My Favorite Bar Routines (Thru 2012)

10. Kyla Ross

I know it's not the most difficult routine (upgrade Kyla!) but Kyla has great form and girl can hit a handstand like no other, I noticed that in person when I watched her at this years SC.

9. Ivana Hong

I know she hardly gets an air on her releases and that the international judges pretty much hated the uniqueness of this routine but honestly in a sport that has lost some individuality recently, I found it refreshing.

8. Hollie Vise

Poor Hollie was totally screwed over in 2004 but at least she got her moment to shine at the 2003 worlds. Her form is amazing and she works the apparatus so easily.

7. Shannon Miller

Why can no one glue their legs together like this anymore? Seriously, finding a gymnast who can do a cast to handstand without leg separations these days is super rare. I love, love, Shannon's clean lines and form, right down to her toes.

6. Terin Humphrey

I love Terin, and I love that she earned a surprise silver medal for this in Athens. Clean, sharp and beautifully executed.

6. Mo Huilan

Mo's signature release is AMAZING and the fact that it is now being brought back by Yao Jinan makes me so happy!

5. Beth Tweddle

Beth's bar routines have been eye popping from the moment she stepped onto the scene, chalked full of release moves and more daring than anyone else in her field.

3. Aliya Mustafina

I love Aliya, I love how she came back from injury and is carrying the Russian team through some valley's. I was so happy she won gold in London for this.

2. Chellsie Memmel

I love the ending to Chellsie's bar set, so cool and unique. She continually performed well on this event, even when injured.

1. He Kexin

I'm so happy that He won gold in 2008 instead of her (overrated) close competitor (shall not name names). Love the elegant look she has and her great form.

-G-

A Tribute to Kyla Ross

I was at the library yesterday, attempting to figure out my school schedule when I decided to check instagram and saw that Kyla Ross had announced her retirement.

I'm really sad about this for the fact that I love Kyla's gymnastics and have always been a big fan. To me, it is so enjoyable to watch an athlete who executes every move so cleanly and has choreographed right down to the fingertips (Tim Dagget once said this, but it's true!). Despite the fact that Kyla wasn't chucking crazy skills, her elegance and superior technique pushed her ahead of a lot of gymnasts who may have had higher start values. I wrote a post about last year, comparing Kyla to Skinner and ended by saying that I think Kyla's clean consistency will pay off in the end. And you know, it did for awhile.

Kyla had so much international success and it all started with the pinnacle of the sport, Olympic gold! From there there were world medals and national medals and other various achievements. Kyla's method of training absolutely paid off for quite awhile. Then this year happened and I think for a lot of gym fans, it was a slow realization that Kyla might not be able to hold out for Rio. It's to know fault of her own, I think her height hurt her a lot and with the extra height came other issues. After bowing out of World's selection, the writing was on the wall. Now Kyla will get to go shine at UCLA where I know she'll do great things.

So yes, like I said at first, I am sad that Kyla will not be in Rio and will never get to try for individual Olympic medals. But on the other hand, I'm happy for her. She's had an amazing career, she will always be remembered. And she got to go out on her own terms. She won't have to be like Vanessa Atler and live with not being named to the team or like certain other people (ahem) who humiliated themselves at the trials. Kyla gets to walk away from Elite gymnastics knowing that she gave it her all and left when it was her time.

I'll never forget Kyla's near perfect beam routine in the AA at last years Worlds or her 2014 floor routine that I loved so much! And getting to watch her compete live at Classics these last two years which was such an honor.

I'll miss you  in Elite gymnastics Kyla but I wish you all the best of luck at UCLA. We will all be watching and rooting for you!

200 Days!

Today marks 200 days until the opening ceremony in Rio and last week marked 6 months until USA names their team at trials!

I for one, am pretty stoked for the coming months. All of the competitions leading up to the trials and then of course, those themselves should be very intense but very awesome.

Six months...a lot can happen in that time so take this prediction with a grain of salt but I will hereby make a guess as to who will be on our team for Rio based on past performances and future upgrades.

