Swiss Turners Gymnastics Academy, in West Allis, WI, is one of the top men’s club programs in the country. Their optional program had five boys place in the Top 36 at JO Nationals this past May. One of these young men, Dmitri Belanovski, has been a perennial top all-arounder and Junior National Team member. If the last name sounds familiar, it’s because his father [...more]
For the third August in-a-row, talented young gymnastics analyst Matthew Rusk is back to dish out his commentary on 12 American gymnasts who will be battling it out for 6 spots on the 2011 World team. 2012 and the end of the quadrennium are rapidly approaching, and as Rusk points out, the U.S. roster of 2012 Olympic hopefuls is deep. Well, the 2011 World Championships is one step closer to that Olympic dream, and next week's VISA U.S. Championships will be the [...more]
After days of speculation, new Ohio State men's gymnastics coach Rustam Sharipov made it official today that Orlando Metro coach Casimiro Suarez and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Paul Hamm are officially on board as assistant coaches. We don't need to elaborate too much about Hamm's background, of course, but it's assumed that he will also continue his training on the Buckeyes' campus. Most recently, Suarez is well known as the coach for [...more]
StickItMedia has learned that CJ Maestas will be enrolling at the University of Illinois in the fall, and will compete for the men's gymnastics team next season. Maestas, a member of the Senior National Team, is a huge addition for Head Coach Justin Spring. The addition of Maestas, provides Spring the luxury of competing four gymnasts (Maestas, Paul Ruggeri, Tyler Mizoguchi and Yoshi Mori) who potentially can each hit [...more]
In fitting fashion, Adrian De Los Angeles earned a well-deserved national event title on the same apparatus that clinched his Sr. Level 10 all-around title, parallel bars. His 15.00 was a virtual carbon copy of his routine from Saturday afternoon (15.05), and it was good enough by .40 over runner-up Stacey Ervin. It was a great way for Michigan-bound De Los Angeles to end his stellar club career. Later, during the awards ceremony, he was awarded the [...more]
It came down to parallel bars and rings for Adrian De Los Angeles and Jake Martin, respectively. De Los Angeles had a scant lead of .35 points going into the final rotation. With both events being very strong for both gymnasts, it was a breathtaking spectacle. Martin went first and posted a respectable 14.60 on rings. De Los Angeles then proceeded with a clutch performance on one of his better events. His 15.05 was not only the highest score on that event, but it was more than enough to [...more]
StickItMedia is pleased to have Nicholas Bock as our guest blogger. Bock is a devoted gym dad to two young men who train under Coach Guonian Wu at New Hope Gymnastics in Fountain Valley, CA. Young Evan is a Level 6 and was the 2010 Region I Future Stars champion in the 9-year-old division. Cameron is a Level 9 and a member of the Future Stars National Development Team. This past summer, the Bock family traveled to China with Coach Wu to receive a personal and hands-on experience at a Chinese gymnastics school. Nicholas thoroughly describes for us what a typical day is like for young Chinese gymnasts, who have been selected to [...more]
Orlando Metro’s Jake Martin made another statement as to why he may just be the top club gymnast in the country. Despite falls on parallel bars (13.40) and pommel horse (13.40), Martin still managed to make a run at 90 points and finished up with a meet-high 88.70. He put up a string of 15s on floor (15.10), rings (15.15) and high bar (15.20) to go along with a 16.45 on vault. His AA score is the nation’s [...more]
Although the 2011 Winter Cup was marred by scratches and injuries, it still was an enjoyable meet to watch. It’s very confounding as to why this meet does not rate even a simple webcast. The technology is free and there are plenty of knowledgeable personalities to provide commentary. Seen in attendance were David Durante, who did a great job providing live Twitter updates, the venerable [...more]
As one of the nation’s fastest top rising stars, Stacey Ervin had a breakout season in 2010. At the 2010 JO Nationals, Ervin qualified for the finals on four events (FX,SR,VT,PB) and ended up capturing 2nd place on parallel bars and won the national championship on vault. His hard work paid off with a 3rd place all-around finish. Maintaining that momentum at the 2010 VISA U.S. Championships, Ervin placed 4th in the all-around, took 3rd on floor and again won a national championship on vault. Ervin, a high school senior, trains at Mills Gymnastics in Southgate, MI under [...more]
