Today is thursday June 12, 2007. So far training has gone well. I have hit a routine on every event that I will be competing. I feel very comfortable with the facilities and equipment. The food here has been great, and the weather is nice. Today is podium training to get ready for saturdays team competition. Thats all for now.
Here are a few pictures that I have taken so far.
Welcome all to my blog. I am currently in Rio, Brazil preparing to compete in the Pan American Games. We have internet access, so I will update often throughout the week. So far we spent a day in Washington D.C. for processing, and one night here in Rio. The village is really nice. We have our own appartments, and pool. The USOC has done a great job with preparations for the village. We got to see the arena, which is awesome, and we got to train once. Overall everything is going well, and it is extreamly beautiful here. I will post some pics here soon.
The United States Olympic Training Center was host to America’s greatest and most talented junior gymnasts during the week of June 25th 2007. Our guests included USA Junior Champion Danell Leyva of Universal, who won his age group at the 2006 USA Championships. This presented the perfect opportunity to debut “Junior Spotlight.” It didn’t take long before I knew which athlete I wanted to have a chat with.It was the first day of the training camp and Allan Bower had made his presence known. In this instance it was hard work, listening to his coach, and demonstrating difficult skills flawlessly. I remember working out on High Bar with Allan; after every turn he would go up to his coach Chris Sommer, listen to everything he had to say, then focus on how to improve his next attempt. Allan does one of the most difficult skills on Parallel Bars where he starts in a Handstand, lets go with one hand, falls so his heals lead the way, does a total of one full turn and catches the bar blindly with his free hand. He not only makes the skill, he executes it as good as anyone I have seen in my career.Allan is twelve years old, and trains at Xtreme with Chris Sommer. He started doing gymnastics at the age of two in 1997. Allan is the oldest of three children, he has a brother Alex who is six years old, and Allison who is ten. A gymnastics family, as the three A’s, Allison, Alex, and Allan are currently in gymnastics. When Allan is not training he enjoys ridding his bike, and hanging out with friends. He also plays games on the computer, including Runescape. Other than gymnastics he likes to play football and basketball. The Phoenix Suns are his favorite NBA team. Allan’s Ultimate goals are to compete on World and Olympic Teams. As far as short term goals, he wants to continue learning big skills like a Kovacs on Horizontal Bar.Allan’s Accomplishments include 2006 Parallel Bars Champion, Silver on Parallel Bars in 2007, and Tenth in the All Around in 2007. I was extremely impressed when I got to see Allan Train during the National Team Camp. I am looking forward to watching this young man grow into what ever he wants to become in this sport. He has the talent, and work ethic to accomplish great things.Allan’s Athlete Profile
Brought to you by USA Gymnastics and TMT Design
Name: Allan Bower
Birth Date: 03/07/1995
Program: Men’s Artistic
Level: Junior 12-13
Club: Xtreme
Coach: Chris Sommer
Personal Information
Began Gymnastics In: 1997
How did you get involved?: My parents started me in gymnastics when I was 2 years old. My mother was a gymnastics coach.
Favorite Gymnastics Thing: the hard work that gymnastics requires, the friends you make, how it makes you feel
Favorite Event: Parallel Bars
Goals: Continue to make the National Team every year, compete in the Olympic Games and World Championships some day
School: Navarrete Elementary
Grade: 6th Grade
Favorite School Subject: Science
Interests Outside the Gym
Favorite Music/Book: Narnia
Favorite Food: steak, ice cream
Hobbies: working on the computer
New Skills as of July 1, 2007
Double front on Floor Exercise
Wu travel on the Pommel Horse
National Competition Results
2006 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships, Battle Creek, Mich.: 1st-PB; 13th-AA
2007 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships, Oklahoma City, Okla.: 2nd-PB; 10th-AA
I just wanted to thank firstshowing.net for having me out to one of there events. If you live in Colorado Springs and haven’t been to an event, I strongly encourage you to go to one. You can get information from there site firstshowing.net. Transformers was my favorite cartoon, and the movie didn’t let me down. It was one of the best movies that I have seen in a long time. Before the movie, firstshowing.net put on an entertaining show. They had contests, and plenty of prize giveaways. I had a great time, and I am looking forward to going to another event soon.
Welcome to my blog @ todd thornton training fund. This was set up so that I could give updates to my supporters. I will have weekly updates, training and competitions videos, as well as “Junior Spotlight,” profiles and interviews. So get involved; leave comments, give feedback, and check back often.