Doug's Blog

June 02, 2009

5/2-Saturday: I stopped at Jill Hill's Southern Oregon Gymnastics Academy in Medford, OR on my trip to California and Utah. They had read in my earlier blog that I'd visited the Ashland-Medford area and emailed me to stop by the next time I was in their vicinity. They had just put in their first in-ground, loose-foam pit, so we played in it and on the floor with my Bungee products.

5/4-Monday: I had a nice visit at Woodward West in Tehachapi, CA; talked with Andy Timm and showed him some of the Tumbl Trak products that will be at the Summer Gymnastics Camp there. I also stopped at Dean & Julie Archer's Perfect 10 Gymnastics, which has two gyms near each other in Tehachapi. I worked with their boys' team. Their oldest son is graduating from high school and he was coaching the boy's team and other classes for the summer. They were very interested in the Bungee products.

5/5-Tuesday: I arrived at Don Gordon's in Springville, UT after a long drive. We had a good discussion about developing equipment that is less expensive and is still quite versatile.

5/6-Wednesday: I found my way to Chad Babcock's Tumble Time Gymnastics in Boise, ID. He had a recreational gymnastics class, followed by a cheer group, then a crazy-kids-snowboard-class! It was fun to watch them flipping around the gym, using all kinds of stations.

5/7-Thursday: On my way back to WA, I returned to Steve Roney's program in Hood River, OR. This was probably my 3rd visit to Steve's this year, and I always enjoy it! I watched his kids test out a new product-an "air log," and saw one girl do a back walk-over on it. Lots of thigh-bounce to handstand using a floor bar-all over the gym!

5/14-16: Tumbl Trak's booth at JO Nationals in Puyallup, WA displayed Bungee Mat and Air Floor products. It was good to see old friends like Andy Memmel, Dale and Phyllis Hardt, Jack Nettesheim, and Greg LaFleur who are all from WI.

5/19- Tuesday: At the GK Gymplex in Fort Collins, CO, I had a nice visit with Gene, Lorraine, and Andy Koehnke, who were all at the JO nationals the weekend before. This gym is a very creative place! Lots of great drills.

5/21- Thursday: After traveling through Nebraska, and an overnight in Lincoln, I made it to Blue Springs, MO (near Kansas City), to see what was going on at GAGE. Al Fong had his team ready to evaluate how our products can enhance vault training. We figured out how to strap a portable vault station (using a foam base block with the Jr. Bungee Block and the Bungee Ramp on top) to his rod floor strip. We also strapped a Launch Pad on one of his vault tables. The kids did great on both stations.

5/25- Monday: After a few days of rest in Palestine, IL, Diana and I drove to Crossville, TN on Memorial Day to visit Flipfest camp. We set up some of the equipment that will be in use during the 11 weeks of gymnastics camp, then will be for sale after the camp.

5/27- Wednesday: On my return to Michigan, I went through Indianapolis, and stopped at Sharp's Gymnastics. Marvin will be at Woodward Camp in PA during June 10-17, and will have Olympians Bridget Sloan and Samantha Pezek at Flipfest Camp in TN during July 6-10. I headed back to the office, in Michigan, where I hope to stay for most of the summer. I need to finalize our newest products, which will be in our next catalog, and get into my bicycle training for the next 13 months. I plan to be in shape to ride the STP (Seattle to Portland ride) in 2010, in under 11:30 hours--it's 200 miles. I will be 60 then, and these goals keep me young.

Happy summer to all, and teach and learn lots of new elements and ideas. Doug

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