By Michele Pink
The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.
Honestly, where do I start? To be fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to chat with Valerie Kondos Field has been an absolute highlight of my life. And more importantly being able to share this with you, our calisthenics community. Whether you are coach, pupil, parent, business leader, whatever, you will take so much away from this podcast that you can instil into your life. Her philosophies and approach to life has literally changed the way I now look a lot of things, and most definitely, as we are about to embark back on our training for 2021; change the way I intend to coach and interact with our dancers. "Life is about choice, and the choices you make will dictate the life you lead" is a quote you will often hear throughout this podcast and one that Miss Val (as she is affectionately known by her gymnasts) vehemently instilled in her athletes. Her reputation for teaching valuable life lessons, while encouraging individuality and joy is only one reason 46 former US national team members came through her program and why half of the last two Olympic teams committed to UCLA.
Miss Val has since retired as head coach of the UCLA woman gymnastics team, however, under her leadership, they achieved seven NCAA Championships, 22 regional and 18 Pac 12 Championships. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010, four-time "National Coach of the Year", West Region Coach of the Year and Pac 12 Coach of the Century. WOW! If that is not seen as an impressive testament to coaching, I don't know what is!
Miss Val's many other credits include choreographing and directing many live variety shows and 26 years of cirque-type shows for SeaWorld's Summer Nights and the San Diego Zoo. Current projects include additional live stage shows, TV specials, events, and the development of a theatrical musical, plus the post-Olympic "Gold Over America Tour" featuring an all-star team of female gymnastics champions, headlined by Simone Biles and also featuring Katelyn Ohashi.
I came to know of Miss Val through her book 'Life is Short, Don't Wait to Dance.' This book captured me from the first sentence. It was one I couldn't put down. I have now purchased a copy for each of our coaches at Rosemore because I want them to develop into the best possible coaches they can be and to have the opportunity to learn from one of the world's greatest coaches.
During the podcast, you will hear me talk about a poster I developed called 'Miss Val-isms". It is a collection of some of her quotes from the book, especially the ones I loved. I created this so I could put it up in my office and remind myself daily not only what impact I can have on others' lives, but to help me make better decisions to choreograph the life I want to lead. At the end of the podcast, you will hear Miss Val talk about an organisation she supports called the Refuge. This is an organisation that assists in the recovery of girls rescued from sex traffickers. Profits that Miss Val makes from sales on her website go to the Refuge, which is fantastic. To help support Miss Val and the team at the Refuge, we have put a pdf copy of the poster up on our website under "ABOUT>DONATIONS". If you would like a copy, we ask that you make a donation, all of which we will send to Miss Val to pass onto the team at The Refuge. Even $5.00 will make a difference, so please get behind this cause, every little bit counts, and if we can help impact the lives of these girls, then that's our way of paying it forward.
So now sit back, relax and enjoy what is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear from the beautiful and absolutely inspiring Miss Val.
Miss Val-isms Poster
https://www.rosemore.com.au/donate/
Miss Val's Website
https://officialmissval.com/
Nutrition has always been a passion of mine, even as a young girl, which is why I chose a career Dietetics. However, my work has predominantly been in adult nutrition, in particular obesity management. So when I started to see some of our young calisthenics performers struggling with their nutrition and even my own teenage kids. I thought I better bring in the expert.
Today we are super lucky to have on the podcast today Sam Armstrong, a dietitian specialising in teen nutrition. Sam loves working with adolescent athletes, she loves their passion when they talk about their sport, their drive when it comes to their dreams, but most of all they transport her back to when she was an adolescent athlete herself.
Sam loves to help athletes achieve what she couldn’t. As an athlete, Sam was on track for great things. She was a National level swimmer, with scholarship offers to the USA - all of which all fell away when she developed an eating disorder (in conjunction with undiagnosed coeliac disease and anaemia). By the time she got these issues seen to, years later she was an adult and it was too late. She clawed her way back to Olympic and Commonwealth Games trials, but never got the Green and Gold tracksuit.
These days Sam runs her own business and has been doing this for 3 years where she has worked with some major teams such as the Brisbane Lions, East Leagues Football Club and Nudgee College to name a few. She has also worked individually with multiple Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Her niche is working with older children and teens and she has a keen interest in adolescent growth as performance.
