Thursday, May 13, 2010

“Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports” plus 3 more

“Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports” plus 3 more

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports

Posted: 13 May 2010 03:21 AM PDT



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Mens gymnastics falls short of expectations

Posted: 13 May 2010 08:51 PM PDT

Editor's Note: This article was published in the Spring 2010 Year in Review issue.

For most teams in most sports, a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships is cause for celebration and a monumental achievement. But for the Illinois men's gymnastics team, it was considered a disappointment.

Perhaps that's the best way to describe the squad; a team that enjoyed constant success and had such high expectations of itself, that fourth just wasn't good enough.

The season started with a bang, as Illinois defeated five other teams to win the Windy City Invitational in January, including top Big Ten contenders Michigan and Ohio State.

It was a dominant performance for the Illini that would establish them as the team to beat in the conference. They won five of the six individual titles, and junior Paul Ruggeri easily cruised to the all-around win.

At February's Winter Cup Challenge, several Illini gymnasts made names for themselves nationally during qualifiers for the US National Team. Ruggeri and sophomore Tyler Mizoguchi performed well enough to earn spots on the team, while senior Luke Stannard and juniors Daniel Ribeiro and Chad Wiest added top 10 finishes.

Sparked by the strong performances at those meets, Illinois rolled to victories in its first five dual meets of the season over several top 10 ranked teams on the way to an impressive 10-0 start leading up to a March meeting with Michigan.

The much-anticipated matchup between top 5 teams and conference rivals was billed as the meet to settle the score of last year's tie at the conference championship.

But on the most important date of the season to that point, the Illini came up short with a sloppy meet, falling to the Wolverines by a point.

After a tune-up against UIC, the Illini entered the Big Ten Championships looking to avenge their single loss.

In an outstanding team performance, revenge was exacted as Illinois took home its second straight trophy with a score of 359.700. The Illini enjoyed their typical individual success also, with Ribeiro, Ruggeri and sophomore C.J. Padera winning conference titles.

The championship boosted the team to No. 1 in the rankings heading into the NCAA Championships.

But when the day came, nothing seemed to go Illinois' way. Ribeiro and Ruggeri, heavy favorites on pommel horse and high bar respectively, didn't even qualify due to several falls in their events.

The team struggled to a disappointing score of 354.900 and fourth place, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the Illini after what had been a dream season.

Though disappointed, Illinois definitely didn't come away empty-handed. Mizoguchi, Stannard, Wiest, senior Tyler Williamson and sophomore Anthony Sacramento earned All-American accolades.

Associate head coach Justin Spring won Big Ten Coach of the Year, freshman Yoshi Mori took Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Stannard was named the Nissen-Emery award winner as the nation's top senior gymnast.

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Gymnastics coach charged with groping boy in Norwalk

Posted: 13 May 2010 10:10 PM PDT

NORWALK -- A 63-year-old gymnastics instructor with a past conviction for assaulting a boy was charged with groping an 8-year-old boy during a workout in March, police said.

Vincent Pozzouli, of 129 Carriage Path South, Milford, was charged with risk of injury to a child and third-degree sexual assault. Pozzouli turned himself in to police Wednesday and was released after posting $10,000 bond.

The incident occurred March 16 when the boy went to a Champions of Character Boys Gymnastics Team class held at the Norwalk YMCA, police said. The team leases space at the YMCA for their classes.

That day the boy told investigators during a forensic interview he was working with coach "Vincent" doing some stretching exercises.

As Pozzouli was squeezing the boy's thigh muscles to relax them, Pozzouli moved his hands under his shorts and boxers and touched his private parts, the boy said, according to the four-page arrest warrant affidavit submitted by Detective Timothy Marquis.

Pozzouli, interviewed at police headquarters nearly a month after the incident, told Marquis and a state Department of Children and Families social worker he was helping the boy do a saddle split stretch when the incident happened.

Pozzouli said as he was helping relax the boy's thigh muscles, he moved or was distracted by other team members and his hand briefly slipped into the boy crotch area under his shorts, the affidavit said; he said he then immediately pulled his hand away and that the boy did not seem fazed or upset by what occurred and the two continued on as normal.

He said the touch was not intentional in any way.

That night, however, the boy told his mother what had happened and she reported it to the YMCA's sports director and vice president of human resources, the affidavit said.

In 1994, Pozzouli was accused of a similar crime involving an 11-year-old Connecticut boy who went to a weeklong gymnastics camp in Maine.

Pozzouli was later acquitted of an unlawful sexual assault charge, but convicted of assault because the jury apparently found that Pozzouli made "offensive physical contact," with the boy.

During his interview with Marquis in Norwalk, Pozzouli said the boy lied about the Maine incident and he did not want to talk about it further.

Pozzouli is to be arraigned on the charges May 21.

Staff Writer John Nickerson can be reached at 964-2320 or john.nickerson@scni.com.

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Action sports camp heads to Beijing

Posted: 13 May 2010 10:23 AM PDT

Camp Woodward has locations in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, Colorado and, beginning Saturday, Beijing.

Woodward Beijing is built on a four-star resort property converted into 410 acres of indoor and outdoor ramps and bowls, with a 32,000-square-foot outdoor skate plaza as the centerpiece.

"We are excited to be a part of helping grow action sports in China and also giving children the opportunity to exercise their creativity through art forms such as music, videography, graphic arts and photography," says Gary Ream, managing owner and president of Camp Woodward.

Chinese Olympic snowboarders made their presence known in Vancouver, with Liu Jiayu finishing fourth in the women's halfpipe and Zeng Xiaoye finishing 16th in the men's event.

Also, ESPN recently signed a three-year deal for the Asian X Games in Shanghai.

Founded in 1970 as a gymnastics and cheerleading camp, Woodward has evolved to include skateboarding, BMX, snowboarding, skiing and surfing and serves as a training ground for top pros and Olympians. The camp also offers programs in music recording, urban dance, digital photography, video production and graphic design.

"Woodward Beijing provides an opportunity to inspire many young Chinese to discover the passion of lifestyle sports by bringing world-class athletes and facilities directly to them," Ream says.

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