Drumroll....

Simone Biles!!! (Duh)

Aly Raisman!!! (Lest she falls apart a la Worlds again)

Maggie Nichols!!! (Unless she gets Hollie Vise'd which is actually very possible)

Bailie Key!! (Leaving her off the Glasgow team was a terrible headgame but I still thinks Marta likes her)

and...

...last of all

 my girl Norah Flatley!!! (She has to be there, or I'll storm the floor mat at Trials!)

Alternates: Kyla/Gabby/Laurie

I'm sure I'm wrong but I this is more the team I *hope* is named. I actually hope for Kyla to be on there too, I guess she'd replace Norah or Bailie. Now that I look at it, this team is set just about everywhere but maybe weak on bars, though Norah will probably come out with many upgrades. I just don't know...there are a lot of different combos that could happen.

We shall see. 

No Glasgow for Kyla Ross

Being realistic, I don't think Kyla would have made the team. She would have had to have an absolutely stellar performance at selection camp and we all know this has been a really rough year for her. Still, I feel sad that she won't be on this team.

USA Gymnastics announcement was pretty vague, there was no mention of injury or upcoming plans for Kyla, in a way it almost sounded like they were bidding her farewell. I don't want Kyla to be done, what I want is for her to get some rest. And then when her body is back to 100%, I want her to work her upgrades until she is completely comfortable with them and return to kick some butt this spring. Of course, it's easy for me to say this while sitting on my butt and typing.

I want to know what you think about all this, so vote below:

Kyla is...

World's Team Prediction UPDATED

You heard it here folks! My world team predictions for the good 'ole US of A!

Let's see if I end up being right, because last year I was a clueless sap who thought the team was made up of only 5 people! Imagine!

I digress...

Simone Biles
Aly Raisman
Maggie Nichols
Bailie Key
Gabrielle Douglas
Kyla Ross OR Madison Kocian (this part remains to be seen)

Alt: Kyla (if not named), Maddie K (if not named), Mykayla Skinner, Nia Dennis

The lineup for Quals if Ross makes the team (fingers crossed!)

VT: Ross, Key, Raisman, Nichols, Biles
UB: Raisman, Biles, Douglas,  Key, Ross
BB: Key, Nichols, Raisman, Ross, Biles
FX: Ross, Nichols, Key, Raisman, Biles

What do you think???

Nationals Night Two

Ahhh now I can breathe.

Simone was in beast mode. Beautiful beam dismount, stuck Lopez vault, stuck bars dismount, classic floor. So naturally, despite that one fall on floor, she won by 5 points. Seriously??? This girl is a champ. Can I say that I think she should add a full twist to the Biles move on floor? She definitely has room and power.

Coming in second was Maggie Nichols! She has to be sooo proud of herself, What improvement she's had. Her Amanar looked great, especially on day two. It's funny, in person, her tumbling looks so light and effortless bu tit doesn't quite translate that way on TV. I think the loud booms from everyone's landings doesn't help. They're much more magnified during broadcasts than in the actual arena. Anyway, Maggie deserves a spot on the World's team for sure. That being said, her form isn't so great and I'm a bit of a stickler about those things.

Third was Aly and she looked back to her usual self despite that scary vault. I'm torn with thinking she needs the high D-score from the Amanar but also knowing that it's done so poorly, maybe she's better off with a nice clean DTY. But even with that she still wouldn't score as well as a crappy 2.5 so oh well. I don't really love her floor routine right now. The tumbling is great of course but the choreo and music isn't as engaging as it was in London. Maybe they can tweak it a little.

Then we have Bailie and her tuxedo. This girl is growing on me. I think I can get behind her quiet gymnastics and steady form. She sort of reminds me of vintage Kyla Ross with her lower difficulty but nice execution and consistency. So yeah, I've decided I'm rooting for Bailie Key. And she had a beautiful bar routine

Gabby looked slightly better on some events on night two and slightly worse on others. Her beam was a mess of balance checks and tentativeness but her landings on floor were improved. I still hate that floor routine, something just isn't right about it. Maddie K, Ashton and Bailie can beat her on bars so she really isn't anything special there right now. I wouldn't put her in Glasgow just yet.

