In the “Chalk Talk” section of the 1963 September issue of Modern Gymnast, Kurt Bächler, who became known as the “Father of Trampolining,” wrote an entire plan for the Americans to succeed in Tokyo.
One of the items: “They develop the compulsory routines to 9.5 average (which in my opinion is definitely possible
9.5 average? Simple enough, right?
Umm… Have you seen the 1964 compulsories? They were called “perhaps the most difficult ever.” (Modern Gymnast, March 1964)
(To be fair, if you asked any elite gymnast who competed compulsories, they would tell you that their quad’s compulsories were the most challenging.)
Perhaps the biggest challenge with compulsories was understanding the text.
Imagine being a gymnast or a coach, and these pages arrive in your mailbox. You have to spend hours interpreting the text and the stick figures that accompany the text.
That is some elite-level gym nerdery!
One helpful tip: The stick figures don’t always go from left to right. They sometimes do, but they sometimes don’t.
Now that you’ve seen the compulsory documents, don’t you kind of want to perform them? I do!
To help you see the compulsories more clearly, I’ve compiled the text and figures in a PDF that you can download below.
You can also watch the beginning of this video, which has the compulsory routines.
Good luck!
Bonus: The Compulsory Floor Music
