GYMN-L Digest - 2 Sep 1995 to 3 Sep 1995

There are 8 messages totalling 251 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. HELP ME PLEASEEEEE !!!!!!!! (2)
2. visualization, dreams
3. Foreign gymnast competing NCAA's
4. sorry
5. height and weight
6. Aussie Worlds Trials
7. Weight and height...and other things, too

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Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 02:47:33 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: HELP ME PLEASEEEEE !!!!!!!!

Marianne:

I am making an assumption that you want to motivate people your age and older
to take up Gymnastics. While my example will hold true for younger folks,
the target market is different for young children--their parents! But I
understand your focus to be, say age 15 and up.

You will probably get a lot of input from our GYMN friends on things that
motivate folks to enjoy gymnastics as a sport or as recreation (key word--if
there were a quiz, I'd say "remember RECREATION, you'll see it again"). I'd
like to give you an intellectual stage upon which you can play with the other
responses you get, crafting them into a masterpiece for your educational
project. Here goes...

I suggest you get comfortable with a concept called "opportunity cost".
Basically, opportunity cost is "the value given up (or exchanged) for the
percieved or expected future value of a separate, mutually exclusive choice".
You'll find this term used most often in finance, but it is easiest to
demonstrate with people and relationships, because we make these decisions
all the time. We just don't recognize the lessons we can derive from being
observant of them.

Assume for the sake of discussion, that you have two friends, and they are
very different from one another: One, William, is an extraordinary artist,
and has a gift of being able to teach people to draw almost as well as he
can. You have always been good at visualizing things. Your doodling is
better than many folks' serious attempt at drawing, but you've had no
instruction. He says "Marianne, I am moving to Paris because my dad got this
new job, but not until the end of summer (2 months away). If you can give me
two hours, three days each week, I can have you drawing and painting anything
you see, almost as good as taking a picture!" Oh...and he's cute to boot!

Your other friend, Mary, is a national class equestrian competitor, but she
spends the summer at their family riding and training center 250 km from your
home. Her parents think you are a wonderful companion for Mary and they offer
you an opportunity to spend the summer. Your parents say it's ok, if you come
home three weekends during the summer. You've also dreamed, with longing, of
becoming a veteranarian. When you doodle, its almost always of
animals--especially horses. They have a vet on staff at their training
center, and you'll have lots of time...

Now, you like both these friends very much, but the two great choices you
have for the summer are mutually exclusive. What a pain! After much
agonizing, you choose to stay home with William, because you know that he's
leaving. Mary, after all, will return in the fall and perhaps there's a
chance her parents will let you visit next summer. You know you'll be an
outstanding artist by the time William must leave and, well, he IS cute!

The lost time and experiences with Mary represent the opportunity cost of
staying home and spending your summer with William. Was it worth it? Well,
the truth is, you will never really know. You see, even if the summer is
beyond anything you ever imagined, you don't know the worth of the time you
might have spent with Mary. Would it have made a difference in your choice
to know that Mary would fall from her horse during a ride in the woods and be
seriously injured? Of couse, you might rationalize that she'd have fallen
even if you were there...but... How about if she was riding too fast before
the fall in unsafe terrain...because she was angry and jealous over your
choice not to spend the summer with her? In otherwords, had you chosen
differently, she would never had tried to blow off steam and she'd be healthy
today? Every choice takes us on a different path than its competing options.
That is the hard truth that comes from age that young people rarely
understand.

Marianne, most kids today have so very many choices their parents might not
have had. Even RECREATIONAL gymnastics requires a certain commitment of time
to develop sufficient confidence and conditioning for one to get the reward
of feeling he/she is progressing enough to hunger for the next session. If
the other GYMNers provide gymnastic "turn-ons" for you that can be framed in
a way enticing to non-gymnasts, the secret to your success will be getting
your "Target Market" to make decisions that favor gymnastics over other
choices they face. Generally, people find it easier to make choices they see
as FUN. With a little poetic license, my dictionary defines RECREATION as
"structured activity pursued for the fun if it".

Make your target market "decide" on the expectation of more fun than other
choices open to them; find them a gym environment that delivers that
atmosphere consistantly and safely and you'll have them "flipping" over the
chance to get started.

Don

PS: I saw a T-shirt the other day made by "NO FEAR" sportswear you'll
appreciate. It said, "If you're not living on the edge...you're taking up too
much space".

