FIG Rules...or not

I'm so torn about the new team rules for 2020...on one hand, it is great for a smaller country who is only able to send a specialist. It's also good that it will be 4 up 3 count. But, I have to wonder what kind of dynamic it will bring to have designated specialists that are strictly competing for themselves and not with a team.

I just think it's so strange to have one or two girls traveling with Team USA, training with them but not getting to compete for that team title. I can't see how a major divide won't happen between AA's and ES. If these rules had been in place for the London games, the team would have been without Maroney who would have been a specialist and if Nastia had managed to pull together a bar routine, they most likely would have brought her too. It's just weird!

And now, any girl who may be weak on one event, will have to consider dropping it and losing out on the opportunity to ever be part of that team. If these rules started for Rio, Aly's bars would take her out of the running. I just think it sucks that girls are going to miss out on a team medal just because they may not be amazing on each event.

It will be interesting to see what happens, that's for sure!

And, I apologize for my loooooong blogging break. I had surgery and then a semester to finish up so I totally failed. I want to blog at least once a week this summer!

UCLA Snags Another

So the camp videos have been trickling in for awhile now and it seems they're finally done. At last we are given a glimpse of Gabby Douglas and she looked good. I have conflicting feelings about Gabby, I loved her at first and then was very turned off by her attitude. I still dislike the way she seems to be dissing Chow by worshiping her new gym. I'm glad that she's happy at Buckeye but give credit where it's due, you know? Would we have seen Gabby on top of that podium without Chow? Super doubtful.

Aly is also looking great and I can't wait to see her compete again! I see her in Italy for sure.
Kyla's video didn't show any of her upgrades yet (though I think there might have been one on beam that I missed). And she's committed to UCLA now, so there's also that. I was kind of hoping for her to go to Stanford but she probably wanted to be closer to home and everyone's been becoming a Bruin lately.
The new seniors look good too, namely Key of course. I so wish she was competing the American Cup.

Speaking of, I really want to live blog for it but I'm having surgery a few days before so I don't know if that will work out. Either way, I'll blog about it at some point. Simone's got it in the bag but it should still be nice to see some televised gymnastics for the first time in 5 months!

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??

January Camp

Well it's the first camp of the year and I for one am excited!! Videos are expected and fun speculation will ensue :).

Picture from usagym's instagram

The lineup from left to right: Kyla Ross, Maggie Nichols, Ashton Locklear, Sabrina Vega, Madison Desch, Megan Skaggs, Polina Shchennikova, Aly Raisman, Bailie Key, Felicia Hano, McKenna Kelley, Ashley Foss, Margzetta Frazier, MyKayla Skinner, Alyssa Baumann, Nia Dennis, Jazmyn Foberg, Grace Quinn, Emily Gaskins, Laurie Hernandez, Deanne Soza, Emily Schild, Lauren Navarro, Christina Desidero, Olivia Trautman, Norah Flatley, Simone Biles, Alexis Vasquez, Sydney Johnson-Scharpf, Laney Madsen, Victoria Nguyen, Ragan Smith

So it's pretty much the expected crew. Madison Kocian, Rachel Gowey and Gabby Douglas aren't there. No word on why Rachel and Madison didn't come but Gabby is apparently sick. I'm going to repress my skepticism because it is the time of year when everyone seems to be getting hit by the flu. I really hope Gowey isn't injured again though because I was rooting for her this season. Nichols is back though, which is good and I'll be interested to see how she's coming along, I think she added some upgrades.

Nia Dennis, Bailie Key and Alexis Vasquez are all making their debuts as seniors. I'm pretty excited to see what they'll do this year. Key obviously has quite a reputation that precedes her but I also see Nia being a big asset to the team. I'm not counting Alexis out either!

I was also glad to see Deanne Soza back in action after her medical problems this fall, yay for her for getting back in the gym and working hard.

Maddie Desch being there surprised me for some reason, I sort of thought she might go away after worlds but here she is. I have to say, though all of her inconsistencies, I have this weird soft spot for her. I think I've mentioned this before but she was such a promising gymnast as a junior that I can't seem to write her off.

Vega is back at camp too and I'd really like to see some videos of her training. I think it's great that she's attempting this comeback because her 2011 gymnastics were really quite lovely.

