The Balance by Aimee Boorman

[flappergirl]

A couple of thoughts on the book itself:

Thank you so much. I just retired and have to super careful about money, so I am on the fence about buying a new copy

 

[rlayt]

I just finished listening to it. I was amazed when Aimee talked about all the skills they trained. Some showed up in the next quad with Laurent and Cecile coaching. She was already training the YDP. They had trained the Biles dismount from beam. They trained the weiler full and submitted it in case she lost her balance and had to cover with another half rotation but she never lost her balance. It’s the Godwin now. In Paris Simone submitted the one and a half. The shap half which was inconsistent and hurt her shoulder which nagged her a lot then. The Fabrichnova.

They played with the Biles 2 on floor. The YDP and Yurchenko triple twist. They didn’t intend to make them competition ready for Rio because At the time there was no one touch warmup so it was too risky.

Simone had a triple twist and double arabian on floor., sometimes adding a full twist on the second flip when training on a rod floor but never on the hard floor.
Random things were played with like a double back on a beam pad.

They had a lot to choose from but had to use the ones Simone liked the most and could land the best. They would show up to the ranch with 7 or 8 tumbling passes and Marta would direct them to focus on only 4. The Landis brought some of those into her routines later. At that time they wanted to make the competition easy for Simone but her easy is still hard for everyone else. They wanted Simone to be comfortable over blowing everyone’s mind. With all the endorsements etc it was better to go with the route they used.

 

[rlayt]

• It's very obvious that her coaching style was delibrately developed, with choices she made from trainings, reactions to how she was coached, and things she saw that worked from her mother's parenting style. Because she made active choices on who she wanted to be as a coach, she's able to tell you more about why she believes in those approaches and give examples of what has and hasn't worked

She’s put a lot of thought into how she coaches and what’s best for the athlete hasn’t she.

 

[Matilda23]

can you tell us more about how she met Octavian Belu? Thanks for the summaries @QuietColours they are really great!

 

[QuietColours]

can you tell us more about how she met Octavian Belu? Thanks for the summaries @QuietColours they are really great!

She was back at the second club she trained at during the summer after her freshman year at college. The Romanian junior national team was training there on their off days during a friendship tour. She did some basic skills on the beam and Belu told her:

"You have it. You havea gift." I looked at him peculiarly as he followed it up with "You have to coach." I'm not sure why he said that. I'd like to think he noticed the pride I took in my technique and believed it should be shared.

She also confess she's only 90% it was Belu who said this (and not another Romanian coach)--when she saw him at a competition many years later she was afraid to ask. After the conversation she changed her major to sports business because she wanted to own a gym of her own.

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 7:

• The timeline is a little fuzzy at the start of this chapter. It starts with Simone debuting her Amanar at the 2012 WOGA Classic and says this is when she was invited to camp, and then on the next page goes on to discuss camp experiences in 2011. The 2011 experiences were when she got blacklisted, so I'm guessing that the 2012 Amanar was when she really made herself undeniable and got invited back
• The 2011 camp, most coaches were impressed with Simone, but Martha just tore into her and they declined the next invitation. They then weren't invited to the next selection camp (or any others)
• When Aimee asked Valeri for advice on helping Simone improve with press handstands for physical abilities testing, he told her not to worry about it too much, noting Nastia was always last in physical abilities
• More timeline confusal, because it sounds like she wasn't actually at many camps in 2012, but just qualified for the big competitions and earned an automatic spot on the National Team despite it (and Martha's disapproval)
• Aimee feels that part of the reason Kyla was asked to exhibition at 2013 American Cup was to mentor Simone and Katelyn. After Simone fell on beam, she did help comfort and encourage Simone
• Aimee was very nervous for this, Simone's first international competition, but Valeri helped her calm down and pointed out that the competition at American Cup was less intense than a major US domestic meet
• At Jesolo, Aimee ended up partnering with Martha at canasta (which she had just learned to play at the Ranch) and held her own--it felt like a rite of passage
• During Jesolo, Martha and the National Team staff arranged for three cakes for Aimee, Sarah Janzi, and Jenny, who all had birthdays during the trip
• During the next meet in Germany (same trip), Al Fong snarked that Aimee didn't have to worry about where Simone would be in line ups because "She had the 'Golden Child.'" Pissed Aimee off
• Heading into 2013 Classics, Simone wasn't having good practices--skipping assignments, low effort, not really trying to stay on the equipment. A teenager's way of exercising control. The goal was primarily to make sure she didn't hurt herself in practice. They didn't push--there was not point in pushing if Simone was determined to fall. She did tell Simone she wouldn't let her trash her gymnastics. They went out and let her perform poorly, only pulling her when she got lost in the air on vault so she wouldn't hurt herself
• Aimee very much takes a "Tomorrow is a new day" approach to practice. First positive thing she says about Martha in the book is that Martha was also very good at that approach
• Simone debuted the Biles I to crowd acclaim here, but put everything into it and crashed her FTDT because she hadn't been doing her conditioning
• They developed the Biles I because backwards landings were hurting her shins, so they added a half twist to have a forward landing instead. Shin pain turned out to be a bone spur in her tibia.
• After this, Simone had explored the limits of where her talent could take her without doing the work, and she decided she wanted to do the work. Only 3 weeks to Nationals
• Ended up winning Nationals by .2 over Kyla and sweeping silvers--she had trained hard, and they'd improved their communication

