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]
Thanks to Gymnast.com for posting a great USA Today interview with Jonathan Horton . Horton lamented his 13.675 pommel horse score that prevented him from winning an all-around medal in Beijing. "I was (four-tenths) away from a silver at this Olympics with a 13.6 on pommel horse. That's ridiculous," Horton said, shaking his head in disgust. "Who gets a 13.6 at the Olympic Games? This guy." That's classic Horton. Afterall, this is the same guy who [...more]
The Oklahoma Sooners Men's Gymnastics Team has announced the signing of four gymnasts for the 2010 season. This is quite a coup for the Sooners. Three of the four have been members of [...more]
Imagine if, alongside dressage, bowling, and BMX racing, a major sports network would spotlight men's gymnastics. Imagine a major men's invitational on your HDTV, with not only some of the best college athletes in the country showing off their routines, but also some of the best high school club gymnasts competing for medals as well. Imagine American sports fans finally seeing just what it really takes to get to the top of a sport they usually only see at the Olympic level. Seeing the years of hard work and dedication in action will wow the public. The 2009 Stanford Open will be held January 23-25. 41 men's club gymnastics teams have confirmed their participation, along with Cal, Stanford and Nebraska. The three-day meet will be dominated by [...more]
Saving Sports is wondering how President-Elect Barack Obama's administration will deal with Title IX. Good question. The Obama campaign received a record amount of money, and it's fair to ask what Obama is going to be expected to give in return. After all, MoveOn.org raised $80 million for Obama and they are [...more]
Gymnast.com has a great post challenging readers to predict who will be America's top gymnasts in 2009. The challenge was issued for both women and men, but StickItMedia will stick to the men. We agree with Gymnast.com about Jonathan Horton. He is now the de facto leader on the men's side, especially after his great performance in Beijing. 2009 is going to be a great year for the men. We've got some great clubbers and incoming college freshmen who are going to [...more]
Many stories have been posted the past few days about the resignation of Illinois Assistant Men's Gymnastics Coach Jon Valdez. Most have flirted with potential implications, but so far the story is short on hard facts, other than Valdez' September arrest for drunk driving in Waukesha, WI. A mysterious investigation of a [...more]
The most comprehensive men's gymnastics website in existence is arguably that of USA's Region 5, which encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. The website was created and is maintained by Sonja Rupe, a gym mom from Indiana. Sonja wanted to create a place for other parents to go to find answers to questions that can't typically be found easily anywhere else. The feature that most amazes visitors is the "rankings" page, which shows the scores of almost every gymnast in the region. At any point during the season, [...more]