Instagram Accounts Sam recommends young athletes follow
Today on the podcast I talk with Julie Fox about the pupil skills syllabus and the increased requirement of good ballet and dance technique in calisthenics. Julie is not only an adjudicator but winner of the RSSS Most Graceful Girl and has had many years of ballet training herself. She has been instrumental in the development and running of the Pupil Skills Syllabus especially regarding the aesthetic and dance components.
Julie began adjudicating in 1971, became a Level 1 Adjudicator in 1993, the inaugural year of accreditation, and an Advanced 2 Adjudicator in 1997.
She has adjudicated the National Championships on three occasions, has extensive experience in adjudicating at RSSS (since 1976), CVI and many other Victorian and interstate competitions.
Julie was appointed as an ACF Skills Examiner to Gold Medal level in 1985, redeveloped the aesthetic and dance sections of the program in 1995, and was appointed as an inaugural member of the ACF Examiners' Advisory Board in 2000.
Julie commence calisthenics at age 8 and joined Clifton Calisthenic College at age 15 where she enjoyed many successful years as a championship performer being coached by Miss Vera Hopton, B.E.M.
At age 17 Julie won the prestigious Royal South Street Graceful Girl title. She then went on to coach all age groups at this very successful Championship class.
In 2006 Julie was awarded the ACF Official of the Year, and in 2015 awarded a Life Membership to Calisthenics Victoria. Julie was awarded Life Membership of the Australian Society of Calisthenic Adjudicators Victoria in 2018, and is a Life Member of the Royal Academy of Dance.
I love the opportunity to look outside our current sport and learn from other disciplines. What they do and what can we bring back into calisthenics to help our pupils become stronger and achieve more. Today’s podcast is exactly that as we talk with Andrew Chadwick or as he is more well known – Chaddy.
If you listened to one of our earlier podcasts with Lisa Howell looking at flexibility, we discussed ways to improve flexibility and why potentially some girls may struggle more than others. She suggested to ask those that are struggling with flexibility whether they crawled as a baby, and to help improve flexibility, we should incorporate crawling back into our practice and strength and conditioning. She then recommended me to look at Animal Flow and adult crawling and some of the work done by Mike Fitch and his team. So today we are fortunate to have with us Chaddy, who is one of the Australian Animal Flow Master Instructors and is located here in Brisbane.
Chaddy has over 15 years of fitness industry experience, he is a course content creator, NLP Practitioner, PTA Global Faculty Member, TRX and Trigger Point Performance Senior Master Course Instructor, Senior SandBell, Kettlebell and Battling Ropes instructor. He is now proudly associated with the bodyweight movement program Animal Flow as a Master Instructor.
Andrew’s time in the Australian army led him through some physical pain and then on a journey to discover its cause. This then led him to health and fitness, where he has been able to help himself and others through movement coaching. He was eventually able to return to his sporting passion, Australian Rules Football, as a player and coach. He is now studying martial arts and finds it a fantastic way to learn and observe movement. Chaddy can apply science and intuition to movement and make it fun, and through this earned the 2017 Network FILEX Presenter of the year. His passion is to create health for others by helping coaches create long term results for their clients.
What I love about this podcast is how it reinforces that we need to practice every day to improve, what we tell the body to do or not to do, is what it will get good at. So if you don’t move your body in the way you want it to, then guess what? It won’t move in the way you want it to! It may also motivate you not to only incorporate animal walks into your Tinies section, but look at ways you can include this type of practice into your warm-ups or strength and conditioning of your older sections.
As coaches, we all know the importance of engaging the younger generation in calisthenics and the benefits of starting kids early to learn and grow with the sport. Our Tinies and Tiny Tots are the future of calisthenics, so it is important for them to develop a love of the sport from an early age. The Tinies section, whilst one of the most rewarding sections to coach, can be one of the most challenging. Today we are fortunate to have with us Jeanne Sorich, Co-Principal of Jeadan Calisthenics.
