Modern Gymnast - April 1971

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NOTES FROM THE EDITOR:

PROMISES, PROMISES: With the January MGwe started our new program of Change, Catch-up and Communicate. As promised we made format changes, are catching up and making waves in our communication . We have in­cluded sequence photos as promised but have not had the space (or photos on hand) for the more extensive photo coverage we had hoped for in the MG. But will have before the year is out.

* * *

REBUTTAL: Since we included a Challenge to the Coaches in the February MG editorial, we would be amiss if we did not include the following comments by HS Coach Robert Manning.

••• YES, COACHES DO GIVE A DAMN! One only has to think of the coach's incentive

for his team to do an excellent job in the upcoming championship meets and come to the conclusion that this is a relatively poor time to chew out coaches for their lack of enthusiasm for not writing an article on improving gymnastics, and therefore I feel it is un­realistic to make an accusation such as:

"Do coaches really give a damn?" The coaches I would like to hear from have their

hands full, winding up their season, working on com­pulsories and optionals to ready their teams, not to mention normal educational responsibilities.

"Where have all the coaches gone ... ?" To coaching their tearr'ns where they should be this time of year.

Robert Manning Head Gymnastic Coach lawrence High School, Kansas

* * * NEXT MG. Photo, action and reporting from the 1971 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS at the University of Michigan.

* * * COMING: The annual High School Report will be coming up soon. Make sure your State HS Championship results, action' photo of the AA winner and event winning routines are sent to the MG as soon as possible after the conclu­sion of the competition . And don't forget our "MISS HS GYMNAST" of the year award (see Sept. 1970 MG). Your entry must be a competing girl gymnast of high school age and will be judged by her competitive ranking , aca­demic achievement and physical charm. This year, tro­ph ies will be awarded for first, second and third place.

Illb TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME XIII I NUMBER 4 I APRIL 1971

4 NOTES FROM THE EDITOR, Glenn Sundby

6 CHALK TALK

7 VIEWPOINTS, Dick Criley

9 NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL NEWS

10 OLYMPIA PRESS, Dick Criley

12 HAND BLISTERS - A POTENTIAL THREAT TO THE MODERN GYMNAST, Mickey Cobb

15 PROPER HAND CARE IN GYMNASTICS, Jack Medina

16 MG CENTER PHOTO, John Crosby

18 A SURVEY DEALING WITH THE SELECTION OF A NATIONAL COACH FOR VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL TEAMS, Bob Hennecke and Don Tonry

20 MG SEQUENCE PHOTO, Takuji Hyata

22 J.C. BLUES, Dr. Ken Veselak

24 THE JOY OF EFFORT

26 NATIONAL GYMNASTICS JUDGES ASSOCI-ATION NEWSLETTER

30 LETTERS

30 MG CALENDAR

COVER: Featured on the April MG is co-captain Rick McCurdy, three times Big Ten AA champion. (He is only the second man to do this.) Rick's Uni­versity of Michigan team will be host to this year's NCAA championships. Photo by W. E. Berg.

PUBLISHER-EDITOR: Glenn Sundby ASSOCIATE EDITORS, STAFF: Kenneth Sakoda, Dick Criley

ASSOCIATE EDITORS, FEATURE: A Bruce Frederick, Education; Dr. James S. Bosco, Research; Jerry Wright, Competition; Frank Bare, USGF; John Nooney, Canada; Andrzej Gonera, European; Gerald George, Dan Millman, Don Tonry, AA Instructional; Bill Roetzheim, In­structional.

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6

International University Gymcompetition. Report by Jan Borms, University of Brussels

TUVEAC, Gymnastics Club of the Catho­li c Academy of Physical Education Tilburg (Hol land), organised magnificently for the first time an international University gym­competition. Due to the world champion­ships in Ljubljana, quite a few gymnasts, although previously. announced in the pro­gram, did not show up during the meet. However 6 countries were presented by: The Danish State University of Physical Education - Copenhagen; Loughborough College of Physical Education and St. John's College York from England; Ger­many with Munster Institute fur Leibesu­bugen, Sportwissenschaft Institut Giessen, Ruhr Universitat Bochum, Freie Universitat Berlin; Deutsche Sporthochschule Kohn; Institut fur Leibesubungen Hamburg; Aus­tria with the Universitat Turninstitut Inns­bruck; Belgium with the "Free University Brussels" and the Netherlands with the Akademy of Phys. Ed. Den Haag and the Catho lic Academy of Phys. Ed. Tilburg.

Two basic considerations are at the origin of this excellent idea. First of all the organisers wanted to create a regular exchange of students, particularly phys. ed. students, through sports. In the second place they wanted to give an impetus to gymnastics in student life by means of gymnastics-competition. In order to real­ize those two ideas, the organisers from Holland had left space for a social pro­gram. Students could exchange ideas and gather information about the actual situ­ation' in their respective countries and in­stitutes. The main interest of course was focused on the competition, which was taken very seriously by all men and women. 1) The Women's competition.

This competition took p lace in the morning. The sportshall was exce llently equipped by the well known Dutch dealer " Janssen en Fritzen". 21 ladies took part in the competition. The level of this match was somewhat low, although the crowd enjoyed the good performances of some gymnasts and part icula rly Margreta Stege­man (she placed 40th in Ljubljana), coached by Janus Cajus (from Roumania) . Each team represented 4 gynasts; the three best scores were taken in consideration.

Hamburg took the team honours before the Academy of Tilburg and the Univers­ity of Innsbruck.

2) The Men's competition: This competition was the highlight of

the day. 41 gymnasts represent ing 10 dif­ferent teams were responsible for an exce l­lent show! Th e most impress ive routines were shown by topscorer Satowaki Myake (a Japanese student fro m Koln), Buddy Pillich (New Zealand), Ole Bened iktson and Kurt Trangback (Denmark), Stan Wild (Great Britain) and Hans Gunneman (HoI­land).

After this group of ±10 gymnasts, a second group of about 20 gymnasts

Satowaki Miake, first AA

showed good but not top performances_ The next competition will probably be

organised by the Univers ity of Brussels in 1972, although Hamburg as well as Lough­borough showed an eager enthusiasm for the organisation. It will be doubtful whe­ther th is tournament will be called "West­European student championships", but who knows?

RESULTS

1) WOMEN

A) Individual 1) Margreta Stegeman (Bochum) .. 36.40 p. 2) Marian Cafferata (Den Haag) .. 34.80 p. 3) Marian Bengen (Den Haag) .. . . 34.60 p. 4) Eva Grabbe (Hamburg). 31.60 p. 5) Ute Ahrend (Hamburg) . . . 30.40 p.

B) Team 1) Institut fur Leibesubungen

Hamburg 2) Kath. Akademie Lich. Opv.

Tilburg 3) L'niversiteit Innsbruck

2) MEN

A) Individual 1) Satowaki Miake

(Sporthochschu le Koln)

.. 92.75

. . 78.60 ... 65.85

.. 56.20

2) Buddy Pillich (Sporthochschule Koln)

3) Ole Benediktson .54.25

(Danish State Inst.) .......... 53.25 4) Stan Wild

(St. Johns College York) 5) Hans Gunneman (Tilburg)

B) Team

1) Deutsche Sporthochschule 2) Danish State Institute of

Phy. Ed. 3) Munster Universitat

You Think You Have Problems!

.53.15 .. 51.70

Koln .161.55

. .. 153.00 152.15

Ithaca College dropped their sixth straight, bowing to West Chester 113-82 .. . It has been an unbelievable hard luck sea­son for coach Gordon Eggleston ... Ithaca College lost its best all around man Craig Kolloff for the year, in the opening meet, with a wrist injury . . . The top rings man Norm Sosin is st ill out with injuries ... Two veterans, who were counted on, never came out and th en last week, junior Lee Multari, the top scorer this year and the team 's number one all around, floor ex, side horse and rings performer did not compete because of tendonitis in his arm.

Century School of Gymnastics

The Century School of Gymnastics, a non-profit organization, has a summer program consisting of two, 5-week ses­sions. The major objectives for the sum­mer program are:

1. Make the general public in Rockland County more aware of the growing interest in gym nast ics.

2. To help pay for equipment that can be used for fall and winter gymnastics programs at six elementary schools, two Sr. Highs, and two Jr. Highs.

3. To increase the skill abi li ty level of the present boy and girl gymnasts to com­pare with th e general regional ability levels (Northern New Jersey and West­chester County).

4. Secure new rec ruits to the sport of gymnastics on all age levels, 6-18 years of age.

The school capitalized on utilizing small group instruction eight to a group maxi­mum, and is very successful in producing rapid results.

,The Gymnastic Web A, B, Frederick, Education Edito r for the

M.G., is involved w ith a research project, which requires feedback from a relatively large number of experienced gymnastic teachers and coaches, The research in­volves the use of a new, graph ic repre­sentation for movements and will require interested correspondents to read a back­ground paper en titl ed The Gymnastic Web. A Web data sheet is presented here without comment.

Mr. Frederick's immediate req uirement

is the gathering of data on five gymnastic movements. If you are interested in assist­ing, he will mail you a copy of the paper and a supply of Web Data Sheets. All participants wi ll receive a set of the re­sults of the study inc ludi ng f ive comp ila­tion webs with comments on future appli­cations.