I barely saw Madison Kocian because the stupid NBC broadcast only showed like five of the athletes. Made me miss the blasted livestream. They showed her bars and beam. Bars looked a little worse than night one and they took out the standing full from her beam which was a safe move.

Oh Mykayla Skinner, that leo. Good grief, someone needs to tell this girl that Ireland and Scotland are not the same land. Honestly, it's just embarrassing at this point. Her vault is so ugly with that block, sorry I can't give it up. But her floor landings looked nice and she was solid on beam so good effort for her. At 7th place, I don't see her on the World's team.

 Kyla. Sigh. Same issue on bars, headcased vault and a shaky floor. That beam helped a bit but overall a disastrous night for her. Ugh, I so want her to get it together but maybe her body is just tired and needs a break. She's been training elite for so long. It's such a catch-22 with her. If she doesn't upgrade, she hits nice watered down routines but has such a low D-score it's hard to break into the top ranks. If she does upgrade, she barely hits despite having that higher D-score. I don't know the solution because I think everyone is tired of seeing the same routines she's been competing since 2012.

Brenna Dowell had a great first half of her bar routine and then got tired of something and bombed the end. But she hit all the other events so I'm a bit pissed that she wasn't named to the NT. Headgames I guess, Brenna is always the resident punching bag. If she can become consistent on bars and gain some difficulty on floor, I really think she's a contender but sadly, I see her as being alternate again.

Rachel Gowey had a nice showing, even if it was just bars and beam. Did she do the AA at pan ams? I don't know. I hope she hasn't hurt her ankle again. But she did have a great bar set night one and her beam looked solid.

Didn't see much of Bauman or Dennis so no comment there but both were named to the team so they must have done alright.

I'm going to do a leotard post this week so stay tuned!

Natinoals Night One

WHAT IS LIFE?!?

Aly, Kyla, Simone...some other people I don't care about as much.
One by one they fell...
And one by one I screamed and grabbed my face in horror until my sister had to tell me to shut up.

It was like 2006 up in here.

I know people are saying that Simone is human and humans make mistakes but darn it, I don't want Simone to be human. Especially now when there are people who I really don't want to beat her. And yeah, she still won by over a point so that was nice but still.

Anyway, let's back up...

So I had to watch the live stream because out of all of our three hundred channels, we don't get Universal Sports! After a big dramatic episode of "Hooking the Laptop up to the TV"  I finally got to settle in and watch some guy (John something or other) make a big fool out of himself. Twenty minutes later, a beautiful montage of all the US champions for the passed 25 years or so. I yelled out, "Brandy! Kim! Shannon! and so on, right up until my girl Simone.

Let's talk about her first. Simone started out fine and then there were some issues on beam and that fall on floor. And what a strange fall it was, almost like she didn't even set up her landing. Her Amanar was beautiful, stuck like a pro! She had some leg issues coming in for the landing but overall beautiful.

I screamed when Aly Raisman fell on beam, why oh why?  On the bright side, she hit a great FX but the music isn't my favorite and doesn't seem to captivate like in 2012 but it could grow on me. She landed a scary Amanar and had a typical bar routine but I think she can pull through on Saturday. Just no more falls, ok?

Maggie Nichols hit four for four. She did her Amanar vault but I don't really remember much else fro her. She's definitely the dark horse but nothing really stood out for me last night except her upgrading beam dismount that looked pretty good.

Kyla....poor girl. Issues on bars, issues on floor and just so so on beam and vault. Actually her vault can be so much cleaner. I think she only had that one upgrade on UB and took out the others. And on floor, why the hand??? Ugh, if she doesn't kick butt on night two, it is definitely the beginning of the end for her. I want her to upgrade and hit but maybe it's just not in the cards? Whether it be physical or mental, it just doesn't seem to be working out. Prove me wrong Kyla!

