MyKayla Skinner Olympic participation

[Doug1233]

What do you think Tom should have done to improve Hurd’s performance at Nationals?

It’s not necessarily what he could have “done” but it’s the appearance of favouritism. If I was the head of the program I wouldn’t want to APPEAR to be spending more time on one athlete than another. There’s only like, 15. It’s not hard.

 

[QuietColours]

As a manager, I’m expected to meet individually with everyone on my team for at least a half hour at least once a month. This is beyond general team meetings, collaborative work, or other situations where I’m seeing what them and what they’re doing. It’s a chance to check in, find out where I can help, find out about any issues they don’t necessarily want to bring up in a group setting, give feedback both ways, etc. It’s considered good practice in team management, and it’s really surprising to me that the National Team Coordinator doesn’t appear to have anything similar set up with members of the National Team.

 

[Seyonne]

I thought I read on here that Tom did meet with Grace. This is the only place I read.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Tom going wouldn’t have helped her, but it might’ve helped him.

 

[irichluck21]

I thought I read on here that Tom did meet with Grace. This is the only place I read.

Still, you are missing the point.

 

[Hatsumomo]

I’m still not entirely ruling out Skinner doing some Mormon black magic because that was one hell of a perfect storm that worked out literally only for her, starting with Riley splatting bars at Trials knocking her out of contention and Tom pretty much having no choice but to take Skinner.

 

[Passion]

I also read that Team McCallum had multiple visits with Tom.

We have no idea who’s gyms he did or didn’t go to because not every gymnast is documenting these things with a vlog. Maybe Tom went to Parkettes 18 times. How would you ever know if he did/didn’t?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

It’s true there could potentially have been any number of visits we don’t know about, but we do have at least one gymnast, Shilese, who appeared to be suggesting she didn’t get one.

 

[cats]

If Tom isn’t paying close attention to every member of the National Team and at least some attention to the ones who are almost on it, he simply is not doing his job. It’s not just a question of appearances. He does not get to decide that out of a pool of a couple dozen gymnasts, Skinner gets his attention and effort and Jones does not. Hurd’s status this past spring should have gotten her extra focus, not less. Injury management has always been the US program’s greatest weakness and ignoring athletes isn’t helping them fix that.

Equity in in-person visits wasn’t really possible this year, but it’s clear that the athletes didn’t feel like they all received their fair share of attention. Perhaps if that had been handled differently, and the athletes had more of a conversation about their place in the marquee competitions this year (Trials, Olympics, Worlds), Tom could’ve had a better pool for this Worlds. Maybe not - most of the good athletes are either doing something personally good for them like making a paycheck on the tour or going to college, or are injured - but maybe.

 

[Doug1233]

I still don’t really understand the Shilese devastation, though…

That, to me, looks like an individual coach, rather than Tom, issue.

Expectations must be reasonably managed.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

By individual coach issue do you mean Tom wanted to visit but her coach wouldn’t let him? If that’s definitely what happened, I agree it wouldn’t be Tom’s fault but I’d want to know what if any other attempts at support were made. An NTC in such a delicate, politically complex situation as this does have to be extremely careful about appearances and communication. If it were just that one IG post from Shilese, it might be easier to view as an exception, but there’s a bigger picture here too.

 

[Doug1233]

By individual coach issue do you mean Tom wanted to visit but her coach wouldn’t let him?

No.

I mean that Shilese’s coach should have managed her Olympic expectations, such that when she was not picked she would not have been so devastated.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Ok. If Tom chose not to visit or otherwise advise her though, which is what that wording indicates, there’s not a lot her coach can do about that situation and her understandable upset about not receiving the support and acknowledgement that some other gymnasts did. It would also raise the issue of why he didn’t, since it was always likely that very few of the 10 who went to Tokyo would try for worlds as well and she’s clearly in that second tier, 10th to 15th range.

