2007 High Performance Clinic

Another fabulous Region 7 Training Camp, the 2007 HPC, was held at Lehigh Valley Sports Academy October 21-22.  We had wonderful clinicians, a terrific facility, and lots of enthusiastic athletes and coaches.  With almost 100 athletes, 75 coaches, and about 20 judges, that gym was hoppin’!  As I walked around the gym watching the activity, I was impressed by the nice changes the girls were making, and their absolute willingness to try the corrections offered by the clinicians. 
We were lucky enough to bring in Muriel Grossfeld for some special work on beam, an event we need to improve on at nationals.  Thank you, Muriel, for the wonderful work you did, and for your amazing “eye” for the details that make all the difference. 

One entertaining station for the athletes was the team building, in which weird tortures were used to foster trust and friendship between girls in similar age groups and levels.  Next time they see each other at a meet, we hope they’ll re-connect!  
Toby entertained us all with his “Alphabet Dance,” and the girls all learned how to make the entire alphabet with the human body, and used this alphabet to send messages to the clinicians.  Very interesting, and fun!

Another station of interest was the “judging for gymnasts” rotation.  The girls got to watch videos of past JO National meets and look for differences in execution, performance, amplitude and rhythm.  It’s amazing to learn what a great understanding of our sport many of these girls have.  It’s just more confirmation of the quality of the training our athletes get, not only in our regional training camps, but in their own gyms every day.

Our exceptional Clinicians: 
Vault:  Lori Dexter & Gustavo Moure
Bars:  Troy Miller & Tony Gehman
Beam:  Muriel Grossfeld & Vala Pintchouk
Tumbling:  Peter Soul & John Holman
Dance:  Toby Towson
Team building:  Craig Zappa (with assistance from John DiStefano)
Conditioning:  Cammie McLallen  (with assistance from Luanne McKenna)

Good luck, coaches and athletes!  Have a great (and HEALTHY) season!

Our 2007 All-Star team and the alternates spent the HPC weekend together, and seemed to be having a great time!  These girls and their coaches will be traveling in January of 2008 to compete in the Cancun Classic meet.  This year there will be three sessions of open competition, and Region 7 returns as the defending champions!  We hope to repeat our victory!!! 

Our All-star team is chosen using the following formula: 
Level 10 Regional AA score + 2 times the JO National AA score = qualifying score. 
The girl with the highest qualifying score from each age group is selected, and any spots forfeited by a graduating senior are filled by a “wild card.”  Wild cards are selected by taking all the remaining Region 7 athletes from nationals and using the above formula to determine the highest qualifying score. 

This year our All-star team is:

Front row:  Stephanie Stoicovy – Lakettes, Noel Couch – North Stars, Brianna Guy - Docksiders, Kayla Williams – Bozhi’s GymNest  Second row:  Allison Sandusky – Hill’s, Kareen Kaveh – Hill’s, Alicia Talucci – Metzler’s, Jaime Pisani – North Stars, Natalie Beilstein – Butler (alternate), Lauren Rogers – Northeast (alternate.)