For some reason, I expected that Gabrielle Douglas would do alright. I don't like her floor and was glad that it was scored appropriately and she did have some wobbles on beam. Her bars were alright but not as impressive to me anymore. I don't know, I'm so torn on this girl. I'm glad that her comeback is legit and she appears to be working for it but I hate the cockiness and the trash talk of her former gym. It's just petty and unnecessary.

Another girl who seems to always pull it together for Nationals is Mykayla Skinner and pull it together she did. Her form is still atrocious and that floor, good grief but she hit so she should be happy. She only did a DTY for her second vault though which I don't see helping her at all. I don't see her making the worlds team, barring any major injuries for the other key players.

And then there was Kim Zmeskal. Or wait, Bailie Key in Kim's old leotard. And as ugly as it was in the 90's, I thought Bailie looked kind of fabulous in it last night. Still though, I can't seem to get behind this girl. She just seems blah and needs a little spark somewhere. And she needs some height on those leaps and jumps. Honestly, I think she can take this year to improve and upgrade and really take it to the next level. I don't think she's peaked yet, or at least I think she can peak again when it counts.

Let's not forget my girl Brenna Dowell! Wast hat the first time she hit four for four since 2013? I think so. I was so nervous watching her but so happy when she made it through. Her bars had a few potential scary moments but she pulled it off and that beam was GREAT for her! Floor was nice, and solid vault despite landing OOB's. I need her to pull it out for night two. You got this Brenna!

Fellow GAGE girl, Madison Desch did not have such a good night. She fell on beam and on bars which is a shame because her bars are actually quite nice. She did not go OOB's on floor which is rare so I was happy about that.

The WOGA's, I think, have had their day in the sun. Madison Kocian fell on beam despite having a nice bar set and Alyssa Bauman needs more than a nice beam set to keep her relevant.

You know who's fun to watch? Amelia Hundley, girl just goes out and has a good time. I like that she competes for the fun of it and though her difficulty is low, she makes her routines exciting with the way she showcases them.

I know I'm missing some people but these are who I remembered! I'm not going to be home to watch night two live but I'll put it on as soon as I return and will have a blog up on Sunday. I can't wait!
What did you think???

Underrated

I decided to put together a list of underrated routines by women in the US right now. Be it by judges or fans, these are sets that I think need more recognition or higher scores.

1. Nica Hults: Balance Beam

Nica is so clean on this event. She has a nice steady rhythm and great execution. I don't know why she doesn't score higher but she should.

2. Kyla Roos: Floor

Ok so I might be in the vast minority but I actually love Kyla on this event. I know her movements have a slight robotic quality to them and not everyone is partial to her dramatic music but all of that works for me in some strange way. I like the way her choreography looks and I like how she executes it.

3. Brenna Dowell: Vault

Brenna's best event is vars for sure but I always thought she had great potential on vault as well. She's fairly clean in the air so with a neater landing, she could score even better. If she were to gain a second vault even, that would help her quest to Rio.

4. Norah Flatley: Bars

Again, this is not the event Norah is most known for but she does a great job. I love her easy swing and clean lines and that layout dismount-wow! The inbar work is fabulous and with some cleaning up and upgrades she'll really be a contender.

5. Maggie Nichols: Floor Exercise

I like that Maggie has fun with this and that her choreography seems to really match her personality. I'll be interested to see if she has a new routine this year, I think she does? Anyway, I hope she sticks with something fun because I think it's what she's best suited for.

What do YOU think are some underrated routines?

Upgrades Vs. Consistancy

The way I see it, these two are POLAR opposites. One has great form, one has crap form. One has a ton of difficulty, the other does not. One focuses on the technical aspect of the sport before chucking skills, the other chucks and chucks and chucks.

So what is better? To chalk your routine full of difficulty even if you're sacrificing form and technique? Or is it better to compete at a rather low difficulty, risk coming up short, and trying for more refined skills.

