Cool Gym Tricks
Whenever I’m jetlagged I usually find myself watching a lot of youtube videos.
Well last night I found a pretty sweet gymnastics video full of original skills (caution: the music is kinda weird so maybe mute it).
Some of the skills are long gone from the code like doing circles in a straddle position (not flaired) or doing flips before blocking off the vaulting horse. I think that roll-out skills are banned for girls also.
Anyway check it out:
Back Home
After a 9 hour flight from Japan, I’m back home. While Japan was fun it’s definitely nice to be back in California. Even though I miss the food it’s just plain hard to beat the Cali weather. It’s so nice and cool here.
The first thing I did when I got back was go see the doctor about my knee. Unfortunately getting the MRI got pushed to tomorrow so I won’t exactly know what’s up with it. For the time being, the doc gave me a knee brace…I feel like the bionic man.
Jet lag is killin me but I’m trying to stay awake. Time to get back to my normal schedule. Focus = Training!
Japan Cup '09 – Farewell Party
Yesterday all of us went to the arena to cheer on Danell and Steve for the all-around final. It’s definitely tough on the body when you have to compete two days in a row. Your body takes a pretty good beating each time you compete but Danell and Steve both did a great job finishing 7th and 10th, respectively. As I said before, since we are a young team there is a lot that needs to be learned, however, this competition was definitely a great experience for all of us. There’s no doubt in my mind though that all of us will use this meet as motivation when we get back to our own gyms.
After the competition, all the participants, including the athletes, coaches, etc etc went to a farewell party. The party took place at a yacht club which was about 40 minutes from our hotel. Again, the Japanese delegation did an awesome job with all the accommodation and being hospitable. Not only was the venue really nice but that food was also really good (actually not that surprising considering any kind of food is good here)!
US Team @ the banquet
The party was fun because all the athletes from all participating countries were able to get together and just hang out. I always find it cool that we can become good friends even though we are always very competitive on the competition floor. I guess this is something that they call “friendly rivalry.” When I really think about it, it’s hard not to become good friends because we all have so much in common.
Left - Kohei Uchimura (Olympic All-Around silver medalist), Right - Koji Yamamuro
Right - Zhang Jing, Right - He Kexin (Olympic Gold medalist on Uneven Bars)
Right - Fabian Hambuchen (World Champion on High Bar)
Anyway, we leave tomorrow to go back to the states. First thing I’m gonna do when I get back is go to the doctor to get my knee checked. Even though it’s a bit stiff, I’ve been able to stand so I’m hoping it’s nothing too serious. I’ll just keep my finger crossed for now!
Stanford Student-Athlete Panel
Today I served on a student-athlete panel that discussed and shared about the different experiences we’ve had at Stanford. There were five of us and we basically talked to the coaches in the room about why we chose to come to Stanford, what our most memorable experiences was, and various things that we thought could be improved to make the experience of future student-athletes better. Truthfully, I couldn’t find all the much that I would change about this place. Stanford is absolutely awesome because it’s an institution that combines great athletics with excellent academics. And really, how can you top the nice weather we have in California?
The whole thing lasted about an hour and we broke off to have lunch at the picnic tables. It was fun talking with some of the other coaches as we don’t get that many opportunities to do so. Right now I’m hoping that I didn’t eat too much because I’m going to need to work out in a little bit…
School = Done
I finally submitted my last paper late last night. It’s an awesome feeling to know that I will never have to turn in another assignment as an undergrad. With that said, there are many things I need to catch up on. Here are the top 5:
- Sleep (I’ll probably need to sleep at least 11 hours the next 3 days to pay off my sleep debt)
- Movies (there’s a bunch of movies out that I haven’t been able to watch)
- TV shows (same as above)
- Reading (haven’t been able to read anything for fun lately…only textbooks)
- Seeing friends (it’ll be good to catch up with some good friends)
The good news is it’s summer. I’ll be training a bunch but I’m also hoping to be able to do the things I’ve listed above!
