glamafonic
Member
- Feb 19, 2021
- 310
- 664
This has been swirling around and around in my mind for the last two weeks as the events of Tokyo confirmed a lot of my worst suspicions.
Forster, and feel free to disagree, is pretty clearly a shit High Performance Coordinator.
Amongst other things, he’s allergic to making decisions, is obsessed with rank order (potentially because he’s still salty about Atlanta?!), the gymnasts for the most part seem to disdain him, and he very clearly had absolutely no strategy besides “We have Simone.”
I’m not super interested in relitigating the Olympic team selection since we’ve all done that and I feel that there’s not really any compelling non-hindsight argument for some other team makeup.
I think the bigger problem for the US program is his complete and total lack of leadership. There have been multiple gymnasts, selected and left off, who have indicated that he basically hung them out to dry as far as communicating expectations/standards/goals, and Simone saying outright that after prelims everyone except the gymnasts was visibly PANICKING has stayed with me, as well as her being made hyperaware that she was expected to carry the entire team (something she’s never indicated she’s felt before!).
Forster boasts about the US B and C teams being world-beaters while apparently paying those gymnasts no attention at all and seems to have no real ability to instill any kind of confidence or trust in him in the gymnasts.
There’s no one else for the job because frankly who would want it, so how does the US program move forward from here with Simone taking a break at the very least and literally all of the medal-winning gymnasts from this quad going off to college?
Will Forster just shift to putting it all on the shoulders of someone like Blakely or McClain or DiCello or Wong? Will he actually coordinate something? Or will he just continue making vague noises while the gymnasts all roll their eyes and the individual coaches and their athletes do their jobs in spite of him?
Forster, and feel free to disagree, is pretty clearly a shit High Performance Coordinator.
Amongst other things, he’s allergic to making decisions, is obsessed with rank order (potentially because he’s still salty about Atlanta?!), the gymnasts for the most part seem to disdain him, and he very clearly had absolutely no strategy besides “We have Simone.”
I’m not super interested in relitigating the Olympic team selection since we’ve all done that and I feel that there’s not really any compelling non-hindsight argument for some other team makeup.
I think the bigger problem for the US program is his complete and total lack of leadership. There have been multiple gymnasts, selected and left off, who have indicated that he basically hung them out to dry as far as communicating expectations/standards/goals, and Simone saying outright that after prelims everyone except the gymnasts was visibly PANICKING has stayed with me, as well as her being made hyperaware that she was expected to carry the entire team (something she’s never indicated she’s felt before!).
Forster boasts about the US B and C teams being world-beaters while apparently paying those gymnasts no attention at all and seems to have no real ability to instill any kind of confidence or trust in him in the gymnasts.
There’s no one else for the job because frankly who would want it, so how does the US program move forward from here with Simone taking a break at the very least and literally all of the medal-winning gymnasts from this quad going off to college?
Will Forster just shift to putting it all on the shoulders of someone like Blakely or McClain or DiCello or Wong? Will he actually coordinate something? Or will he just continue making vague noises while the gymnasts all roll their eyes and the individual coaches and their athletes do their jobs in spite of him?