The USA Gymnastics website will have live videos of the entire competition. There will be two sessions for the National Qualifier: one at 2 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. The colleges and universities that are competing in the 2 p.m. competition are: Stanford, Penn State, Minnesota, California-Berkeley, Air Force, and Nebraska. The second part of the competition begins at 8 p.m. and the colleges and universities that will be competing are: Oklahoma, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, and Army.

On Friday, April 10th, the Team and All-Around Finals, and Individual Event Prelims will take place at 8 p.m. Lastly, the Individual Event Finals will take place on Saturday at 8 p.m.





Image: https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=15753&prog=h

What is USA Gymnastics?

https://usagym.org 

For those interested in competitive gymnastics, they must register through USA Gymnastics. This organization is the national governing body for gymnastics throughout the United States. They are also responsible for setting the rules and policies for the sport of gymnastics. Every competitive gymnast, coach, and judge is registered through USA Gymnastics. To bring awareness to this organization, USA Gymnastics hosts events throughout the United States in September called National Gymnastics Day. Many of the gyms help by encouraging their students to participate in their events. 

No only does USA Gymnastics organize events such as this, they also help gyms around the United States run their gymnastics competitions. They set the guidelines that everyone must follow in order to ensure a successful competition. Currently, USA Gymnastics is promoting an event that will take place on April 4. At this competition, six women will compete to determine the twelve teams that will be competing in Fort Worth, Texas in a few weeks.

For the younger competitive gymnasts, they also have competitions. Some of them are local and some can be further away if their parents decide they want to put the time and money into traveling. USA Gymnastics has both men and women compete in gymnastics. The younger gymnasts compete in smaller competitions, whereas the higher levels have the possibility to qualify for States, Regionals, and Nationals. USA Gymnastics is most involved in these three competitions. 

USA Gymnastics' main goal is to keep children active. They want students to have fun and be active while participating in a sport they love.

Welcome to the sport of gymnastics

4/2/2015
By: Crystal Hinnebusch

Gymnastics is one of the most difficult sports. It requires the athlete to have physical strength, flexibility, power, agility, determination and control to name a few. Even though gymnastics has all these important characteristics, any individual can participate in this sport. In many gyms throughout the United States, preschool, recreational, tumbling and team/competitive classes are available.

Preschool classes are to help children ages 3-6 develop physically and emotionally. For example, it helps them stay active and encourages a healthy lifestyle. In addition, gymnastics is also used for children who are physically or mentally disabled to give them the opportunity to be around other children his/her own age. For the younger children, ages 1-3, a parent is allowed to go into the gym with the child and help him/her through the class.

The next step above the preschool classes are the recreational classes. If children just want to have fun, be active and do gymnastics, these are the classes for them. Usually, these classes are one hour per week. They have instructors who are able to work with them and teach them basic gymnastics skills. Students who sign up for a recreational class use the Olympic gymnastics events (vault, bars, beam and floor exercise).

For those who are interested in tumbling classes, this class is specifically designed for them. The duration for this class is the same as a recreational class; however, they focus on trampoline, tumble track and floor time. Because they do not do bars and balance beam, they get more time to focus on their tumbling skills.

Those who are interested in taking their gymnastics to the next level may chose to do competitive gymnastics. These gymnasts compete levels 2-10. The gymnasts you see on television are elite gymnasts, which is above level 10. The lower levels practice two or three days a week for a few hours at a time. Once a gymnast gets into the higher levels, he/she might practice multiple hours a day and six or seven days a week.

This is a little bit of background for the sport of gymnastics. Check back soon for additional information.


Image: http://www.wilkeysgymnastics.com/gymnastics.jpg