Flip Fest

What’s up everyone in Flip Fest land I’m in a country call Qatar and in the city of Doha.  It’s by Dubai and Egypt.  I’m announcing for Gymnastics at the Arab Games.  This place is pretty amazing!!  There is a lot of oil money here and they are investing tons into bringing Doha to center of the world.  Everywhere you look there is a skyscraper being built that is state of the art.  Right outside the window of my brand new hotel they are building what will be the tallest building in the world!!!  There are many nationalities that live and work here so you see a lot of different people from all over the world.  But there are only about 200,000 Quatrains that are what you would call local.

The local Government her is very conservative here.  There is no drinking alcohol except at an international hotel and there is no no gambling!!  The dress is very conservative too.  The popular men of Qatar wear what is called thebe, which is a long white shirt over loose pants. With this, they wear a loose headdress called guitar held with a black rope called agal. Qatari women cover their body with a long black dress called abayah. Women usually wear a black scarf called shayla to cover their head and sometimes face.  Qataris preserve their national style of dress to this day with great regard. Though the dress code is flexible for foreigners, the attire cannot be revealing and is expected to cover shoulders and knees.  What even more interesting about this is that you would think that there is not very much style or shopping here because everyone wears the same native clothing.  WRONG!!!!  All they do is shop and shop.  Everywhere you go is the biggest shopping mall you have ever seen.  Under the women’s long abayah they are decked out in the most expensive clothes money can buy!!  High heels, skinny jeans, jewelry the whole 9 yards!!!  It’s the weirdest thing I have ever seen.  No one ever sees even what their face looks like except their husband and no one for sure every sees their clothes under their abayah but they still want to feel good.  It proves the saying “it’s all about what’s on the inside”!!!!!  If you are reading the book about Steve Jobs or have read it that even makes more sense now! More to come

John Macready

This is a view from the pool at the brand new Marriott where i'm staying

Flip Fest week 11 welcomes two amazing gymnasts that will be working with your children this week at camp.

Sean Townsend

His breakthrough year was the year he made the World Championship team that was set to compete in Tianjin, China. Although he did not compete in all six event, which ultimately made him unable to compete for the All-Around, he still says that he gained a lot of experience. The World Championships for Sean turned out to be a totally different atmosphere than he expected. He thought it would just be “be another normal meet” but he describes it as being “intense, especially the crowd.” Sean and his teammates placed a respective 6th with plenty of room to improve before the 2000 Summer Olympics. Sean, who always looks for the positive in situations was not disappointed in their team result at the ’99 World Championships. “Our plan was to go out there, stick together and have fun, and we did that. We didn’t really care what the outcome was as long as we got into finals, which is what we did.

Courtney McCool

She was the runner-up at 2003′s Junior US Championships, and vaulted her way to a silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. At sixteen years old and in her first year as a senior gymnast, McCool was the runner-up at March’s American Cup and the all-around champion at the Olympic Test Event in Athens where she was the only gymnast to qualify for all four event finals, winning the silver on vault and bronze on bars. In 2004 McCool placed fourth in the all-around at the US National Championships and second all-around at the US Olympic Trials, all but guaranteeing her a spot on the Olympic Team.

The Tuesday Handstand Contest ended in a victory for the staff. Today was also Tie Dye Tuesday and with the help of all the Flip Fest campers Flip Fest has raised over $100,000 for children’s charities. The campers at Flip Fest are running and laughing and working on new skills and there are children all over the USA that are hooked up to tubes in a hospital. Today the campers didn’t take their ability to run and jump for granted they gave back by tie dying a T-Shirt for Children’s Miracle Network for $15.00 and all the proceeds go to charity.

John and John are all about hard work, perseverance and giving back to the sport of gymnastics and those children in need. They pass this along to the campers every Tuesday and their message inspires campers to not only to work hard but to give back.

