Six members of the U.S.A. team delegation that will compete in the 2013 Maccabi Games were officially announced this past weekend. The Maccabi Games, the 3rd largest international competition after the Olympics and PanAm Games, will be held in Israel July 17-30. Leading the U.S. squad will be 2012 Sr. National Team member [...more]
I can't recall in the past seeing many gymnasts, if any at all, announcing their college commitments before the early signing period. So far, as of October 30, five gymnasts have publically announced via Twitter and/or Facebook. There may be others, so please don't hesitate to correct me on this. This is a very cool development for college MAG. Usually, the process is battened down as tight as a drum. Thanks to social media, many of our top high school seniors are talking about their college recruiting trips. The naysayers may think otherwise, but this has a [...more]
The United States will be represented by five Junior National Team members later this week in Medellin, Colombia at the 2012 Pan-American Championships. 15 nations will be competing in a field that will include [...more]
It's an Olympic year and new changes to the men's JO program are about to be implemented across the country. Changes include the usual routine tweaks to the compulsory levels (4-7), but the major ones are being unveiled for the optional levels. The key phrases being bandied about are "we're going to slow things down," and "we're going to clean things up." The long-term thinking is not necessarily concern about the American men's program not having [...more]
The 2012 men's JO Nationals concluded with Sunday's event finals. This year's meet, although I did not attend, was truly quite a spectacle, and offered a huge glimpse of the future of our sport. The senior 10s put on quite a show, demonstrating a very high level of skills and execution. This year's field was arguably one of the deepest, if not the deepest, in many years. The junior 10s were very impressive, with many of the top finishers scoring right up there with [...more]
In a much anticipated contest among a deep field of talent, Donnell Whittenburg put together two spectacularly consistent displays of gymnastics over two days to win the 2012 JO Nationals Level 10 (16-18) all-around title. His two-day tally said it all -- 88.80 & 88.75. It had to be that way to overtake first-day leader Trevor Howard by a slim .35 margin. Howard also had a remarkable two-day performance -- 88.90 & 88.30, but [...more]
Nothing like a trip to Reno in mid-April. You never know what kind of weather to expect, but the high level of gymnastics competition definitely met high expectations at the Region 1 Championships. The Region 1 crew (Roger Baldwin, Paul Tickenoff, Tim Klempnauer, et al) put on a great production at the Grand Sierra Resort. The first day featured the [...more]
The 2009 season was a turning point for Jake Martin. After topping out in the top 36 as a Level 9 at the 2008 JO Nationals, the next season became Martin's breakout year. A 7th place AA finish (Level 10/14-15) at the '09 JO Nationals in Cincinnati led to a 3rd place AA that summer at the U.S. Championships, where he also had top 5 placements on four events (FX, PH, VT, HB). Many club gymnastics fans were wondering where this kid came from. Well, after the '09 season, [...more]
Seven-time All-American and Stanford grad Josh Dixon will be competing this weekend at the Houston National Invitational. It will be his first major competition since injuring his achilles tendon shortly after the 2011 NCAA Championships. It was there, [...more]
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]
