Another One for the Card
It was another successful year for Stanford Athletics! Wanted to say a quick congrats to the University for once again winning the Director’s Cup. The Director’s Cup is awarded to the college with the best overall athletic program (they tally up the points for all sports at each of their the national championships), and this is Stanford’s 17th straight!
Director's Cup!
Even though I graduated a couple of years ago, I’ve been following Stanford athletics pretty closely, and it’s great to see that the excellence is continuing!
Check out the article here.
Thanks for the Contribution!
Wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone that contributed and donated to the Japan Relief Fund! After doing some fundraisers at this year’s Norcal State Championships, Region 1 Championships, and various clinics, I was able to collect a total of $550.76!
The other day, I found this in the mail.
Thank you letter from the Consul General of Japan
It was a thank you card from the Consulate General of Japan, and said that the money will be sent to the Japanese Red Cross. I know that it’ll take time, but I hope that they’ll be able to rebuild quickly and for the people that were affected to be able to return to their normal lives again. The Japanese are a resilient group of people. And, with the help of people around the world, I’m sure that they’ll be back stronger than ever before. Go Japan!
Crazy Times
The last couple of weeks have been slightly crazy. On the gymnastics side, I’ve been continuing to raise the intensity and pushing to get stronger. With some big competitions coming up, now is the time to push myself to get to that next level. However, it’s important that I do so in a smart manner. Despite telling myself that, I had a minor accident the other day when I slipped off of the horse and jammed my knuckle into the equipment. I kept telling myself to be extra careful as I was feeling fatigued, but unfortunately it happened. Sometimes these things are unavoidable, especially as athletes, we are always pushing ourselves to the limit. Luckily I walked away with a bruised/jammed knuckle and nothing more. I’ll most likely play it easy for the next couple of days but I’m glad that it wasn’t anything more serious.
On the work end, I’ve started a new position! I’m still working for the same company but now I have a different title, which means I also have s0me different responsibilities. Definitely glad that I’m able to switch things up a bit! Although managing time between training and work can be slightly difficult at times, it’s really nothing I can’t handle. When I look back to my college days, things were much tougher, especially when I was taking an upward of 16+ units a quarter.
Despite the busy-ness, I feel that having work outside of gymnastics is a good thing. I believe that a good balance with anything is important, and this is no different!
The Votes are In..
…and this year’s World Championships will continue to be in Tokyo!
After discussing the post earthquake/tsunami condition in Japan, the FIG finally decided that it would be safe enough for the Japanese Gymnastics Association to continue and host the World Championships in October.
Frankly, I would’ve been pretty upset if the competition got handed to a different country. From what I’ve heard from friends and relatives in Japan, there is currently nothing wrong in Tokyo. People are going about their daily lives and no radiation effects are present in that part of the country.
I’m glad that Japan will be able to play host to the World Championships. It’ll be a great morale booster for the Japanese people, especially after what they’ve been having to deal with over the last couple of months.
I’m currently busting my tail with the hopes of being part of the US team!
2011 Worlds in Japan!
By the way, I found the above picture to be funny. I first saw it on my friend’s facebook page. The funny part about it is that it shows the Golden Pavilion which is located in Kyoto, a city that takes several hours to get to from Tokyo even by riding the bullet train. It’s almost like showing the Statue of Liberty for a competition that’s going to be held in San Francisco 
Ten Inch Beam?
I know that some of the stuff that they show on ABC Family’s Make It or Break It isn’t completely accurate and doesn’t depict the true nature of gymnastics, but I found this one to be pretty ridiculous.
One of my friends this out. In one of the scenes, a girl is seen performing on a ridiculously wide beam. My eyes could be playing tricks on me (the girl could’ve had ridiculous small feet) because the picture itself is pretty small, but if it is in fact a wider-than-normal beam, then the camera shouldn’t have focused on her feet.
10-Inch Beam!
What do you guys think?
The Bears are Back!
I know that this is old news by now but I thought that I should make a quick mention because I did a couple of posts about this a while back.
For those of you that didn’t know, community and family members were able to raise enough funds to get Cal Men’s Gymnastics reinstated! Now all five teams (I think it was five) that initially got cut from UC Berkeley’s athletic program are set to return, and men’s gymnastics will be back for their 100th season! Huge thanks to the people that donated, spread the word, or simply prayed for their return. This is great news for everybody in the gymnastic community. I feel especially happy for the youngsters that’ll have Cal as one of their options for college.