Jeanne coaches at Jeadan with her daughters, Lucinda and Kirrilly and has been coaching calisthenics from Tinies to Seniors for 40 years. Jeanne also has 40 years of experience as a kindergarten teacher, teaching three-year-old kindergarten for the past 26 years at Lauriston Girls’ School. Over the past 6 years, she has developed a ‘Calitots’ programme for children 2 years to 4 years of age, which focuses on developing body awareness, physical confidence, coordination, flexibility and most importantly fun.
Jeaden Calisthenics, located in Clayton in Melbourne have competed in the Championship Section for 30 years and has enjoyed great success over the years. Jeaden won the overall top club at Royal South Street for 21 consecutive years, and in 2019 they were the winners of the Champion of Champions at Calisthenics Victoria State Titles.
So without further ado, I would like to welcome Jeanne onto the podcast as we discuss all things Tinies and most importantly, the benefits of calisthenics for children in the kinder years.
Adjudicating is a tough job, I know it is one that I don't think I could ever do. I am definitely more comfortable standing side stage as a coach than having to make those tough decisions up in that adjudicators chair. Today we are speaking with Kate Loveridge from South Australia and talking primarily about the crit sheet. What does the crit sheet tell us, how should we use it to help us as coaches and how to interpret it after a competition. If you haven't been using a crit sheet as part of your coaching toolkit, you will be after hearing this podcast!
Kate Loveridge is the Founder, and Principal Coach of Innovation Calisthenics Club and her calisthenic's career spans over 40 years and has been coaching for 25 of those years. Kate has coached winning State Graceful and Calisthenics Soloists and Duos, and National placegetters. She has been a Senior Championship level coach for 16 years, was awarded the SA Coach of the Year in 2018, the ACF Coach of the Year in 2019 and coached the 2008 Intermediate State Team. Kate is a Level 2 Maintenance Adjudicator and was a member of the Adjudicators Advisory Board from 2013-2016.
As well as her extensive background in calisthenics, Kate is trained in ballet, rhythmic gymnastics, tap, as well as competitive jazz and contemporary dance. In Kate's other world, she works as a qualified Clinical Psychologist,. She has been an invited speaker on Sports Psychology at both the National and State Coaching Conferences, as well provides education on psychology-based topics to the Adjudicators both in SA and Interstate.
Kate's passion for calisthenics is evident, and she has a wealth of knowledge not only from her calisthenics experience but also her psychology background. Kate places great value on mentoring 'early career' coaches. She loves both the creative process of choreography, as well as the structure and focus of coaching fundamental calisthenic skills. On top of this, Kate is a busy mum of 11-year-old twin girls and married to a very tolerant Pro-Cali husband!
Today we are interviewing the one and only Natalie Bond from Robynmore Calisthenics. I can guarantee you that you will finish this podcast with a smile on your face. Nat's bigger than life personality, and her passion is contagious. I honestly could of kept talking with her all night, listening and learning from her experiences not only in calisthenics, but her career, her personal life and most recently from her appearance as a Performance Specialist on Channel 7's 'This is Calisthenics'.
Nat commenced her theatrical stage performance journey at age 3 with 'Robynmore Calisthenics College' where she continues to choreograph/coach today.
She graduated with a Diploma in Dance & Performance from DanceWorld Studios and studied Advanced Acting with Brave Studios and The Film Space. Natalie now works as a Stage / Screen Actor, Writer, Presenter, Choreographer and Voice Artist. Her voice can be heard along the sound waves across countless Radio stations, Television networks, Animated series and Game apps around Australia.
Nat has voiced dozens of characters in Nickelodeon's 'Kuukuu Harajuku' (Seasons 1-3), 'Exchange Student Zero', 'Freddo & Friends', 'Barney & Friends' and the upcoming Aussie 7Mate animation from Stepmates: 'Regular Old Bogan' (Airing 2020) plus many more.
In 2019, Nat was invited onto the Writing/Acting team of award-winning Production company 'Cameralla' - a team of creatives that create and shoot original, fabulous content and who has recently been named a Melbourne WebFest Official Selection for Best Australian Comedy as well as being nominated for Best Ensemble (Acting) for their recent series 'The Bible Writers' Room'.
Today on the podcast we are very fortunate to have join us, is Sue Harding from Merinda Calisthenics College in Melbourne. Sue is one of the top Championship Level Coaches in Melbourne and has had a very successful coaching career being awarded Victorian Coach of the year on three occasions in 1996, 2005 and 2019.