MOVEMENT ANALYSIS WEB For more information, those interested

in coope ratin g in the study may write to: A , B. Frederi ck, Dept. of HPER, Wisconsin State Unive rsity, Superior, WI 54880

Component Values A.B.F. P.B. s' -N = 7 (x' ) M = 5-5-5-5 112 - 6

Effort 3,00 5,00 4.43 force 4.00 5.00 4.64 Balance 3.00 3.50 4.50 Flexibility 4.50 4.00 5,07 Swing 5,00 22,50 5,29

Total 19,50 4.50 23.93 T /5 3,90 4.786

Name of Movement EN DO'S BACK HANDSPRING (During Free Ex performance, 1960 Olympic Games-Tokyo)

Data Gathered 7/28/70 in Analysis of Gymnastics SS II University of Minnesota

VIEWpoints by Dick Criley

Like many other Americans, I had the ''pleasure a few weekends ago of watching the ABC-TV Wide World of Sports tele­cast of two gymnastics meets between Russian and United States gymnasts, The performances were a treat to watch, and one could only wish that both the men 's and women's meets had been broadcast in their entirety. Congratulations are in order to the U.S,G,F, and Penn State for pulling off the tricky bit of d iplomatic footwork which preceded the Russian meets.

One of th e things that impressed me was the re lative youth of the Soviet team, Remembering the 1961 meet between t he Soviets and a U.S. team (a lso hosted by Penn State), it seems to me that th e aver­age age of th e Russian team has dropped. (On the 1960 men's team were Shakhlin, 28; Tit iov, 25; Azaryan, 31; Portnoi, 28; Kerdemilidi , 22; and Miligulo, 24; 'for an average age of 26.3.)

There is a little book printed around 1960 with the title "Soviet Gymnasts". It was written by Soviet Merited Master of Sport, V, Belyakov, to recount nearly a quarter century of the building of gym­nastics in the USSR. The historical aspects

are interesti ng, viz.: Larissa Latynina who was described as

an artist who had not learned to organize herself. Although great, she would lose her composure and become exc ited, She was already a champion before she learned control and how to compete under pressure.

Albert Azaryan, a form er blacksmith who became an outstanding rings per­former. He had but 4 years training in gymnastics prior to winning the rings title in the 13th World Games. He went on to win the rings titl e again in both the Melbourne and Rome Olympics.

Albert Azaryan, Valery Kerdemlidi , Boris Shakhlin and Yuri Titov,

Boris Shaklin, a nat ive of Siberia who began at' the age of 10 as an av id parti­cipant in many sports, f inall y settlin g up­on gym nastics and earning a Nat ional AII ­Around Champ ionsh ip by the age of 22.

The book is fi ll ed with anecdotes abo ut great Russian gymnasts, but also recounts the deve lopment of the Soviet gymnastics philosoph y. Th e Spartak iad is the Russian equivalent of a nat ional age-g roup pro­gram and earni ng an award here assures the young ath lete of greater attenti on by national coaches.

From th e very beginning of their train­ing the young Russian gymn asts are taught to be consc ien ti ous, persevering, and in­dustrious. Much emphas is is placed on lea rnin g the bas ics, not onl y with mechan­ical co rrectness but also with precision, ease, freedom and grace. Team conscious­ness is stressed: help one another and set hi gh standards for the others, Continuity in training and persistence in working o n weak events are cited as keys to success. Soviet gymnasts are not built overn ight or in short term training.

Th e attention g iven the gym nasts ' train­ing has many facets. Even for men, music is being used w ith floor exe rcise to give each combination an inner content and accentuate th e grace and rhythm of the movements. Creativity and the develop­ment of new moves or combinat ions of moves is encouraged , Not bn ly aesthetrcs. but also proper medical aspects are given due we ight in the training program as the Soviet athletes obse rve th e rule that you must rest thoroughly after the tension of a major contest. Such has been th e direc­tion of Soviet interest in true physical aspects that well-defined training time­tables are deve loped for each gym nast and his forth-coming contests .

Th e exercises of other nati ons were studi ed to provide a basis for improve­ment at home. In 1950, for instance, th e Russians learned a great deal from a series of exhibition meets in Sweden and Nor­way. " In my opinion," wrote Belyakov, "the only drawback in th e free exercises of the Swedes was the lack of a logical connection between the djfferent ele­ments. Because of that their combinations fa il ed to give th e impression of being integral. They seem to be torn up into separate pieces."

Writing of the Hungari an parallel bar performances of th e same era, " Lately, it had become the thing to give preference to fast swings, but in my op inion power elements should not be completely

. dropped from the exercises on parallel bars as that impove rishes them, Any heap ing up of intricate elements should, of course, be avo ided . But if strength and swing ele­ments are properly combined, the exer­cises will be sufficiently fast, graceful, and intr icate." As a result, in the 15th Olym­piad, " But the principle under which we formed our combinations was quite dif­ferent. We included more power elements into them than did our opponents. This gave the exercises something of a static cha r-acter, broke the rhythm and detracted from the v isual impress ion made by the exerci ses,"

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One other paragraph arrested my at­tention, this one having to do again with appearances . " The external appearance of a gymnast plays an important role. The color and cut of his costume can enhance the impression made by the exercises and emphasizes the beauty of movements, or, conversely, they can distort them and make them ugly."

A rich history of gymnastics endeavor in the Soviet Union coupled with experi­enced coaches and good facilities has allowed the Russians to build many fine gymnasts. The same road has been taken by the japanese who have modified it in their own design. The Russians, however, are closer to the Europeans and Americans in body type and culture and it is to our advantage to learn from them some les­sons for our future rather than from the japanese.

Incidentally, should any of our reade rs feel inclined to compliment ABC's Wide World of Sports - and to urge greater gymnastic coverage - they may be written to at 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019.

Viewpoints Part II

by Dick Criley

"Mayb~, in our relentless pursuit of standardization, codification, detailed breakdown and exposition as personified in our Code of Points, we will breed a race of judges so technically competent that they will be unable to recognize an exercise of true genius when executed before them." George Kunzle.

I received the December 1970 issue of the Modern Gymnast some weeks ahead of our readers and could hardly contain myself when I read the above sentence in, "A judge's Eye View of Ljubljana." I had been thinking about the very same point as a result of some discussion I had with Bruce Davis (Coach, Miami-Dade jr. Col­lege) this past fall.

Bruce remarked that he had witnessed one of Toby Towson 's (NCAA FX Champ 1968, 1969) floor exercise routines which apparently came on so strong that the officials could do little but pick on trivial things like a twitch of a toe in a hand­stand or a slight foot movement to finally arrive at a score in the low 9's . Superior judge Tom Maloney later commented that the exercise was too good for such a score and deserved a 9.6 or 9.7. The trou­ble was that Toby was too perfect and where his minor faults would have been overlooked in a lesser gymnast, these were the only things the judges could see in his exe rcise.

The rules are becoming so structured that the inclusion of good moves such as handspring, front; astraddle toe touch, front; and a dismount with a backfront receives the disapproval of the judges be­cause of repetition! It seems to be the purpose of the official to prevent the gym nast from attaining a 10.0.

Bruce isn ' t the only one whom I heard make such a criticism . Upon his return from japan, Makoto Sakamoto told of

listenings to comments during exercises of Nakayama and Kenmotsu wh ich unduly criticized outstand i ng performances. In this case, perhaps, there may have been some envy or jealousy, but again, it was an effort not to recognize tr·ue geni us .

As I have been assisting some judging classes, I can't help but wonder if we are producing subtracting machines as everyone totes up his 0.1-0.2-0.3 deduc­tions without really having an awareness of the performance he has just witnessed . Our Nationally-rated judges have to work as hard to stay in top form as do the gymnasts, but the gymnast gets a break after the competition . The judge must sit down to lea rn the newest strictures and how to apply them. The gymnast's new challenge, then , is at least exciting-unless he stops to consider that the judges are again training to beat him down again.

* * * I got a bit of flak from some gymnastic

acquaintances following the appearance of my column defending the right of coaches to set the level of discipline when it comes to the mustache, beard , and long hair bit during their team 's competition season . I certainly look forward to the NCAA's to see what is really " with it" this year.

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COLORADO by Chuck Ehrlich

NATIONAL BIGB SCBOOL NEWS NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASTIC COACHES ASSOCIATION

Bill Ballester, President NHSGCA

In Colorado the gymnastic season began on February 1, 1971, but actual competi­tion cannot commence until March 1, 1971. The season ends with our state meet on May 14 and May 15. This year due to the Colorado High School Activities Asso­ciation, gymnastics will be suffering a slight drawback because of new rules and regulations regarding limited season, etc., but the Colorado Gymnastics Association will become involved sufficiently in order to have these new rules modified.

From all indications in talking to other coaches th is year shou Id be one of the best years for Colorado gymnastics with number increasing in student participation and in the quality presented. It seems from past experience that each year of competition the sport continues to grow in Colorado which shows a definite need for more coaches in order to continue and increase the quality of the sport.

Since competition begins in March, this writer will have more to report of sub­stance. See you next month from your Rocky Mountain reporter.

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By far the largest body of coaches and competitors in the sport of gymnastics lies at the high school level . As coaches. and leaders of our sport it is our obligation to promote and direct gymnastics in the best interests of all . Up to date . however. little has been done effectively to organize high school gymnastics on a national scale and the potential good that would result from such an association has gone un­tapped.

