British WAG (and MAG!) talk

[ArnoldRimmer]

I have no confidence that in a championship fatigue situation, she isn’t going to lose well more than the 0.2 because of endurance and needing to keep energy in reserve for a dismount she struggles with.

 

[Doug1233]

Right. She will put her hands down and lose the 2 tenth bonus anyway.

 

[irichluck21]

Crazy how much better Alice Kinsella has gotten this quad as compared to last quad.

 

[MaryClare]

Yes. It’s pretty obvious what the difference is. Not that BG will learn anything

 

[RAFIKI]

She looked knackered on FX today. Her endurance situation on bars feels like Fragapane at 2014 worlds - we knew by EF she wouldn’t manage all her tumbling.

 

[Samxo]

Can someone who knows the code rescore Jess’ bars routine. Definitely an overall improvement but I’m not sure on the score

 

[Bob]

What are you referring to?

 

[Bob]

I felt it was a good arena for the younger ones on Thursday and Friday but it was rubbish for Seniors on Saturday and Sunday. Too small, too hot and too crowded in the seating. Def too crowded on the podium. Multiple crossing over the vault runways. Bottleneck by beam dismount with mens vault and floor coming and going. Especially when floor warm up had finished and the first floor routine was on while mens and womens vault were still warming up with lines of gymnasts and coaches around the vault area very close to the floor. I am hoping they move it back next year. The arena commentary was dire this year with Danusia making multiple mistakes with peoples names every day. Very poor and not professional at all.

 

[MaryClare]

Since she turned 18 and left school, gymnastics has basically been her full time job. She does considerably more fitness/cardio work (with a PT) than any other British elite has ever done, past or present.

Her training regime is far more similar to the top US elites than it is to her team mates.

It’s not an uncommon pattern however, many British gymnasts have considerably improved after leaving school. The British and system and culture doesn’t really lend itself to elite gymnastics whilst still at school.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Her dad was a Premiership footballer, so she’ll have grown up with the professional athlete life as normal. I wonder if that makes a difference too.

 

[MaryClare]

Her dad was a professional footballer in the era before they were athletes

But her brother is also a pro footballer, so that possibly does make a difference

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Haha he’s crossover! One of the ones who spanned the professionalisation period. But you didn’t get to be a star player on a top 10 team in the early 00s without taking it all very seriously. Some of his earlier days at Colchester might’ve looked quite different however…

 

[Doug1233]

Can you send a link? I can’t find it for some reason

 

[Samxo]

It won’t let me specifically respond to you

 

[Bob]

What did you mean by ‘not that BG will learn anything’ . Children being professional athletes is really what the Whyte report wants them to move away from. Lower hours until much older is being encouraged. And the UK gov is looking quite hard at homeschooling at the moment with a critical eye. I expect clamp downs on that area to be put in place in the next 5 years. So gymnasts probably less likely to go that route.

Alice does look very fit at the moment I can believe she does a lot of gym work. I thought she looked really nice at the weekend especially for early in the year.

 

[MaryClare]

Yes, it’s no surprise that Britain excels in the sports you can pick up when older.

I don’t mean junior athletes, I find it crazy at in the US, a significant number of level 8s are homeschooled.

But BG does appear to have any sort of plan for what happens once athletes reach 16.

Also, British training is very skills focussed, there’s a real lack of fitness training and it leads to gymnasts performing skills they don’t have the fitness to do

 

[Bob]

Yes that makes sense and I agree. Better planning for over 16s would be good. In theory all children have to stay at school or college until 19 but in practise they have a lot more hours free if they so choose.

A lot of clubs have conditioning coaches now. But fitness I feel is underrated. I think it is coming though.

I have a feeling that fig will eventually move to senior being 18 plus in gymnastics. I just wish the age limits would apply to other sports. It seems nuts that you can compete skateboarding and swimming in the olympics at 13 and diving at 14 yet have to wait til 16 for gymnastics. I would be ok about all Olympic competitors from all sports having to be 16 or 18 to compete.

 

[MaryClare]

Ugh yes. I hate the environment that surrounds young skateboarders. Zero safe guarding. Yet public perception is such that a 13 year old skateboarder is seen as less likely to be in an abusive environment than a 16 year old gymnast

You don’t have to be in education until you are 19 in Britain, you have to be in education, work or training. Full time elite athlete is covered under that. Of the current and most recent elites, the only ones who have stayed in school for A levels have been those who intended to do NCAA.

 

[RedBirdie]

Jess’s Ezhova looked better. Not great, but not that terrifying flying spider things she did at worlds.

 

[RedBirdie]

I find it crazy at in the US, a significant number of level 8s are homeschooled.

It drives me INSANE to see these young kids who are barely out of compulsories being yanked out of school. I know not every school system is accommodating, but homeschooling should be the exception. Instead you have gyms that are running their own homeschool programs! WCC offers a whole “academy” for elementary aged kids. Makes me scream.

I’ve had plenty to say about Kelli Hill over the years, but I respect the heck out of the fact that she actively discouraged homeschooling. She worked with the local school district so her elites could attend school, and the expectation was homeschool is the last resort. (I can only think of one gymnast who was homeschool during my time there or while I was coaching at other clubs in the area, and I heard that was a situation having to do with the school itself, not to accomodate gymnastics)