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Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 15:14:44 BST
From: ***@CS.BHAM.AC.UK
Subject: Re: HELP ME PLEASEEEEE !!!!!!!!

Hi Marianne,

I agree with Don's arguments completely. Things I always use to entice people
into trampolining which could be used for gymnastics are...

1) Improves:
- Grace
- Flexibility (helps with the Karma Sutra (er... probably) :-) )
- Self esteem
- confidence
- balance
- fitness (uses certain muscle groups that are very hard to exercise
other ways).

2) Great for team atmosphere, and general socialising (does your club organize
social events Marianne? We have some absolutely wild parties - try playing
Twister with a load of intoxicated gymnasts, most amusing! This might not
apply if you're trying to entice kids, but a good one for students).

3) Conclusion - better than aerobics for fitness (only in certain ways, but
don't tell them that), great fun, and gives skills useful in all walks of life
(kind of), eg. ability to handle pressure.

Christian
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Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 08:16:25 -0200
From: ***@LSS.CO.ZA
Subject: Re: visualization, dreams

I do this often. At night before a competition or just before the routine
or move. I think it really works, or at least makes you more confident.
Helen.

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Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 13:16:22 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Foreign gymnast competing NCAA's

Stella Umeh competes now for UCLA and was in the 1992 Olympics for Canada.
Emily

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Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 16:33:20 -0700
From: ***@IX.NETCOM.COM
Subject: sorry

Sorry I am writing this to everyone but I need Patrice to e-mail
me because I lost his address and want to talk to him. Sorry! Bye!

Margi and Mardi :)

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Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 09:45:19 +1000
From: ***@STUDENT.GU.EDU.AU
Subject: Re: height and weight

> Anyway, has anyone else heard of an absolute cutoff weight for
> competing, without taking height and build into account? Or was I
> just "lucky" to find this wacko?!

In Australia, a part of the selection process for an Olympics or World
Championships is a skin fold test. I'm not sure what the fat percentage
is that you're not allowed to go over (I'm sure I have it written down
somewhere if anyone is that interested), but in 1992 there was a major
contraversy because a gymnast by the name of Tracey Gibbs was over the
allowed limit and sent home from the AIS. It was only made into a
contraversy because her mother thought that by telling the media about
it, Tracey may be allowed to continue training in Canberra. It didn't
work. She actually wasn't a big girl, certainly not in Shadbolt's league!
Tracey was never really a conderder for the Olympic team anyway. Though
her UB was good (2nd at 91 Nationals and 3rd in 92), her other events
weren't up to par.

Michelle

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Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 10:03:57 +1000
From: ***@STUDENT.GU.EDU.AU
Subject: Aussie Worlds Trials

Australia's World Champ trials were held over the weekend in Canberra.
I'm not sure if this is the only trial or part of a trials selection
process, since there have been conflicting media reports......

Anyway, the womens results were quite suprising. Commonweath Games gold
medalists Rebecca Stoyal and Salli Wills finished well outside the top 8,
and our most famous gymanst Joanna Hughes was only 5th. While the two 13
year olds, Nicole Kantek and Lisa Moro, who dominated at Nationals in
May, weren't even mentioned.

Top 4 womens placings were:

1. Ruth Moniz (AIS) 75.812
2. Kirsty Lee Brown (AIS) 75.5
3. Jenny Smith (WAIS) 75.337
4. Lisa Skinner (AIS) 74.9125

Lisa Skinner's placing was a huge suprise, considering this was her first
competition in over a year and a half, due to alot of injuries and
illness. She's 14 and Worlds will be her first international meet! (I
think this was her first senior competition, her last meet was 94 Junior
Nationals where she was only 10th AA)

Michelle

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Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 19:38:02 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Re: Weight and height...and other things, too

Date sent: 3-SEP-1995 19:35:20
Hiya, all. I have returned. Just caught the tale end of the argument
regarding weight and height being listed at competitions. Personally,
the weight doesn't seem to bear any purpose, but I enjoy seeing how
tale gymnasts are, just to see how they relate to others and how their
skill level varies as a result.

Also, I wrote up a preview for the 1996 Olympic team. If it is mutally
agreed upon that people would like to read it, I will type it in. It's
rather long, so if ya want to read it, lket me know. Otherwsie, I am not
going to bother.

Finally, good luck to all who are participating at trials this upcoming
weekend.

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 2 Sep 1995 to 3 Sep 1995
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