The National High School Gymnastic Coaches Asso ; iation (NHSGCA) now exists as a means to organize and make effective the r::tren~ th and influence that is inherent in the high school gymnastic coaches as a body.

The tasks that lie ahead for the NHSGCA are numerous and monumnental. but the good that can be accomplished for gymnastics through the association are deserving and long overdue.

Please find my $10.00 annual membership dues to the National High School Gymnastic Coaches Association enclosed and include my name and high school on the NHSGCA roster with all the privileges granted thereof.

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Olympia Press These series of short OLYMPIC NOTES

appearing in the Modern Gymnast are ab­stracted from a monthly news release from the press service of the Olympic Organiz­ing Committee. It appears in 8 languages, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Rus­sian, Japanese, and German. Most of these notes have been adapted from longer re­leases by MG Associate Editor, Dick Criley. (Hello, out there in Hawaii!)

from the Olympia Press: 2-4,63 For the first time, all 21 recognized

Olympic sports (only 19 were displayed in Tokyo) are on the program : light athletics, football, hockey, rowing, canoeing, shoot­ing, equestrian sports, cycling, modern pentathlon, swimming, gymnastics, boxing, judo, basketball , volleyball, handball, fenc­ing and archery, which returns after a 52-year absence. The site of the sailing events is Kiel, the capital of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The competitions will last 16 days from August 26, 1972, to September 10. This is a day longer than prescribed by the IOC Statutes, but it has been approved by the IOC. About 12,000 men and women com­petitors are expected, together with team personnel, about 2,000 judges, 4,200 repre­sentatives of the press, radio and television from all over the world, while the influx of visitors is estimated at 2 million.

The Organizing Committee has been hard at work providing the best possible conditions for the competitors, visitors and press.

In the Olympic village, not more than 2 competitors will have to share a room, there being almost 3,000 flats with sleeping accommodations for 11,600. The women's village has 1,728 flats with accommoda­tions for 1,800. All flats will be equipped with baths and showers, and the men 's village will also have nine saunas with a cold water pool. There will also be a swimming pool for recreation purposes. The trainers and masseurs will have over 500 fully-equipped booths to work in .

The Committee has already determined the menus at the catering center which will be open from 6 a.m. until midnight. For instance, it has been announced that on the opening day, competitors taking lunch will have the choice of cream of tomato soup garnished with toast cubes or consomme celestine.

A recreation center will be provided with International Club, a dance floor, and a theater with both stage and film facilities.

Journalists will be accommodated in a new housing estate and each will have his own, furnished room. The Press Center is

10

less than a mile from the main Olympic - be underground. The six-coach trains will Stadium and all pressmen will find the lat- have a passenger capacity of 870, which, if est in facilities for producing and transmit- trains leave at automatically controlled in­ting articles and pictures. For instance, tervals of 90 seconds and travel at between 500 to 600 microphone booths will serve 21 and 48 mph, is equivalent to a transport about 70 foreign television and 120 radio capacity of approximately 40,000 passen­stations. Plans have been laid for the 70 gers per hour in each direction. sound studios and eight TV studios Visitors attending the Olympic events at equipped with color which will have be- the Oberwiesenfeld will thus reach the tween 40 and 60 monitors. A color proc- underground station Olympiastadion in 11 essing plant will be located 'on the prem- minutes by direct service from the Marien-ises to process up to 4,000 feet of color platz in the city center, while the journey film an hour. To cope with the great pro- from the Karlsplatz or the Hauptbahnhof fusion of data, a medium-sized computer to the same destination will take 14 and is being installed and all sporting stadia 15 minutes respectively. Passengers arriv-will be connected to it. Thus all necessary ing from Switzerland, France, Belgium, information will be at hand along with Holland, England and Scandinavia will find previously recorded personal and Olympic the Haupbahnhof connection most con-data. venient while those from Austria and Italy

Three separate restaurants will cater to will prefer a connection from the Ostbahn-the journalists' exacting palates. In one, hof to the Olympic stadium. the rushed pressmen can consume a stand- During the Games the circular service up snack in 10 minutes (wanta bet that from the city center to the Olympic someone will set a new Olympic record?) , grounds will be in operation from 8:30 or spend a half hour over a self-service a.m. to 9 p.m. The trains will run at inter-meal from a cafeteria, or dine at leisure vals of six minutes in each direction so that in a comfortable restaurant with waiter there will be 20 departures per hour or a service. Nor will the all-night type of jour- connection to the city center every three nalist be denied as one of the three res- minutes. taurants will always be open all night. To further minimize delay, the Olympia-

from the Olympia Press: 36-37, 71-73, 174 In recent years Munich has been grow­

ing out of proportion to any other German town. The geographically favorable loca­tion of the town as the economic center of southern Germany has complicated traf­fic conditions. With 320,000 vehicles li­censed in Munich (one car for every four inhabitants), the public transportation sys­tem is becoming increasingly hampered and inadequate.

In 1965, with the prospect of hosting the Olympic Games already in mind, the City started construction of a modern high­capacity transport system . Nearly half of the projected 55 miles of transit lines will

feld railway station (just a few minutes walk, about one kilometer) will have two platforms 450 yards in length, each serving two tracks. This means that eight trains can be held in readiness for the return traffic after th e close of meets. · Th e sidings will accommodate six more trains which can be shunted into the station ready to pick up passengers. Thus, 14 trains will be avail­able at rush periods with a minimum of delay and another 31 can be available on short notice.

Munich w ill also provide parking for motorists at roadway ex its on the outskirts of town. These wi II be connected to the stadia by bus and other public transport systems.

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13

"Ha nd BI isters -A Potential Threat to the Modern Gymnast"

Obtained MS from Indiana 1966. Mickey Cobb served as student trainer in high school, college and graduate school and became head trainer for one year at University High School, Biooming­ton, Indiana in 1965. He then served as head trainer at DePauw Vniversity, Greencastle, Indi­ana, before 90;n"s ~to his alma mater, Georgia

Southern College in 1967. He is a member of the National Athletic Trainers Association; Member of American Association of Health Physical Educa­tion and Recreation; the Phi Epsilon Kappa Fra­ternity; active member and faculty advisor to the fellowship of Christian Athletes; instructor of Health and P.E. at Georgia Southern College.

I. INTRODUCTION II. HAND BLISTERS

A. Cause B. Control C. Prevention

III. INFECTED HAND BLISTERS A. Recognition of B. What to Do

IV: CONCLUSION In a previous writing in the Modern

Gymnast, I made a statement, which I will somewhat paraph rase, about th e modern gymnast must work year-round to achieve championship calibre_ This I feel quite sure will be supported unanimously by those athletes and their coaches who have exper­ienced be ing in the championship bracket.

During his long work-out road to being a champion, the gymnast will encounter a host of "sma ll, no account injuries." There will indeed be times when the gymnast will have to "shrug-off" some of the minor physical problems and still compete. With­out. question, one of the most important parts of the gymnasts anatomy which is in constant contact with apparatus and the floor is his hands. Therefore, it is valuable to the athlete and his coach or trainer to be aware of how to deal with some of these hand problems_ Among the first of the hand problem of t}le gymnast is that of blisters. Technically, blisters will occur

14

on the hands because of increased friction to the skin surface . The friction causes the skin layers to rub together, thereby in­creasing the amount of heat to the area. The body's response to the increased heat as a primary result of friction is relatively simple : a message is sent to the brain via the nervous system informing the brain of temperature change. The brain makes its interpretation of the problem, informs the proper "authority" to remedy the situation; in this. case, the lymphatic system . Because the lymphatic system is found throughout the body, the re lease of a clear, watery ma­teria-I called Iy~ph fluid is easily emitted from a nearby . lymph node (reservoir) in the hand area. The lymph fluid 's task is to " cool" the heated skin tissue and to reduce skin tissue friction. As a direct result of the lymph fluid the skin layers are separated . The blister, then is formed, as may be seen by the clear fluid under the raised skin.

In practice or formal competition the blisters will break; the broke n skin will soon be torn off; and what you have then is un exposed skin. Eventually, a callousity

will appear. However, on occasion infec­tion invades the hand area and soon iriter­cepts the gymnast's workout schedule.

To prevent the possibility of infection is the intelligent thing to do. Treating the newly exposed skin like .an opened wound is th e best precaution. Any antiseptic will serve as both an antiseptic and protector of th e skin _ In about two days, new skin growth will be present. Now is the time to apply any skin toughness you may wish to use. During this early blister stage, most gymnasts will know how he wants his hands covered with tape. We use no standard . procedure. We hold to the idea of adjusting to the athlete_ And, of course, this would depend on event preparation.

After callouses have fo rmed , callous-cov­ered bl isters may be prevented by the occasional "shavi ng" or "sanding" the cal­lous ; or, by using a liquid hand lotion after practice. If a blister does occur under a callous it should be drained . Drainage will allow for rapid healing. To achieve proper blister drainage, use a scalpel and do the following:

1. Place the blade point on top of the callous.

2. Rotate the scalpel , controlling it from the handle.

3. When lymph fluid appears the blister has been burst.

4. Catch with a gauze square. 5. Cleanse. 6. Apply a liquid antiseptic. 7_ Cover with appropriate bandage tech­

nique . Infected blisters to any athlete poses a

genuine threat to that individual's per­formance. One need not be a physician to recognize infected blisters. If the drain­age material is " pus"; or if the hand is keenly sensitive to touch when attempting to drain blister fluid , infection may be present. At this point of injury, a physician should deal with the problem _

It is difficult for many coaches to actept the idea that blisters may present such a problem to any membe r of his team . How­eve r, we expect 100% physically, mentally, and emotionally from our athletes and, if we can control or limit small irritating situations, such as blisters, our efforts to develop the individual into a high level athlete will be more readily achieved.

