This and That

Mattie Larson's parents have come to their senses and are allowing her to enter UCLA this fall.  For many of us, it will be a treat to see Mattie compete more than once or twice a year.  Gymnastics standards have changed so much that Mattie's strut alone constituted ground-breaking choreography.  Imagine what she will look like with real choreography.  The pressure is now on Miss Val to deliver choreographically.  Miss Val needs to deliver this year, as her team is expected to go head-to-head against Alabama with a different result thought likely.  Personally, I'm thinking of something from the Born This Way album for a routine this year.  UCLA on floor is just one big tribal drag show to me.  Heavy Metal Lover anyone?

Rumor has it that Brittany Ranzy left OSU and is walking on at UCLA.  Based on how Miss Val doesn't play around when it comes to trimming the fat, she may well 'train hard enough during preseason' to earn a scholarship.  Rumors are circulation that Baer and Wong won't be counting toward the Bruins' scholarship count.  Whether or not Ranzy joins the squad, the team is stacked.  She was originally going to be a Bruin before academic issues got in the way.  It will be quite the story to follow, as they will be ungodly stacked should she join the team.


The Romanians are looking fierce and ready to medal at Worlds based on their recent training videos.  The 6-3-3 format is quite kind to them if Ponor, Izbasa and Porgras are healthy and carrying the team.  Ponor had heart surgery for a condition similar to Gina Nuccio's and appears to be fine.  Vampires are good like that.





Major Canton update.  Voir will compete this season, after we all wondered if they'd take a year off or not.  They are adapting their amazing free dance for their short dance this year.  Tessa Virtue even had a chance to meet her Royal Lookalike in June.  The Shibutanis are going light hearted once again.  Caitlin Yankowskas is there skating with an Italian hottie.  We can only hope this will work :)

Bridget Sloan took herself out of Nationals, but will be going there to train.  Bridget needs all the training time she can get, since she is known for being one of the laziest natural talents the national team has even seen.  Allegedly, she is working on vault, beam and floor and it just getting back to connecting moves on bars.  A year ago, Bridget's work ethic got the best of her.  She was only the alternate on the World Team despite being a vastly better gymnast than the girls who made the team.  While she has struggled with injuries and surgeries, she is not one of the 'rehab warriors' that Miss Val often refers to.  Allegedly, she is not one to really do numbers or much conditioning.  Thus, the training at camp and in podium training got her through. Bridget never made it through her bar routine cleanly in any of the training videos from Worlds, yet managed to pull off three routines and qualify for event finals.  When the lights come on, Bridget delivers (just not on beam.)  If she can stay healthy, it remains to be seen if she'll have the work ethic to be in the necessary shape and make the necessary upgrades to make the Olympic Team.  A Tasha 2004 situation may be looming.



Chelsea Davis spoke to Gymnastike about her career full of injuries.  Sadly, I'm not sure how often she'll be able to contribute due to chronic injuries.  I imagine she'll be more useful than Shayla, yet somehow miss loads of competition time every year.  Jay would probably get grumpy if she didn't appear to be such a disciplined worker and rehabber.



A review of Glacier Falls is on the way.  I have to wait for a joint viewing party with one of my favorite bitches.