1 he Santa Monica GYMFEST, a tradition. Santa Monica w ith out the Summer Beac h meet wou ld be a littl e lik e a pommel horse wit hout pommels or a balance beam that's off balance. But Santa Monica was not the on ly place that held a GYMFEST th is year and a ll you need to have a successfu l o ne is a little sand, a little surf (o r just some water) sturdy equ ipm ent and a lot of ent hu siastic gym nasts.
Belva Pierce and Mark Davis, two persona lities, wi helped make the Santa Monica GYMFEST memorab Santa Monica had plenty of energetic gymnasts. New first time "Gym festers" and " regu lars " were on hand to compe te, coac h, judge or just watch . And no Santa Monica GYMFEST wou ld be co mpl e te wit hout Mark Davis, who is close to being a legend in hi s own time. Winner of the hori zon ta l bar event and fiying rings d ismo unt compet iti on, one of the highlights was hi s television interview (T h e Gymfest was on th e NBC Sund ay Show). When as ked w ha t a" former SIU (Southern Illinois University) Student was do in g at the University of Iowa, Mark ca lml y sa id " Trying to graduate ." And w hen asked why sw in gin g ring compet ition has been e limin ated from modern day co mp et iti ons Ma rk said to the e ffect. " Too ma n y guys got smashed agai nst the gym wa ll s" . And when asked w hat h e wou ld do after he g rad uated. He merely sa id " Bum a ro u nd". It surpr ised the reporte r no t just a littl e bit but the inte rviewer came back q ui ck ly w ith ... " Mark, you ' re a man afte r my own hea rt. " C lass ic int e rview. And that abo ut sums up the GYM FEST, cas ua l, and yet live ly, funny and yet a t times ser io us and a tremendous amou nt of fun for eve ryo ne in vo lved.
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Fou nd a nother fund to start sav in g your pennies for, the World Ga mes, next October in Bulgaria. Granted it might take quite a few pennies but if you ' re int e rested co ntact Bill Coracy a t th e B&A Travel Agency, 715 So. University, Carbondale, Illinois. Acco rdin g to the USGF Newsletter thi s is th e place that wi ll be ar ra ngin g the cha rt er flight to the Games.
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Carrie Englert ... In 1968 a beginning gymnast. Now in 1973 a champion.
Carrie Englert...1973 Junior Olympic AIIAround Champion in the senio r division has a lot of fans in Florida/lt seems w he n Car ri e started gymnastics at the age of eig ht w ith the Tallahassee Tumbling Tots she was one of 500 tumblers w ho came fo r lessons o ne hour twice a week as part of th e city recreat io n prog ram . Appare ntl y she was not b lessed w ith natura l flexibility o r stre ngth a nd so the climb to th e top team was a lo ng, hard one. She plodded a long the prescribed cl asses from beginner to pre-intermediates to intermediates a nd th en finally to th e team but sti ll she wasn ' t considered c hamp io n material. But acco rdi ng to her coach Jun e (Gifford) Dussia it was her persistence and wi llin gness to wo rk extra ho urs a nd her constan t str ivin g for perfection t hat he lp ed her the most a long the way . Co ngratu lat ions Ca rri e a nd much cont inu ed success.
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Karin Ja nz retired? Yes appa re ntl y so. She w ill now be devot in g her time to studying medicine. East Germany's top gym n ast hopes to become a doctor a nd spec ial ize in treating athletes.
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Time to start planning a head fo r Ch ri stmas C li nics . So far the on ly ones we 've heard abo ut are the Tucson Clinic held at the University of Arizona, the Caravan of Camps clinic in Detroit, Michigan, the Eastern Gymnastic Clinic in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, a nd the a nnu a l clinic at the University of California, Berkeley. Gran ted that is quite a lew but not a ll of them. If yo u happen to know abo ut a cl ini c in your area please se nd us some informatio n or a t leas t a sma ll report w hen it ' s over. Thanks . New coac hes, new gyms .... .. . Seems the SCATS have a new coac h or rather a former ass istant coach who ra n hi s own c lub for awh il e in Burlinga me, California a nd now is back w ith the SCATS as new head coach. Dan Speraw is his name and a lready he has big plans for the team th is yea r in c lu d in g the SCATS Gym-Capa des, nu merous exh ib iti ons and of co urse mu c h compet iti o n. Anot her new gym was just b uilt thi s summer a t Schreiner College in Kerrville, Texas. The effo rt s of a sma ll group of aspiri ng gym nasts and severa l dedicated coac h es helped get not o nl y the new facility but new equ ipment has been o rd e red too and a " rea l" team is finally gett in g o rga ni zed. So if you ' re interested in knowing more about the p rogram contact: Geoff Stoner, P.O. Box 4422, Schreiner College, Kerrville, Texas 78028.
Patti Lanterman 1973 Junior Olympic Champion in the 13-14 age division. I'atti Lante rman has a few fa ns 01 he r ow n in her home state too. Only she lives quite a fe"w miles from Florida and her ho ,ne state is Washington w here she is coached by George Lewis and compe tes for Gymnastics Incorporated. She is thirteen years o ld a nd a ninth g rade r who wo n the all- aro un d title in th e 13-14 d ivision in the Junior Olympics and a lso took first in floor exerc ise. Not icethe li st of compet it ors in for m er Junior Olympics and yo u w ill see the names of many national c hamp ions and a few Olympians.
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Palo Alto, California (Home of Stanford, Steve Hug's sc ho ol) is the sit e of Gymnastics West a new gym c lu b headed by Roy Davis a nd Steve Drish. Instructior, for boys, g irl s, " tiny to ts" a nd ad ult s is offered as we ll as open gym a nd work-out tim e. So for more in fo rm a ti on wr it e to Roy Davis c/ o Gymnastics West, 120 Hawthorne Ave., Palo Alto, Calif.
An d for those readers in Florida. David Dunsworth of t he Orange County YMCA has moved from Dallas-Ft. Worth where he coached for 20 years to Orlando, Florida and plans to start a gym nast ics program in that a rea so co ntact him at 433 N. Mills Ave., Orlando, Florida.
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GYMNAST Nov. '73