Wednesday, July 4, 2012

More Camp Mail

Hello muddah 
Hello faddah
Here I am at 
Camp Canberra!
Camp is very 
entertaining. 
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining...!


Another bright and bubbly update from Olivia Vivian and the girls at Olympic camp. They've been bonding inside and out of the training gym.

 Now I know that 8 gymnasts in a kitchen doesn’t exactly sound like the smartest idea, especially when there’s knives and fire involved, but I can assure you we are fully capable. Last week we all made Lamb steaks with mint snow peas and cherry tomatoes. It was a delightfully refreshing change to our weekly schedule.

We also get weekly BBQ food prepared and get to go out for dinner on Saturday nights. Not only does it get us out of the dining hall, but it also creates team-bonding moments that bring us closer as a team.
Liv must have the writing bug. Hot off the presses here is Blog #3! GA also have a link to a picture of the delightful sign Waveney Gymnastics Club erected in honour of the Aussies there for training.



Here's Livvy's Blog #4 with an interesting insight into distraction training for beam. Am I jealous the girls got to see 'Tap Dogs' perform? Heck to the yes!

101 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the up dates Liv love reading them and am so glad your at the camp :)

Anonymous said...

Team GB announced today. Check out these great profiles of the home team: http://www.youtube.com/user/BritishGymnasticstv/videos

Anonymous said...

Really off topic but anyone know if Alex Croak has retired from diving? Hope she continues because she was so so unlucky to just miss out on her to spots for London. Either way hope shes proud!

PS anyone know the new site for the GGMB messageboard?

Anonymous said...

Sorry 2 spots*

Anonymous said...

Dearest Olivia,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

I am loving reading your blogs so much. It's especially exciting and interesting learning more about the various personalities and quirks of our team members, something I've been craving for so long now! You are a true asset to not only team Aus, but to all us gym fans out there.

Thanks again, and please keep the updates coming! :)

Anonymous said...

Anyone know when the girls leave for London? Wondering if they'll be joining the boys soon.

Anonymous said...

Really lovely picture of the WAG team.

Just one thing regarding our uniform...can we please NOT wear hair scrunchies at the Olympics?!? They are so circa
1990s! lol

Anonymous said...

What an absolute gem you are Olivia. I truly enjoy reading every part of your blogs and you must be having such a positive influence on all of the girls at camp. I'm sure by you being there you are really helping the team to gel together and are helping to create team unity and harmony, which are such important factors in a winning team. Thanks again Olivia. You are a star!!!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know when Olivia stopped training vault? I assume she would have competed it as a junior and them somewhere along the line dropped it as she knew she wasn't going to score high enough for it to make any difference to making the Oz team?? (I assume).

Anonymous said...

Scrunchies are the fashion
I doubt they will wear ribbons or nothing

Anonymous said...

We were visiting the AIS for a tour on Friday. Our young gymnast was thrilled to be able to watch the girls training in their sparkly black and pink/purple leotards. We got to see OV, MAM and GRB's floor routines, then AB, GB, LM and EL's vaults. They seemed to be having a "judging" session, with a petite woman with short bobbed brown hair judging them. It was wonderful to see them training, and such a privilege to see it as part of our AIS tour!

Anonymous said...

News article featuring Lauren: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/lean-mean-gene-machines-20120706-21moz.html

Anonymous said...

Any more news from camp? It's getting so close now and it's sooooo quiet. Would love to hear absolutely anything.

Anonymous said...

I think Friday was a control test

Anonymous said...

GA has Olivia's camp update #4 up. Good pics.

Anonymous said...

You're the best, Liv!

Anonymous said...

Sure is quiet on here atm. I guess it's the calm before the storm!

Anyone up for a game of gymnastics alphabet?? lol

Anonymous said...

Sure! Only -- how do we play?

Anonymous said...

I'm in!

Anonymous said...

OK....predictions for aussie girls AA?

I assume it will just be ashleigh and emily doing AA? Correct me if I am wrong on that. Maybe not ash - not sure about her bars??

I reckon emily could better georgia b 13th place from 2008...she is pretty strong and consistent on all 4 apparatus, right? Those americans are awesome - so powerful....can't say I am in love with some of the top girls not seeming to hit full slpits on their leaps....not sure how this has crept into top stream gymnastics.I hate to say it, but this seems to include emily at times...correct me if I am wrong, but her leaps don't always look like they hit full split??

Anonymous said...

Ok, so gymnastics alphabet...
All you need to do is pick a word (obviously relating somehow to gymnastics!)starting with the next letter of the alphabet from the post before. Hopefully we'll make it all the way through the alphabet! I'll start...

