operate merely as one of several private athletic associations in the United States." The review made no mention of the AAU domination of the USOC. Reacting to the news of the NCAA withdrawal from the USOC, AAU president John B. Kelly Jr., said, " It doesn' t surprise me too much. Walter Byers (NCAA Executive Director) would like to be cza r of all amateur spo rt in this country and has been frustrated in this attempt." The widespread publicity focused upon mismanagement of US athletes at the 1972 summer Olympic Games in Munich may have set the stage for action on the NCAA demands. With the US garnering fewer medals than usual, the perennial question , " Why?", and the perennial answer, " Because the US Olympic Committee ... .," will not so readily be hidd en away. At the same time we find the USOC under fire in this co untry, the Internationa l Olympic Committee has been under fire abroad from many nations, notably the Iron Curtain countr ies for much the same reasons. The IOC has catered to National Olympic committees to such an extent that the International sports federations have had little vo ice in the organization . The federations have been arguing that they have the developmental programs and that they arrange the competitions at the Olympic Games and that they deserve representation with more than a voice on the IOC. To this end, the General Assembly of International Fed erations was formed. The GAIF has sought to take part in deciding questions concern ing the holding and organization of the Games--the site, supervision of technical condit ions, the drafting of the programs of competit ion, the distribution of revenues from the Games, and th e improvement of adj udication procedures. Thus far, the IOC has taken little notice of the GAIF and has taken advantage of the lack of . leadership in the GAIF and rifts w ithin the International federations, some of wh ich are not GAIF affil iates. More than 40 years ago the last Congress of the IOC was held in Berlin . At that meeting the definiti<;>n of amateurism was discuss~d and the emergence of the earliest I nternational sports federations was noted . The nine Congresses which had met to that time had always grapp led w ith topical problems of the times and their discussions led to decisions which furthered physical education and sport throughout the world. The IOC was slatEd to hold a Tenth Congress in 1971. It never materialized . Now, apparent ly it wi ll be held in 1973, probably in Bulgaria. It is to be hoped that Lord Killian , new IOC President, wi ll lead the deliberations with new courage and that some new balance of power will emerge between the National Olympic committees and the International sports federations . Su ch a meetin g, beset with problems of its own, can hardly hope to produce results to ease the problems faced· within the United States. Yet the parallels are strikingly similar: administering bodies governed by a powerful old guard, secrecy, lack of cQoperation with sports federations, jurisdictional disputes, the definition of amateurism, and the like. In the meantime, the NCAA has apparently decided to by-pass the IOC and the USOC to make a splash in a new International arena. To this end the US Collegiate Sport Council has
been establi shed with Frank Bare as its fulltime executive director to engineer participation in the 1973 World University Games in Moscow (August 15-25). The US will field 9 men's teams and 7 women 's teams. The USCSC is charged with team and coach selection, training camps, fund raising, and travel to and participation in the Games. The games are sponsored in alternate years by the International Federation of University Sports. (FISU). It wi ll be of considerable interest to the athletes, coaches organ izat ions and var iou s regional athletic conferences to obse rve how democratically the USCSC operates with respect to the charges entrusted it by the NCAA. Among the most cr itical areas will be those of women's team se lections and the aspect of fund raising. From early reports given at the USGF Congress, it agai n sounds as if a small sports committee will make all the decisions in each sport and that the USCSC will approve all of these for the 700+ members of the NCAA . I hate to sound pessimistic but this sounds about like where I came in nearly 10 years ago when the NCAA was setting up the USGF (and other sports federations) to assume a leadersh ip role in our national sports programs. Having failed to make any headway in the USOC and the IOC, we're now headed off to the FISU 's greener pastures and the " new Olympics", the World University Games. Can sports politics be less comp licated there? I doubt it, but the NCAA wil l have no other direction to turn should they fail to make this option work. BOOK REVIEWS by Dick Criley WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS FOR PERFORMERS AND COACH 1972 by Pauline Prestidge. Published by Faber and Faber, 3 Queen Square, London , WC1 N 3AU, England. 