Leanne Wong to CGA?

[RedBirdie]

Because I have nothing more pressing in my life than to see where former GAGE gymnasts land, Leanne Wong's UASG profile now says she's at Cincinnati Gymnastics.

 

[cftmoonlight79]

It looks like many of the Gage transfers went the CGA route.

 

[RedBirdie]

One of the GAGE coaches went to CGA, correct?

 

[irichluck21]

Weird. Wong owns a home (two but one is rental) in Florida. So CGA is an odd decision.
Is Mary Lee still coaching or is she retired?

 

[cftmoonlight79]

I think MLT is retired. I have not seen her on the Region 5 circuit in years.

 

[irichluck21]

I was pretty sure she had retired after the whole Nassar scandal for her in 2018 when she was removed from head of the elite development program after contacting Aly Raisman.

The CGA website still has MLT as owner and head coach.

I would hope Leanne wouldn't associate with someone who defended Nassar.

 

[RedBirdie]

MLT's daughter Rachel has been coaching the elites the last few seasons, iirc.

 

[Passion]

Weird. Wong owns a home (two but one is rental) in Florida.

She could just rent them both while she’s away. She may have been planning to eventually do that anyway if she went to med school outside of Florida.

 

[irichluck21]

Very true! I thought she was doing medical school at Florida though, she had registered for classes this year and helped as a student coach.

 

[QuietColours]

She's said medical school can wait until she's done with gymnastics. She might still be finishing up some undergrad work, or just keeping the coursework fresh

 

[JDB]

Switching from GAGE to CGA seems like a lateral move in terms of morality. Maybe things are different now that Mary Lee Tracy doesn't coach elites.

 

[MaryClare]

It is most likely down to some coaches from GAGE moving there and a number of GAGE athletes following.

I had hoped that Leanne would use the opportunity to choose a coach that can really help her maximise her scoring potential

 

[AmiK]

I don’t know how true this is, but on Reddit, a poster said Leanne’s mom was at MO state meet selling leos and mentioned that Leanne needed a gym to register for Classics. This poster seemed to think she would not be actually training at CGA

 

[RedBirdie]

I remain unclear why Leanne can't (or won't?) remain affiliated with UF Gymnastics for USAG purposes. It's not like there's been some horrible falling out between her and the coaches, given that she's a student assistant coach this season.

 

[david]

Who knows but maybe she likes them and also doesn’t think they are the best fit to achieve her goals. Even if CGA is an interim step to another gym, maybe it’s closer to what she’s looking for.

 

[mle]

I was actually wondering if it was more of a formality than actually training there. Maybe the UF coaches have an agreement with the university that they can't officially coach gymnasts that aren't on the university team (at least during the school year).

 

[RedBirdie]

That would have made sense except they coached her at worlds. Her club affiliation was UF all the way through worlds, and she didn't switched to GAGE until later.

 

[RichardL]

All very strange and confusing, and uncharted territory honestly... but I do think she finally has a good shot at making an Olympic team if she stays healthy, since the up and comers have sort of stopped coming. The top group is basically uncontested through LA except maybe Lavi Crain.

 

[hmmmm]

Given that Leanne likes to take charge of her own gymnastics/everything - I can see why CGA might have been chosen. I understand that MLT always gave her athletes a COP, and spoke of education in that respect.

I'd be interested to see what Leanne could achieve with Sarah Korngold/Ascend.

 

[MaryClare]

I don’t think MLT has been coaching for nearly 10 years. Have they had anyone regularly competing elite in recent years?

In a way CGA is similar to GAGE in that they got 2 gymnasts into an Olympic team and for the next 20 years, people thought they were one of the top gyms in the country