Pre-Team Handbook - A GREAT RESOURCE!

Here is a great resource that we are strongly promoting to all new clubs that are venturing into Acrobatic Gymnastics.

The American Pre-Team Acrobatics Handbook is excellent. We have been using it at our club in Oakville and find it really helpful.

Click here to find it on the USA Gymnastics website:

http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/PDFs/Acro/PreTeam/acropreteamhandbook.pdf

If you are looking for more resources you can find some instructional DVD's for purchase on the USA Gymnastics Acrobatics site as well.

Thank you to the USA Gymnastics program for their continued support of the development of acrobatics on Ontario.

Don

Check out a Quadruple Back

Go to Youtube to check out the video of a pretty awesome quadruple back performed by the men's four from Spelthorne, Great Britain.

Copy and past the following search line:

Acrogym CUP Albershausen 2009 MG Spelthorne sen. dynamic

April Acrobatics Note

This month saw the first official meeting of the Gymnastics Ontario Acrobatic Gymnastics Working Group. It was held at the Trampoline and Tumbling Provincial Championships, Senenca College, Toronto, April 17th.

Our small group of Doug Shirton (GO Co-ordinator for Acrobatics, Aerobics and Men's Artistic Gymnastics), Jeff Coulter from Winstars Gymnastics in Windsor, Niki Lavoie from the Oakville Gymnastics Club and myself, Don Holmes, also of the Oakville Gymnastics Club convened a short meeting after the competition on Friday evening. All of us coach tumbling right now but also participate in acrobatics.

Long-term planning and promotions was the focus of the meeting. We hope to find a space on the Gymnastics Ontario website soon so that we will have a bit more exposure in the meantime I will post pictures, articles, links and notes here on the Acrobatic Gymnastics in Ontario blog.

We are planning a training camp open to all who are interested at either the Winstars Club or the Oakville Gymnastics Club sometime in May. I will post details here.

If you have any questions feel free to drop me an e-mail at:

acrogym.ON@gmail.com

and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Don

WHAT IS ACROBATIC GYMNASTICS?

Okay I borrowed this description from somewhere else but it gives you a good description of the discipline.
I will attach more pictures and clips to this blog soon. Seeing it is always better than reading about it.

Acrobatic gymnastics, previously referred to as sport acrobatics, combines the beauty of dance with the strength and agility of acrobatics. Gymnastics skills add excitement to the exercises, while intense acrobatic balances show grace, strength and flexibility. Routines are choreographed to music and consist of dance, tumbling, and partner skills. At the elite level, each pair or group performs a balance, dynamic and combined routine. Pyramids and partner holds characterize the balance routine, while synchronized tumbling and intricate flight elements define the dynamic exercise. The combined routine unites elements of balance and dynamic.
An acrobatic gymnastics pair consists of a base and a top. A women’s group is comprised of a base, middle and top partner, while a men’s group has a base, two middle partners and one top partner. Bases generally are older athletes who display strength and balance and top partners generally are younger athletes who display flexibility and agility. Middle partners often are required to show a combination of all attributes.

A BEGINNING

At present there is no official Acrobatics Gymnastics organization in Canada. We have decided that it is time to remedy this situation and put something together. As a recognized FIG gymnastics discipline we feel that Canada needs to provide this sport option to our growing gymnastics community. We will provide the province and the nation with all that we can via this blog for now until we can move forward with incorporating ourselves with the Provincial Sport Organizations (PSO's) and National Sport Organization (NSO).
Our primary objective is to develop the grass-roots structure for Acrobatic Gymnastics (Sport Acrobatics) in Canada. As in all that Gymnastics Ontario does, we will strive to be a leader who sets strong examples of work ethic, organization, professionalism and technical competency.
We would like to invite anyone who is interested in being part of the Sport Acrobatics Ontario organization to contact us at acrogym.on@gmail.com .
We will keep you informed as to what is being done in the Province and what progress is being made in Acrobatic Gymnastics. Please keep your eyes here!