Starting her calisthenics journey at the young age of 5 at a local church-based club, Sue then moved to Minerva at the age of 7 and has been a Minerva/ Merinda girl ever since. Sue has completed all her level exams and continued to complete her Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals. Sue competed in the Graceful Girl competitions at R.S.S.S. in Ballarat for four years and also at Nationals in 1990.
Sue was a member of the first-ever Victorian Senior State Team in 1989, again in 1990 and assisted in Inters in 1992. Sue has now continued to be a mentor coach for the Victorian State Team in both 2019, 2020.
Sue became Co-Principal of Merinda in 1998 when Pat Marsh retired and has been in this role for 23 years. She has coached all sections at Merinda throughout this time and has achieved many prestigious team titles including State Championships and Royal South Street in all Age Groups.
Sue has four children, two daughters and two sons. Both daughters love calisthenics and have followed in her footsteps, both girls have been involved in State Team on numerous occasions, progressing through their levels with Jessica achieving her Gold Medal with Honours in 2019.
Sue finds the most rewarding part of her calisthenics journey is the lifelong friendships made and the families she has been involved with. Sue is most proud of the longevity and loyalty of Merinda families - teaching girls, seeing them grow into beautiful women and now teaching their daughters.
Today we are going to cover a lot, from coaching Tinies to coaching Seniors, running a club, and mentoring. I was fortunate to work with Sue this year as my mentor in coaching the Junior Qld State Team, something I found invaluable. I am also extremely lucky not to only call Sue a mentor, but a sister and best friend. We both grew up loving calisthenics together, performing together and being part of Merinda together. Since moving to Brisbane and taking over a club five years ago, there have been many phone calls back to Sue asking what to do, or how to do something. She has been a wealth of knowledge, and I know all of us at Rosemore, both coaches and committee members, have been extremely grateful for the advice she has given us to help grow and steer our club in the right direction.
But for now, sit back and enjoy what is a jam-packed discussion, not many times in your coaching career to get to hear from one of the best!
A big part of our sport relies and achieving a reasonable level of flexibility with our pupils. We have all coached pupils that come to class and are naturally flexible and can do whatever you ask; then some don’t seem to improve.
For many of us we wonder whether it is genetics, it is physiological, are they not doing enough work at home to improve between classes. What can we do differently to help getter better results?
Today we are fortunate to be chatting to Lisa Howell from the Ballet Blog. Lisa Howell is a dance physiotherapist, author, speaker and creator of this Ballet Blog which has revolutionized how dancers think about their bodies, injuries and performance enhancement.
She is well respected both nationally and internationally for her work with young dancers, professional dancers and dance teachers. She works closely with some of Australia’s top Dance Medicine Specialists, and he has lectured throughout Europe, The United Kingdom, The United States and Australasia on Dance Anatomy, Injury Prevention, Recovery and Performance Enhancement. She has also been a guest at the annual IADMS conference which is an international group of dance professionals aiming to enhance the health, well-being, training, and performance of dancers by cultivating educational, medical, and scientific excellence.
In this podcast, we delve into the depths of understanding flexibility and how to improve it. We look not about stretching but the mind-body connection, hydration and even nutrition. Lisa believes flexibility is something that all pupils can achieve if they know how. Lisa is passionate about educating dance teachers so we can correctly identify what the issue is and put in place the correct methods to fix it. However be prepared to learn new ideas, be open to question what you have always done and be brave enough to challenge yourself to look at how to do things differently.
In this podcast, you will find out everything you didn’t know about flexibility but wish you had 20 years ago. So, sit back, or put your earphones in and head out for a powerwalk. This is one podcast you won’t want to miss
I don’t think there is anyone in the calisthenics community that hasn’t wanted to improve in or on something, whether it be a movement that you haven’t quite mastered, a coaching technique, improving your flexibility or even something personal.
Alternatively, as a coach, you may have helped your pupils to set goals. However, why is it that some individuals, when they make up their mind to achieve a goal, never get there? Why is that after writing them down, that is about as far as it gets?
If this sounds all too familiar, then you will love what Chantelle Riddle has to say in regards moving beyond just writing or even thinking about your goals, but actually what you need to do to achieve them.
The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.