WOGA Training in Italy with Nastia

I was on youtube and I came across these videos of the WOGA girls training at their Italian camp this week. Nastia coaching Lizzy Leduc, Katelyn Ohashi, Grace McLaughlin, Briley Casanova and Sophia Lee on Tumbling:




Katelyn Ohashi training 2 flicks to a layout 2 feet on beam (can't believe how many people are that close to her filming!):

Thanks to youtube user 88gymnast for the videos and hopefully there will be more to come!

Choreography

A lot of people say that the artistry has gone from our sport especially on floor, I tend to agree and love to watch the choreography from the soviet gymnasts and other nations from the 1970s and 80s. Although I think that these gymnasts didn't have as much variety in tumbling as now with the over use of skills especially double backs and full ins I can still appreciate these routines more than what we see now. I wish that we could combine the choreography and presence of the soviets with the range of tumbling in womens floor that we see today.
After recently watching many old gymnastics floor routines I found that different versions of the same music was being used by some gymnasts today so I thought I would provide a comparison to see which you prefer. I'm not criticizing any gymnast I'm just saying that their choreographers could have done a better job!
Irina Baraksanova and Ivana Hong - Sweet and Tender Beast. Ivana's routine isn't bad but I just thought WOGA could have done something better for her, Im hoping for bettr this year!


Aurelia Dobre and Jordyn Wieber - the music is not exacty the same but its similar, I personally don't like Jordyn's choreography at all but what I do like is that she smiles and looks like she is actually having fun!


Silvia Mitova and Sam Shapiro - Blues for Klook. I love both gymnasts I just hope Sam gets healthy soon so she can show the world her style and form.


Ludmilla Tourishceva, Svetlana Lebedinskaya & Nastia Liukin - Dark Eyes, all use different versions but I think I prefer Nastia's but then I am a huge Nastia fan!



So which one do you all prefer?

Competing 'In The Moment'

While watching the Australian Open Tennis an interview with Venus Williams came on where she talked about how she plays and lives in the moment. Between matches she doesn't think about who she is playing next or the pressure she will have to deal with and more importantly she doesn't think about mistakes she made in the previous match or what she should have done better if she loses. When she is playing she focuses on only the point she is playing and rarely lets mistakes affect her focus.

Although tennis is obviously a different sport to gymnastics, there are similarities and Venus describes the ideal way to approach high pressure competitions. The way she talks about it makes it seem easy but as many athletes know it is not. The difference between being successful in minor competitions and taking that next step up to winning Olympic and world medals in gymnastics is how gymnasts mentally deal with the pressure. Do you think this ability to deak with pressure is genetic or learnt through experience? Can it be learnt? As a sport psychologist I obviously believe it can be taught but some athletes are naturally better than others. There have been many times during my coaching and watching of gymnastics where gymnasts who have the most talent and potential during training but can never seem to reproduce this during important competitions. Some examples in Elite Gymnastics I can think of are Tatiana Groshkova, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Vanessa Atler, Anna Pavlova, Mo Huilan, Daria Zgoba, Irina Krasnyanska, Yang Bo (there are so many!).

If only more athletes could learn to deal with pressure like Venus Williams, Roger Federer, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin etc. So how do you coaches out there help your gymnasts who can't deal with the pressure of competition or if you're not a coach how do you think the elite gymnasts who have problems performing in major competitions should be helped? I look forward to reading your ideas!

A montage I thought suitedthis post well, it highlights how some deal with the pressure and how some do not...