Team USA moving forward

[Puffin]

I think they should make qualifying for nationals harder and perhaps only qualify 12-15 gymnasts. Having sat through nationals there were just too many 50-52AAers and that was with pretty soft judging - USA needs higher standards

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Hmm. It’s not really a resurgence. Even at European level, they are not challenging for a team medal, they have no AAers and only voinea is a medal threat.

It’s a relative resurgence, and they finished 4th at Euros last year with a few falls!

 

[Aeris]

It’s difficult for them to do anything like that until the judges judge properly so they can back their decisions

Nah, they have the ability to pick the teams they want and they need to use that power. Like this year, if Roberson was someone whose coach they told "change these things or we probably won't take her" and the coach didn't listen, they easily could have justified leaving her off the team.

They also can have international competition as a selection criteria...and they are the ones who also get to pick who is allowed to compete internationally. Which provides further opportunity to tell coaches they better listen or else their athlete won't get assignments.

 

[makam]

They usually win junior comps, become senior, have an okay year or two and then peace out to college. Enticing ncaa athletes to come back might be the future of the program.

The US isn't the only country with a high rate of failure in converting junior results into senior results. And since the push to peak them at 16 and toss them by 18 has waned, they aren't superstars at 16 and have the option to try a different kind of gymnastics experience in college, and often as campus "royalty", so why run yourself to the ground and risk losing that basically guaranteed opportunity.

It is a sport riding on the backs of children, hoping they stay healthy and skilled into young adulthood. You can't have the same expectations about performance and results as you would with an adult oriented sport or business. Now, when you get adult gymnasts back, you can work with them on expectations and whatnot that you can't with a child (or even the coach of a child).

 

[Passion]

How easy would this be if Women's NCAA just used FIG scoring.

 

[KristyJ]

I think they should make qualifying for nationals harder and perhaps only qualify 12-15 gymnasts. Having sat through nationals there were just too many 50-52AAers and that was with pretty soft judging - USA needs higher standards

Nevermind that 50 is basically all it took to make world AA finals (which shows that the problem is not US only)

 

[BB12]

How easy would this be if Women's NCAA just used FIG scoring.

It would be the end of NCAA.

 

[RedBirdie]

Nevermind that 50 is basically all it took to make world AA finals (which shows that the problem is not US only)

For real. It's harder for a US senior WAG to qualify to US nationals than it is to qualify for world AA finals (although US domestic scoring is.... suspect)

 

[Beamer]

I'm saddened by what has happened to Leanne Wong's tumbling difficulty on FX.

At one point or another, IIRC she used to compete all of these skills:
triple full
whip immediate triple full
3.5 twist
2.5 twist + front layout full
double layout
piked Arabian double front

And yet none of them are in her current routine. Instead, we have a whip half + front full.

At the 2021 Worlds when she medaled on FX, she competed:
double double
whip immediate triple full
2.5 twist + front layout full
double pike

Now her set is:
double double
whip half, front layout full
double pike

I get that she can probably no longer do the 3.5 twist that she could do in 2019 with her body then, but doing a 3.5 isn't worth it anyway because of landing deductions unless you punch front out of it.

But the rest of her skills, she's done all of them with her adult body. Yet they've vanished from her set. We've seen her tumbling difficulty go down almost every year since 2021 it seems.

This is where training elite full-time would be beneficial IMO. And I don't know if the Florida coaches are the best for that. Not that Al and Armine are the solution either. If she wants to finally make an Olympic team on her third go around, I would train elite full-time with someone like Liang Chow, Sarah Korngold, Brian Carey, or maybe WCC.

 

[RedBirdie]

Chow? He hasn't done anything in over a decade and he's never worked with an adult elite except for that short stint Douglas had during her first comeback.

 

[Beamer]

Chow? He hasn't done anything in over a decade and he's never worked with an adult elite except for that short stint Douglas had during her first comeback.

It definitely doesn't have to be Chow. It could be any of the other coaches I mentioned, or someone else entirely.

My point is that her tumbling difficulty has significantly diminished and there are better coaching options out there to someone who is amenable to such change.

But that's a fair point about Shawn and pre-2012 Gabby being young when he coached them.

 

[KristyJ]

Does Amy Boorman still live in Florida?

 

[Passion]

Is Wong continuing with gymnastics at all after this year? Prior to US Classic she was saying this year was her last run at elite.

Maybe if she medals in the All-Around it will entice her to continue. Or maybe she'll see it as a good note to bow out on. She'll still be at Florida next year either way doing grad school and student coaching.

 

[Passion]

Does Amy Boorman still live in Florida?

She's in Germany through 2028.