US Classic Session 2 thread

[Aeris]

I'm sure Suni can at the very least do Giant 1/2 + Jaeger + Pak + Maloney + Gienger, Toe-on + Toe 1/1 + Double tuck 1/1. She did already show a perfect Toe 1/1 before the dismount at Winter Cup. Why does Suni need to do a watered down routine though? It wouldn't add anything to the team, you would put up Chiles with her 6.0 routine for team final still. Right now Suni is on the team for Beam and that's all she should need if she continues to hit. You let her do UB in prelims at the Olympics to get the Jaeger 1/1 named, no reason not to, we don't need to see Jade on UB.

Thank you! I'll also add that Suni herself could possibly score higher on beam. She had a major break on the Switch ring. Change that to a 0.1 balance check, and she's scoring near 15.

With the new mount and new dismount, she's better on beam than she ever was.

The dismount she's doing isn't good (inherent .1 leg form and .3 pike down deductions), that's an area where she can gain a LOT more points if she goes back to trying tucked gainer dismount. I think 6.7D + 8.6E is very realistic for her if she changes the dismount.

 

[RedBirdie]

It wasn't all Martha though. She thrived under Chow and did well enough under other coaches in 2015/2016.

I don't understand why Valeri didn't take those rings out or wasn't told to do so.

I think Gabby needs several more months of conditioning to be able to put all of her routines out there with what she had planned.

You're assuming Valeri is a smart coach who knows those rings shouldn't be in the routine. Or that he'll listen to Chellsie Memmel.

If I wanted to be a superbly conditioned athlete, WOGA isn't the place I would go, and certainly not Valeri's group.

Basically, if you want a code-savvy coach that will get you into elite shape, WOGA Plano is pretty much the worst decision you could make.

 

[Caledi]

Basically, if you want a code-savvy coach that will get you into elite shape, WOGA Plano is pretty much the worst decision you could make.

Where would you go? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[makam]

Where would you go? I'm genuinely curious.

Brian Carey.

 

[Laura722]

You're assuming Valeri is a smart coach who knows those rings shouldn't be in the routine. Or that he'll listen to Chellsie Memmel.

If I wanted to be a superbly conditioned athlete, WOGA isn't the place I would go, and certainly not Valeri's group.

Basically, if you want a code-savvy coach that will get you into elite shape, WOGA Plano is pretty much the worst decision you could make.

I don't know much about Valeri's personal coaching other than I know he can teach UB and that he can be very cruel to his gymnasts.

He did well with the developmental program and almost every coach raves about how good he was as the women's coordinator, including Tom Forster. He helped out Brian Carey when he was first starting the elite scene with Jade. So it's confusing how he can be good as a coordinator, but not at coaching his gymnasts.

 

[Hatsumomo]

Valeri's track record is godawful. He's coasting on the WOGA reputation made by Marchenko and his daughter's 2008 success. He's not the coach I'd go to for a comeback trail. I would've gone with Kelli Hill (if she wasn't on the verge of retirement) because she's a bars coach as well and generally doesn't have her gymnasts going out there with piss-poor routine construction.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

I’m all in on Sarah Korngold after seeing what she has done with Shilese this quad.

 

[RedBirdie]

Kelli's not an option, unfortunately. But that's where I would at least give a serious look if she wasn't basically retired.

Not sure how viable an option Brian Carey is given his role with Oregon State. But his work with Jade is impressive, and though we didn't get to see much, Riley McCuscker was looking good in spring 2021 with him.

Sarah Korngold has worked miracles with Shilese. Very curious if she's able to get anyone else to elite.

TCT might be an option. Heck, even Evgeny's current crop of elites seems better conditioned than in years past.

ETA: For a real off-the-board pick, go beg Andy Memmel to get you in shape. Just have him give you Chellsie's conditioning plan and you'll be doing pistol squats on high beam in no time!

 

[Passion]

Would have to be somewhere in Texas since that's where her ranch is. Living out there was giving her peace so I doubt she'd be willing to move somewhere else again just for gymnastics, that she was also only doing to try to find peace/closure/love of the sport.

 

[Rich]

Maybe Suni should focus just on beam and bars. Chelsie and others should tell her to prioritize on that

 

[RichardL]

I was very skeptical about bringing Lee as a beam specialist, and I'm surprised some of you are so willing to when you were saying that Blakely and McClain had no chance except as AAers because no one brings a beam specialist in this kind of COP. But... I would now bring her as a beam specialist, especially on a team of Biles, Jones, Carey, and Chiles/Blakely, where you literally don't even need a 5th team member at all. Also reading through this thread tickles me because we're discussing the exact same gymnasts that we were discussing for Tokyo (minus McCallum, Skinner, and Eaker, and with the unfortunate addition of Roberson). Even Emma Malabuyo is trying for the Olympics.

 

[irichluck21]

Still need Suni to do bars because we don't want Carey up on them, but Carey (VT/FX) and Suni (UB/BB) is a good fit. I would not go for the DTY if I were Suni, stay healthy and keep that floor simple, both as back ups. Carey back up for bars and beam.