Prom at Children's Hospital
I forgot to mention that last Friday I volunteered at the Stanford children’s hospital for their annual “prom” party. It’s an event that the hospital hosts every year for the kids in the hospital who cannot attend their own prom because of illness. It was great as the event was not only open to high school kids but kids of all ages. The prom was a little different in that they had a theme for it, which was pirates! While the older kids wore tuxedos and dresses, it was fun to see the younger ones dressed as little pirates.
After talking to some of the kids, I learned that a few of them were battling some serious illnesses. I thought it was amazing that despite all of the things they have to go through, these kids are so positive about everything in life. Having contact with these kids was inspiring and definitely put my life in perspective. I realized that although there may be some struggles in life, I should always keep pushing on because there are always others in the world that have to deal with more serious things.
Anyway, I was glad I was able to help out with this event. The party was awesome and being able to see all the kids having fun was definitely the best!
Delirious Gymnastics
So today was a day of delirious gymnastics. It usually happens during finals week when I can only get a few hours of sleep. I guess it’s normal though for a student-athlete. Either way, I was rather surprised since I was able to get through the training assignment ok. Of course this is not the most ideal way to get through practice but it’s crazy to see how much your body can handle even when you might be tired. While it’s finals week, it’s important that I don’t slack off because we have a national training camp coming up very soon.
Good news is that I’m almost done with my work. After this, there will be no more pulling all-nighters! All I have to do is revise my papers really quickly and submit them. After I click “send,” I will forever be done with my undergraduate studies at Stanford! Almost there!
Stay Strong Huskers
It looks like Francis Allen, the long time head coach at the University of Nebraska is retiring. I just wanted to mention this because Francis has been a big part of my life as a gymnast. I might even consider him one of my “grandfathers” since I’ve known him ever since I started the sport. Yay to Francis for doing so much for men’s gymnastics.
While all of this must be exciting for Francis (he gets to kick back and relax now), it looks like the gymnastics team at the University of Nebraska is faced with some trouble. From what I hear, it seems as though the school is thinking about dropping its men’s gymnastics program. I can’t begin to say how terrible this would be for collegiate gymnastics. After all, there’s only 18 universities left that supports men’s gymnastics. This will also be bad for the conference that Stanford competes in (the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) because Nebraska is one of the four teams that competes against us.
Unfortunately, this type of thing has been going on for a while. After all, MIT dropped their gym program just this year. It’s sad thinking that 30 years ago, almost every school had a gymnastics program. It’s also scary to think that pretty soon, NCAA gymnasts might become endangered athletes. I guess all I can do now is cross my fingers and just hope that the situation for men’s collegiate gymnastics will improve…
Raj's New Skill
Looks like my teammate on the US National Team, Raj Bhavsar, just added a new skill to the Code of Points.
From my understanding I thought that a new skill had to be done at either the World Championships or the Olympics to get it named but it looks like the rules may have changed. From what I hear, it seems like a person can get a skill named after himself if the FIG (International Federation of Gymnastics) simply approves it.
Anyway, Raj successfully completed this never-before-seen skill at a World Cup competition held just recently in Moscow. The skill was given an “E” rating. From my point of view, a gymnast will need to be super quick twitched in order to be able to complete the skill. Therefore, it’ll be interesting to see how many people will actually compete this in the future.
As for me, I think I’ll pass on trying this trick because I feel that I’ll completely miss the bar and wreck myself. Major props to Raj though. I’ve gotta say, it’s a really cool looking skill.
Up, Up, and Away
Thank you all for checking out my website. Today is the first day that it’s up under www.shonakamori.com (it was under wordpress.com for the last week or so). Since it is still new, there may be some stuff that I need to tweak but I feel that for the most part the website should be good to go.
I’ll be updating my blogs periodically so please check back regularly. I’m also hoping to add new pages to keep you guys on your toes.
Anyway, I’m still in the midst of finishing up my final exams. I’m hoping to knock out all my papers by this weekend though so I can get back and focus on training. In terms of the next big gymnastics event, I leave for another national team camp in about three weeks. This will serve as preparation for the Japan Cup in July, so I’ll need to be in top shape for this.
Alright, time to hit the books again…I’m hoping that the caffeine in my Coke will help me stay alert as I still have quite a ways to go with my school work!
