ChalkBucket

I’ve had a few people asking where to buy this recently…I have know idea…but I know it’s on Youtube.  The following video will lead you to the other five parts:

Don’t forget the popcorn!

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I was just browsing the net today and noticed AAI has a new website.  Very nice…check it out:

http://www.americanathletic.com

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1984 US Olympic Coach, Don Peters, has been banned from USAG.  Here is a link to it:

EDIT (sorry…forgot this link):  Don Peters, iconic Olympics coach, banned by U.S. Gymnastics

USA Gymnastics :: Permanently Ineligible Members

Don Peters banned from USAG!

Here is more on all of this:

Accused gymnastics coach challenges USAG hearing

If you’d like to find out the more and join the conversation…read these threads…

Managing the Membership of Sports Organization: The Legalities of Banning a Member

Gymnastics news…Thoughts? (Don Peters)

…or leave a comment below.

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567 views as I watch it right now.  I bet that shoots through the roof…this one needs to go viral.

Awesome!  Great work AshleyakaFlipper!

Here it is:  Jordyn Wieber. Viktoria Komova. Eyes on Fire

This one’s in HD too!

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OK…this is crazy.  Check out the foot behind the head in the flairs.  Great stuff!

A guy style yoga dance breakdance …. most beautiful extreme sport

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I recently started a thread on the site about deviating from our current team system and moving to an “A” team / “B” team model.  This…of course…immediately brought in two very different schools of thought.

Here is the original thread:

Starting a High Performance Team Track (“A” Team vs. “B” Team)

A couple days later…the following thread was created by beamer:

Lament of the B-streamer

As these two threads progress you will hear the two different opinions and everyone’s reasons for them.  If you don’t want to read all of it then skip to this:

Lament of the B-streamer: Post #11

And my response:

Lament of the B-streamer: Post #13

In post #11 emorymom states…

If you want to maintain the A teamers’ interest and find out who in your B teams will ultimately be a great optional gymnast, you need to scrap your old system and have this system:

The minimum number of hours for Level X are Y. Gymnasts may choose to practice up to Z hours. After each competitive season, gymnasts will be considered for re-leveling.

If you PUSH the extremely TALENTED so hard by giving them a huge number of required hours at a young age, you are likely to lose them. Also, the point of being extremely talented is that they don’t NEED as many hours to progress as the less apt and since this is a marathon not a sprint, you might see that they ultimately acheive more if you are not pushing them through the levels so fast, but letting them enjoy their talent and other things, and choose major commitment when they are older.

On the other side, if you continue to force the kids who don’t show early talent, but have extremely high commitment, into extremely low-hours programs, you are going to see them not reach their potential. If you have a girl who is a 10yo first year L4 and you only let her practice 7 hours a week, is it going to be a shock for you that she takes 3 years at L4 since she’s also going to be growing 5 inches a year during that period? Heck, she probably needs the 7 hours a week just to maintain skills during a growth spurt.

Gymnastics needs to pay more attention to swimming.

This concept (in red above) completely addresses my cons with the “A” team / “B” team system:

1. “A” team gymnasts may be pushed to hard at a young age and driven right out of the sport.
2. Many “B” team gymnasts have better work ethic and develop into very talented gymnasts.

The problem is that it does not address one of my pros for the ”A” team / “B” team system:

1. The “A” team would be the “perfect” group…selected by everything you could imagine (age, body type, skill, etc.)

Yes…yes…I said “perfect”…I am a dreamer.  The fact is…nothing is perfect.  I would set out to create this “perfect” little group and run into nothing but issues.  I’d probably start with my 8 or 10 little hot shots and go too TOPs on them…I’d realize that they weren’t perfect or that I made an error coaching…developed some skill wrong.  What to do then…I would probably end up eliminating all of my dreamed perfection.  One by one I would find a something wrong with each of them and eliminate them all…or all but one?  That is not what I want.  I don’t want to be stuck with 5 – 7 year old gymnasts for the rest of my life because I refuse to work with anyone that is not perfect.  I don’t want to keep selecting new teams until I find the “one”.

Here it is again…the new system:

The minimum number of hours for Level X are Y. Gymnasts may choose to practice up to Z hours. After each competitive season, gymnasts will be considered for re-leveling.

What are everyone’s thoughts on this?  What type of team system do you run?  What could make it better?

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Why have a blog as the front of ChalkBucket?

Many people have asked me this question.  After all…ChalkBucket is a forum…right?  Yes and no…ChalkBucket is a community…a bunch of people that get together around a common interest of gymnastics.  While the site is primarily a forum…there are many benefits that a blog can bring.  Below is a quote from an email I received a while back…

What deters me from forums often is the friction of logging in. Remembering my password.

… I just did post something to see if I could. Success. But the forms are long and complicated to a new visitor.

Rate this thread, for example,

The early secret to YouTube, I always thought, was that you could comment without logging in. No friction.

… my two bits.

ChalkBucket is a site that can prove that the above is true.  Sure…we have a few hundred member log in every day…but we have a few thousand visitors each day that never log in and never post.  What if we could get all of these gymnastics fans talking too?

By having a blog as the homepage…we can get more people to comment and become part of the community.  The more people we have that are willing to comment and post…the more knowledge we have access too.  Knowledge is good.

But forums and blogs are different?

Sure are…

forum

blog

In a forum…the community speaks…in a blog…the author (blogger) usually speaks.  The thing to remember is that ChalkBucket is a gymnastics community and both forums and blogs are a type of social internet community.

We are the ChalkBucket…we don’t want any ONE person being our voice.

The above comment is actually a comment of my own.  I don’t want to create blog where myself or anyone else is the sole voice of the blog.  ChalkBucket is a community that has become what it is because of the members.  With that being said…here’s how the blog will be structured:

1. The primary purpose of the ChalkBucket is to help everyone learn more about gymnastics…the blog will follow this same concept.  Whether this info is from the forums…or from one of our members…or from a guest…knowledge is knowledge.
2. Anyone will be allowed to submit posts…this will be a community blog.  Posts must be approved by the CB staff before they are published.

That’s it…that simple.

If I write for ChalkBucket…what’s in it for me?

Plenty…ChalkBucket gets over 60,000 unique visitors per month.

Help out…write a post for the blog…let’s get the blog portion of ChalkBucket going.  It will help bring in many new members to share knowledge.

Knowledge is good.

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I don’t have much to say on this one except…AWESOME!

Human Alphabet Inspirational Series

We are proud to contribute 100% of sales from this limited edition Inspirational Series to support Gymnastics Canada in the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games. These beautiful photographic prints depict inspirational words that president of Gymnastics Canada Jean Paul Caron chose to best highlight the core messages and beliefs for the athletes in training. The words “power”, “strength”, “passion”, and “dream” are depicted along with inspirational quotes from past Olympic Champion Kyle Shewfelt.

This unique Inspirational Series is a limited-edition offering, and will only be available for a short time. Gymnastics Canada will receive 100% of sales from these four powerful and moving fine art pieces.

Check out Alphabet Photography and support Gymnastics Canada

Thanks to Rick for pointing this out:  http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2011/10/stunning-gymnast-alphabet-photos/

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