.R. CANADIAN •
REPORT
By Mr. Lewis R. Waller, Sec. Canadian Gymnastics Federation 357 Duke of Kent Avenue, Pointe Claire, Quebec CANADA ·1973 Canadian National Championships Ontario has been awarded the 37th National Championships and have already begun plans for the event by lining up York University as the site of the competions. York has one of the most modern facilities for gymnastics in Canada and has successfully hosted several Canadian and International meets over the past few years. C.B. Wackett, Chairman of the '73 event was on hand in Calgary with publicity material for his event and gathered some first hand information on the many aspects of a National Championships. Gymnastics at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto Visitors to the National Exhibition this summer will once more see a gymnastics show, thanks to the Ontario Gymnastics Federation who is organizing the '72 Show. Included in the presentation will be Kingston Royal Military College Gymnastics Team, a trampoline display, Modern Gymnastics, and a demonstration of the Ontario Gymnastics Federation of the Ontario Gymnastics Federation activities. The show will take place in the Coliseum on Sports Day at the C.N.E. Canadian Girls Chosen for Olv;opic Training Camp For Canada ' s girls ," the Canadian Championships in Calgary May 19,20,and 21 were a step towards the formation of thei r team for the Summer Olympics. Eight girls were chosen to attend the training camp this summer - Jennifer Diachun , sisters Teresa and Nancy McDonnell, all of Toronto; Lenka Svatek, of Edmonton; Lise Arsenault of St. Anne de Bellevue; and Susan Buchanan, of Toronto. Sharon Tsukamoto, of Toronto and Juliette Mayhew, of Saskatoon complete the squad . The neutral judges from United States who officiated for the trials were: Erna Wachtel, Gal Davis, and Jackie Fie. Senior Men have eight contenders for a place on the Olympic Team Bill Mackie, Steve Mitruk, Bruce Medd, Steve Mitruk, Tom Kinsman all from Ontario ; Andre Simard, Michel Jodoin from Quebec; and Ron Hunter of B.C. The mens team will have their official trials June 16-1 7 when they will perform before neutral judges. Following this summer training camps will be conducted in Montreal and Toronto. Tri-Meet between lJ.S.S.R., West Germany and Canada Log of the "action" in Schwabisch Gmunde, Germany May 6, 7, 1972 by -Sandra Hartley This was, for me, the first chance to be a spectator in an international women 's competition . The Russians won easj./y living up to their good reputation of dynamic new skills, tremendous amplitude and classical ballet 48
styl e. The latest ma rve l on the gymnastics scene won the all around ac hieving 9.9's and 9.8's without mu c h probl e m. Her name is Olga Korbet, 17 years old and looks like 10 year old d ynamite. Howe ver, I couldn ' t help but be .impressed with our Canadian team. This was the 4th meet in 3 weeks of European touring, and it was evident that what travel fatigue they had acquired didn ' t affect them one bit, when such an important clima x was required . Their compulsory exec ution was weak as a team and this surprised me, since cOr[1pulsories at the international level should be flawless . However, the Canadian coaches discussed this with concern, and it was realized that the Russians and West Germans simply do not have the packed and intricate composition that we have chosen to use in between the FIG elements. The risk and difficulty portrayed by other teams is minimal. Our compulsory beam and floor routines were in comparison , long exercises with far more movement and unnecessary risk . However, in Europe, our routines were of high spectating interest because of the impressive composition . The girls have yet to assume the expertise and dance style of choreographer, Rolande. The optionals were our strong point. The Russians were amazing - some exercises were absolutely flawless; others had perfectly gigantic himan mistakes. Turisteva fell in both beam routines. For me, their most impressive performance was their group ballet warmup. It was so evident how advanced their ballet training was extended into gymnastics . Upper body and arm movement distinguished the Russians completely from the other teams, simply because they used their head and arms with great care aMd feeling for even the most simple movement. Isn't it ironical that we must do more difficultcomposition to compensate for our weakness - gymnasts untrained in dance cannot manoeuvre with confidence and beauty when asked to do very simple movement in walking, running, standing, etc. The Russians do