Doug's Blog

November 03, 2008

We started west on September 30, 2008, stopping in Lansing, MI, where I talked with Dr. Larry Nassar, who reminded me that Neil Resnick is known for trying to teach with less spotting. Because Dr. Nassar is concerned with sports injuries (even to coaches!), he appreciates what less spotting can do to reduce a coach's chance of shoulder injuries. This is right in line with our philosophy, so I plan to talk with Neil on my way back to Michigan in November, to learn more. We stayed with Bob and Gretchen Bradley in Mequon, WI-Bob is my "business mentor."

At the M&M Gymastics in New Berlin, WI, I video recorded the clinic that Leonard Isaacs had with a group of top-level team girls on October 1. Leonard's presentation of 2.5 hours was well-received, and a brief summary of the girls' responses appears as a separate article in this month's newsletter.

At Chow's Gymnastics & Dance in Des Moines, Chow and his team of girls greeted us as we parked our car, welcoming us to Iowa. Chow offered several ideas for equipment. One is having a soft obstacle to vault over which would attach to the far end of vault table-an idea that Neil Resnick has been promoting for many years. Chow shared ideas about how he uses our products. He likes to use the 3 M Air Floor sideways for the athlete's feet to hit, when tumbling into the pit.

Hours after a 75-minute bicycle ride on hilly US 34 west of Lincoln, NE, which ended suddenly with a flat tire, we arrived in Atwood, KS. On Saturday morning, October 4, 2008 we did a clinic for the recreational kids of Creative Movements Gymnastics in Atwood, using Bungee mats and an Air Floor (see photo). The kids were good listeners, and had lots of fun on the Bungee products.

After a stop in Denver to visit a relative, and stay with a friend, we stopped to see Tom Forster of Aerials in Colorado Springs on Sunday, October 5. We discussed his bar training system, as well as some of Tom's other ideas. It is encouraging to see the innovation happening all over the country to improve the training of our athletes. That evening we had supper in Canon City, CO, with Wendy, who co-coached the tumblers of the Port Townsend Twisters with Doug last year. She's a college freshman in Pueblo, and a cheerleader there. The next day we made it to Black Canyon of the Gunnison for a short but great fall hike there. [Read More]

October 02, 2008

The Cheer, Tumbling and Gymnastics seasons are upon us. Some start earlier than others, but, with so many levels and ages, it seems to go on for, let's say, a long time. Best luck, with the competitions and the recreation programs. The Olympics sound like they are helping at least some areas, make up for the slowed economy. We are all looking for options and ideas to keep up the growth of our sports and businesses.

On September 10-12, Diana, Michelle (our newest employee), and I took a quick tour back over to Illinois and Wisconsin. We met with Patti Komara, owner and founder of Patti's All-American Gymnastics and her sister Sharon Fitzgerald, owner and founder of Tumble Bear Mobile Gymnastics, first. They are both based out of Dyer, Indiana. Patti has an awesome recreational program, as would be expected, and Sharon has the biggest and best mobile program. Patti and Sharon share their creative abilities to keep classes and curriculum fresh and fun, and are always looking for new ways to do so.

Sharon's mobile program is up to seven mini vans and will be visiting over 2200 students per week, in the near future. I still believe that the mobile program is an answer for many businesses to grow and reach the public that is less likely to drive their kids to a gym.

We went on to visit my friend Leonard Isaacs, Owner of American Academy of Gymnastics, in Wheeling, Illinois. We played with our new Bungee mats there, and his kids had a great time and helped up evaluate our efforts to upgrade and improve our concept of sealed air, tumbling and mat products. We keep discovering more applications for the Bungee mat, Bungee Block and the Bungee Ramp, almost daily.

Many of the uses for the Bungee products could not be done with any other product, which is what has kept me motivated to continue to work on them. I am proud to say that we are finally ready to bring out this product line. You can see some of the video clips of their uses on our training tips, which is growing by leaps, bounds and flips. Check it out.