Biles and Jones obviously for AA. Whomever gets the 5th spot is really just back up for team finals and lead off AA in TQ so either Blakely, Chiles, Wong, DiCello. All have DTY and can do any event at any time. Would be nice to give Biles a break on bars or Jones on beam in TF, or both. Blakely seems the best for this role, she is inconsistent though. But any of them could step in.
Outside chance is Lincoln for floor, but she is not really needed for FX unfortunately.

 

[JaJa]

Still need Suni to do bars because we don't want Carey up on them, but Carey (VT/FX) and Suni (UB/BB) is a good fit.

Yes.

 

[Jmanda86]

Well if she can, why hasn't she? I think that Douglas has very unfortunately demonstrated the big difference between hitting killer combos in training, and putting it all together in competition.

I think the argument for taking her based on last night's beam is a stronger one at this point, but I maybe I weigh versatility higher than you do - I tend to look across events and ask myself if a gymnast could fill a gap outside of their specialties, if need be. If we assume that Lee's strongest competition as a bars/beam athlete is Blakely, the latter brings in higher potential scores on both floor and vault if she hits (I know).

So yeah, I still want to see Lee's bars. I'm not discounting her by any means, but I need more information.

Douglas also hasn’t competed in 8 years. It’s only been a little over a year for Suni. I don’t think you can compare them for lots of reasons right now.

 

[Jmanda86]

Kelli's not an option, unfortunately. But that's where I would at least give a serious look if she wasn't basically retired.

Not sure how viable an option Brian Carey is given his role with Oregon State. But his work with Jade is impressive, and though we didn't get to see much, Riley McCuscker was looking good in spring 2021 with him.

Sarah Korngold has worked miracles with Shilese. Very curious if she's able to get anyone else to elite.

TCT might be an option. Heck, even Evgeny's current crop of elites seems better conditioned than in years past.

ETA: For a real off-the-board pick, go beg Andy Memmel to get you in shape. Just have him give you Chellsie's conditioning plan and you'll be doing pistol squats on high beam in no time!

I’d send her to Chellsie if that were an option over Andy. By the time she went back to her dad, she was practically coaching herself. Jim Chudy gave her all the technique and skills and she taught herself how to be smart in routine construction.

 

[Doug1233]

Jordan Chiles and Skye Blakely have both competed in two World/Olympic team finals for USA.

Chiles’ lowest counting TF score is 11.700
Blakely’s lowest counting TF score is 13.266

Both have fallen on two routines in Quals.
Both have fallen on one routine in a Team Final.

100%

Ultimately, if either of them can:

1. pull out a Cheng (in place of Shilese DTY which hardly even needs replacing)
2. beat Shilese on beam (Skye has the potential edge here)
3. beat Jade on floor (Jordan has the edge here - although Jade is clearly going to add a twist to every pass, so might not even need replacing).

Ultimately, you could take Simone Shilese Jade and Suni to the Olympics and barring injury, you’d still win. The 5th is gonna be that built in AA alternate who can squeeze a few tenths out on top of that Key Four.

Thats why I don’t think Trinity has a shot (although she will always be the fifth in my heart). Making Trials for her will be Job Accomplished.

Josc is done. She doesn’t fit into this team. She’s not that built in AA alternate. She’s only in the mix if Jade gets injured.

It’s essentially a four-way race for the 5th spot between Skye, Jordan, DiCello and Wong. Probably in that order.

Suni didn’t do bars because she wanted to be able to petition if she had an awful meet. She didn’t not do bars because she’s not Top 3 on bars.

 

[Puffin]

Josc is done. She doesn’t fit into this team. She’s not that built in AA alternate. She’s only in the mix if Jade gets injured.

I agree - she's done - last year it looked like she might sneak onto the team for vt/fx but she has regressed so much in these events bthat she looks like a new injury waiting to happen. I don't know why her coaches are letting her attempt these severely underrotated skills ....

Her ankles must hurt today after her outings on vt and fx yesterday

 

[lovegymnasts]

"Suni didn’t do bars because she wanted to be able to petition if she had an awful meet. She didn’t not do bars because she’s not Top 3 on bars."

Same difference. She doesn't trust that she can hit her routine so she is exploiting a loop hole. She doesn't want to go out like Gabby did so she is hedging her bet to increase her chance to make it to trials.
It is what it is.

 

[RedBirdie]

I’d send her to Chellsie if that were an option over Andy. By the time she went back to her dad, she was practically coaching herself. Jim Chudy gave her all the technique and skills and she taught herself how to be smart in routine construction.

I considered suggesting Chelsie, but since she's the High Performance Lead, I figured that's not actually a viable option.

 

[Memphisgym]

I wonder how it sets us up for 2028 if we take only returning Olympians and a mature Jones? Can you foresee any of them sticking around for 2028? Never say never as Simone has proven, but giving some young gymnast a chance might be good for the future of the program. I hope at least some of the 2028 aspirants attend as spectators for the experience and institutional knowledge.