Still injured and home are Lexie Priessman (recovering first from a broken ankle and now shoulder surgery), Nica Hults (recovering form hand surgery) and Mckayla Maroney (first recovering from knee surgery, now from an unknown medical problem).

I've got a couple posts planned for this week, stay tuned!

My Gymnastics Hopes for 2015

These types of posts are all over the gymternet right now so I thought I would write my own. Here they are!

• I want Larissa to stay a strong force and win a gold medal at the next worlds, beam or floor is probably her best bet.
• Simone to stay healthy but have some competition both in and outside of the US. I'd love to see upgrades on a few of her events. 
• Kyla, your strategy of constancy (with low difficulty) really worked this year but now it's time to upgrade. I want to see more on bars and beam and put that whip to arabian back in floor. 
• Someone to surprise us all and come out of retirement. 
• Aly to crush it at her first competition and continue to improve.
• Norah Flatley to not headcase and make a habit of falling off beam. 
• Bailie Key to live up to the hype as a Junior and not go all Krystal Uzalec on us. 
• Deeper fields everywhere
• China to get it together on floor. 
• Mykayla Skinner to either work on her form/execution or start getting more seriously deducted. 
• Mckayla Maroney to comeback stronger than ever or quietly retire. I love you Mack but don't hurt yourself if it's a losing battle. 
• I want Viktoria Komova to reappear and actually stay healthy for more than a day. 
• Give Aliya some time off but have her be at Worlds again. 
• I want to know exactly whats going on with Ernst and Finnegan, are they done?
• Rachel Gowey, Maggie Nichols and Lexie Preissmen to get some redemption and stay healthy. Specifically, I want some international success for Gowey. 

That's all I've got for now and I know it's a long list. We will see!

USA Gymnastics News

Aly is back!

She, as well as Gowey, Douglas and Nguyen have been added to the  national team. I'm really excited about all of this because I'm a big fan of Aly's and Rachel Gowey as well. I haven't seen too much of Nguyen to make an opinion on her but I've heard she's quite a contender. As far as Douglas, I'll have to believe it when I see it. One thing I love about this Aly video is that she's being honest, with both herself and her fans. I don't think that Gabby has completely done that this past year.

Anyway, does Aly look great or what?? I love the new series on beam and her bars even look better. I know a lot of people are hoping she trains a second vault and I agree. I can see her getting her Amanar back and maybe trying for the Rudi like Sacremone did. Both have similar body types so I think it's quite possible that Aly can pull it off.

There won't be any camp this month so nothing new or exciting in the USA gym world. Once my semester is over, I plan on doing some posts that reflect on gymnastics of the years ago. Stay tuned!

The Trouble with Simone

Simone Biles is really at the top of her game (and the world!) right now. Still, I can't help but wonder how long her domination can last and if she can endure a year and a half more until the Olympics. In other words, is it possibly or likely that she could win the most prestigious title in WAG?

Simone has won the last two of US National Championships, Nastia Liukin did the same thing in 2005 and 2006 (and at the same point in the Quad). And despite losing to Shawn Johnson at the next two Nationals, she won the all around in Beijing. However, Nastia never won a world title, let alone one early on in the Quad.

Carly Patterson's career was relatively short lived and she only competed in one senior nationals before winning the all around in Athens. Same goes for Gabby Douglas who never even won a nationals but went on to nab the gold in London.

Going back even further, to Sydney, Andreea Raducan (the rightful AA winner) hadn't won a world all around medal before winning in Australia.

Now, to look at the women who, like Simone, did win world championships early in the Quad. Shannon Miller won at the same two time slots as Simone (1993 & 1994 vs. 2013 & 2014). Shannon went on to compete in Atlanta and only came in 8th place in the AA. Svetlana Khorkina won World AA in 1997, 2001 and 2003 but could never grasp an Olympic AA gold.

Chellsie Memmel won World AA gold in 2005 but injuries kept her from doing much at all in the 2008 Olympics. Bridget Sloan won Worlds in 2009 but never made her second Olympics in 2012.

Pretty much, what I'm trying to sum up is the fact that in the past 20+ years, no one who won Worlds this early in the quad has ever gone on to win the Olympic AA title. It's all about timing really, because if the Olympics were last year or today, Simone would win them without question. She is an amazing athlete and it would be a shame if she didn't get to showcase that at the biggest meet a gymnast can go to. However, if anyone can stand stand that test of time, I think she can.