US Nationals WAG Day 2

[Seyonne]

I think a coordinator is needed. Maybe Tom isn’t right for the job, but I think he’s just a placeholder anyway. He will be there through Paris 2024, at least. Afterwards, who knows?

 

[JaJa]

I do not think eliminating the job is a viable option. There does need to be a coordinator. And the further you get away from the entire Nassar episode the more likely it is that a more competent person will be willing to take it on.

 

[choclatechip45]

I think a coordinator is needed. I do think the coordinator needs to be strategic. I don’t have an issue with the Olympic team, but there needs to be someone in place to make strategic decisions. I thin back to 2011 how injuries forced Martha to give someone like Gabby a chance at worlds. I know she did well at the 2011 camps because no one was going to send her to Worlds based on her 2011 Nationals performance.

 

[Doug1233]

Making decisions based 100% on the numbers is a bullshit way of picking teams anyway. Especially when the numbers are based on utterly incompetent judging and favouritism.

 

[upmysleeve]

Agreed. The judging is what I feel like is getting lost in this “Skinner wuz robbed” conspiracy. It is clear that she is not being judged with the same pen as others. Take a (generous) few tenths off of bars and beam over two days and she’s now a point down.

Granted, the last time she was at Worlds, we were similarly baffled by the E scores she got.

 

[RedBirdie]

I keep hoping it’ll be like night 1 of Gymnix 2020, when Skinner only managed a 52.631.

 

[Doug1233]

Or even just classics!

Can you remember the look on her face when she saw the floor score?! I almost felt sorry for her.

Somewhere between Classics and Trials the judges just started going Skinner-Blind!

Classics - Gymnaverse Panel (7.0) USAG (7.3)

Trials Day 1 - Gymnaverse Panel (7.2) USAG (7.967)

Trials day 2 - Gymnaverse Panel (7.35) USAG (7.8)

 

[cats]

I think Tom has done a good job managing the culture change project, which is objective 1. The routine guidance and team strategy may be beyond him; I hope they can find a way to supplement him there.

To his credit, I don’t think the Olympic team would have looked at all the same without him. Jordan would have been discarded like trash under the old regime, Suni would be injury-retired and annoyed because she wouldn’t have been allowed to play with her composition, Jade probably would never have been recruited out of L10, Skinner wouldn’t be here. Hopefully we will see a healthy team at the Olympics instead of ten secret stress fractures since they’re not overtraining so much.

On the other hand, with better guidance maybe the 2018 seniors wouldn’t have fizzled, and maybe the GAGE girls would have been doing composition that allowed them to succeed. It’s impossible to say, since there were eight million other stressors this generation has had to endure.

 

[Seyonne]

GAGE girls had composition problems under the old regime. They’ll have the same problem under the next. The fault isn’t with Tom here.

 

[irichluck21]

Jade Carey’s recruitment from level 10 has nothing to do with Tom.
That was all Valeri Liukin, who invited her to a camp IIRC and then she qualified to Nationals via 3 events.

Skinner would have been there without a doubt of who was in charge, she had unfinished business.

 

[choclatechip45]

I remember reading somewhere that Skinner said she received a phone call from Valeri asking her to continue with elite.

I don’t know if Jordan would have been discarded under Martha. She might have moved gyms earlier. It would have been dependent if Martha liked Jordan who knows what went through her mind.

 

[rlayt]

Just a reminder: Kayla Williams was a level 10 that Marta recruited for her vault ability. Just setting the record straight. Not approval of Marta.

 

[irichluck21]

Well it was not really Marta.
Steve Penney saw her at Level 10 Nationals and gave her a personal invitation to a camp.
Obviously, Marta liked what she saw!

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yeah, I think GAGE composition is just an issue for humanity generally at this point. It’s going to carry on being a problem whoever is in charge. Like a blight.