Our third stop was to Andy and Jeanelle Memmels, M&M Gymnastics, in New Berlin, Wisconsin, also the home of Chellsie Memmel. Chellsie was off traveling the country with the Olympic Tour, and her foot is healing up fast. We had a play date with Andy's top level kids, and the skills they did using our Bungee mats was very nice to see. Andy thought of yet one more application for the Bungee mat, to help teach the toe rise on bars, from the low to high bar. We will be including this drill and others on our training tips soon. Michelle-can we put the clip in here??

We took the Lake Express Ferry (the fast one) back from Milwaukee to Michigan, on Friday, September 12. I am spending the rest of September trying to finish up projects since I will be heading west for a month, or so, after attending the region 5 mini congress, in Indianapolis, Indiana, September 26-28.

We will be meeting Leonard at M&M Gymnastics, October 1, to video record a clinic that he will present there, and I will be ready to share that in the near future. We will head west after that, and visit gyms in Iowa (Tumble Time, in Davenport, Chow's Gymnastics in West Des Moines), Kansas (Attwood Gymnastics, where my cousin, Kathy, and her family live), Tom Forster's Aerials Gymnastics, in Colorado Springs, Sunday, October 5, the same day the tour is in town, Don Gordon, in Springville, Utah, on Tuesday, October 7, and go on to Portland, Oregon for the region 2 mini congress that is at the MAC, on October 10-12.

We'll be in Port Townsend, Washington for about a month and then I may head East, again, to help prepare for the holiday sales that will include the Chellsie product line.

Enjoy the fall weather and best luck with the upcoming competition and business season.

Doug

September 11, 2008

Wow, what a month August was. For gymnastics the biggest news is, of course, the Olympics. The men's and women's teams did their country proud. The women had some challenges, but their grace in winning the Team Silver medal was evident. Nastia and Shawn were both magnificent, in All Around and Individual events. Chellsie had bad luck with here ankle injury, but still performed on bars, to help the team, and did it on a broken bone!

It may be news to some that the Chinese Women's Team's overall difficulty was more than two points higher than that of the USTeam. Remember, the Chinese women (or girls) did a great job!

NEW WEB PAGE: Tumbl Trak has launched a new web page that should be much more user friendly (although many people have told us the like the old one). For my part, I am proud to say that we are about to start a new, and improved training tips area, that will not only have the video that was on the old page, but, in the next weeks and months, I will be loading up hundreds of drills and skills for TUMBLING, BARS, BEAM, VAULT, as well as a special section for CHEER TUMBLING. Viewers will be able to click on Training tips, and then go to any Activity event), and within the activity, find a sub category of skills to review. For Example if you click on Tumbling, you can then decide to look at video of Round off drills, Back handsprings, whip backs, and many more. It is still a work in progress, but we are finally ready to share the hundreds of clips and many great ideas that coaches all over the country have been sharing with us.

New product line: The Mark of Memmel! From her stellar performance a the 2003 Pan American Games to her dedicated display at the 2008 Olympic Games, Chellsie Memmel has made her mark in the world of gymnastics. Now you can own a piece of history with the new Chellsie line of equipment from Tumbl Trak. Chellsie equipment includes the Jr. Training Bar, Chellsie Mats, and a Chellsie Beam all done in her signature color purple.

[Read More]

August 05, 2008

On July 2nd, I stopped by Chow's Gymnastics in West Des Moines, IA, home of Shawn Johnson our 2007 World AA champion and member of the 2008 Olympic team. The gym is dried out from the flooding that was so bad in Iowa in June. The whole community, in Chow's area, pitched in to help get the gym back up and going in a few days. [Read More]

June 30, 2008

Gymnastics news
The big June news for gymnastics included the USA Championships in Boston, June 6-8, USAG Congress in Philadelphia, June 19-22, and the Olympic trials, also in Philadelphia, June 19-21.