A - apparatus

Next person chooses something starting with B. and so on...

Let's have some fun with this!

Anonymous said...

Beam.

Anonymous said...

C - callous!

Anonymous said...

*er sorry, callus

Anonymous said...

Double Arabian

Anonymous said...

Execution score

Anonymous said...

fanny bruise

Mez said...

I am happy for the game to be played while we wait for more news, but please keep your suggestions appropriate for public viewing. Otherwise your comments will be deleted.

Anonymous said...

sorry, but lol at 'F'

Gienger

Anonymous said...

Hecht or half turn or hairspray lol :)

Anonymous said...

Inches -- four.

Anonymous said...

jumps or jaeger

Anonymous said...

Kip!

Anonymous said...

L Grip

Anonymous said...

Markelov

Anonymous said...

Nedov (Emma)

Anonymous said...

n...
n...
n...
racking my brain here...
nose-dive, from a sucky landing!!!

Anonymous said...

oh, good job anon 10:13 (we must have been posting at the same time ;)

Anonymous said...

O... OOPS

Anonymous said...

O = Olga Corbett!!!

Anonymous said...

P = Perfection

Anonymous said...

Quality over quantity -- what the Code of Points SHOULD reward!

Anonymous said...

roundoff

Anonymous said...

sexy alicia sacramone poses

Anonymous said...

turnips on toast for dinner

Anonymous said...

ugly leotards

Anonymous said...

vika komova

Anonymous said...

Weiler kip

Anonymous said...

X rays, you will have during your career. (heaps)

Anonymous said...

Y = Yurchenko

Anonymous said...

Z - Zimmer Frame. What all gymnasts will be using once they quit gym hahaha :)

Anonymous said...

Zamolodchikova

Anonymous said...

a: acrobatics

Anonymous said...

Bhardwaj (full twisting Pak salto)

Anonymous said...

C - chalk

Anonymous said...

D - Deltchev

Anonymous said...

Endo

Anonymous said...

Flic-flac

Anonymous said...

G-gainer

Anonymous said...

H- Hecht

Anonymous said...

I - inside stalder

Anonymous said...

J - jete

Anonymous said...

K - Korbut

Anonymous said...

l - leotard

Anonymous said...

M - Monckton

Anonymous said...

N - Nabiev

Anonymous said...

O- Overshoot

Anonymous said...

P - Pommel horse

Anonymous said...

Peggy has said before Emily has always struggled with her splits. She struggles just to get full splits on the floor, hence her beam leap series is quite different to the usual we see.
It's like Brennan's turns, Peggy has also said she struggles to get any more than 1 turn - lucky she is good at leaps and tumbles!
Needless to say the girls and coaches all work hard to get these skills up to scratch, but there is only so much you can do against natural things. I can imagine Emily works very hard on her splits, it's just "one of those things".

Anonymous said...

Yes, thank you for the answer! I would imagine everyone has tried hard to imporve Emily's flexibility over the years. Unusual though for an elite gymnat not to be able to do full splits....I remember when I was training if your flexibility wasn't that great (but good for a member of the general public kind of thing)...the coaches tended to put you in the state stream as opposed to the national stream.....however, I do think it is good Emily (and her coaches) haven't let that 'natural' issue deter her from training and competing elite so well over the years. I suppose it must have been mainly her power and co-ordination that got her selected in the national stream in the first place?? I do remember peggy saying at one point that she didn't like to 'shut the door' on a gymnast not having the 'typical' body shape of a gymnast...which is a great thing really - we probably should have more gymnasts training elite...at the trials for the olympics we really don't end up with that many gymnasts...I think 2000 olympics was probably the biggest group to trial?? There were quite a few gymnasts from the AIS and Vis that cycle i think.

Anonymous said...

P - Produnova

Anonymous said...

Can't flexibilty be improved with continued stretching though? For eg. over-splits to improve splits in leaps etc?

Anonymous said...

Q - Quad turn

Anonymous said...

Yeah, normally over slipts stretching would improve splits. I am sure they would have done this - she must be very tight.

Anonymous said...

R - Roly Poly

Anonymous said...

S - Splits... just in keeping with recent discussion ;)

Anonymous said...

T - Team AUS (go girls!!! And Josh!!!)

Anonymous said...

upper body strength

Anonymous said...

Voronin on High Bar

Anonymous said...

Walk-over

Anonymous said...

X: Xu, Huang (2000 & 2008 MAG olympic gold medalist)

Anonymous said...