L

I.

I. Proper Hand Care Gymnastics By Jack M ed ina, Coach

• In

San Fern ando Va ll ey State Co llege

'1. Do not be afrai d to wash your hands after a wo rkout session. Soaking your hands in hot wate r for about 10 m in­utes after wo rki ng out wi ll help d raw th e heat out of your hands . A hand lo ti on or cream should be app lied after th is to keep the ski n soft. Do not use anythi ng with an alcoho l base.

2. You should keep you r hands soft and p revent the bu il dup of heavy call ouses. Keep call ouses sa nded down by usi ng emery paper, a pumi ce stone o r razo r b lade. A th ick ca ll ous buil dup can lead to a ve ry deep ri p.

3. Wh en f irst beg inning to workout, quit before your hands feel as though th ey wi ll ri p. Workou ts can often be ex­tended fo r a few min utes by putt ing th e hands in co ld water to coo l them off a li tt le.

4. W hn treating a ri p, cut away to rn sk in being carefu l to leave good ski n intac t. Don ' t try to .take to rn sk in off wi th your f ingers o r by b it ing at it; thi s often leaves a rough edge th at p ro longs th e healing process and leads

to further ri ps . Use an ant isepti c on a ri p, after cleaning it th oroughl y, if i t is b leed ing.

5. After ini t iall y treat ing the rip, use a sk in softener l ike Chap-Hands o r a First A id cream to keep th e raw skin from dryi ng and crack ing. Vase line is not as good for this pu rpose as is a cream. A water absorb ing cream seems to be more eff icient.

6. Keep th e ri p mo ist and befo re go ing to bed add a li tt le more f irst aid cream and keep opened to the ai r.

7. If a r ip is t reated properl y th e gym­nast can usuall y workout th e next day q uite successfu ll y. Use of a small steri le pad held aga inst the hand by some tape and th en cove red by hand­grips w ill aid the gymnast. Many gym­nasts are usi ng a small , thi n p iece of sty rofoam cut to f it th e hand and p lace this between the rip and the gri p ; it seems to wo rk ve ry we ll.

8. Proper hand care is a n ite ly process; take ca re of your hands after each w o rkout. Th e longer you delay soakin g you r hands, etc., th e greater th e chance of so re or ri pped hands dur­ing the next workout. Wearing hand­grips wi ll help p revent hand p roblem s, espec ial ly if you learn t o wear them j ust above the fi rst knu ckle and thu s sw ing f ree of fri ction against th e palm o f th e hand.

9. If a rip d ries and cracks, wash it thoro ughly and t reat continually w ith a skin softeher as in #5 above.

10. Blood bl isters should be opened : in­se rt a sterili zed need le along the side of th e bli ster (two o r three inse rts may be needed). Th e blood and fluid should be sq ueezed out. Leave th e sk in on, t hen treat w ith a sk in softener. The ski n cove rin g acts as a pro tect ive cove ri ng fo r the rip underneath.

11. Use a lot of chalk during workouts. Clean your hands tho roughl y im medi ­ate ly afte r each workout.

12. Never put the adhes ive part of tape ove r a rip or tender pa rt of th e hands.

REMEMBER: As a gymnast your hands are your most valuable asset; ca re for th em freq uentl y and properl y.

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A Survey Dealing With The Selection of a National Coach For Various International T earns

BOB HENNECKE Coach of Gymnastics Georgia Southwestern College

DON TONRY Coach of Gymnastics Yale University

The following coaches took part in the survey: 1. Larry Banner, 2. Ken Bartlett, 3. George Bauer, 4. Pat Bird , 5. Bill Coco, 6. Roger Counsil, 7. Lee Cunningham, 8. Doug DeWhitt, 9. Mike Flansaas, 10. Hal Frey, 11. Ed Gagnier, 12. Bill Holmes, 13. Jim Howard, 14. Eric Hughs, 15. Lloyd Huvel, 16. Bruno Klause, 17. Eric Kjeldson, 18. Arno Lascari , 19. Newt Loken, 20. Bill Mead, 21 . Dan Millman, 22 . Fred Orlofsky, 23. Fred Roethlisberger, 24. Bill Rotzheim, 25 . Art Shurlock, 26. Bill Simms, 27. George Szypula, 28. Don Tonry, 29. Armando Vega, 30. Bill Vincent, 31 . Jerry Wright.

The following competitors took part in the survey: 1. Kanati Allen , 2. Gary Ander­son, 3. Ron Baretta, 4. Jim Betters, 5. Bob Dickson, 6. Dave Repp, 7. Brent Simmons.

The Selection of a National Coach In view of several articles in The Modern

Gymnast about the selection of a national coach , I surveyed forty-two coaches (and received thirty-one replies) as to the pos­sibility and content of a National Coaches Test. (This attests to the lethargic nature of many coaches who are apparently not con­cerned about participating in a study [sur­vey] that is clearly intended to improve our national gymnastics program .-D.T.). Such a test could be used as part of the " total criteria" in the selection of national coaches.

In regard to the feasibility of such a test, those coaches su rveyed were asked to respond to the question, " Do you feel that a test can be devised that would provide a fair indication of a coaches ' technical knowledge ?"

Yes -50% Yes (strong reservations) - 17% No -10% Did not answer - 23%

(Most coaches seem to agree, either with reservation or strongly, that their technical knowledge could be tested. I assume that those who did not agree feel some deep, innate, untestable quality exists which could not be perceived under current known testing procedures-D.T.).

The major obstacle in creating a Na­tional Coaches Test would be establishing a set of standardized norms. Throughout the survey, coaches questioned how such an item would be standardized , who would establish norms, who is qualified to score a test of this type, etc. Clearly, there would be a magnitude of organizational and ad­ministrative problems in attempting to "set up" a National Coaches Test. My opinion after this investigation is that, although attempting to devise a National Test could be a fruitful endeavor (in terms of knowl­edge gained), I doubt that a test could be written which would be precise enough to yield the results we would truly want. (I disagree with Bob in that I feel that the results of this survey show that technical knowledge of our sport seems to be of prime importance to most coaches and gymnasts surveyed. They indicate that knowledge of the rules [judging} and tech­nical knowledge are of supreme impor­tance. Most held that personality (impos­sible to test) , organizational ability (very difficult to test) and meet records (92% considered this not valid) were of lesser importance. Most coaches and gymnasts agreed that technical knowledge could be tested, and that a fair test could be de­vised-D.T.).

The next section of the survey dealt with the type of categories to be included in the test and the amount of emphasis each category would receive. Since the type of information to be included on a Nati onal Coaches Test would reflect th e kind of individual needed to fill a national coaching position, I will attempt to gen­eralize (from the survey results) as to what knowledges were felt to be most important in selecting a coach for a national team.

1. Knowledge of Compulsories. Since this has been our great weakness in the past, there was considerable concern about selecting a coach with an abundant knowl­edge about compulsories. As one coach stated, "In past international competition we were finished after compulsories. The optionals were simply a formality we went through." Another coach said, "If a na­tional coach doesn't have this knowledge, what is he doing as national coach-we have plenty of administrators already." (It should be noted here that in the past we have had coaches of national teams who knew far less about the technical aspects of execution than any of the competitors on their team-D.T.).

2. Technical KnOWledge. 3. Work-out Organization. 4. Ability to describe almost all of the

skills that can be performed from various positions. (Coaches can memorize compul­sory routines and judges can memorize the code of points - do these individuals necessarily have the ability to carefully scrutinize and analyze all phases of gym­nastic work?-D.T.)

S. Knowledge of rules and etiquette of international competition.

6. Judging knowledge. (For those coaches who would like to decide on who should compete for the team that they are coach­ing [seven gymnasts within a couple of tenths or a point away from each other}, I hope they would base their decisions on a complete knowledge of the rules of com­petition, and not just on a "this man looks better" system. It should also be noted that coaches train a gymnast to rise to the occasion, and that many gymnasts [indi vid­uals} have a personal habit of winning when it counts-D.T.).

7. Knowledge of lead-up skills and fundamentals. Coaches wQo commented on this question felt that our better coaches would have this knowledge, and there would be little need to include it on a test.

The coaches were also asked to estimate the percentage of importance they would give to each of the following criteria in selecting a national coach :

Average % Technical knowledge 41 % Personality 27% Organizational ability 24% Meet records 8%

The same survey was also sent to thirty­four top-ranking gymnasts to allow a com­parison of answers and observe any dif­ferences in priorities and opinions. How­ever, the returns were very low (only seven gymnasts returned the questionnaire). Nev­ertheless, I shall attempt to make some generalizations on the basis of this small sample.

Fi rst, there appeared to be no d isagree­ment with the coaches on the fi rst and second sections of the survey (as summar­ized above) . But, on the last section, deal­ing w ith the problems of t ra ining rules, practice rules, and the replacement of a team member by an alternate, some dif­ferences appear. In covering this section of the survey, I shall include the opinions of both coaches and gymnasts who were surveyed.

