Do nothing but Gymnastics

Russia preparing for 2014

Valentina Rodionenko has outlined the Russian team's plans for the coming months in a recent press statement, highlighting the next major competition for March 2014,the Russian Championships in Penza.  This will be the qualifying event for the European Championships, to take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, next spring.

All the team's major players are back in training now, but not at the most intense level, says Rodionenko. The gymnasts are now working with their coaches to develop new difficulty for their exercises, or to change the composition of their existing routines. 'It is very important that all of them begin the new season in optimal condition', said the head coach.  'On the 22nd, the teams will go home after their current training camp at Round Lake.

source: Rewriting Russian Gymnastiics

National Team Selection Camp -China

Shang Chunsong Wins the 1st Challenge

Today marks the start of two week selection camp for the National Team.  Over 40 young girls and their coaches from all over the country were invited to the camp. The youngest gymnast invited to camp being only 9 years old as part of the identified training group for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Head Coach Huang Yubin has set new training targets for the National Team members where trampoline trainings will be incorporated in their daily training.  All male gymnasts are expected to complete 4 twists on trampoline where female gymnasts are expected to complete 3.5.  An internal test will be given at the end of the winter training; all gymnasts will be tested on their training results and the gymnast(s) who fails the training target then will be eliminated from the training squat for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

During Monday’s weekly team meeting, Shang Chunsong was awarded a new cellphone for being the 1st gymnast to complete the training goal of 3.5 twists on trampoline. ^_^

(Photos via Che Li’s Weibo)