remarkably beautiful things to very basic movement. We seem to be relying on trickey and difficult connections to be impressive. Aod we were impressive! There was opportunity to watch the Russians practice twice in one day, coinciding with the Canadian team 's workout. All three teams shared the gym and one set of each apparatus. The 5 Russian girls always began with a 35-minute warmup of classical ballet exercises combined with warmup stretching, acrobatics and compulsory tumbling. Beyond this warmup they did no extra static stretching, or individual preparation. Their " warmup" on apparatus was minimal, and they proceeded almost immediately into parts or whole routines . It is interesting to note here that prior to the competition their pianist was late . The girls waited patiently and did not even look remotely concerned about their competitive warmup, until their warmup as as group was complete. The Russian women nev e r hurried or sacrificed quality of movement. In fact, they stopped-an execution immediately that they encountered poor rhythm or missed a move. Thus, they never showed force or struggle because they jumped off an apparatus if they did not feel propercontrol.AII the U.s.S.R. girls trained with independent workloads. They practiced until they had had enough and were individually satisfied with their execution. sometimes this meant only one perfect
repetiton, as Miss Korbet's standing back so mmie (!); or in other cases it meant about V2 hour spent on an optional bar dismount (plain hecht by Turisteva) . Each gymnast did every move ment all out eve ry time, and there was no spotting on any event. About the closest coach was Astokova, who moved in to adjust the rheuther board on vau Iti ng occasionally. TuristeviJ 's coac h was merel y a " presence" that directed her through verbal correction . He displayed disapproval by walking away. Actually very little conversation took place at all. The Russians knew what they wanted to accomplish and there was little discussion about it. In training there was no order of events, or set program . The workouts were " give and take " due to the sharing of apparatus. All teams worked sections or whole routines, both compulsories and optionals, in no particular order. It is always unfortunate that Canadians have such ·a rough time breaking into the higher scores. The hosting country took trememdous advantage in that the majority of e vents were German biased. The scores did not reflect a true comparison of routines between the 3 teams. We were glad that the German audiences did not accept our relatively poor scores as placidly as we did . Their audible reaction was our reward. And the German people were tremendously hospitable and organized in making our team most welcome. Munich is going to be the ultimate challenge! Rep~rt of 36th Canadian National Championships held at Calgary, Alberta May 19-21, 1972 The '72 Canadian Championships were attended by 104 competitors from si x pro vinces and officials from nin e. Unfortunat e ly there was no representation from Prince Edwards Island and the Yukon. Eastern competitors met in Toronto to join with the Ontario representati ves for a Transair Charter Flight to Winnipeg wh e re they were joined by the Manitoba contingent. The flight was conducive to a very friendly atmosphere as gymnasts and officials met and talked together "off the gym floor". Calgarians met the flight with true Western hospitality and soon all were tranported by bus and private car to the campus of the University of Calgary. Glamor and color was added to the meet by the attractive hostesses attired in red slacks, hostess ribbons, and Alberta white stetson who were assigned to each provincial team to provide information . Congratulations are due to the Calgary organizing committee on the excellent arrangements for the meet, on the fine equipment and to the technical committee for a well run competition. Results were produced soon after each days events and distributed to team coaches and rather reluctantly to national officers. The official banquet for the Championships was held at the Highlander Motor Inn , on Saturday . The excellent roast Calgary beef will long be remembered as a high light of the week end . Jim Jarrell chaired the meeting and officiated over the presentation of awards. Team Awards were presented by Mr. Dave Gabblehouse, Alberta Youth Recreation and Culture Department; Erna Wachtel, United States Gymnast ic Feder~tion. made presentations to the Junior Girls; Gail Davis, United States visiting judge, presented the Junior Men 's awards and Jackie Fie, United