Personally, I think Ross's approach is a lot better in the long run and for the sport. Skinner has been upgrading on nearly every event since Worlds and it has me scratching my head. She did not beat Ross out in the AA and she came up short on floor. Her difficulty was MUCH higher than both Ross and Mustafina respectively but her technical issues put her behind them.

If I were MyKayla, I would have gone home and worked on my form and technique because clearly there are problems there. Instead, she's adding more difficulty to try and overrule the form deductions. Why oh why?? I would have a lot of respect for her if she kept her routines and worked on cleaning them up.

Meanwhile, Kyla is always working on cleaning up, I mean always. And it has done her a lot of good. She has been super consistent and it has paid off. Now that she has worked on her form, technique etc., she can focus on upgrading which she plans to do this year. I would have said that Kyla waited way too long to upgrade but after her success at Worlds, I'd say she did the right thing.

It's hard to say what will pay off in the end. Will Skinner's skills push her past Kyla's consistency and refinment? What do you think??

Finals! Finals! Hurray for Finals!

Vault
Surprise, surprise. I did not expect anyone but Simone to get that gold. It came down to difficulty and Simone just doesn't have much on her second vault. I think the top three were deserving, Skinner's form looked a bit improved. I would have loved to see Chusovitina competing out there, alas there's always next year.

Bars
I was hoping that Aliya could pull out a medal here and possibly Locklear as well but it wasn't to be. I know Ashton is our best bar worker but do her feet/legs drive anyone else crazy? It's like her legs are apart but her feet curl into each other to make it look like they aren't. I can't rightly judge her though because the same thing would happen to me (blasted bow legs). Kind of reminds me of Rebecca Bross's legs, they just never looked very pretty. I hate to say it, but if Dowell had been on the team and she had hit, she would have medaled. Anyway, the Chinese finally got some redemption on their best event and I was glad to see it.

Beam
Falls, falls, falls galore. Down goes Yao, down goes Larissa, down goes someone else that I can't remember (Ruby Harold??). Kyla's routine was not nearly as good as AA so I didn't expect her to medal. I was happy with the podium, Mustafina deserved it, Bai deserved it and of course, Simone did as well. Nice to see her hit a solid set after some faltering this week .

Floor
This final made me SO happy! I love Larissa so much and to see her pull out that amazing routine was so exciting. She really gave Simone a run for her money this competition. Simone took gold and her routine was topnotch as always. For the bronze, I was pretty overjoyed that Aliya won over Mykayla. I know Skinner had more difficulty and more tumbling but Mustafina's routine was gorgeous and showcased what FX used to be about, artistry and grace.

I'll be doing a leotard post sometimes this week and possibly another final worlds wrap up. Until next time!

Simone WIns! (Again)

I was really happy with this podium. I think Simone could have performed better (not her best beam routine) but she deserved the win. I also was thrilled to see Larissa have such a good day as she tends to not hit when it's needed. She really gave Simone a run for her money! Kyla would not have been on that podium if Aliya hadn't fell on floor but I was glad to see her consistency pay off. She had one of the best beam routines in awhile.

Yao had a rough floor routine but her beam and bars were lovely. I think it would be very hard for any of the Chinese girls to challenge in the AA with their low D scores on floor and lack of power on vault. However, I do expect to see them come out with a few medals at EF which I will post about tomorrow.

Qualification Thoughts

I woke up before the sun to be able to watch live! Here are my thoughts;

Rotation One:BB

Skinner: Looked like her usual self, a few big balance checks. Those leaps and splits are NOT even near where they should be. People got on Shawn for not having enough flexibility but this is worse IMO.

Kocian: It was a good routine for her but it looked pretty nervey.

Baumann: Almost off on the standing arabian. Way too many checks and pauses for the score she got.

Biles: Homegirl is back in business after missing at Nationals! Nice clean routine.

Ross: Here is the Kyla we know and love! Just one small error toward the end but that routine = classic Kyla!