The following condition was felt by the majority of coaches and gymnasts to be sufficient reason to allow an alternate to replace another team member :

1. Injury or sickness prior to contest. The following conditions were felt by

the majority to not warrant a change in positions (special ci rcumstances cou Id mean a special decision):

1. If another team member is difficult to coach.

2. If another team member has shown little improvement.

3. If another team member does not get along well.

4. If another team member has what the

coach considers to be poor style . ( Mo~t coaches and gymnasts agree that the current coach of an Olympic or national team should not change team personnel positions on the basis of an individual 's training pattern as it relates to his actual place on the team. after the final triels-D.T.) .

Both a majority of the coaches and gym­nasts agreed that:

1. The final training squad should train with the possibility of being replaced by an alternate. (I assume that in view of earlier responses to th e question­naire that an alternate would replace a regular in case of injlJry or sickness -D.T.).

2. The judges alone should be respon­sible for selection of team members. (I again assume that most coaches and gymnasts feel that a team picked as a result of actual meet [Olympic trials, etc.} conditions, by qualified judges, is the most fair and accurate consideration-D.T.).

3. The National Judges Association should select all judges for final trials . (The best judges should judge the final trials for all teams-D.T.)

4. During practice each member of the team should be handled individually. (Gymnasts feel that gymnastic team members should be allowed personal training habits in order to improve their individual manner of perform­ance-D.T.).

There was a difference of opinion in re­gard to training rules. The seven gymnasts felt that they should be handled as individ­uals, while the coaches generally thought that training rules should apply to every­one. In regard to settling disagreements between coaches and athletes, the coaches and gymnasts were divided (on close to a 50-50 basis) between the following meth­ods of handling the situation:

1. The coach and gymnast should dis­cuss the problem and try to arrive at a situation acceptable to both.

2. The coach and gymnast should dis­cuss problems, but, ultimately, the coach should be responsible for the decision.

Three coaches and one gymnast pre­ferred the statement-The coach should make suggestions, but then allow the gym­nast to follow his own beliefs.

I am certain that there are persons who will disagree with my findings and opin­ions. Certainly, the small sample of gym­nasts leaves much to be desired. I hope that my comments will stimulate additional research and editorials in these areas. We (none of us) know enough. (Hopefully all members of the gymnastics community will recognize a need for the most knowl­edgeable and experienced coaches to guide our future national teams into world com­petition. This can only be achieved by finding out who these individuals are and affording them the opportunity to pick up where we have left off. If we believe in testing our judges for basic knowledge of gymnastic rules, let's have a coaches' prior­ity I ist, at least partially based on the tech­nical knowledge of our coaches. D.T.)

19

JUNIOR COLLEGE GYMNASTICS

This article was taken from the first edition of the Junior College Gymnastics Newslet­ter. This very well put together newsletter is the official bulletin of a new association in the New York area called the Metropoli­tan Junior College Gymnastics Coaches Association, whose active members in­clude Suffolk County Community College, Nassau County Community College , Queensborough Community College and Farmingdale. Any school is welcome to join the association and receive the news­letter. Make all inquiries to Brian Bozick, Gymnastic Coach, Queensborough Com­munity College, Bayside, New York 11364.

by Dr. Ken Veselak Gymnastics Coach Nassau Community College

22

Although gymnastics at the junior col­lege level is in its infancy, it is beginning to grow and deve lop in all parts of the United States. Junior colleges are begin­ning to include gymnastics as part of their intercollegiate athletics programs.

I have served as the men 's gymnastics coach at Nassau Community College for the past six years. During that time I also served as the women 's gymnastics coach . Although our competition was primarily against four year colleges, we still man­aged to finish each season with a fairly respectable record.

Coaching junior college gymnastics can be a lot of fun and enjoyment; however, it can also be discouraging. In this article I would like to share with new coaches my experiences in dealing with problems that occur in coaching junior college gymnas­tics. The problems discussed in this article are not unique to the gym coach, since they face coaches of many other varsity sports.

In order to understand the problems that a gymnastics coach must deal with we must take a look at the type of gymnast that goes to a junior college. From my ex­perience I have found that most good gymnasts prefer to go to a four year col­lege. They wind up in a junior college be­cause they don ' t have the money to go to a four year school or else they lack the academic ability to gain entrance into a senior college . As a result, you will find that the attitude of many of your gymnasts toward attending a junior college is nega­tive. They are here at Nassau Community College but they really wanted to go to Springfield. Th ey look at the junior college as being second-rate and, as a result, they are not really motivated to work as hard as they might if they were in a four year col­lege. The negative attitude that students have toward junior colleges can be seen in many ways . For example, in the bath­rooms, you will frequently see statements such as these written on the walls : " NCC won soccer national championship - big deal for a junior college," and " NCC won baseball national championship - good job for an over-grown Little League." This negative attitude will also be seen in th e lack of enthusiasm that many of your gym­nasts will have - that spark of life and ex­citement that is needed if a person is going to develop into a good gymnast.

It can be seen that one of the most diffi­cult problems that a gymnastics coach must deal with is the changing of the atti­tudes. of many of his gymnasts. He must convince his gymnasts that attending a junior college is a worthwhile experience, He must enlighten them about the values of junior college gymnastics experience in helping them get into four year colleges. He must make them aware of the gymnas­tics scholarships that are available to top­notch junior college gymnasts. He must motivate them to work!

Most junior college students have seri­ous financial problems. Many of them are living away from home and must work in order to feed, clothe and house them­se lves. They must also pay for some kind of transportation to get to and from

school. Financing a car ca n be a b ig ex­pense. Practically every student I had on my gymnast ics teams over the past six years had to wo rk in order to make ends meet. Thi s presents a second major prob­lem to the coach, that is, getting his stu­dents to attend th e wo rkouts as we ll as th e meets. W here a coach likes to have all of hi s gym nasts present at eve ry workout, you wi ll find that if you get them to at­tend three workouts a week you will be doing pretty good. I used to have six sched uled workouts a week including four afternoons and two morning workouts (i n­cluding Saturdays) in order to accommo­date students who were worki ng or who had classes that conf licted w ith afternoon workouts. Thi s type of schedule made it possible fo r all of my gymnasts to get two or th ree workouts a week.

In o rd er to prevent students from having classes during workout hours, it is advisa­ble to have students register at an early registration so that they can get morning classes. Norma ll y, the scheduling of classes so th at there is no conflict with th e after­noon workout hours is not a prob lem with sophomores, but it can be a real problem with entering freshmen, especia lly if they are blocked in to a program that has all late aftern oon classes.

M any of your gymnasts w ill wo rk on days that you have meets. I have my meets prim aril y on a Friday night o r a Saturday. I had many confl icts with students who had jobs on these days. In most cases the gymnast w ill take a day off from work, even though it may mean a loss of badly needed money.

Another prob lem that gym n astics coaches must deal with is that of eligibi l­ity. Many gym nasts d eve lop academic prob lems after their first six months of co l­lege. You w ill fi nd yourse lves working hard during the Fall semester, developing your team . Unfortunately, w hen the semes­ter comes to an end and th e grades are in, yo u wi ll find that some of your out­standing gymnasts are now ineligible. Thi s is a real heartbreaker, but it happens every year.

In orde r to help gymnasts mai ntain their el igib ili ty, it is extremely important for the coach to be constantly aware of th~ aca­dem ic progress that his students are mak­ing and any problems that they may be develop ing. Th e coach should f requently talk with hi s gym nasts about the progress they are mak ing in th eir courses. If a gym­nast is having problems, the coach can freq uently get extra help fo r the student by speak ing with his instructo rs o r mak ing arrangements for a tutor. Having th e in ­structors I i II out a monthly progress report on each of your gymnasts is an exce ll ent way of keeping informed about the ac­comp li shments that are being made In

each class. Early detection of academ ic prob lems is essen ti al i f elig ib il ity is to be maintained.

Coaches should make sure that their gymnasts know and have a tho rough un­derstanding of the NjCAA rul es as well as the rules of their region. It is a good idea to spend part of a wo rkout sess ion exp lain­ing all aspects of these rul es. A good ex-

amp le of how a gymnast may be los t due to el igib ility involves the rule concerning the number of credits of work an athlete must comp lete each semester. Art icle VI, Section I (a) of the NjAA el igib ili ty ru les states that a student " Ca rry, as a regular enro ll ed studen t, at least ten (10) cred it hours of co ll ege work as li sted in th e cata­log of th e participating college the quarter or semester o f participation." However, Art ic le V, Section I of th e Region XV eli­gibi l i ty rul es states that " No student shall be el igib le to represent hi s institution in Regional competition unless he is a regu­larl y enro ll ed stud ent taki ng a minimum of 12 credi t ·hou rs." You w ill frequentl y fin d students enro ll ing fo r fourteen credits of academic work during the Fall semeste r who withdraw for one reason or another, from a three credi t course . At the end of the semester, the student passes eleven credits of work and thinks that he is eligi­bl e for competi ti on. Unfo rtun ate ly, he is not eligible because the Region XV rul e supe rsedes the NjCAA rul e and requires that the stud ent must complete a mini­mum of twelve credits of academic work per semester. It is interesting to note that if the student would have ca rri ed the fo ur­teen cred its for the entire semeste r and rece ived an " F" in a three credit course, he would be eli gi bl e for competition .