Flip Fest is a great place to work, grow and give, John and John have put together a family of coaches, gymnasts and parents that can accomplish anything. Thanks to all the campers that donated and tie dyed shirts today. FLIP FEST CAMPERS ROCK!

Papa Smurf

Svetlana Boginskaya and David Durante are in the HOUSE

Boginskaya was a figure skater for several years, but began gymnastics at age six. Two years later, she moved from Minsk to train full-time at the Moscow Round Lake Gymnastics Center. By age fourteen she was a member of the Soviet national team. She won her first medal, a bronze for balance beam, during the 1987 World Championships. She became one of the best gymnasts on the Soviet team and was expected to place very well at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. She finished the games with 4 medals – team gold, gold on Vault, silver on the Floor and the All-Around bronze. It was a huge accomplishment for the young athlete in an Olympic Games that revolved around the duel between her teammate Elena Shushunova and Romania’s star Daniela Silivaş.

Svetlana is coaching beam here at Flip Fest all week bringing her grace and techniques to our camper’s Olympic style.

Durante is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2007 U.S. All-Around champion and was one of the three alternates to the 2008 Summer Olympics. He competed at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and was a member of the 4th-place-finishing American team. Durante holds dual American-Italian citizenship. Durante graduated from Stanford University in 2002 with a major in human biology and a minor in psychology.
David is working with our boys this week fine tuning their six Olympic events.

Svetlana and David work directly with the campers all week in every workout. The gymnasts get to see how they are real people and their hard word and perseverance has gotten them to the Olympic Stage.

Olympic Motivation Speeches are this Thursday. After the Olympians tell there motivational story the campers have a Q & A with the Olympians and get their autograph. Today before practice the campers took their pictures with our four Olympians.

This week is very HIGH ENERGY and the campers are AWESOME!

Papa Smurf

Olympic Gymnast David Durante is in the HOUSE at Flip Fest this week. Today was our Staff vs Camper Handstand Contest and Staff WON! Jeremy Adams from Oklahoma Sooners, barely beat David and we had two awesome runner up campers. Stephen Hood and Lailani Flint gave them a run for the money.

Monday Night at the Dance, Dance, Dance was amazing because we took a break to celebrate the U S of A’s Birthday with booming fireworks on the beach.

Week 6 just has a buzz about it. We have new skills performed hourly, great coaches and of course the best campers.

Campers this week come all the way from Canada and Ireland. How awesome to host international campers. Our international campers add the extra spice to our already awesome recipe.

Papa Smurf

Every Sunday we have the Party, Party, Party on the Hill. The campers play sand volleyball, badminton, jet skies, swim, water slide, and korn hole. The campers usually wind down around 8:30 p.m. and we turn off the music for the coaches meetings.

Sunday night was a different night I left the music going and went into the coaches meeting. When I came back out a camper dance party had broken out in the Tin Can. Fifty campers were dancing inside the Tin Can to Cotton Eyed Joe!

It was the most amazing site to see the campers not on cell phones and computers and actually creating their own fun with other campers they didn’t even know when they came here.

The Tin Can has been an amazing addition at Flip Fest. The dance rotations have left more room in the gym and the dancers are in the great outdoors overlooking the lake.

Flip Fest brings out the best in every camper. Every camper can grow not only in gymnastics skills, but they can grow out of their shell and tackle new situations without getting embarrassed or self conscious.

Flip Fest helps every camper not only reveal their integrity, but develop it to the next level. Thank you John and John for your incredible vision and your never give up attitudes.

Papa Smurf

What can you learn from an Olympian? Can you learn how to go to the Olympic Games or be an Olympian for life. Every Olympian that speaks every Thursday here at Flip Fest. Each one tells of how they wanted to quit during their incredible Olympic journeys but they didn’t.

Nastia and Carly have shared some great advice here at camp. Nastia said “My Mom said I can quit anytime I want on a good day”. Nastia smiled and said who would ever want to quit on a good day Carly shared great advice from her coach. “Hard Work Never Disappears”

This week Flip Fest is lucky to have Blaine Wilson and Terin Humphrey. Here are some of their favorites.

