gymn Digest                 Sat, 26 Feb 94       Volume 2 : Issue  79

Today's Topics:
                   1994 Heart of Texas Invitational
                    additional internet gymnastics
                          gymn Digest V1 #78
                       MCD's American Cup (PR)
                            odds and ends
                                Poof !
              Scoring programs for local meets (4 msgs)

This is a digest of the gymn@athena.mit.edu mailing list. 

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 94 12:42:35 EST
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: 1994 Heart of Texas Invitational

Hey Gymn,

I am here at the first elite zone qualifier for Region III (Texas, Colorado,
Oklahoma, maybe more).  Capital Gymnastics, the host, has also invited L8,9,
and 10 gymnasts and turned this qualifier into a real meet, the 1994 Heart of
Texas Invitational.  However, I will only be able to attend the elite
sessions.  The elite gymnasts are using this meet to (hopefully) qualify to
the American Classic in March.  They need a 72.00 in the AA to get there (60%
compulsories, 40% optionals).

The roster is a very high quality list.  Region III is one of the more
powerful regions.  There are 24 gymnasts competing in the elite International
division.  Eight of them are Cypress gymnasts!  Colorado Aerials has four. 

Junior (13 and under)
------
* Alexa Martinez, Becca Whitehurt (Capital)
* Dawnell Barr, Theresa Kulikowski, Kristy Powell, Doni Thompson (CO Aerials)
* Andree Pickens, Kinsey Rowe, Ashley Stewart, Monica Flammer (Cypress)
* Mina Kim (Dynamo)
* Dominique Moceanu (Karolyi's)
* Nekia Demery, Amanda Schuler (Krafft)
* Tabby Tompkins, Leah Mueller (Spirit of America)

Senior (13 and over)
------
* Ashley Kever (Capital)
* Amanda Curry, Eileen Diaz, Jamie Martini, Rachel Rochelli (Cypress)
* Soni Meduna, Marianna Webster (Dynamo)
* Jennifer White (Krafft)

Note that gymnasts who are 13 can compete in either age level.

-=-=-=-= Impressions of the Compulsory session, Friday night =-=-=-=-

Boy, the scoring sure is rough!  The gymnasts need a total score of 72.00 to
qualify to the American Classic in Orlando in March.  That means, of course,
an average score of 9.0 per routine.  I saw very few scores above a 9.0. 

The format of the competition was to have two events competing at the same
time.  So it was pretty easy to keep track of stuff, although quite often
there would be two awesome gymnasts at the same time.

- Vault
The compulsory vault is a piked Tsuk (hit board going forward, half twist to
the horse, 1.5 piked back somi off).  I saw only about two or three gymnasts
try to open out of the pike, and they didn't do a particularly good job of
it.

I have written down that Powell (CO Aerials) and Pickens (Cypress) did very
nice vaults.  I remember that Pickens got a 9.425 for hers.

- Uneven Bars
Lots of falls here.  The nice and tight gymnasts really stood out: all of CO
Aerials, Pickens, Meduna, Moceanu.  Our little buddy Dominique M, who was
smiles all night long, had the best slip grip to counter hand, hitting a
perfect handstand on the low bar.  Powell had a nice fast rhythm, but she
never hit a handstand throughout the routine.  Doni Thompson - one of those
gymnasts who literally *swings* the bars - was clearly the best, although she
bobbled both the counter hand to low and the dismount (front salto with a
half twist out) and so received only about a 9.25 for a beautiful routine.
Diaz was easily the fastest bar worker there; she cranks around those bars
like it's nothing.  Meduna received a 9.50 for her elegant routine with no
obvious mistakes.

- Beam
Boy, this was a rough event for many kids.  One of the trickiest parts of the
routine is a Valdez, gainer back handspring, back walkover to one knee.  I
did not watch all of the gymnasts, but the ones I did watch had troubles
connecting these three... very long pauses in between.  The gymnasts I saw
who were able to successfully connect all three elements were: Diaz, Powell,
Kulikowski, and Moceanu.  I have written down here that Martini and Pickens
also executed nice routines.  Moceanu needs to be noted here, too. Her mount
on beam was the best of all that I saw. The mount is a "thief vault",
basically a hurdle over the beam.  Not one gymnast was able to keep the
vertical momentum and bring her legs up to a V-seat except for Moceanu.  For
most everyone who stayed on the beam, it was a hurdle to an immediate back
support.  About a third either over- or under- shot the beam and fell off.
Moceanu, however, did a very nice job on the mount, stopping in a V and then
lowering her legs to a back support position.  She also did a nice job of
stylizing the cartwheel, basically holding her second leg in the air for 1-2
seconds before bringing it down to the beam. She got a great deal of applause
and a 9.4, surely one of the highest beam scores.