Chapter 8:

• Luis, her co-coach, was concerned Simone was being paced too quickly
• At the training facility in the Netherlands before Antwerp, the vault landing ended in a brick wall--it was scary to vault at, and the team all had big vaults and were pulling their power. Brenna couldn't complete her assignments, and instead of saying "It will be better at the real facility in Antwerp," Martha declared she'd be the reserve and wouldn't compete. Everyone was afraid they would be next. Aimee says Brenna was an excellent teammate despite her disappointment
• Aimee really doesn't seem to care for the two-per-country rule
• Coaches were behind a curtain for the AA medal ceremony. Aimee ran up to the nosebleed seats in the stands so she could watch and left her credentials behind. Coming back down, she couldn't get back on the floor, and she also didn't have a ticket to get back in the stands. She had to call Luan Peszek to bring her her credentials, but she couldn't get to Simone before she was whisked away for pictures and autographs
• Simone's $ beam mark was originally an accident--she drew a line for her dismount, and then put an S through it so she would recognize it
• Carlotta's comment: Aimee was furious. But she was also Simone's white coach, and it wasn't her place to be more furious than Simone's own family, and she let them lead in handling the situation. Carlotta's apology was obviously undercut by the Italian Gymnastics Federation's president's remarks afterwards. She praises Ron and Nellie for their parenting and helping Simone with the situation

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 9:

• Martha Bannon sold the gym to Luis, and the professionalism and sharpness of the gym were waning. They were losing a lot of students and their ege. He was also less interested in Simone's journey. USAG gave the gym a stipend to upgrade their equipment for Simone, and he didn't ever seem to get around to doing it. USAG gave a stipend to hire a substitute coach while Aimee was gone with Simone, but he never did it
• Aimee knew she was ready to leave and reached out to Nellie about the situation. She admits that she wanted to ask if she left, if the Biles' would follow her (Adria was still competing as well). Nellie surprised her by telling her they'd been thinking of building a gym
• Aimee told Luis she was leaving. Rumors began to swirl and another coach told Luis that Aimee had tried to recruit her to start a new cheer program. When Luis confronted Aimee over this, she knew the trust was completely gone and walked out then and there
• Simone was pretty in the dark about everything and was frantic when Aimee left like that
• The plan had been for Aimee, Simone, and Adria to leave at the same time in an organized fashion, but the Biles' left about a month later. Aimee arranged for them to train at AIM for six months during AIM's off hours
• Aimee made up with Luis. However, another coach had chosen to leave with Aimee. This coach downloaded her team list so she could contact her athletes to let them know she was leaving--but it looked like she was trying to poach them. Luis got a cease and desist against both that coach and Aimee. Aimee and Luis haven't spoken since. Six kids followed Aimee, none recruited
• Losing her gym and her teammates was really hard on Simone, and Aimee encouraged her to strengthen her ties with her National Team teammates

Chapter 10:

• Lots about dealing with injuries in this chapter
• Aimee pulled Simone from 2014 American Cup because of shoulder pain, wanting to rest it before it became serious. They also skipped Jesolo because she couldn't train bars at all. They had Zito come in to do her choreography, but she struggled with it because she was so frustrated her shoulder was preventing her from tumbling much
• Aimee's philosophy is that if you have to guess if an athlete is injured, you should assume that they are. If they're faking it, there's a reason and you'll figure it out. If they aren't, it's dangerous. (If they're faking it, it might still be dangerous)
• Pain doesn't make you stronger. It's your body telling you something it wrong
• Athletes have to learned the difference between something hurting because they're pushing themselves and pain from an injury
• Her rule is you can tape for two practices, then she needs a doctor's note with medical guidance on how to proceed
• Simone's shoulder started hurting again at Pac Rims. Martha said it was because Simone was fat. When asked for guidance on how to finish a workout, Martha said she didn't care if SImone just crawled across the floor. They withdrew on guidance from a training and Aimee never told Simone Martha's comments. Martha was done with Simone if Simone wasn't winning
• They finally found a doctor who could diagnosis and treat the shoulder (needed specific strengthening exercises). She's grateful they didn't push the injury
• Nationals was when Simone really started distancing herself as an athlete--winning by bigger margins, getting silver with a fall on beam (careful to note she tied with Peyton Ernst)
• At the time, they'd left AIM and were training in a quickly converted warehouse while they waited for WCC to be built. Aimee was invovled in setting up the warehouse and the planning for WCC and was spending a lot of time on operational things. Simone eventually told her she was upset because Aimee never coached her anymore--she was always in the office. Aimee had to admit she was right and started delegating as much of her admin tasks as she could, because her first job was taking care of Simone.

