and inaccurate information, a pitfall this writer intends to avoid. Th ere may well be some legitimate explanation for this administrative abortion and I for one believe it would be a displa y of wisdom if some kno wledgea ble spokesman could set the record straight in regards to this incident. What was th e original com mitment to Miss Sims and Miss Corrigan ? Wh y were these girls dropped from th e team ? H ow were th eir replacements chosen and by whom ? Etcetera . "THE GREAT EUROPEAN TOUR CAPER" Ha ving been associated with th e sport for Sometime in th e late spring of 1969 th e a number of years I am not naive about the coach of the University of Massachusetts political shenanigans and, for lack of a better women's gymnastic team received a call from concept, "personal interests groups" which a Mr. Ron Ortley inquiring into th e availability permeate th e gymnastic hierarchy. This is true of Miss Margie Sims , Univ. of Mass. national for many sports-it is par for the course, unlevel A.A . competitor, to take part in a summer fortunate , but alas, historically inevitable. European trip. Th e purpose of this event was My foreign colleagues indicate that th e same to furth er the promotion and development of is true east and west of our shores. A certain our national gy mnastics program via the inter- amount of such underground action is stimunational scene. Apparently several other girls latin g and ca n be helpful but th e boundary had already been contacted including another between this type of decision-making apparatus Massa chusetts national level A.A. competitor, and overt corruption is easily blurred. If this Patti Corrigan of Springfield College. Things b,' the irreversible case, then my only public looked good for Miss Sims at this point and plea is that in the fiiture we try to negotiate she accepted th e invitation, being assured by it with grea ter dignity and somewhat less Mr. Ortley that it was a definite thing and not clumsily, with some attempt made to create the contingen t on th e competitive record compiled illusion of integrity, and, at the very least, a during the remainder of th e year. Margie re- toktll gesture of our awareness for the feelings ceived papers to complete from the State De- of others . Youn g, aspiring women gymnasts partment, information relevant to schedules have been hurt in th e past and no doubt will be and uniforms, etc., all suggesting that she again . The price for such "errors" as was made could make plans to participate in this exciting here seems high. One of th e girls involved f elt venture. Somewh ere between that time and the so strongly about this experience that she has conclusion of th e National A.A .U.'s something disassociated herself from th e sport- surely a went very wron g. Both Miss Corrigan and Miss loss wt' cannot continue to precipitat e or Sims were dropped from the tour team . Patti, endure. Sincerely, whose leg was in a cast, had not been able to Dr. J . Massimo enter th e National A.A.U. meet and there Massa chusetts appeared to be some question as to her recovering in time to make the trip . Miss Sims entered the Nationa l meet and, although she was unable to finish th e competition because of a AMERICAN CUP DIFFICULTIES minor leg problem , she did compete in a majority of events. Apparently, however, counter to Dear Glenn : I was particularly interested in the article what Mr. Ortley had said, the competition record did indeed make a difference. Mr. Ort- written by Jerry Wright about the America Cup ley can only be held partly responsible for this T eam and competition and th e difficulties disunfortunate incident since he is unfamiliar cussed in th e story . . .. Conditions such as th e with women's gymnastics and obviously ad- one mentioned should not exist and all means ministratively inexperienced. Quite likely he and efforts should be directed to alleviate any found himself caught in th e middle of a behind recurrencefor the good ofu YMNASTIC::;. Sincerely, th e scene maneuver or, if you will, "caper." Isadore Wa sserman, Problems were also encountered in relationChairman -AA U Gymnastic Fund ship to the selection of the coach so it would appear va lid to assume, and it is only an assumption, that pressure was being brought to bear on Mr. Ortley and more was occurring SAD NEWS than meets the eye or ever will! It is this un- D ear G lenn : disclosed activity wh ich concerns this author ... a bit of bad news - Jim Yon gue, one of and should all of us who are interested in the character reputation of the sport at many our fine trampolinists, was accidentally shot in levels. It is easy to become paranoid in this the head . . . . H e is alive and recovering, but it regard and go off on a tirade with inadequate will probably be a long time before he bounces
LETTERS
again . I am sure he would like to hear from his many friends. (His address is: Jim Yon gue, Solomon St., Breaux Bridge , La. 70517.) Sin cerely, Jeff H ennesey Un iv. ofSo.W. Louisiana Lafayette , Louisiana Ed. We are sure all our readers along with the MG staff wish Jim a speedy and complete recovery.
"The Twis t?" .Allon Blockmond, Old Dominion College
"GYM TWIST" Dear Glenn , Thought this photograph might prove interesting. Turn photo upside down and it looks like someone dancing the "twist!" J erry George
BROKEN UP D ear Mr. Sundby, My husband and I just received th e AugustSeptember issue of "Modern Gymnast" and completely broke up reading the article by Dan Millman on page 20 about Gymnastic Types! It really hits home if one has ever had anythin g to do with gymnastics. Sin cerely, Mrs . Mary Chmura Polish Falcons of America Pittsburgh, Pa .
ENROll IN WINTER SESSION OF
SOKOL USA GYMNASTIC SCHOOL DECEMBER 26-31, 1969 AT Courtney Campbell Causeway • Tampa, Florida 33607 (813) 884-8495
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