The door is not completely shut on Kytra Hunter joining the Florida Gators this spring. Kytra retook her standardized tests several times. It is now up to the NCAA to determine whether her scores are high enough to be allowed to compete. One can only imagine what the required SAT score is, as she is joining an SEC School with strong football and basketball programs. The standards may iterate just how little time elite gymnasts actually spend being educated (unless that have an academically-inclined pushy stage mother.) The NCAA will make a ruling during the first week of January. Given some of the complete bullshit the UF Athletic Department has gotten away with in the past, we can keep our fingers crossed that Kytra and Ashanee will pull one another's hair out in their fight to be the Vault and Floor anchor.
Please Note that Maranda Smith already has a sixth year of eligibility.
Gator Chomp!
Um, please... There are students who struggle to get minimum standardized test scores from all walks of life. In every school in the US, there are the kids that can handle Honors/AP classes, and there are the kids that are in Basic Skills classes. It has nothing to do with being an elite gymnast... There are elite gymnasts who are good test takers, and elite gymnasts who struggle with school. Some kids work really hard at school and still struggle... Others hardly have to try and get fantastic grades.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, Kytra is an individual, and it should not be assumed that her struggles with test taking are because she slacked and didn't put enough time into it.
Region 7's elites may be the least academic of all of the regions. Darling Hill, Brittany Ranzy couldn't get into UCLA, Kristal Uzelac, several other Parkettes, Kytra,
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I could imagine that the min SAT score for a school like Florida isn't very high, but let's face it... It's not like having to go to community college due to poor grades/test scores is a foreign concept in this country... A lot of kids are probably not "dumb" as much as they may not be very "book smart" or good test takers. And some kids flat out don't work hard enough at school. But I just feel bad making assumptions about this kid.. What if she has a learning disability or something, or maybe tried very hard at her SATs and just couldn't figure them out, or maybe her school district is terrible... We just don't know.
ReplyDeleteI think the point he is trying to make is that if any of these kids got out of the gym and studied for half a second, they might do a bit better.
ReplyDeleteExplain the Miranda Smith reference please
ReplyDeleteBut if she doesn't ever study (and that's a big assumption to make), who says it's because of the gym? There are kids who sit at home all day after school with nothing to do, and STILL don't study. Every kid is different and has a different work ethic.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't Florida have checked into what type of student she was before they signed her? Surely Kytra had to know there would be admission standards.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Florida is a good school, and its not that easy to get into. The SEC gets a bad rap in education and some of it is deserved, but Vandy is a great school, UF and UGA are very good state schools, and Bama and Auburn are also good state schools. After those 5, I don't think another SEC school makes the top 100 though..
ReplyDeleteWith that said, athletes typically only have to meet the minimum, so Kytra wouldn't be subjected to the same requirements as regular students. I think its a fair assessment to think that the training schedule of gymnastics could be a factor, though certainly not the only one.
Just want to clear something up: though some schools have academic baselines for student-athletes, the NCAA mandates that every student-athlete meet certain requirements to be eligible. If you look up "NCAA clearing house" you can find outlines of the requirements, but I think the minimum SAT score is 1010. In all likelihood, an athletics powerhouse like Florida isn't going to demand athletes do much more than achieve eligibility. As far as I know, the NCAA doesn't make exceptions, so unless she achieves that minimum score, she's going to have to sit out the season.
ReplyDelete>Florida is a good school, and (sic) its ***not that easy to get into.***<
ReplyDeleteLMAO
A 1010 out of a 2400?
ReplyDeleteThe clearinghouse has a formula where if you have a strong GPA, they don't require quite as high of a test score, and vice versa. Wherever you fall on the GPA spectrum though, they aren't exactly asking for a demonstration of academic virtuosity on the SAT/ACT. The score needed to pass through the clearinghouse is a bare minimum/demonstration of basic competency. It's much lower than most admissions offices would look for. I was a gymnast with a respectable GPA and only had to get an 800 (out of the old school 1600) SAT to get cleared.
ReplyDeleteSo can she just take the test over and over until she meets the score?
ReplyDeleteIs that why she deferred to begin with (as well as trying to make worlds)?
Anon 10:19
ReplyDeleteJust curious - why the (sic) after the "and"? I thought the main error in the sentence was the failure to make "its" "it's". What am I missing?
Anon 8:19...that IS the only error in the sentence. I think Anon 10:19 was just trying to point out the humor in the fact that there was a grammatical error in the same sentence that claims Florida is a good school. Very nit-picky if you ask me, particularly for a comments section on a gymnastics blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd for anyone who is wondering, Florida actually is a very good school. It's ranked #53 by U.S. News and World Report, making it a Tier 1 school. Not bad considering there are thousands of colleges and universities in the U.S.
