What do you resolve to do next year?

Source:  CoachOwenField

One of the motivational quotes I have on the gym wall:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. 

 I’ve lost almost 300 games. 

26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot…and missed. 

 I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. 

And that is why…I succeed” 

-Michael Jordan, quite possibly the most successful basketball player of all time. His career includes winning 6 NBA championships. 

 In his sophomore year of high school, he failed to make the varsity basketball team. “I was very disappointed and thought the coach had made a mistake. But my mother said the best thing for me to do is to prove the coach wrong. And I started working on my game the day after I was cut.” 

 Getting cut from the team was quite possibly the best thing to have happened to Jordan. It might have been a life-changing, turning point in his life that brought out the best in him. Rather than giving into defeat and failure, he worked harder than ever. His fear of not trying outweighed his fear of trying and failing. Failure motivated him to success. 

Pain and the setback of today’s failure is temporary when you are willing to try your best. The pain of giving up? That kind of pain can last a lifetime. 

 Today, will you be willing to sacrifice who you are for who you say you wish to become?

The only way you truly fail is when you give up and stop "trying".

Peace and Good Cheer!

Now....some Christmas/Holiday cheer brought to you by the BGS girls team:


Some caroling on Saturday at the bar:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

And now for something difficult: Backward Rolls

Backward rolls for giants:


Clinic given by Coach Wade in April of 2011:




Can you see now why the backward rolls in compulsories are nitpicked?
Starting at 1:19, you can see how this is being drilled for barwork (love the stalder drills!):

S.A.'s Giant, giant, layout flyaway

Not too shabby....

Geinger

Cyd caught two in a row today (she caught one yesterday by hanging on with one hand).  Coach April caught the 2nd one on camera; I think Evan filmed this one, right before it:

Giant Improvement

From a week ago:

Who will be ready for the optional season?

Roundoff and Backhandspring Technique

How do you do a great layout?  How do you do a great double back and double layout?  Everything starts with the quality of the round-off and the quality of the backhandspring.

The best tumblers in the world still spend time perfecting the basics.

 Here are some images (taken Oct 10th) of common position and shape errors in coming out of the roundoff (and one image coming out of the backhandspring):

Feet apart (and in 1st position); knees buckled forward, head starting to throw back early; chest out)

Knees buckled forward and head back

Very squatted with knees forward

Knees bent and forward

planched shoulder angle, lower back arch

 And here is one screen capture that shows the commonly seen bad position and a second photo that shows a better position (Aug 7th):

Knees going forward while trying to go backward

Off-balanced with feet in front of hips, chest in, head more neutral; arms following through on push off the floor and prepped for adding arm-swing

Coach Wade has a great video that goes through his progression method of teaching the round-off backhandspring:


And here's a staff clinic he gave back in 2011:

And here's a backhandspring blocking and second-half shaping drill I saw while visiting Tom Forster's gym in Colorado Springs:

Orientation Drill for "little ones"

Manzanet's drill reminded me of this one:

E's floor routine with a twist

Kort got "E" to do her full on floor; then stick it into her routine:

BGS on the Jumbotron Again!

At Sunday's Meet the Bruins:

Progress

Made some progress today (only did 5- but that's more than she's been doing, of late). She still is hanging on too long and still needs to get tight and compact into a pancake shape. But this is better.

Gangnamnastics Style

Baroness le Gyant

Saturday, made cast handstands for the first time.  Sunday, some giants on the regular rail with spot.