 

[Doug1233]

Ok. If Tom chose not to visit or otherwise advise her though, which is what that wording indicates, there’s not a lot her coach can do about that situation and her understandable upset about not receiving the support and acknowledgement that some other gymnasts did. It would also raise the issue of why he didn’t, since it was always likely that very few of the 10 who went to Tokyo would try for worlds as well and she’s clearly in that second tier, 10th to 15th range.

Her coach should have known that making alternate was a long-shot at best.

The fact that she was so devastated makes me think that she thought she would.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Maybe, although to me that reads just as much like she’s angry at not having been given the support she felt she needed to give her a fair chance. But even if her coach was completely remiss and telling her she was a lock, it’s still a Tom problem if he gave her much less in the way of visits and attention than other gymnasts. It’s not like Memmel was likely to make the Olympics either, for example. And it should also have been clear that the programme would benefit from Shilese being in the selection pool for worlds, so there ought to have been some attempts to cultivate and encourage her.

 

[irichluck21]

No.

I mean that Shilese’s coach should have managed her Olympic expectations, such that when she was not picked she would not have been so devastated.

I didn’t read that as her being disappointed because she should have made the team or chosen as an alternate, but rather she felt that there was a level of favoritism toward others. The results were in itself the results, but I think she was just sharing how she felt the lead up process was unfair as gymnasts got a visit by the NTC, but she did not, especially after she competed internationally in 2020 and also was 2nd at Winter Cup. At some point you think Tom would visit her gym. Based on her words it seems that was his decision and not her coaches decision.

 

[KristyJ]

Given that they had indicated that they would take an alternate for everyone who did not have a nominative spot, and they ended up taking four instead of the five that many of us expected, and given that Shilese would have been next on that list, I think she had a valid reason to feel miffed. On top of that, she noted that she didn’t feel she had the direction she needed to know in which way they would have liked her to train in order to earn that spot or better. Many of us have thought she had the potential and talent to be much higher in the rankings with better skill and/or routine choices or a few specific frequent errors less.

All of that combined seems to state that someone dropped the ball, and maybe several someones. Even if Tom reached out to Shilese’s coach and the coach declined help, Shilese is an adult. Some communication could have been made. I do wonder if it was a combo of coach and NTC but regardless no athlete should end up feeling like they didn’t know what they were supposed to be contributing.

 

[dweiss324]

But isnt “I’m an adult” the same argument for why she should have been able to put the pieces together herself and see she wasn’t really going to fit on the team no matter how things panned out?

Does the NTC need to constantly rank the girls and tell them what they need to do to outrank the others and be on the team? I don’t disagree there were inconsistencies and favoritism, but does he really need to visit all 18 national team members the same amount? I wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t prescribed in his contract, if I were in his role. There’s for sure something to say about talent development, and maybe he did it wrong, but I don’t blame him for visiting some more than others.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

It’s not really about ranking and saying what they need to do to outrank others. Quite apart from anything else, that would require some ability to predict the future given that there are always gymnasts rehabbing something and it’s never certain how that will go. But it is important not to be seen to be favouring some over others. It would be important in any NTC role, but especially so for USAG given the political situation.

It’s difficult, and I can see how even someone more savvy than Tom might’ve struggled, since the visits situation has happened in the context of a pandemic that meant multiple camps couldn’t be held. So it could well be that there isn’t anything at all about visits in his contract. Many more things than gymnastics have had to be hurriedly cobbled together over the last 18 months. But ultimately, we’ve got someone who was one injury removed from an Olympic alternate position, who would’ve actually gone to Tokyo had they taken five, and who was the highest ranking gymnast at Trials not to attend the Olympics at all. However you slice it, she should’ve been at minimum primed for worlds and Tom ought to have made it clear that she could be an important part of the plans. I don’t think much for the chances of him actually having the ability to do anything to help her performance, but that’s not really the point. If nothing else he could’ve given encouragement.

I can see that there are sometimes going to be logistical issues about visits, that covid might have an impact, but we are talking about an NTC who found time to visit Chellsie Memmel. That comeback has been a joy, but she has never been anything less than a substantial question mark and any dispassionate analysis would’ve had to rate Shilese’s chances of making a team this year higher.