Rotation Two: FX

Kocian: Not to be mean but her routine bores me to tears. She did an ok job with it but it's not all that difficult. The choreography is so repetitive. How many times can she pose with her arms in the air??

Baumann: Good effort for her. Very bent knees on her (second?) pass landing, looked like she almost fell forward.

Ross: Go Kyla! Nice routine! Solid landings.

Skinner: Was she OOB on her first pass? It really looked like it from the camera angle but I didn't catch if she had any penalties. The rest of the routine was typical from her, bad form galore.

Biles: Simone always brings it for floor! Her landings weren't as good as they have been but it's only quals so no big deal. It looked like she was about to fall out of her wolf turn but she saved it.

Rotation Three: VT

I spent the greater part of this rotation eating banana bread so I may not have paid the best attention.

Kocian: Solid, not much height.

Baumann: I honestly don't remember, I think her landing was good.

Ross: Super clean in the air and (almost) stuck it.

Skinner: Form may not have been as bad as usual but it was hard to tell with no slo-mo cam.

Biles: Good first vault, I think she was out of bounds on the second but stepped back in. She has teh gold already if she lands on her feet.

Rotations Four: UB

Skinner: Bit 'ole leg separation going from low to high but hey, what's new? I think she hit just one handstand that whole routine.

Biles: Error in the middle, looked like she almost lost her grip but saved herself. It was hard to tell exactly what happened. I think she wasn't able to get up in a handstand.

Kocian: Similar error from her. She looked pretty defeated.

Ross: Nice hit routine! Clean and stuck!

Locklear: I'll admit that I'm not as impressed with her as Marta seems to be but she looked good today. I was happy to see her do well, she has a great chance of a medal in EF

Overall, I'm glad the AA will be Simone and Kyla again, they deserve it most. And again with the pink leotards?? Ugh, please let there be red white and blue for TF!!

Qualificiation Start List

Here it is folks:

Looks like Biles, Ross, Skinner and Kocian will by vying for the two all-around spots. I'd say that Kocian is a no, barring an injury for another girl. I'm hoping that Kyla's technique and form can edge out Skinners difficulty.

As for ER, I definitely see the US having the maximum 2 girls for each apparatus. Vault and floor is pretty obvious but the other two can go a few different ways.

As suspected, Desch is the alternate. I know she's not a consistent athlete and she's failed to impress many times but for some reason, I prefer her to both Kocian and Bauman. I thought she looked better than Bauman at podium training but that's here nor there now.

There will be a live webcast tomorrow at 6 am. I'm thinking that I'll wake up early and watch, worlds only happens once a year so I might as well make the most of it and see it in real time. I'm really excited to see what happens!

This Just In...

Kyla suffered a hip injury at camp. Looks like she has it heavily taped today and she seems to be ok to compete. But come on now, another camp injury? How long will it be until Marta breaks every athlete on this team? Bauman and Kocian are also hurt apparently and we all know the story with Nichols.

I hope Kyla can hold it together these next few weeks. It would suck if she had to back out and let someone else take the only other deserved spot on the team.

If Only, If Only

Last night I was getting sort of sad that the worlds team is so ho-hum. I was on my ipad and decided to type out the team that I wish could be there but can't because of injuries or getting unfairly passed over. Here it is:

Simone Biles
Brenna Dowell (in place of Locklear)
Rachel Gowey (in place of Bauman)
Maggie Nichols (in place of Kocian)
Lexie Preissmen (in place of Skinner)
Kyla Ross

This team would have been much more interesting and worthy. If only, if only!

Podium training starts today! I have a ton of work to get done so I can't watch but I think it's eing broadcasted live on Universal Sports or USA gym.

My Expectations for Worlds

Alyssa Bauman: Only girl besides Desch who I think could be chosen as alternate but I still doubt it. No finals for this one

Simone Biles: If she competes like her usual self, she has that second all around title in the bag. Same with vault and floor really. She could easily sneak in a medal on beam too.