At Congress, Tumbl Trak gave away 270 of our new "Smart Sheets" (see photo of one in use), to gym owners who stopped by our booth. We ran out quick. These are just one example of some of the new ideas that Tumbl Trak has developed as part of our Smart Mat Technology.

At the Championships, Chellsie Memmel, M & M Gymnastics in New Berlin, WI, came back with a vengeance to seal third place and announce that she is not gone, at all. To her, Championships were a tune up for the Trials, and the Trials are a tune up for the Olympics. As many of you are aware, at Trials she placed third in all around, with 8 rock solid performances. The cardio sets mentioned last month must be serving her well, as she had plenty left to nail a 15.85 on her floor set in finals, at the Trials. Congratulations to Chellsie and her coach/dad, Andy! She has more skills to add, so keep an eye out for her at the Olympics. When she came to our booths, at Congress, there were 100 to 200 autograph seekers lined up for her.

I wish the best to Shawn Johnson, and her coach Liang Chow, of (Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West DesMoines, Iowa. They have had a difficult time with the major flooding that left a foot of water in the gym. Now up and running, the disruption didn't surface in the great performances that Shawn delivered at both the Championships and the Trials. I will be visiting their gym in Iowa soon, on my way to the Tumbling and Trampoline Nationals in Kansas City, Missouri, from July 2-6.

I will also be stopping by Al Fong's Great American Gymnastics Express Gym in Kansas City. His gymnast Ivana Hong is also in the hunt for an Olympic berth, and I wish them the best of luck. Al has a long history of preparing gymnasts for the Olympics, including Courtney McCool and Terin Humphery, for the 2004 Olympics.

Best of luck to all of the athletes who have worked so hard in their quest to represent the USA in the 2008 Olympics. We will have great teams for the women and the men.

Cheer news
In cheer, our big news is the very positive report that we received from Top Gun Allstars, of Naples, FL. John Bencomo, has been testing sections of our Air Cheer Floor, and his top elite men report that they are getting just as high on skills like whips to double fulls, on the Air Cheer Floor as on their spring floor. Other groups are testing out the Air Cheer Floor as we speak, to decide how soon it will be used in more Cheer competitions. We will have more reports and video, soon.

For all of you involved in camps for the summer, enjoy and have fun.

Doug

May 30, 2008

While I'm mostly adjusted back to Michigan, I was very pleased to hear that the Twisters Tumblers in Port Townsend, WA, won first place finishes for age 15 and over Level 7, and for 11-12 year olds in Level 5, as well as second place in age 15 and over Level 6 power tumbling, at their state meet May 10. At their Regional Meet on May 31, two of the girls placed first in their age groups for Levels 5 and 7 Power Tumbling. They also did well in Double Mini. From my perspective, it has been amazing how well they have done, without having access to the competitive surfaces-rod floor and a double mini during their training. Most of their tumbling training has been done on a 30-foot inflatable mat.

Because USAG Congress is in June this year, May was a very busy preparation month for it. So our only trip outside of the state was on the 15th to Wisconsin for a visit to M & M Gymnastics, home of Chellsie Memmel and family. We watched some of her afternoon workout, and also took some video of her younger sister, Skyler, and her teammates. Andy and Jeanelle filled us in a bit with their latest travels, and Andy explained the cardio sets she's doing daily (see article below). Chellsie is looking strong and deep in the hunt for the Olympic team gold. Best of luck to her and her family. I hope some of you can come and cheer for her at the trials in Philadelphia, as we will be. She will be competing at Nationals next weekend.

We have less than three weeks until the trials and Congress, and that is our main focus, especially since it's our 20th anniversary in the business. Chellsie has been part of Tumbl Trak, nearly from birth, since she started doing round off back handsprings on her own on an early Tumbl Trak, at age three and a half years. It's hard to believe she herself will be 20 years old, shortly after the trials. Chellsie will be at our booth area at the exhibition hall, at Congress to sign autographs, on Saturday, June 21, at 1:30 pm. If you are there, come and celebrate with us. We will be giving out a free gift to gym owners worth $30.

I hope to see you there.

Doug