Classics and Key

• Juniors Morgan Hurd, Deanne Soza and Emma M (not going to attempt to misspell her last name:) are my favorites. Chiles too if she can get her act together in competition. 
• Aly did herself a big favor by pulling it together for the rest of her night but the bars have never been her friend and I fear she won't be put up on them in Rio if she gets there (bye to the all-around for her)
• Brenna just competing beam was a head scratcher but you know, if the girl wants to just compete and see what happens, more power to her. She obviously likes training elite and is giving Rio her best shot even if it's a long one. 
• Hardly any all-arounders did make the night a bit dull. Gabby on beam is a mess but at least she stayed on. Simone's looked good enough save a few wobbles.
• Let's talk bar workers: Ashton and Kocian looked about the same to me but the gap was pretty big scoring wise. One thing that Maddie K has going for her is that her beam set is better than Locklear's but it's still questionable. I'm not impressed with Laurie on bars at all, she looks heavy on them, sort of like Kyla at the end of her career. 
• Rachel Gowey getting second place was nice. I've been a fan of hers for awhile, maybe she'll get an alternate spot, who knows. I wish she had gotten to go to worlds back in 2014 when she was at her peak. Alas...

And Bailie Key, my new underdog to root for. Her bars looked good in PT and word is that she's training an amanar. After getting screwed over, I would really like it if she could make it onto this team. With her consistency and clean routines she certainly deserves a spot over certain others. 

Last Camp (The Road to Rio)

Here we go! Last camp before Classics, Nationals, Trials and RIO! Happily, Norah and Bailie are back! Maddie K is also there, Maggie is not but hey, gotta give the girl some time to recover.

I'm pretty pumped for all of the action coming our way. Classics are June 4th, Nationals are June 24th, Trials are July 8th and 10th! And I'll be at Trials! Now that the tickets are sold out, my dad informed me that I could probably sell mine for upwards of a thousand dollars. Ok, so that is tempting to college student in need of a car but guys, MEMORIES ARE PRICELESS! Right? That's what I'll be telling myself when all I have to show for my experience in San Jose is a lot of pictures and maybe a t-shirt.

My plan for this blog during the "Road to Rio" (always and forever spoken in a Al Troutwig's voice), is to cover Classics and Nationals plus any bits of news along the way. I'm undecided about whether or not I want to bring my laptop with me to California. You see, it's kind of an old laptop and I don't want to damage it during the trip or (God forbid) lose him along the way. I'm a writer and have nearly four written novels on here, if I lost those I'd probably have a mental breakdown. So I'm leaning toward leaving the laptop at home and doing small updates about my experience form my ipad and then a bigger one, with pictures when I get back.

Sound good?

Pac Rims Podium Training Impressions

Alrighty...

Can I just preface by saying that no one looked that great? It seems like they took some downers beforehand. I think it's the constant training but they all seemed pretty blah. I know from Maroney that the girls trained something like 30+ days straight without a break but they still brought it at the Olympics. This boils down to adrenaline and drive. I guess there just isn't that much going into Pacific Rims, or podium training at least. And that' s ok, I mean they shouldn't be at their best yet but I'd say the energy still needs to be bumped up. I mean, we're just 3 months away from trials for gosh sakes.

But I digress.....

Ok so Simone. Hmm, not a fan of that new floor routine. The music is so dull and standard! Why does everyone have these cookie cutter mashup messes of music? It reminds me of the big band stuff that people were doing in the early 2000's, it was just so uninteresting and never stood out. But Simone had a good day, she is Simone after all. I'm really excited about her Cheng! It looks great and so did her beam.

Ragan Smith, the alternate turned turned participant, did a nice job. I'll say that I don't find her super memorable. Her floor is cute but I hate the music, it is a fun routine nonetheless and she tumbles well. I feel like she should have an Amanar based on the height she gets off the table.

Brenna, my girl Brenna. As surprised as I was to see her on this team, I am glad she's getting yet another chance. I just root for this one no matter what. I wish her floor was a bit more interesting but her front tumbling is unique and she does it well. Her bars are fixed! I have confidence that she'll be able to complete it cleanly, much easier than her old one. And her DTY looked pretty clean.