Cal Men's Gym Team
I understand that their fight is not over yet. The current amount raised will only get them through the next eight years or so and they’ll need more funding if they wish to keep it running. For those interested in helping out, check out Cal Gymnastics Forever.
Far West Rice!
Far West Rice is the official rice supplier for Sho Nakamori!
My official rice supplier - Far West Rice!
As an Asian that grew up with rice in pretty much every meal of the day, rice is a necessity in my life. For some reason (I don’t know the science behind this) I seem to get the most energy out of rice compared to other carbohydrates. It’s definitely my source of life.
Fortunately over the last few years, I’ve become good friends with Steve Ross, who works for a rice production company called Far West Rice. Steve is also the boy’s head coach at Oroville Gymnastics, which is how I got to know him. Anyway, all of us in the NorCal gymnastics community has become a huge fan of his rice.
Big thanks to Steve and FWR for keeping my rice bowl full! For info on their products and their special green technology they use to mill their rice check out their site here.
Sign of Hard Work!
Huge apologies to everybody that regularly check into my website! I’ve been really bad about uploading new posts as lately I’ve been super busy both in and out of the gym.
My work outside of the gym has ramped up over the last week or so. I’ve been so busy that I find myself constantly on the computer if not at practice.
Inside the gym, I’ve been gradually ramping up the intensity. With summer right around the corner, it’s now the time to start preparing for some competitions again! For the last couple of months I’ve been playing it careful by nursing some old injuries, while learning some new skills. However, I’ve been working to switch over to that different mode.
Interestingly, I’ve come to associate hard work with some pain (both mental and physical). Obviously I don’t go and purposefully inflict pain on myself, but I do get that sense of satisfaction when I come home beat up and sore from training.
Recently, pommel horse has been giving me a good beating. I know at first glance it doesn’t look to be dangerous. The pommel horse is close to the ground and we don’t perform and flipping skills on it. But every single time we clip the horse with our legs, we’re left with cuts and bruises. I think the perfect way to describe my shin nowadays is that it looks like a battlefield!
Cut, bumps, and bruises are all part of training!
Gotta get through these tough trainings though! There’s no way around it!
Keep Worlds in Tokyo!
The recent earthquake and tsunami that wrecked northern Japan about six weeks ago is taking effect in the gymnastics world as well. It’s been planned for a while that Tokyo is supposed to host the World Championships this year, but with all that’s happened, the FIG (the governing body of gymnastics) is considering moving it to another site. Personally, I’d hate to see this happen. Especially since I’ve been working hard with the hopes of competing in Japan again. The last time I competed there was in 2009 at the Japan Cup, which was the same meet that I injured myself at. This is one of the reasons why I wish that they allow Tokyo to host the meet. I would love to have another shot at showing a good performance in Japan.
Not to mention that all of my relatives and a bunch of my friends are out in Japan! It’d be awesome to be able to compete in front of them again!
Japan - World Championship Logo
As for the general people in Japan, this will be a good opportunity to boost their morale after going through such a devastating incident. To get people from all over the world for the World Championships in one place and at one time will definitely be a great thing for the Japanese people.
A good friend of mine, Aki, did some translation work in a recent article on IG regarding this situation (good work Aki!). Check it out here. I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll keep Worlds in Tokyo!
Check out the promo video for Worlds below:
(I’m slightly confused by the lady standing in the field during the middle of the montage…)
My Visit to the Sakura Matsuri
It’s mid-April, the weather’s warming up, and the flowers are blooming. So, what does this mean? It’s cherry blossom viewing time! In Japan, this is the time of the year when families and company groups will go out to the park for picnics under big cherry trees. Unfortunately we don’t have this custom in the US. But what we do have is the annual Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Matsuri) at San Francisco Japan town. Given that I had nothing going on this weekend, I decided to go check it out. See pics below:
One booth was selling dolls and characters made out of felt. I don't think that this was on sale but this picture is of a human-sized Tottoro!
Cosplay people in the parade - I definitely saw multiple pikachus and final fantasy characters.
A guy on a huge mikoshi (float). Sorry for the two guys wearing the g-string. It's tradition in Japan for guys to be wearing this type of outfit at a festival. Over twenty people were carrying the float. I can only imagine how heavy it was with the two guys and the sake barrels on the float!
With tons of food booths and cultural performances, it turned out to be a fun day. It was very fitting to have such an event at this time, and for the people come and show support for Japan with what happened to the country in the recent earthquake and tsunami devastation.
