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]
The U.S. contingent of Junior National Team gymnasts prevailed in a tri-meet against host Great Britain and Switzerland. The meet, held at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre this past weekend, was the culmination of a week-long joint training session among the three teams. Coached by Orlando Metro's Cas Suarez, the U.S. team was led by Orlando Metro's Sean Melton and South Coast's Timmy Wang, who placed 1-2 in the All-Around. Wang placed [...more]
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau lowered the boom on Cal's prestigious men's gymnastics program today by officially announcing the sport has been de-funded effective upon completion of the upcoming 2011 season. Birgeneau also gave the heave-ho to men's baseball, men's rugby, women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse. Yes, thanks to Title IX, the men had to be cut for quota purposes. It's a sad day for Cal gymnastics, whose demise was [...more]
Sadly, this week we marked the passing of one amazing grandmother, who just happened to be a staunch supporter of the sport of gymnastics. Rita Jennings died on Monday, September 20 at the age of 70. Rita was wife to Sheldon, mother to Patsy, mother-in-law to Scott and grandmother to Jon and Nick Spiro. Jon and Nick, of course, are elite gymnasts who train at New Hope in Fountain Valley, CA. Rita was a Region I icon. She worked her charm, supporting Region I gymnastics for the past 32 years. As well as being Jon and Nick's grandmother, [...more]