121 pages, L."iU pounds. Mrs. Prestidge is will"known as the leading coach of women ' s gymnastics in Great Britain and has authored many articles and books on the subject (See Book Reviews, Modern Gymnast, Dec. 1971 ). This little book, while aimed particularly at the coach, has several qualitites which make it appea ling to the ·gymnast. H er Pen has lucidl y described the essenti~1 qualities of a gymnast: body awareness and contro l, suppleness, strength, stamin a, coordination and timing, amplitude and courage. These are qua liti es which one must explain time and time again when asked, "What is gymnast ics and what does it do for you?" A set of warm-up exercises is presented to aid suppleness and st rengt h. A section on ballet exercises has been included to improve poise and elegance as well as strength and bod y awareness. The need for correctness is emphasized and the main exercises are illustrated to show correct positions. Each of the Olympic events is allocated a chapter or more and basic and esse·ntia l skills are described. Not every move is presented , of course, but a pretty good sampl in g is found. The gymnast who reads this book will benefit especial ly from desc rip tions of the feel of a move. The phrasings are those of someone who knows not only how a move is supposed to be performed but also which muscles are involved and the feel ing the gymnast should have in doing it.
Helpful hints in progressions, composition , and construct ion of exercises are included. The draWings are excellent and Jim Prestidge's photographs of gymnasts in action are also illustrative. The terms used appear to be those generally approved in Britain , the U.S., and Canada, so there should be not difficulty in following t he progressions. The book concludes with sets of training plans for different age groups for different frequencies of meeting per week. I suppose my main criticisms would be that it is not a book for the novice coach and its hints on spotting are somewhat scattered. Some of the best spotting hints are to be gained from • . the photographs where one picture is indeed worth several paragraphs of explan ation. The final chapter on history seems to be more of a nod to the PE history requirement than any really extensive effort to inform. It is a little difficult to decide just where this book fits in. Advanced coaches may want it to include in their libraries but will also find Mrs. Prestidge's philosophies of value. The PE teacher who has had only her co llege gymnastics course will undoubtedly find this of value as reference. And then there are all those m en in the women ' s coaching rankswho know their mechanics and spottin g well but who may still benefit from the observations of an experienced woman coach writing about women's gymnastics. I would recommend this book for its highly readable style, knowledgeable presentation , and $5.00 price tag . REBOUND INTERNATIONAL Edited by Bob Bollinger. Published by Rebound International, In c., 1915 Knowlton St., Rockford , Illinois, 61102. Frequency : 8 issues / year. Subscription : $12.00/ year. Although our review appears some months after Rebound International's appearance, we of the GYMNAST staff welcome a new magazine and its editor, Bob Bollinger. RI is devoted to t he sport of rebound tumbling or trampolining as it is more fami liarl y known in the U.S. RI covers major news items conce rning trampolining and tumbling with International correspondents including England ' s Ted Blake (Editor of LIFT -- Li aso n International for Tumbling), Kurt Baechler, Sid Aaron , and Ron Froehlich and U.S. co lumnists Bill Copp (AAU Trampoline Ch .) and Ron Munn and Wayne Miller (USTA) . In addition, RI discusses developmental programs, reports major competitions, and publishes "controversial " articles. In the first issue, for examp le, the F.I.T. was challenged to become more representative and democratic, and a story on Alexandra Nicholson revealed how she had been subjected to old fashioned sports politicking with in the U.S. trampoline community. Rebound. International also plans tumbling articles and has started a series on mini -tramp which included competiton rules and difficulty ratings on mini-tramp skills. In itia ll y, it appears that the USTA and AAU are being cooperative in developing the sport of trampolining. If ed itor Bollinger is ab le to carry out his announced policies, he will keep open lines of communicat ion whi ch have broken down in the gymnastics community .. We wish you well Bob and applaud your efforts to re-establish trampoli ne and tumbling in all their varied forms in this country. 9