 

[cftmoonlight79]

Great recaps!

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Thank you for these summaries! I have always wondered what exactly happened at 2013 classics.

Martha is a grade-a sack of shit.

 

[rlayt]

I hope other coaches learn from this.

Al Fong’s sour bitterness towards Aimee and Simone in that anecdote says lots about his coaching. He tells Aimee she gets away with things only because of Simone being the golden child.

 

[KristyJ]

I'll be honest, while the "golden child" line was extremely uncalled for, I don't know if Aimee would've had as much leeway to buck Martha's choices with a less accomplished athlete. I wonder if other coaches would've preferred Aimee's style, as well, but knew their athletes would lose more opportunities for it, like Simone lost opportunities before she was so established.

 

[QuietColours]

Especially in the early years, I think Simone had to make herself undeniable given the choices they were making in going against Martha. She had the talent to do it and was willing to put in the work, and so she was.

Edit: I also think Aimee was willing to step back completely from this path if she thought it were harming Simone in a way she couldn't protect her (and I'm sure we'll get into more of that when we get to Nassar). Whether the Biles' would have chosen to step back as well I don't know. It's hard to say what you would have done in the moment.

 

[KristyJ]

Edit: I also think Aimee was willing to step back completely from this path if she thought it were harming Simone in a way she couldn't protect her (and I'm sure we'll get into more of that when we get to Nassar). Whether the Biles' would have chosen to step back as well I don't know. It's hard to say what you would have done in the moment.

I'll be honest, I think it's impossible to know. Certainly Aimee risked Martha retaliating, but I think there are instances where it would've been worse if Martha knew she could sit Simone in any reasonable way. Having finished the book I can't answer the above one way or the other; I find it likely that Aimee couldn't either as it's very difficult to know having not been put in that specific spot.

I do think there are coaches and gymnasts who have made that decision, and it would be interesting to hear about the thought process from one of the gymnasts who dropped back to level 10 or one of the coaches who risked their spot at the top to do so.

 

[rlayt]

Fong has had a lot more athletes to work with over the years, a lot more chances to get the balance right. So have others. A lot of very good athletes have passed through the system. It’s a shame to think that there might have been some other greats who were over-trained, injured and burned out by the time they could have made a difference.

 

[Hatsumomo]

A coach that had two gymnasts get severely injured/sick from anorexia and died within a few years of each other should permanently shut the fuck up and certainly not be snarking at a competent coach that actually cares about her athlete.

 

[RedBirdie]

• At the training facility in the Netherlands before Antwerp, the vault landing ended in a brick wall--it was scary to vault at, and the team all had big vaults and were pulling their power. Brenna couldn't complete her assignments, and instead of saying "It will be better at the real facility in Antwerp," Martha declared she'd be the reserve and wouldn't compete. Everyone was afraid they would be next. Aimee says Brenna was an excellent teammate despite her disappointment

I'm not surprised, but I am mad as hell. Brenna Dowell was never going to vault in Antwerp. Biles and Ross were the clear AAers, and Maroney was taken for vault and floor. If Brenna is having issues with vault in an inferior gym, who the hell cares? She was taken to do bars and beam. Marta's such a petty little bitch, riding high on her power just because she can.

Ugh. This is why even when someone a shitty as Al Fong gets angry about how Marta treated gymnasts, I have the slightest bit of sympathy. Just fucking with teenagers for the hell of it, and there's not a goddamn thing you can do as a coach to challenge it.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

I'm not surprised, but I am mad as hell. Brenna Dowell was never going to vault in Antwerp. Biles and Ross were the clear AAers, and Maroney was taken for vault and floor. If Brenna is having issues with vault in an inferior gym, who the hell cares? She was taken to do bars and beam. Marta's such a petty little bitch, riding high on her power just because she can.

Ugh. This is why even when someone a shitty as Al Fong gets angry about how Marta treated gymnasts, I have the slightest bit of sympathy. Just fucking with teenagers for the hell of it, and there's not a goddamn thing you can do as a coach to challenge it.