Blaine’s Favorites:

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Animal: Grizzly bear
Favorite Event: Rings
Least Favorite Event: Pommel Horse
Favorite Car: 69 Buick Skylark
Favorite Skill: Layout Kovak
Least Favorite Skill: Kip
Idol – John Roethlisberger
Favorite Sport: Golf
Fav Song Ice Ice Baby

Terin’s Favorites:

Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Food: Mac and Cheese
Favorite Animal: Cats
Favorite Event: Uneven Bars
Least Favorite Event: Beam
Favorite Car: Mustang
Favorite Skill: Khorkina
Least Favorite Skill: Shuposna Kova
Idol: Courtney Kupets
Favorite Sport: Football
Favorite Song: Cupid Shuffle

Little Johnny played in the mud today. Our fearless leader John Macready led the troops into the muddiest Tug O War to date. The rain was pouring but no lightning and no thunder. Just the THUNDER of EXCITEMENT at the TUG O WAR MUD PIT!

The campers were given the option to go and participate in the battle for the best Tug O War game ever. The excitement built under a down pour of rain that lasted for an hour. It was awesome! Everyone emerged from the pit like a bunch of 4 wheelers. It was so much fun and the rain stopped no one. Isn’t it wonderful that these kids have so much energy even after a long workout session?

Little Johnny showed children its okay to play hard and work hard at Flip Fest. John Macready is all about creating a place where kids can be kids and kids can be Olympians for Life.

Today at Flip Fest all the kids played hard especially the adult kids. We have so many parents ask when we are going to have camp for them. After today I see why. So much fun and so much to do at Flip Fest even if it pours down rain. We can make fun for all ages!

Here at Flip Fest age is not a number it’s an attitude. So bring your young attitude and live your dreams. Age young or old, should never be an obstacle for living a dream. “Live Young, Live Hard, Live Long”.

Papa Smurf

Today is Flip Fest Owner and Three Time Olympian John Rothlisberger’s Birthday. He is an awesome example of the dedication it takes to be a successful athlete. John will do whatever it takes to make every camper’s experience here the BEST they have ever had.

Working with John everyday is motivating and challenging at the same time. His hard work and commitment to camp shows in everything he sets out to accomplish. As his Dad once said, “You need to pack your lunch everyday”. John does that everyday even when it requires flexibility to overcome obstacles. Wow! What an example for these kids to learn from!

It is Tie Dye Tuesday. Let’s hope week 4 campers can beat the campers last week who raised over $1800.00 for Children’s Charities! They are definitely a motivated group this week as the campers won the Handstand Contest today in the Camper/Staff Handstand Contest! J

Today’s winners in the handstand contest were Kindred Jones and Julia Beyer. They both beat Jeremy Adams whose has been UN Defeated for the past 6 years. Way to go campers – WHUT WHUT

Remember “Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life at Flip Fest”

Papa Smurf

The rain last night tried to put a damper on our PARTY on the HILL. We rocked out until the clouds came rolling in. However, the FunMaster took over and we hit the gym for some major FUN! It was great! The campers played Hot Potato with the foam blocks, Ship Wreck, Pit Races, and Spud.

The coolest thing at camp is watching young gymnasts smiling all day whether they’re playing or working hard learning a new skill. I was at Cracker Barrel Saturday morning on my day off and I bought a sign. The sign says “Happiness is not a Destination. It is a Way of Life”. That is my motto for camp and my everyday life. Happiness is clearly a way of life here at FlipFest!

This week we have Olympians Blaine Wilson and Terin Humphrey. Its going to be an incredible week. Fun Fact: Terin Humphrey is now a Police Officer in Kansas City, MO. HOW COOL HUH?

Tonight is the “Dance, Dance, Dance” in the Tin Can. DJ Jimmy Ogle will be playing the Party Rock Anthem and all the campers will be a ShufflingJ

Papa Smurf