A final problem that many junior college gymnastic coaches will have is th at of not havi ng enough gymnasts to f ill all the slots in each event. He may no t have enough gymnasts or else he may not have enough el igib le gymnasts . Sect ion 8 of the NjCAA eligibi lity rules state that " No inelig ible p laye r shall be all owed to dress fo r any contest sponsored by the NjCAA." I per­sonall y fee l that an inel ig ible gymnast should be allowed to perform in a gym­nastics meet on an exhibiti onal basis onl y - that is, he is scored by the judges but hi s score is not coun ted in with th e meet score. This is especia ll y true for gymnasts w ho are ineli g ibl e for the Fall semester but w ho may be eligibl e for the Spring semes­ter. Th e competitive experience that the inel igi bl e gym nast gets in the Fall season w ill be of great value in helping h im to prepa re for th e Sp ring competiti 0n. In a dual meet, if the coaches ag ree to enter ineligib le performers on an exhibitiona l basis, they should be permitted to do so. Since the final meet score in gym nastics is the sum of the sco res of all the el igib le performers in each event, the inclusion of inel ig ibl e performers on an exhibiti onal basis would have no effect on the final meet sco re. I n a team sport such as basket­ball, it would be impossible to use an in­e ligibl e player because hi s contribution to the team 's effo rts would have a d efi nite effect on the final sco re; however, in gym­nast ics, this is not so.

Coachi ng gymnastics, regardless of whether it is in high school or co ll ege, is always an exciti ng and rewarding experi · ence. It is a thrilling experience for me to see gymnastics beginning to deve lop in the junior co ll eges throughout the country. In time, gymnastics will grow and develop into one of th e most popular sports in thi s country.

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23

Gymnast ics began at Springfield College in 1891 wi th an informal meet against the 23rd St. YMCA Leaders Corps in New York City. At that time it was the International YMCA Training School and open to quali­fied men who intended to enter any field of service for youth. Not until 1951 was the campus made coed. The real history of gymnastics began in 1904-05 when an organized team was developed which evolved into the present day gymnastic exhibition team .

The purpose of the early exhibitions in­tended to show nothing more or less than the work of the College. As the college developed the purpose took on new mean­ing. Team members, with a restless, com­pulsive urge to rectify the sameness of the times, not only demonstrated an important phase of the activities program of physical education, but also served as an incentive for many groups of Alumni along the east coast to meet and organize as Alumni chapters. It was in honor of Springfield 's first All-gymnastic Reunion, November 8, 1969, that a 16-page publication was pre­pared by Harold G. Lynch to record the 65-year history of gymnastics at Springfield College.

Early exhibitions featured, beside gym­nastics, a veritable circus including fenc­ing, wrestling, and torch swining. In 1906 a formal gymnastic competition with Am­herst was arranged by H. H. Reinhardt. The dual nature of Springfield gymnastics has continued to this time and has inspired development of many similar programs across the country.

Although gymnastics had a student man­ager from its inception, its first advisor did not arrive on the scene until 1913. Prof. Louis B. Schroeder (12) had been the team captain during his undergraduate days and assumed the coaching role until 1918 when he entered the Armed Services. He was succeeded in 1920 by Leslie j . judd, a former pupil and YMCA representative from Australia. Since Prof. Schroeder was given specific teaching duties, judd was really the first faculty coach, and he fielded his first team in 1921.

The arrival of Les judd as varsity coach signaled the beginning of a new and dis­tinguished era for Springfield College gym­nastics. Under his leadership, the varsity exhibition team attained international fame: Nobody knows exactly how many miles this peripatetic group actually has traveled. Under coach judd, the exhibition team became more than a group of per­forming gymnasts. All types of rhythmic patterns, Morris dilnces, sword dances, and various kinds of national dances from Rus­sia, Spain, the Philippines, and Hungary became part of the exhibition team pro­gram.

Numerous types of team drills such as glittering wands, fundamentals of fencing, judo, balancing trios, Indian Club swing­ing, clown acts, and many other marvelous features that now are so familiar to all who follow the Springfield College varsity exhibition team were added to the team's repertoire . Apparatus work did not take a back seat during this period of introduc­tion of new and exciting features. Rather,

24

THE JOY OF EFFORT The Story of Gymnastics at Springfield College

every member of the team was requested to maintain high standards of skill and ability on various pieces of apparatus. Proof of this development of talent is the fact that prior to World War II, the Spring­f ield gymnastic team won the New England AAU Gymnastic Championship eight times.

Perhaps the greatest contribution Coach judd made to the exhibition team has to

be the world-tamous living Statuary of Youth. Professionals in the field, however, have honored judd for his contribution to such forms of artistic physical education as emphasis on the dance, rhythmic gymnas­tics, and the use of various types of hand apparatus.

The story of the birth of the living stat­uary tableaux is more than interesting. As

The famous "Aspiration of Youth" as it ap­peared in Life Magazine, 1939.

Rick Black clears 9 gymnasts.

a young man in Australia Les judd had wit­nessed competition in music, drama and pageantry at the annual interstate festivals held in Victoria, the cultural center of Australia. It was here, while viewing Greek scenes in marble, that he first conceived the idea of the tableaux. According to the record, the first Springfield College living tableaux were in connection with Com­mencement Weekend pageantry and canoe carnivals around 1934. The posing athletes were then covered with a snow white mar­ble substance. Usually no more than three men were prepared for the display. The tableaux dep icted were imitations of fa­mous Greek statuaries such as " The Think­er" by Rodin and " The Dying Gladiator." Other tableaux illustrated the joy of effort and the love of competition that charac­terized the Springfield philosophy and tra­dition.

Thanks to the efforts of Charles Weck­worth, judd 's assistant coach, a change in body makeup to a bronze paint and even­tually to a silver makeup was developed to highlight the tableaux. From its beginning in 1937, the "Men in Bronze" theme won popular acclaim. Coach judd 's themes were recognized nationally and interna­tionally, and Life magazine published a feature story on the tableaux and the Col­lege in their january 1939 issue. Many other honors were also bestowed upon the traveling exhibition team and Statuary of Youth including coverage by the Time Magazine film feature " The March of Time," its first appearance at Madison Square Garden, and an invitation to pre­sent its living statuary as the finale of the 1939 International YMCA Championships in Detroit.

The late 30's and early 40's saw the team continue its busy travel schedule. World War II led to the cessation of all varsity sports at Springfield as well as the closing of the school until the war's end. In 1945 Coach judd reorganized the trav­eling team and once again Springfield 's gymnasts became known across the coun­try. In 1955 after 35 years of exceptional service and leadership in gymnastics Leslie j. judd retired, having brought richly de­served honors upon Springfield College and stronger focus upon gymnastics in general. He was succeeded by one of his pupils, Frank A. Wolcott ('52).

The decade of the 50's saw exhibition gymnastics reach its zenith at Springfield. Many of these men now serve gymnastics in many positions as coaches, YMCA lead­ers, officials, and ardent boosters. Not only in exhibition gymnastics did Springfield attain prominence but many of its gym­nasts were recognized for their competitive efforts as well. One of Frank Wolcott's ear­liest stars was jeff Cardinali who earned a berth on the 1960 Olympic Squad and

earn ed the 1961 NCAA Parallel Bar Cham­pionship. Later he served as assistant coach and is today varsity gymnastics coach at the Coast Guard Academy.

When Springfield went coed in 1951, it was not long before the young ladies were clamoring for a role in varsity gymnastics. With Frank Wolcott and Betty Weisner ('58) setting the pace, the 1958 exhibition season saw girls as a part of th e exhibition team. In 1962 under the coaching of Diane Potter ('57) th e girls became part of the traveling team and a new dimension in grace and beauty was added to Springfield gymnastics. Under Miss Potter's leadership and later than of M iss Mimi Murray ('61) the girls competitive team developed as an intercollegiate powerhouse. Such young women as Andie Hyland ('66) and Kathy Corrigan ('66) led the team to national dis­tinction. Miss Corrigan represented the U.S. in the 1964 Olympic Games as well as at the Vienna Gymnaestrada and 1963 Pan­American Games. She later lent her ex­pertise to coaching Penn State's women's team and now has her own school of gym­nastics in Massachusetts. The 1967 wom­ens team won the 1967 Eastern Women 's Championship and National title and in 1970 won again the Eastern and placed second Nationally.

Under Wolcott's guidance the 60's have seen even greater performances as com­petitive gymnastics grew. In 1963 Spring­field joined the Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastic League to do battle with such powerful teams as Temple and Penn State. In the past three years the men's gymnas­tic team has finished in the top three places of the NCAA College division gym­nastic championships and captured the EIGL title in 1967.

The story of gymnastics at Springfield has no end ing. Th e rich tradition estab­lished so many years ago by men of much foresight will continue so long as there is a Springfield College.

When the bronze tableaux were first in­troduced, each number represented a dream of mankind: Peace, Love, Brother­hood, Aspiration, Cooperation, Freedom, Faith in God, and a United World. The Springfield concept of friendliness, a con­cern for others and a sense of purpose goes back to 1885. Since 1937 the gym­nasts of the college have expressed th is concept and their idealism through dra-. matic tableaux. While some have ridiculed the tableaux as pure camp, corn, and Polly­ana thinking, anyone who has ever seen the displays has been touched, at least for a moment, with the thought that perhaps life can be better than it is.