Surprisingly, there really weren't that many falls from the beam.

- Floor
I did not see anyone do floor as well as the routines I saw by Borden, Dawes,
and Campi at US Classic last year, but that would be asking a bit much, I
think. The gymnasts who did best were Moceanu (yet again), Kinsey Rowe, Dree
Pickens, and Meduna. If memory serves me correctly, Kinsey did a perfect job
of staying with the music. I am not certain if it was Kinsey, but I do
remember it was a Cypress girl.

-----
Other notes:

Soni Meduna is a very tall gymnast!  She must be close to five feet.  She's
only a head below Steve Nunno.  She consistently scored very high... I think
9.0+ on every event.

Most polished gymnasts (in no particular order): Kulikowski, Powell, Doni
Thompson, Pickens, Rochelli, Rowe, Martinez, Kim, Curry, Martini, Meduna

Most powerful: Curry, Diaz, Martinez, Thompson, Powell, Pickens, Demery

Most improved leotards: Cypress!  Thank goodness they didn't wear those
flashy gold sequined leos.  They have very tasteful and effective leotards
now... all black with an exploding white star on the left side of the torso.

In general, Dynamo gymnasts looked to be in the tradition of Ms. Shannon
Miller - very serious, intense, graceful, good form, but not particularly
explosive.

Colorado Aerials really impressed me.  They had notably good form and were
also very graceful, yet they had a lot of punch.  As a team, they swing
awesome bars, vault very consistently, and move through beam and floor with
confidence.  Doni Thompson, when she's concentrating, looks amazingly angry.
The transformation between the on-the-beam Doni and the off-the-mats Doni is
pretty funny.

I wish there were more black gymnasts in the sport.  Andree Pickens and Nekia
Demery, the two black gymnasts of the session, were both such fun to watch;
it was like watching someone trying to harness raw power.

Cypress, obviously, had incredible depth.  The ability to field eight
internationals is amazing.  Each one of those girls deserves to be on the
Int'l level too... it's not like they're out of their league or anything.
They have more, too; for example, the charming Ms. Kaitie Dyson was sidelined
with a foot injury.  Cypress girls have an All-American look about them...
they look like they're out there for the fun of it.  While Dynamo is
particularly graceful, Cypress girls seemed to be the strongest team in the
competition, with very well-defined muscles, particularly in their legs.
They also had the loudest and most enthusiastic cheering section - which I
unintentionally sat in the middle of.  Sure didn't take long to figure out
which gym they were rooting for.  =)

Optionals are tonight.  They promise to be very exciting!

Rachele

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Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 22:37:08 -0600 (CST)
From: <***@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
Subject: additional internet gymnastics

Does anyone know of any other electronic gymnastics discussions, mailing
lists, or bulletin boards?  I'm not looking for an alternative to gymn,
but there must be more stuff happening in the world of electronics. 
Please let me know what you know about even if it is via a commercial
host like prodigy or american online or whatever.  Thanks.

And does anyone know any updated information on Kerry Houston's
recovery. 

David

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Feb 94 09:39:52 EST
From: <***@american.edu>
Subject: gymn Digest V1 #78

In reply to Felicia's question, I believe that Nelli Kim became a judge
after 1980. I remember seeing her judge at a recent competition (can't
remember the name).

I have been off-line because my computer was in the shop again (a
screen repair and I have a laptop).

Shinjinee

P.S.  I met Anil (Rao) this week in DC.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 94 22:31:22 EST
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: MCD's American Cup (PR)

Press Release from USA Gymnastics:
MCDONALD'S AMERICAN CUP, FIRST EVER "INTERACTIVE" GYMNASTICS COMPETITION.

The McDonald's American Cup, one of the most prestigious international
gymnastics meets held each year will be the first gymnastics event
ever to be carried nationwide via interactive computer technology.

Recently, USA Gymnastics, the national governing body of the sport in
the United States, launched its USA GYMNASTICS ONLINE! in association
with DELPHI, one of the leading commercial online services. USA
GYMNASTICS ONLINE! is a custom service of DELPHI, and is a full
service online system directed toward the nation's gymnasts, coaches,
judges, officials, and gymnastics fans.

