Chainey's first appearance on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

Blurb:

Chainey Umphrey on Mister Rogers' NeighborhoodEpisode 1566 Albert Chainey Umphrey (born August 2, 1970) is a retired American gymnast. He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, helping the U.S. team to a 5th-place finish in the team all-around. Umphrey was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 2, 1970, and took up gymnastics at age 7. He attended Albuquerque Academy and graduated in 1988. While in Albuquerque, he trained at Gold Cup Gymnastics along with future Olympians Lance Ringnald and Trent Dimas. Umphrey competed in college gymnastics at UCLA, where he was an All-American and two-time team captain. He was a member of the U.S. national team from 1989 to 1997, competing at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 1991, 1994, and 1996. His best result was a 4th-place finish on the horizontal bar in 1994. He also won a gold medal for the team all-around at the 1995 Pan American Games. Away from competition, Umphrey also worked to promote the sport of gymnastics and appeared at clinics around the United States. He was a guest on the children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1986 and again in 1995, demonstrating gymnastics skills and training methods.

Choreography and Salesmanship

The choreography and salesmanship!

But then this is UCLA; and they've always had memorable floor choreography.

Miss Val's last year with the Bruins...

Jill Hicks Consulting LLC:

Did you know Gracie is a walk on at UCLA? Her story is incredible how she found this fit. I am so proud of this JH Girl! Sometimes the journey isn’t a straight line.

GoFundMe for Cassie Whitcomb

A former UCLA Bruin, Cassandra Whitcomb recently had spinal fusion surgery:

As many of you probably know...I finally received the spinal fusion surgery I've been needing for a while on Monday. I was no where near prepared for the recovery that it entails. For the past 5 days I have found myself in a gloomy mood feeling as if the pain will never go away. But for some reason, I woke up today and I told myself it was gonna be different. I wrote out some goals on a white board to be accomplished by the end of the day. Such as, sitting up in a chair for 15 minutes or changing my bandages. Simple but something to strive for. I realized that this is a new chapter in my life. Many times new chapters are scary and bring something new and so we don't recognize the chance to grow and learn. Well I am taking a moment today to reflect on just how far I have come with this injury, what I have endured, and how much better my quality of life will be after recovery. Anything worth having is going to require some work to get there. So I'm getting to work

Cassandra's mom:

Cassie is a former International/National Team Gymnast (about 6 years!) and was on the National Tops Team for about 5-6 years prior to that! She spent most of her young life competing in Gymnastics  (since she was 4 1/2 years old!) Her passion was always to be the best she could be. Regardless of her pain, she just kept going. When she made the National Team, she worked through many injuries to help her team win gold medals in many countries (Belgium, Italy, France, United States, etc) You can find several videos on you tube: "Cassie Whitcomb"...

Random clip I filmed of her doing an exhibition routine a few years ago:

Go here if you are able to donate; and/or help spread the word to others who might contribute.

Region 1 Congress, San Jose August 21-23

Justin Howell's lecture on Round-offs, last session on Saturday- filled up to standing room only capacity.

It's been quite a while since I've been to a Regional Congress. Long overdue for me. The last time might have been back in the SMGC days, when I was not interested in being a team coach. Speaking of which, I had lunch with a former co-worker; and also ran into these former SMGC students, now coaches:

 Rachel is now at the gym Lilly was at before she moved to Chicago.  Angie had a brief opportunity to work with Eddie Umphrey before Eddie gave up his head coach position to be with his fiancee at Airborne.

Speaking of Umphrey, I brought my cohorts over to Chainey's house for some dinner to meet the new addition.

 Prior to seeing them, I asked Chainey if he'd been working out.  He says he runs about "3 blocks" (direct quote) and does some push-ups.  That's about it.  So this is what he looks like as of yesterday:

 I used to get into arguments with people all the time back in college- people who were adamant in their belief that Chainey was taking steroids; or that he must lift weights.  Nope.  None of that.  The only weight he lifted was his own body.  Nor did he do a lot of extra strength training- mostly routines.   He's just a genetic freak of nature. 


I did a lot of videoing, in part to bring back and share with the staff back at home base.  Not sure how much I will share on YouTube and this blog.

My co-workers did not bring their video cameras; but I shared my digital camera (the Casio that can also film in slo-mo and back to normal speed all in one shot) and my iPhone 4 while I used my iPhone 5 (64 gb).  2 extra battery packs.  After each lecture, I'd have 45 minutes to dump the memory into my laptop and would recharge while filming the next lecture.


What kind of perplexes me is how many coaches- even if fairly new- seem unaware of so many drills and concepts that seem easily acquired through the internet.  I guess some coaches don't waste as much time as I do on YouTube; or run detective searches through blogs and social media for content.

I was disappointed that Neil Resnick was not present yesterday for his lectures. 

Everyone has something to offer, though; and I enjoy listening to anyone express their thoughts and views and share their ideas about anything related to gymnastics. 

All in for Full Out tonight?