25

NATIONAL GYMNASTICS JUDGES ASSOCIATION

VOl. 2, No.1 NEWSLETTER Spring, 1971

This issue of the NGJA Newsletter in­cludes a repo rt on the FIG International Judges Courses given at Pasadena City College and North Central College last summer, and a report by Ken Allen, Gym­nastics Coach, Wisconsin State University, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Mr. Allen 's report was app roved by the NGJA Technical Comm ittee, including Frank Cumiskey -Technical Director, Lou Baretta, Jon Gul­bertson, Ted Muzyczko, Jerry Todd and Jerry Wright.

The FIG courses proved very informa­tive and most enjoyable. Ivan Ivancevic of Yugoslavia, Vice-President of the Tech nical Committee of the FIG, which prepared the Code of Points, and author of the Past World Games Compulsory Floor Exerc ise routine, George Gulack of New York, translator of the English version of the routine, George Gulack of New York, Vice­President of the FIG Executive Committee, Frank Cumiskey, Ted Muzyczko and Jerry Todd , members of the NGJA technical committee.

Several items were discussed pertaining to the judging of optional exercises. Much of the information is new, some of which has been published in the quarterly FIG bulletin, but all of which has been ap­proved by the NGJA technical committee.

1. Article 25,4.

The judge should record Band C parts on a scratch pad and make note of wheth­er a C part was made up of two B parts. In the final evaluation, if a gym nast had two C parts and two B parts, it is possible to give credit for full difficulty if one of those C parts rece ived its value by the comb ination of two B parts; e.g. back saito on PB to regrasp at 45 °, immediate stutz­kehre with regrasp at least 30 ° high (above horizontal).

2. Article 29,1.

Mr. Ivancevic stressed the importance of striving for correct technical execution and form rath er than difficulty. His impression of U. S. coaches was that they pushed too quickly on difficulty at the expense of execution . He further explained that in Europe technical execution and correct form are emphasized from the first time children are exposed to gymnastics to the time a limited number become interna­tional competitors.

3. Combination

A. Article 30,3. Attention should be given to the requirement of not more than three actual stops as given in Article 37,5 . An example of three stops in an exercise would be: From support, drop cast to support, double leg cut to "L" and hold for 2 sec. (1 stop); press hand­stand and hold for 2 sec. (2 stops); stutz­kehre to handstand and hold for 2 sec. (3 stops). There should be no more stops during the exercise, otherwise a combina­tion deduction must be taken as follows:

a. .1 for a C part which stops b. .2 for a B part which stops

26

c. .3 for an A part which stops It should be noted that a stutzkehre above 30 degrees does not satisfy the require­ment for a B release because the release of the hands is not simultaneous.

B. Article 30,4. The following is a para­graph reprinted from the FIG September bulletin:

" The exercise must consist excl usively of swinging without stops. Apart from forward and reve rse giant swings with change of grip, it must also include other variations such as the forward hip circle, the reverse hip circle, as well as longitudinal turns. The minimum demands which must be fulfilled to qualify for the maxi­mum mark from the point of view of the combination are: reverse or cubi­tal work in suspension and at least one combination in which both hands leave and re-grip the bar at the same time."

C. Article 30,5. In floor exercise, flexi­bility does not have to be demonstrated per se. However, if the gymnast performs parts which require flexibility and he does not demonstrate that quality, there will be deductions. .

D . Article 33,1. Generally, violations of the requirements as stated in Article 30 result in a .3 deduction (e.g. leaving all sc issors out of a side horse routine would result in a .3 deduction for combination). Swinging of the rings is listed as both a combination error and an execution error, but only one deduction is taken depend­ent upon degree of swing. In free exercise it is possible to get lower deductions; e.g. if the gymnast does not sufficiently cover the entire area or enough of the area he would not receive a full .3 deduc­tion.

E. Article 33,2. Intermediate swing. This occurs when the end of a swing is not used to perform a part of value unless it is the only way the succeeding part can be performed. Kip to support on the horizontal bar and cast to back giants includes an intermediate swing. The stoop and ride backwards in the back kip before throwing a Czech stem me (german giant) giant does not because there is no other way to perform the back kip (of course one could do a double rear in or stoop from back giants but the stoop from below is accepted as leg itimate). The de­duction of .3 -.5 for intermediate swings is based on the following:

a. If A parts precede and follow the intermediate sw ing-deduct .' b. If a B part precedes or follows the intermediate swing-deduct .4

c. If a C part precedes or follows the intermed iate swing-deduct 5.

There are no deductions for an intermedi­ate swing in the following cases:

a. In compulsory exerc ises when it is called for. b. After fall i ng off the apparatus, one

intermediate swi ng is allowed to con ­tinu e the exercise after remount ing.

c. If the rules are changed at the con­ference, high school or age group level in order to adapt to a beginner skil l leve l (Page 1B8-9 in Code).

. F. Article 33,3. The following is a guide for mak ing deductions concerning a com­mensurate dismount:

a. Routine that contains 1 or 2 B-8.8-8.6- A dismount or better is ok

dismount of no value would be deducted .1 b. Routine that contains 3B - B dis­mount or better is ok

A dismount deduct .1 ; no value dis­mount deduct .2

c. Routine that contains 4 B or bet­ter-high B, or C dismount is ok

low B dismount deduct .1 A dismount deduct .2 no value dismount .3

Th e system does not work in reverse, e.g., a gymnast should not be penalized for dis­mounting with a C part when he has per­formed a routine of all A parts.

G. Article 33,8. A part of no value is a part which does not reach the A difficulty leve l according to the Code of Points and / or does not contribute significantly to the composition of the exercise.

Deductions are as follows: a. In a 4B plus exercise (value from 9.4-10.0) deduct .3 each time. b. In a 3B exerc ise (va lue up to 9.0) deduct .2 each time. c. In a 1 or 2B exercise (value from 8.2-8.6)

deduct .1 each time.

d. Do not deduct for parts of no value in an exercise which contains no B or C parts.

Examples of parts of no value are:

a. Swedish fall and hold on floor ex­ercise. b. Single leg cuts on side horse (you may drop only one leg to get into scissors)

c. Shoulder stand on rings

d. Shoulder stand or layaway on parallel bars (stutzkeh re to 30 degrees immediate layaway would not be a part of no val ue but a back stutzkehre layaway would be).

e. Vault catch on horizontal bar, sw ing forward and 'h turn-if the V2 turn is not above the horizontal , it is a part of no value.

H. Article 33,4. Be aware of the deduc­tions for working outside of the floor exer­cise area. Many judges are hanging on to notions of deducting full points instead of tenths. Th e deduction range is from .1- .3 with a deduction of .1 for each part per­formed outside the area.

4. Evaluation of Execution.

A. Th ere are two very important con­cepts to be aware of concerning execution. The first is that there are two general areas of execution, namely form and'tech-

nical execution . . Form pertains to things such as bent arms or legs, etc., wh ile the technical execution pertains to the mechan­ical way the part is to be perfor.med, e.g. its eff ic iency. To make a trick does not mean that it has been performed in a technically correct manner. Many high school and col­lege judges have difficulty in this area be­cause they never see top level gymnastics with correct technical execution. Going to high level meets and / or purchasing films of high level competition would add much to a coach 's and / or judge's knowledge. Deductions should be made for errors in both these areas on each trick. It is not enough to hold good form throughout an exerc ise, correct technical execution must also be observed.

The second important concept to be aware of is that in only certain instances is the deduction for execution to be depend­ent upon the difficulty of the part causing the fault. This pertains to stops or hesita­tions in an exercise. In all other cases the deciding factor in making a deduction is the severity of the error, e.g. was there a slight knee bend, 50 to 60 degree knee bend or more than 90 degree knee bend, etc. The other exception to this rule is in the case of intermediate swings where dif­ficulty is taken into consideration.

B. Article 37,2. Th e difficulty of many moves lies in the transition from a hang to a support. The transition should be made without interruption in order to receive full credit. The following example should show how deductions may be made for a

have been met on a piece of apparatus relative to the holding rule, there shal l be no deduction for not holding. There should be, however, a reduction in value of that part if its execution is defined as having"to be he ld for 2 seconds or 3 seconds.

F. Article 37,11. It was pointed out that judges were usually too severe concerning landings. The rules read that a gymnast may receive deduct ion for steps and / or hops or poor posture but not both. The maximum deduction a gymnast may re­ce ive for poor land ing is .5.

G. Article 38. Guide lines for making de­ductions under unsportsmanlike conduct included being reasonable and keeping in mind the " spir it of the sport." Things which might bring deductions in th is area would be appearance, speech , facia l ex­pressions or body actions.

5. Article 40

A. Risk does not necessarily mean d iffi­cu lty. It means that the gymnast is expos­ing himself to the possibility of los ing grip or falling from the apparatus or on the floor. The part or combination must con­tain an element of danger beyond what we normally see. If there is much risk and it is performed we ll , the gymnast is entit led to the maximum al lowance of .2. Originality refers to the first time that we view a part or combination in a FIG organized compe­tition (not to inc lude practice sessions.) At any subsequent competit ions, you may not

Fau lt : Perfect by definition

Sl ight to bad interruption in

tempo but no stop

A stop-high (arms 90°-180 °) and an obvious

press

Stop in shoulder

ba lance and press

Deduction: o .1-.3

shoot to a handstand on the rings (B part) . In addition there may be deductions for poor form.

e. Article 37,3. Two or more starts to a hold or strength part refers to returning to the original position, otherwise the pre­ced ing rule applies. The deduction is based on the distances already covered before returning to the starting position; e.g. stradd le press to handstand on floor: If the feet come off the floor perhaps 6 inches to 12 inches then return, there would be at least 'a .2 deduction. If the gymnast comes close to ach ieving the handstand and then returned close to the floor and back to the handstand, there would be a .5 deduction.