Y - YMCA clubs woot woot!

Anonymous said...

Z - zebra print leo *gasp*

Anonymous said...

Starting again (coz there's nothing else to do lol :))

A = Aerial Skills

Anonymous said...

Back flip

Anonymous said...

Cartwheel

Anonymous said...

What do u do if you experience bullying of sorts within your gymnastics . I'm talking about kids who act sweet around others but say nasty things to their main competitor continually even to the point that at competitions their so called cheering more like badgering is aimed at putting the gymnast off so they will fall what can a parent do when it comes from your own state and the coaches won't do anything ?? Seeking advice

Anonymous said...

I had the same thing happen unfortunately our only solution was to move gyms it got so bad ! Which was heartbreaking as we had been their a long time way before the bully but that is how bully's work they will keep going until they get what they want and in our case us leaving !

Anonymous said...

D - D score

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately bullying is everywhere especially in competitive gymnastics and when you have girls training for great periods of time together their either gonna bond or there going to get bitchy ! More often than not they are on and off again bitchy !!

Anonymous said...

Can I suggest you ask about bullying at the chalkbucket forum. There are coaches gymnasts and parents who will be able to provide you with advice. It is not an uncommon topic you can search for previous advice or ask your own question.

Anonymous said...

Thanks !

Anonymous said...

Very disappointing that the coaches won't do anything

Anonymous said...

Clubs as part of their GA Club 10 accreditation have Codes of Conduct for gymnasts, coaches and officials. These codes are usually prominently displayed on notice boards and in newsletters etc. Club policies should be in place which come into action should bullying by anyone be formally reported to club management.

Anonymous said...

HPC's haven't all taken up Club 10 yet, and most parents at selected programs don't like to rock the boat for fear that their daughter won't be reselected. By the time the girls get to an age where their parents are more comfortable with their position in the program most of the bitching has morphed into the kind of mutual support that comes from shared adversity. And sisterhood. My advice - reinforce your child's self image, encourage her to take nothing to heart, and wait - it will pass. Also, you say their so called cheering is aimed at putting your daughter off? That is an opportunity for her to practice focus. It sounds like you are making assumptions also. Are you sure you aren't seeing things that aren't there because you see her as your daughter's main competition?

Anonymous said...

no definitely not making assumptions !! its happening and its real i wish it wasn't happening but I have spent a long time trying to reassure its just girls and girls being girls but sometimes it is very annoying to know I pay fees just like everyone else I shouldn't have to have my daughter go through this . I agree kids usually get older and it does go away eventually but what gives these kids the right to affect someone elses life a life that is hard enough without putting up with this sort of crap !! this child is not a main threat to my child but obviously the other child feels mine is to her for some reason.... Maybe your advice would be different if your child was going through this !!

Anonymous said...

Sorry I didn't mean to offend. Bullying is no fun - I have seen some awful behaviour in and out of the gym. Sometimes if the coaches speak to the group about what is appropriate this can make things better. I have seen far more cases where kids have left because they are unhappy and the coaches either won't or can't fix things. Maybe you could approach the coaches again? Ask for them to be in different groups? Is the bullying happening in training or just at comps? I assume they train together? Keep a diary of incidents of bullying so that you can have a factual conversation with your gym management if coaches continue to refuse to act. Try to reserve a tiny bit of compassion for the child - remember, behind every crazy competitive child there is usually a pretty scary parent. Which brings me to my last piece of advice - no good can come from approaching the parents! All parents believe the best of their kids and most won't lift a finger to help you if they think you are attacking theirs. Again, I apologise - I didn't mean to offend. I hope your daughter finds her way and can be happy in her gym.

Anonymous said...

Thats ok i dont offend too easily these days!! wish my child was as resilient thanks for the advice ! I know I always tell my child to treat others kindly and be a good person I think kids know about bullying but don't realise their behaviour when it is persistent would be classed as bullying not enough parents speak to their kids in general I think about making sure they are treating others with respect it doesn't help when coaches play kids against one another saying so and so can do it why can't you scenario and parents are in their kids ears to do and be better . I have realised that the quote from 'stick it ' that sometimes its definitely not gym nice tics..... is so true!!

Anonymous said...

Ah the coach comparison thing - I loath how they do that. Seems to get results though from the super competitive kids. Really great coaches can motivate kids without that kind of tactic. Unfortunately they are few and far between.

Anonymous said...

Yes if only gym could just be all about gymnastics and not all the extrinsic factors as well ! So those who love the sport can just get on with what they love it should be that easy !!