Sonya Profile in the Daily Bruin

Joining UCLA gymnastics as a walk-on, freshman Sonya Meraz started only competing in exhibition routines, but by the end of the season worked herself into one of the team's all-around gymnasts. (Angie Wang/Daily Bruin senior staff)

Pilfering the entire article:

At the end of the senior meet against Stanford in early March, UCLA gymnastics’ three seniors received farewell cards from their teammates in a warm special presentation. On each card were the signed names of the whole team and a silhouette of the graduating athlete drawn by freshman Sonya Meraz.

Having enjoyed drawing since she was little, Meraz said she is good at drawing animals, especially cats. She took a few drawing classes in high school, but now she mainly does it for fun, updating her Instagram with her recent work. Meraz said she finds parallels between her hobby and gymnastics.
“I have my music on and it’s blasting, I get in the zone for drawing. And I’m just focusing on what I’m doing,” Meraz said. “I think gymnastics is kind of the same. You get into that zone, and you’re just focusing on the little details and what you need to do to make it happen, to make it work, so you can make it good.”

Sonya!

Xpodz Kickstarter Campaign

Some long-time readers of Gymnast Crossing may remember videos from Santa Monica Gymnastics Center of a old school gymnast named Rodger who the club owner, Al Luber, was friends with.  Both former UCLA gymnasts themselves, Al let Rodger come in to workout and relieve stress.  His daughters also took gymnastics, with the eldest on team.

Rodger Thomason is also a brilliant product design engineer. If any of you remember Mitch Gaylord's fitness product- I think it was called the Gaylord III that, if memory serves, was like one of those strength towers with a set of rings on it- Rodger was the guy who designed the prototype.

He was also the go-to-guy who made the prototype for the Perfect Push-up. He suggested ways to improve the design; but the clients were not interested. So Rodger came up with his own invention. Ergonomically easy on the wrists, Rodger's product is accessible to a wide range of people who need to stay in shape- from wounded vets, the elderly, those in physical rehab, to the hardcore athletes and fitness buffs. Check it out and support the Kickstarter campaign by making a contribution and/or by spreading the word:

Rodger also designed the prototype for the Strongboard Balance, invented by his friend, Mike Curry.

Don't make me sneeze

Did a photoshoot at Rodger's house last Saturday for social media launch of his XPodz invention.  I didn't come prepared for a workout.

He had me do Al slides.  I did about two- and not as low as Rodger.

I haven't worked out really since last August when I began my new job.

My stomach, as of Wednesday, is still sore.  Especially hurts when I sneeze.

I stay away from things that make me sneeze right now.

Bruin in Flight

Cool shot of Jessy MacArthur by Christy Linder last Saturday in Pauley Pavilion

Gienger with the Jumbotron in the background capturing the routine

UCLA RIsing

Christy Linder writes of her fiancee:

Soooo excited to share this finally!

Jason wrote, sang, & produced this song RISE for this year's UCLA Gymnastics home meet opening video (with only a tiny tiny bit of help from me). He also directed & produced the video as well. It gives me chills every single time I watch it... and for whatever reason I get nervous every time it plays on the jumbo tron at Pauley Pavilion

Please watch at 1080P with your speakers turned UP!!!

 Christy helped coach team developmental at BGS for a while.  Now she has an official photo gig with the UCLA Bruin Gymnastics team.

Christy's photo blog is here.  Check out her post and photos of the season opener against the Florida Gators. 

Bruin Brawn

At the 2011 Bruin Meet and Greet:

Bruin Brothers

October 6, 2013

The Riddle of Wood

July 28, 2010

Jaime, former UCLA gymnast, takes up the challenge of making 3 customized floor bars for me- improvised from my description of Tom Forster's octagonal floor bar.

It was one of the great advantages of his brother-in-law's cabinet business being next door to BGS; the other advantage being my parking in their lot when I can't find street parking.

I knew Jaime in college; I think he was a freshman when I was a junior or senior (maybe same generation as Coach Amy).  His niece was a former level 6/7 team kid at SMGC.

August 26, 2010

In addition to these, Jaime made a floor bar for Thea (which I think was made too low to the floor- my fault).

I had other ideas which I had hoped I could get Jaime to manufacture.  Egbert was great (he made the two trampoline bar clamps for me), but doesn't have a gymnast's perspective.  And unfortunately, I just don't have my dad's carpentry skills- something I really wish I had acquired when I was growing up.





While in Colorado, I kept my dad busy with making floor bars and pushup bars for the gym. He made 3 sets of pushup bars and 3 floor bars which he donated to BGS. Said it gave him something different to do other than golf and enjoyed making them. I offered to help make them, but he seemed to think I was just "in the way", slowing him down.

September 2011

What Dreams May Come

“Do you know where dreams come from? Acetylcholine Neurons fire high voltage impulses into the forebrain. These impulses become pictures, the pictures become dreams but … no one knows why we choose these particular pictures.” 

- Special Agent Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks

I had a strange dream this morning that I was back at UCLA, in a panic wondering how I was going to get back in shape by December or January when the season starts, to compete rings.  I thought there's no way my shoulder's going to be able to withstand training to regain my iron cross (the one thing I was good at, with the most cross-pullouts out of anyone else on the team- 7 in-a-row; at one time, I sprained my sternum by overdoing one too many- with 20 lb ankle weights attached).

