USA Gymnastics Technique Magazine

Women's Gymnastics

TOPS Report

Gary Warren
USA Gymnastics

The 1995 Talent Opportunity Program (TOP) National Training Camp was held in Tulsa, Okla. at Tulsa World of Gymnastics. Seventy-three athletes ages 9-11 year old gathered for the fourth annual TOP National Training Camp. In general, the athletes showed progress in the program areas that were emphasized by the National Staff. The National Staff was extremely pleased with the improvement shown by the athletes and individual programs. The athletes were stronger, their body positions and alignments were better, and they all showed improvement in the dance areas. Of all of the events, only the Balance Beam appeared to be behind in improvement. The 11-year-olds trained an extra day to start work on the National Elite Testing Program. It was decided at the camp that the National Elite Testing Program will be integrated into the TOP program. An Ad Hoc Committee of Elite Program Committee members and National Staff members will be formed to review TOP.

For the second year in a row, the 9-11 year old National TOP Team was given a survey. The athletes were asked about their level of competition, number of years in gymnastics, number of years in gymnastics competition, number of hours they train each week. etc. The following is a short summary of results of the survey:

                                1994 Response   1995 Response
Level of competition            8.49             8.62
Years in gymnastics             5.46             5.76
Years in competition            2.85             3.42
Number of hours training/week   NA              22.69

At a recent Elite Program Committee meeting, it was decided that the medicine ball throw would be eliminated from Regional and National TOP Testing (see REPC minutes).

1996 TOP Calendar

For Regional information, please contact your Regional TOP representatives

Regional Elite Chairman and TOP Directors

Region I
Elite Committee: David McCreary, (916) 383-1778
TOP Director: Derrick Moellenbeck, (702) 355-7755
Region II
Elite Committee: Brad Loan, (206) 845-0910
Region III
Elite Committee: Tom Forster, (719) 260-1893
TOP Director: Scott Crouse, (817) 738-0688
Region IV
Elite Committee: Jim Chudy, (414) 549-3344
Region V
Elite Committee: Mary Lee Tracy, (513) 860-3082
TOP Director: Patrick Jordan, (513) 489-7575
Region VI
Elite Committee: Byron Knox, (203) 271-0279
TOP Director: Jay Villegas, (401) 884-2830
Region VII
Elite Committee: Gary Anderson, (301) 468-9181
Region VIII
Elite Committee: Ray Gnat, (407) 869-8744
TOP Director: James Linderholm, (205) 883-0566

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