Aly had a good day. I have a feeling that if I didn't know her from London and her history and seniority, I would not be a fan of hers. It's just her form, you know? I can hardly watch her Amanar it just hurts me. Sort of like Ashton Locklear's legs but more on that later. Anyhow, her floor was nice but boring and her beam was nice but I've always found her boring there too. I hope she really brings it in July.

Laurie. I'm so undecided about this girl. Her floor is the only one that has some charm to to it and she can actually dance, so that's a plus. Everywhere else though, I remain unconvinced. I mean her bars are fine, they're improved and her beam is fine but darn-it! She's another messy vaulter and it's only a DTY. I feel like anyone competing that vault should be able to get it down cleanly. Said the girl whose never touched a vaulting table in her life.

That leaves me with Ashton Locklear and I've said it before, girls legs/feet make me nuts. They're very Rebecca Bross. As in, the toes point inward at each other to give the allusion of the legs being together but they're not. Now I can forgive a pair of bowed legs because I have them, but you should still be able to put your pointed toes side by side. NOT TURNING INWARD AT EACH OTHER. Rant over. Other than that, she looks good on bars which is all I will say about that.

I'll be back in a few days for my thoughts on the actual competition!

We Need to Talk About Norah

Why aren't you on the National Team? Why aren't you going to Jessolo??

I need you in Rio Norah, please show yourself at Pac Rims.

Signed,
Me

The American Cup (The Rosd to Rio Starts Now, Spoken Like Al Trautwig)

Well, despite the fact that we all know Gabby will win (barring huge errors), this should be a close competition and more exciting to watch than in the past. I've been awaiting this competition for quite some time because, hello, this is the first competition since Worlds and that was five months ago! I'm ready to get this "ROAD TO RIO" started. I'm even wearing my Rio shirt, yep I'm a nerd.

Ok, I'll blog about the results later today or tomorrow, happy American Cup day to all!

Mckayla Speaks

Thoughts on Mckayla Maroney's Wednesday Gymcastic interview...

1. First off, though we all knew it was coming, I'm quite sad that we won't see her in competition. I think she really had so much to offer after London. If anyone could nail a triple, it would be her. I teared up a little bit when she said she just the other day was able to tell someone that she wouldn't be in Rio. That's got to be so hard for her. 
2. I was really impressed by the way she spoke. I think because of her other youtube videos that were very teenager, I was expecting something similar. Instead, she sounded very mature and adult. Underneath all of the "likes", she is very well spoken. 
3. The revelations about USAG and the thirty day nonstop pre-London camp...holy cow what? No wonder so many people get hurt before big comps if this is how they train them. And who was given a flashback to Abby Lee Miller of Dance Mom's screaming "Everyone is replaceable!" when Mckayla said no one is ever really on the team until they compete and how she was told she would be replaced if she was too hurt. 
4. The AOGA stuff. It must have been really hard for Mac to speak so honestly about her coaches but I could tell that it was important that she told her full story. There wasn't bitterness to what she was saying at all which was very impressive to me. Still, it really sucks that her coaches "messed her up mentally" like they did. It made me really sad to think of all of the other girls having fun on the bus and Mckayla not being allowed to participate. 
5. I'm so glad she finally feels healthy and it's inane to me that there isn't already a nutritionist working with these girls. And training with injuries as she did, that does so much harm. But at the same time, as she said, the team did achieve their goal. But at what cost? I can't help but wonder if she could still be competing if the methods of training hadn't been so harsh. 
6. The leotard line. Please Mckayla, no pink! I have high hopes for her though, because her leo from 2013 (the ombre peacock one) was really cool. 
7. The music career makes me nervous but I'll be rooting for her. She seems to be going about it in a good way. 

I met Mckayla at 2014 Classics and it was one of the most exciting moments of my life. She was so nice to everyone and she asked to shake MY hand when I got up to get her autograph. I remember telling her that I was rooting for her to make it to Rio. And she said, "I'm going to try my best, I'm going to do it". I could tell then (and backed up by the interview) that her attempt to comeback was serious and she had so much fire! That's what makes me the saddest. But I know she gave it her all and some things just don't work out. I'm glad she is at peace with everything now and I wish her all the best of luck in the future!

Please excuse the scary smiley face but I'm anonymous so it is what it is!

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!