Madison Desch: I think she'll probably end up as alternate, unless one of the others is hurt or performs badly in training.

Madison Kocian: Maybe (but probably not) a medal in bar finals but that all depends on how the other athletes perform. Hopefully she stays healthy but I have a bad feeling.

Ashton Locklear: I imagine she'll compete just bars and do a decent job but not the amazing routine we saw at Classics. Definitely a medal for her if she hits.

Mykayla Sinner: She'll make the vault and possibly floor final. I hope to the heavens that she doesn't medal on floor because her form is truly atrocious. She most likely has the vault silver or bronze unless she messes up...but come on, that Cheng?? It's an insult to Cheng Fei, it truly is.

Kyla Ross: She won't do her upgraded pass on floor to play it safe. All-around silver is possible for her again but both WOGA's and Locklear can challenge her bars, not to mention Queen Aliya. She could make finals in all but vault and floor but I don't see her being quite as successful as last year.

Overall
All-Around: Gold and silver/bronze
Team: Gold or silver
Vault: 2 medals
Bars: 1 medals
Beam: 1-2 medals
Floor: 1 medal

Brenna Get's Screwed Over Again (2014 Worlds Team)

Team: Alyssa Bauman, Simone Biles, Madison Desch, Madison Kocian, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross and Mykayla Sinner. 

Brenna Dowell is non-travelling alternate, other alternate TBD in China

Honestly, this whole thing seems a little bit suspect to me. First of all, Maggie Nichols petition must have been denied which REALLY makes me angry. This was most likely her one and only shot at being on a worlds team and it's now ruined in the name of Pan Ams?? :(

Then you have the whole Brenna debacle. She must have performed well enough at the camp all around in order to be named alternate but they are taking Desch over her? Yeah, they'll probably both end up alternates but still.

The actual team is just "meh" for me. I hate that Skinner is near it, I'm not a fan of Kocian but what other choices were there really? It is what it is. I think that Skinner and both WOGA's will be seriously in for a shock by the international scoring. Locklear even makes me slightly nervous because she apparently seemed a bit shell shocked in Canada. Hopefully she is prepared for the crowds and such.

I'll have my predictions up for what I think each athlete will end up doing but for now, I just wanted to check in.

Also, not sure if everyone has heard but Deanna Soza (JO National Team member), has a very serious eye infection in both eyes and her sight could be in jeopardy. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

World's Team Predictions

(This was originally posted on my personal blog before making this one :)

Last week at school I was so very bored and so I came up with my predictions for the US Team.
Here was my original list:

Simone Biles (duh)
Kyla Ross (duh)
Mykayla Skinner (say it ain't so...)
Madison Kocian (because WOGA)
Alyssa Bauman (because who else is there)
Alt: Desch, Locklear 

Vault: Ross, Skinner, Biles (backup Bauman)
UB: Kocian, Bauman, Ross (backup Biles)
BB: Kocian, Ross, Bauman (backup Skinner??)
FX: Bauman, Skinner, Biles (backup Ross)

Hmm...seems alright?? Then I remembered Locklear! The girl who came from nowhere and has better form than the WOGA's. So I might just switch Bauman for Locklear. But then we run into a problem for FX and possibly beam because apparently Marta doesn't like to use her there. So here is a revised list with Locklear:


Simone Biles (duh)
Kyla Ross (duh)
Mykayla Skinner (say it ain't so...)
Madison Kocian (because WOGA)
Ashton Locklear
Alt: Desch, Bauman

Vault: Ross, Skinner, Biles (backup Kocian?)
UB: Kocian, Ross, Locklear (backup Biles)
BB: Kocian, Ross, Locklear (backup Skinner??)
FX: Ross, Skinner, Biles (backup Kocian)

I'm pretty positive it has to be one of these two teams. I have this weird soft spot for Maddie Desch because she was so promising as a Junior and can't seem to reach her potential as a Senior. If she would just tighten up those floor landings and learn to stay on the beam...
We shall know by the end of next week!