During my time back at Tumbl Trak headquarters in Michigan in early January, I traveled with James and Chris to Wisconsin. We stopped briefly at the M&M Gymnastics meet in New Berlin and met with Jeanelle, Chellsie and Mara Memmel. They gave us some useful feedback on the latest version of our "Direction plus Correction" beam we plan to introduce to the market this summer.

We also were able to video record the first Master Coach Series at Gymfinity Children's Activity Center in Fitchburg, WI. Leonard Isaacs, my mentor for teaching gymnastics, presented foundational ideas and principles that he has gathered over his 50 years as a high-level coach of both boys and girls (men &women). In addition to presenting on vault, bars, beam, and tumbling, he introduced his five "biases" which will be summarized briefly in this and subsequent TT newsletters. [seeLeonard's Bias #1, this issue] The entire Master Coach Series will be available for sale on the Tumbl Trak website beginning this June.
James Parent came with us back to Washington and was welcomed back by Carrie Lennox and her staff at Jefferson County Parks and Rec (JCPR). We had planned to do three days of "tumbling camp" at the Brinnon school gym, for the students in grades 1 through 8 there. James had helped with a similar event last spring. Alas, the unusual snow, which fell in and around the Seattle area, made it necessary to cancel this event. We have had, however, more good visits with John and Linda Smith at NASA in Gig Harbor, WA, including one visit where we were able to use the new Fun Wheels. John had his girls try lots of new drills with them.

We also began testing the new Fun Wheels at a birthday party sponsored by the JCPR at a local school gym.

As you can imagine, this time of the year is my favorite. We are busy testing new products, tweaking designs and getting ready for their debut at the National Congress which this year. Looking forward to that day when we can introduce these cool new products! Doug

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