But I mean seriously she hasn't had anoything to do this fall other than try for worlds and train. I mean no other homework, classes, etc. You think she would be going to tutoring/special classes to help her prep for the SAT and maybe work on her weak spots. I took it my junior year and didn't get the best score so that summer I went to a Kumon type place twice a week for individual help and it did raise my score. It was like 4 hours a week. Come on ... she needs to step it up. I don't think that gymnastics is an acceptable excuse for this. And the adults in her life need to encourage her to step it up.
ReplyDeleteAunt Joyce ..... what is Rhonda's take on all of this?
uzelec got into penn state. thats an ivy school still right?
ReplyDeletePenn State is not an ivy league school. Penn State has a reputation for not requiring much academically out of its' student athletes. The University of Pennsylvania is an ivy league school.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:16
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. That's exactly what I thought regarding the only error! This makes the comment even funnier - someone ridiculing a message board placed the (sic) before, rather than following, the error.
Don't know why this very OT item struck me as so silly, but it did. Perhaps it's the excessive White Russians today while tending to holiday tasks. :-)
Anonymous at 2:21 PM --- Who says Kytra didn't try to take a class/study more/study differently for her repeated attempts at the SATs? That's like saying every kid can be on the Honor Roll if they just try hard enough. Some kids try and still can't get on the Honor Roll. It's the same as gymnastics--- Not every harder worker is going to be good enough to get to Elite. You're right that it absolutely is possible that Kytra may not have tried hard enough to improve her score... But there is a good chance that she DID try harder, as there would be a lot of motivation to do so. By not getting a high enough score, it could cost her her gymnastics career... I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that she IS trying.
ReplyDelete"Thanks for the response...
ReplyDelete...excessive White Russians today while tending to holiday tasks. :-)"
Are you special?
No, not really special, but White Russians are a fattening drink I only allow myself at holidays. Just enjoying the spirit. haha
ReplyDeleteIn case you'd like to try one:
2 oz vodka
1 oz coffee liqueur
cream or milk, if you're cutting back
Pour vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass. Fill with light cream and serve.
Yum!
From someone who has watched kids have to go to summer school so that they can be recruited for gymnastics you have to put a little effort into school, not a lot. The problem is that is sneaks up on you. You forget that your laziness as a freshman has effected your ability to be a student athlete in college. However, you do not have to work overly hard to get your grades and SATs to get into most schools. So Kytra dropped the ball.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Uzelec... Does anyone know if she went to a community college for a year? She would not need to get great grades and her high school grades would not be needed anymore.
Some people have learning disabilities or are just not that smart. It's not their fault and has nothing to do with geography. Darling Hill was born to a crack-addicted mother, and understandably had a great deal of difficulty academically. It is a shame she could not compete in college, but it has nothing to do with her being from Region 7. Uzelac, while she got into Penn State, always had difficulty as well and struggled in high school even with tutors. NCAA requires a minimum academic standard and she could not meet it to stay eligible. Again, nothing to do with being a Parkette, considering her clubmates who went on to UCLA or Stanford. Kiara Redmond from Region 1 also was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She was recruited by Michigan but could not get in academically. She went to junior college for a couple years before going to Oklahoma. I'm not sure how she did but that's a huge football school, which has great deal of academic support available to/required of student athletes.
ReplyDeleteAnon- Maranda Smith was competing for UCLA back in I think 2006? Anyway she wasn't happy at UCLA and asked to be released from her scholarship and was released. The following year (I think) she got recruited to Florida and it came out that she was dating a football player and he was a very hot prospect so he asked that they be recruited as a package deal.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how Rhonda has managed to eke a 6th year out of Maranda but the whole situation is very shady.
I thought Maranda got a medical retirement? Am I wrong? If so, it's pretty much damn near impossible to reverse a medical retirement. LVE talked about it her 3rd or 4th year, but realized the NCAA wouldn't budge.
ReplyDeleteFlorida does lots of shady shit. Urban Meyer (the fb coach) had Tim Tebow talk to recruits and talked Rhonda into getting Maranda so he could get her bf (who had been at a junior college). He has done all of this illegal stuff and for some reason, gets away with it again and again.
There is an NCAA rule that you get 5 years to complete your 4 of eligibility. Special permission is granted in cases of Medical Redshirt and things like taking time to go into the services, etc.