Brenna going up on bars in 2013 was supposed to be an investment in the future, even if she was not going to make the final. We all saw how that played out in 2015. You have to think the endless mind games Martha played with her came home to roost in Glasgow.

 

[KristyJ]

My comment wasn't really about Fong so much as it was that Simone had the ability to eclipse Martha's benching her where others didn't

 

[Peridot]

That’s interesting. I wouldn’t have thought of weightlifting given the more common diving/pole vault routes. However those reasons make sense.

Weightlifting is a fantastic sport for gymnasts to move on to.
Strong (and good strength to weight ratio), good mobility, great body Awareness and generally very coachable.
I’ve done the transition myself snd have seen several others also

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 11:

• Delegation travel takes a lot longer than casual travel, you have arrive everywhere earlier and there's a lot of waiting around--but an issue with any one person has a cascade effect
• Martha always made sure they had the first available training, so they always landed the morning of the first training, dropped their bags, and went straight to the training hall
• Her go-to karaoke song is "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
• Her laptop got hacked in Nanning 2014
• Lack of rest (and nerves) really affected Simone's performance there
• She didn't actually see the Nanning Bee--she was too far away and didn't know what was happening
• The routine before Simone competes beam: Simone marks her dismount line. Aimee runs a hand down the beam to make sure it's smooth. Aimee reminds Simone she just needs to do what she does in practice. They fist bump.
• Nanning trip was really exhausting (30 day trip). It was also the first time she was someplace where she didn't blend in--she didn't speak the language, and being white with blonde hair really stood out. People would touch her hair without asking. Adria shared that a kid touched her arm, screamed, and ran away--they thought she was probably the first black person he'd seen in person
• Personal space bubbles were also a lot smaller, which was a hard adjustment. At one point in an autograph session, Simone told Aimee fans needed to stop grabbing her, and Aimee intervened
• There was no laundry in or near the hotel. The athletes' laundry was sent out by USAG, but the coaches' was not paid for and it was too expensive so Aimee did hers in the bathtub
• Day: Wake, breakfast, gym, hotel with everyone in their rooms. After dinner, coaches and medical could check that athletes were in their rooms but weren't allowed inside for athlete safety
• No sight seeing
• By the end o the trip, she was just done emotionally
• The Olympics were still just a dream--she talks about Diane Durham's story

Chapter 12

• Flashback to 2013--Simone ordered a 3 egg omelette with sausage and cheese for breakfast. Martha was appalled, even though Simone didn't finish it. Martha felt the athletes should have half a serving of oatmeal and maybe 1/3 a banana (but no more, because bananas have too much sugar)
• At a camp before 2013, Aimee offered Katelyn Ohashi a caramel. Katelyn stared in shock before asking, "You're offering me candy?" and then "You're the coolest coach ever!"
• Knew a lot of athletes worried about eating in front of their coaches and Martha; some coaches told their athletes not to talk to Simone and Aimee because they were undisciplined (specifically about food)
• Aimee and Sarah Janzi smuggled potatoes, broccoli, chicken, and bananas to Simone and Maggie Nichols so they wouldn't have to eat them in front of Martha
• "Great athletes have a short memory in the moment"
• The tumbling in her floor routine required a lot of power, and more than once Simone walked off saying she couldn't feel her legs. They needed as much recovery time as possible before vault
• They were still watching Simone's shoulder in 2015 Jesolo, which is why they didn't do bars final
• 2015 Jesolo was when they started to feel like Martha was strategizing line ups for Rio and not doing well at one competition would significantly affect an athlete's chances at making the next one
• She very specifically never got involved in telling athletes what colleges to pick, just acting as the necessary go between
• When it came to going pro, she did not try to steer Simone but she did try to ask questions to make Simone think about both sides
• Simone was worried she'd disappoint Aimee when she decided to go pro. Aimee said she just wanted Simone to be happy
• 2015 Simone was not only the best gymnast in the world, she was also the most consistent
• At 2015 Worlds, Aly asked Aimee to talk to Martha about giving the girls a day off because they were exhausted. Martha was gruff--she didn't believe in days off. When Aimee said the girls were on the edge of burnout, Martha allowed a half day off to go walk by a nearby river (Martha's initial preference was if they were tired, they should rest in their rooms, but Aimee says they need fresh air and (my note) probably a change a scenario). The girls weren't very excited about the trip and Martha cut it short noting their lack of enthusiasm
• After the team victory, Steve Penny bought pizzas for the athletes and Dom Perignon for the coaches
• Martha then decided to do a real half day off, with a trip to Edinburgh. It had been nearly thirty days without a break from training, but they still had to do basics before they left. The girls were a little bored looking at historic castles and didn't feel they could relax with Martha watching them