D. Article 37,4. Strength parts shou ld be executed slowly with an even consistent tempo. Swing parts shou ld also give the impression of having a somewhat even tempo, on ly faster. When the tempo is destroyed and one or the other elements takes the place of the appropriate one, there shou ld be a deduction based on the degree of error (.1-.3).

E. Article 37,6. Once the requirements

.1- .3 usi ng strength on swing part­.1-.3 interruption

part of no va lue deduct

.1-.3

give leniency for originality for that part. .1-.2 may be given to an exerc ise contain­ing originality. Virtuosity refers to the ex­traord inary execution of parts or the entire exercise. The performer may be granted .1 for several moves or .2 for demonstrating virtuosity throughout much of the exercise.

The judge must look back ove r the en­tire exercise to decide whether any of these qualities were present. If all three were, he may grant .3; if only two were, he may grant .2-.3; if only one was, he may grant .1-.2.

The factors are used as mitigation for errors in execution in the preliminary com­pet ition (dua l meets) and as bonus points in the finals competition (maximum score being 9.7 here without risk, o riginal ity and virtuosity).

6. The Long Horse Vault.

The following is a diagram of the new dimensions of the zones for vault ing. The purpose in en larging the zones was to make the event more exciting. The maxi­mum deduction for grip is .5.

600 + 400 + 600 ~

[ .5

1 /l

The vau lt begins with the first step the gymnast takes. Once he proceeds forward he must vault or receive a zero score for the vau lt. The approach is not considered in the scoring, however.

A new system has been devised by the FIG for assign ing maximum va lues to the vaults. In the all-around competition (dual meets, etc.) all vau lts in articles 56-57 are lowered in value by .3. After normal de­ductions for the vault, the judge may miti­gate under the following circumstances:

a. A double asterisk vault may receive .1-.3 for risk, originality and virtuosity.

b. A sing le asterisk vault may receive .1-.2 fo r risk, or iginality or virtuosity.

c. A no asterisk vau lt may receive no bonus for risk or or ig inality, but may receive a max imum of .1 for excep­tional virtuosity.

In the fina ls competition, the maximum va lue for any vault shal l be 9.4. Bonus points may be given as fo l lows:

" " 1. Vau lts marked **-up to 4/10 of a point for difficulty and risks. Up to 2/1 0 of a point for risks, exceptional virtuosity and origina lity of vaults not yet featuring in the 1968 Code. Art icle 58.5 can also be app lied but the re­duced deductions may not exceed 3/10 of a point.

2. Vaults marked with one *-Up to 3/10 of a point for difficulty and risks. Up to 2/1 0 of a po int for risks, excep­tional virtuos ity and originality of vau lts not yet featured in the 1968 Code. Article 58.4 can also be applied but the reduced deduction may not exceed 2/10 of a point.

3. Vau lts with no special indications -For vau lts of this kind, there shall be no awarding of bonus points and no reduction of the deductions."

Several pointers were offered in evaluating the execution of vaults: A Yamashita must be piked to 90° at least, otherwise it is a handspring with a bent body; the vau lter should rise after push ing from the horse (the second flight should be higher than the first); the gymnast shou ld be fully stretched or extended before landing; a stoop is a stoop w hen the hips are above the level of the shoulders immediately af­ter the push, otherwise it is a squat-this is especially true of a neck vault but is more difficult to distinguish when a croup vault.

7. Article 65

This particular rule seems to cause dis­agreement, not among judges, but among judges' scores. Most judges agree that moves must be perform ed in a technically correct manner in order to receive the as­signed difficulty credit, but judges disagree

27

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or have not so lidified their own allow­ances for these defini t ions. Opinions range from " nothing to less than 45°" for a back saito on PB to "well, five or six degrees off isn't too bad, I' ll hit him for execution." Unfortunately FIG instructors are also va­ried in their feelings.

The following is the interpretation of the NGJA :

Always give the gymnast the benefit of the doubt. This is the best guide possible and all FIG instructors agree on this point. This means that once the gymnast settles into the cross you begin to count and if he starts to come out just before you count three, it is quite possible you counted too slowly. He should, however, come to a fairly solid stop with his arms hori­zontal. Handstands should be under

control and, ideally, at a dead stop. If there is some minimal movement, but th e gymnast is in a correct hand­stand position and not still trying to get into position, the count should begin and there might be a deduction for execution. Remember, you give credit to the gymnast who performs properly by deducting points from th e gymnast who does not perform prop­erly. Angles cause confusion to those who have trouble measuring them. A Judge should form some references as soon as he moves to a new apparatus. The important angle is that which the body, exclusive of the arms, makes with a horizontal reference after the trick is completed . There should be some leeway if you are not positive of these angles. With something like the free hip or stem rise on high bar, there should be an allowance of up to five to ten degrees from vertical when the arms are fully stretched. The judge should be aware of all the re­quirements for difficulty and should be able to recognize fulfillment of these requirements, but should be ready and willing to give the gymnast the benefit of the doubt.

Remember also that in most cases while the value of the move is reduced, it is possible that there should be no addi­tional deductions for execution. There may be a deduction under combination, how­ever, if that part is required; e.g. B release on parallel bars. The NGJA Technical Com­mittee plans to come out with a compre­hensive interpretation of Article 65 in the near future.

8. Additional points which were dis­cussed or which should be emphasized were as follows :

A. There is no justification in the rules for deducting for less than 11 moves ex­cept in the area of difficulty. For example, if only 6 moves are performed and they are all A's, one must use the maximum allowable score of 7.8 if the combination requirements are met.

B. Although all the figures used for de­scribing the A, B, and C parts are not pre­cisely correct, most of them are very close and can be used to gain a greater appre­ciation for the mechanics of moves.

C. Judges should develop a shorthand system of their own. Generally, this will be different for each piece of apparatus. The ultimate is to be able to recall an en­tire exercise because it is down on paper. A judge should be able to react to a bent leg or poorly performed movement by jot­ting down the deduction for it at that time. What you don't see, you cannot and should not deduct for. According to the rule book it is ill egal to deduct for general impression. The only way to improve your reactions is to know the rule book (mem­or ize) and practice judging.

Films are best to practice looking for difficulty, combination and execution, first one at a time and then gradually all. You should be able to justify your score on paper.

D. Most coaches work pretty hard with their gymnasts. It is frustrating to be penal­ized for something that a judge doesn't know or understand . Judges have the ulti­mate responsibility for trends in gymnas­tics becau se coaches must train their gym­nasts to get th e highest possible score. They will train their gymnasts to perform the way they know their judges will judge.

E. Mr. Ivancev ic pointed out that the authors realize that the code is not perfect, but that it is more than was had in the past and is all we have at present. He urged all coaches and judges to stick by it while making well supported suggestions to the Technical Committee.

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LETTERS Dear Glenn :

W hat's the matter? I haven ' t got my copy of the December 1970 issue of the Modern Gymnast. How can you expect me to go on living w ithout regular supplies of th e M .G. ?

You will receive payment for another two yea rs early in February. To subscribe for three years would be rash. I am 72.

Best wishes to you personally and to that wonderful pub l icat ion

THE MODERN GYMNAST Yours Sincerely

Mr. Becker, we're sorry about the delay. As of now we have almost gained two weeks on our production schedule and we hope to be even by the April issue. We are flatlered that your need for the M .G. is as dire as you indicate, in fact we decided that after your current two years subscription has expired your next 74 years of the M.G. is on us.-Ed

Costly Envelopes? Dear Mr. Sundby:

As an avid gymnast, I am very enthusi ­as tic about the " new" Modern Gymnast and eagerl y await the next, more on tim e

issue. I commend you for your constant effo rts aimed at improvement.

I have a sma ll suggest ion fo r you that I feel might be a f inancial help towards making even more of th e continuall y offered improvements, which could hope­full y make favo rite items such as photo­sequences and routines a freque nt in­stead of sporadic highlight.

Every month a copy of M.G. comes to my mailbox w rapped in a ni ce enve lope. I rea ll y appreciate it, but don't you think that it might be unnecessary? I do. Why don ' t you follow suit with every other major magazine and simply use addressed labe ls replacin g the undoubtedly costly en­ve lopes with inexpensive cover-m ounted tags? I don ' t think any of the subscribers would mind, th e savi ngs could go for ,the changes we all want, and we would have an even better publication out of it. Sounds feasibl e to me, and I know a savings (even a small one) could defi ­nitely help!

Gymnastica lly yours, Paul Evans, Co-Captain

University of Miami Varsity Cheerleader'S

Paul: We appreciate your suggestion on how to save a little money by eliminating our mailing envelopes, but we use those envelopes for a good reason. Because our circulation is not as large as life or Luok. Our magazines have to be handled. as regular mail and consequently are han­dled and re-handled. The result to our subscribers would be a magazine worn and torn around the edges. We felt tFII! small extra cost would be worth it.-Ed

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