On March 5, 1994, USA GYMNASTICS ONLINE! will carry "play-by-play"
progress of the McDonald's American Cup allowing users all over the
nation to "talk back" by asking questions or commenting live, in "real
time" in the USA GYMNASTICS ONLINE! conference section.

The computer coverage of the event will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST, with
NBC television's coverage beginning at 4:00 p.m. EST. This will add an
extra dimension to the event as users can watch TV and "chat" via
computer at the same time.

"We are incredibly excited by this major technological first involving
our new interactive capabilities," said USA Gymnastics Vice President,
Rod Davis. "Finally, the American public can participate in the action
to a degree not possible before, and they can do it live, as the event
is unfolding."

"While the event takes place," Davis said, "members of the gymnastics
community who are users of USA GYMNASTICS ONLINE! and DELPHI can 'sign
on' and take part!"

Mark Lavi of DELPHI, and Jan Claire of USA Gymnastics will be hosting
the computer system event, with special guests offering comments from
time to time and responding to users' questions.

Any DELPHI user can access USA GYMNASTICS ONLINE! from the main menu
by typing GR USA and entering the USA GYMNASTICS ONLINE! CONFerence
area.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 13:45:39 -0500
From: ***@freenet.carleton.ca
Subject: odds and ends

You can telnet to delphi.com and login as joindelphi
with a password of zm36az.  Other passwords are
published now and then in various delphi ads. 
You will then have the option to join up.


I thought I'd heard that Nelli Kim was head of gymnastics for
Belarus and was giving Vitali Szerbo (sp?) a hard time.  True?

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 94 17:52:40 PST
From: "***@us.oracle.com"
Subject: Poof !

Its short notice.
Im leaving.
Anyone wishing to reach me in the future can reach me at
***@netcom.com
The oracle address will vaporize tomorrow.


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Date: Wed, 23 Feb 1994 16:09:46 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@BrandonU.CA>
Subject: Scoring programs for local meets

I suppose this question gets asked pretty often, but is there a program out
there (shareware) that people use to keep score at local gymnastics meets?
If it runs on a MACINTOSH, it would be superb, but if not, IBM will do.

If there isn't one of these programs floating around, send me your wish list
because i'm thinking of writing one myself. What kinds of features would
you like to see in the program? What events do you usually hold, and
do any of them also include a difficulty score?

Thanks for any replies!
Neil

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Feb 94 15:34:19 PST
From: ***@geoworks.com
Subject: Scoring programs for local meets

 I've got a friend who is a Mac programmer who has written one (it
is sometimes used at UC Berkeley meets, as he was once on the team).  I'm
not sure if it is shareware (I'm checking with him).

 I'll let you know what I find out.

 Dave

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 23:04:34 -0500 (EST)
From: <***@dorsai.dorsai.org>
Subject: Scoring programs for local meets

>
>
>  I've got a friend who is a Mac programmer who has written one (it
> is sometimes used at UC Berkeley meets, as he was once on the team).  I'm
> not sure if it is shareware (I'm checking with him).
>
>  I'll let you know what I find out.
>
>  Dave
>
>
> > I suppose this question gets asked pretty often, but is there a program out
> > there (shareware) that people use to keep score at local gymnastics meets?
> > If it runs on a MACINTOSH, it would be superb, but if not, IBM will do.
> >
> > If there isn't one of these programs floating around, send me your wish list
> > because i'm thinking of writing one myself. What kinds of features would
> > you like to see in the program? What events do you usually hold, and
> > do any of them also include a difficulty score?
> >
> > Thanks for any replies!
> > Neil
> >
>

I have created a series of shareware templates for use in Microsoft Excel 4.0
to score men's meets.  The templates can be used for dual, tri, quad, five or
six way meets, and can allow you to count either 3, 4 or 5 scores per team.
The program will accept entry of one, two or four scores and determine the
correct average. In addition it will keep track of the all around for the
names entered similarly in the all-around section.

 This is not a standalone program, you must have EXCEL 4.0 in which to
run them.  I wouldn't know if they will work correctly in the Mac version of
Excel. Let me know if you are interested.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 1994 10:46:17 -0500 (EST)
From: <***@dorsai.dorsai.org>
Subject: Scoring programs for local meets

Thanks for the site.

The templates are in the file  mscor102.zip

The scoring templates are now sitting in the /pub/PC directory at the FTP site
***.brandonu.ca

Can you leave them there for awhile in case others want them?  Thanks.

Let me know how you like them.

Thanks
Ken
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End of gymn Digest
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