Of course, UCLA men's gymnastics has gone the way of the dinosaurs....


1993 was the year UCLA men's gymnastics was announced to be cut from the UCLA athletic program the following year (along with men's diving).

UCLA Invitational at Pauley Pavilion, 1993- exhibition routine as an alumni

Notice the black uniform?  I wasn't on the team, having finished my last year of eligibility in 1992; but performed as an alumni at the UCLA Invite.  The men that year wore black uniforms in protest .


I found this interesting blog, Saving Sports, with a blogpost worth checking out:

Glidecam Gymnastics

I was at this meet:



Parker Walbeck:

 Here's a recap of Southern Utah University's gymastic meet @ UCLA. I am hired by the University to film and document the season. So these are just a compililation of clips that are going to be going into a bigger end of season project, but I thought I'd go ahead and share each meet as I film it.

Promoting Your Club and Programs

Thinking about this Twistars package, I wondered how many other gym clubs out there are actively taking full advantage of the internet and video-hosting sites like YouTube to help promote their clubs and generate some excitement.  Most gymnastics websites are dull and often not user-navigation-friendly.

When I was in college, we had nothing like the video packages they have nowadays for collegiate teams:

UCLA Gymnastics 2012 Introduction Video
Cal Gymnastics promo 2013
Stanford Women's Gymnastics 12/1/2008 Pre-season video 

Check out this promo for Southern Utah University Gymnastics who hired cinematographer Parker Walbeck to film and document their last season:


Now that is the kind of video that generates excitement and gets fans pumped up!


Many clubs have dull promos; while a few understand how to inject life and excitement.

You don't need big-production budgets like the colleges to put together a nice video promo package.  Today's home computer technology makes it sooooo easy! 

And clubs should probably have several promos, hitting different target audiences, for different purposes.  Some promos should be a quick 30-60 seconds in length.  Enough to draw interest, without detailed, over-explanation.  Then for those with piqued interest and longer attention span, perhaps a more in-depth profile of the gym, with details on specific programs offered. 

I filmed and edited this unofficial LASG video:

Style is the man himself

Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.

 -Bruce Lee

 

Like different schools of martial arts styles, some coaches have enough experience and knowledge of history to recognize the "thumb print" of coaches, coaching styles, or school of technical thought imprinted on the gymnasts themselves.

When Wade was starting Caroline off on pak timers, the technical style looked familiar to something I saw on YouTube (There's more than one school of thought on how to execute a pak salto):    Method taught by coach Svetlana Degteva from Gymnastics Mississaga in Toronto.  So I sent him the link to it.  He laughed and said he learned that method from two coaches who came from Gymnastics Mississaga.  (As a side note, Svetlana Degteva also happens to be the mother of Lena Degteva, a Bruin gymnast who I believe was around the same generation as Leah Homma and Amy Smith at UCLA).

Some countries have gymnasts with a distinct look and style to their gymnastics.  So you'll sometimes here about "Russian influenced", or "Chinese method", "European flavor", etc.

Some coaches and some schools of thought on technique have such a distinct look, or leave such an indelible imprint upon the gymnast, that experienced coaches can recognize where the gymnast might have acquired their training or influence.

Styles tend to not only separate men - because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth. 

-Bruce Lee

Sarah Black: You're the Best Around

When I first began teaching at Santa Monica Gymnastics Center around the late 90s, it was to work for an adult fitness business, Energy Unlimited.  Aside from in-home fitness training, the owner used to have a small gymnastics equipment studio on Motor Avenue.  When that closed, she took her business and rented out space at SMGC.  UCLA alumni David St. Pierre once worked for her (currently teaches adults at AOGC), as did UCLA assistant men's coach, Yefim Furman (currently at LASG).

Here is one of my adult clients, who I dearly miss:

Either Make Like a Purpose; or follow the 10,000 Hour Rule

"It's not the years Honey, it's the mileage'

-Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark

 More hours of practice is not necessarily the primary driver in achieving higher performance results:

Many theorists argue that thousands of hours of focused, deliberate practice is sufficient to achieve elite status.

Hambrick disagrees.

"The evidence is quite clear," he writes, "that some people do reach an elite level of performance without copious practice, while other people fail to do so despite copious practice."

Hambrick and colleagues analyzed 14 studies of chess players and musicians, looking specifically at how practice was related to differences in performance. Practice, they found, accounted for only about one-third of the differences in skill in both music and chess.

So what made up the rest of the difference?

Based on existing research, Hambrick said it could be explained by factors such as intelligence or innate ability, and the age at which people start the particular activity. 

~~~

While the conclusion that practice may not make perfect runs counter to the popular view that just about anyone can achieve greatness if they work hard enough, Hambrick said there is a "silver lining" to the research.

"If people are given an accurate assessment of their abilities and the likelihood of achieving certain goals given those abilities," he said, "they may gravitate toward domains in which they have a realistic chance of becoming an expert through deliberate practice."

Hat tip:  Gymnastics Coaching.com

On a side note and to make a separate point,