This and That

The Gym Dog Show: Episode 1


Jay Clark was just named #9 on the list of best NCAA recruiters in any sport.

Charlotte Mackie just had surgery on her foot for a lisfranc fracture.  It is typically a career ending injury, as so many bones tend to be fractured and effed up by the injury.  While I'm certainly not a medical expert, I know how to google and self-diagnose on WebMD.
"A lisfranc fracture is the fracture and dislocation of the joints in the middle of the foot, where a cluster of small bones forms an arch on top of the foot between the ankle and the toes."



Miss Val appears much happier this week.  Sadness.  Her bitchy glare is entertaining.

In another moment of grand delusion for the National Champion, Jonathan Horton told IG that he plans on pushing Kohei Uchimura for the American Cup title.  Yes, and I plan on out-performing Nastia on bars at Nationals.



Rebecca Downie is out for the year with a torn achilles.


The Metroplex Challenge featured an NCAA meet and an age-group meet on the podium.  It was a good opportunity to see the status of future NCAA athletes.


Anne Phillips interviewed Sarah Patterson and threw a dozen softball questions at her.  As usual, Sarah talked about having such a freshmen-heavy lineup.  It appears she says that almost every year, but there is certainly a reason for that.  Caitlin Sullivan, Julie Cotter and Jen Iovino are all gymnasts who will still be members of the Tide had they not transferred.  All three are now competing successfully every week for their new schools.  Three transfers at one time is a bit much.

As for Anne, she is a reliable video service, but one of the most vacantly-minded people in the sport.  Anf considering how dumb some of the gymnasts actually are, that is saying a ton.  "Why is Fort Worth so great?"  Um, look at the videos of the audience...it wasn't really that packed dear.

Why have your freshmen been so special this year?   Actually Anne, they have two freshmen all-arounders who are mired in the 9.75-9.8 zone.  It is precisely those scores that likely have Sarah Patterson a bit concerned and checking on the status of Ashley Priess twelve times a day.

It is no wonder that USAG seems to love Anne, she doesn't have a thought in her head that would be potentially intuitive, discerning or controversial.  "Marv, if you were a tree, which tree would you be?"



As usual, Bev Plocki found another powerful, bigger gymnast who will be a sturdy German and do the All-Around for four years.  Sachi Sugiyama is actually a real person who despite qualifying for the Nastia Cup, isn't sure she wants to go.  Sachi is scheduled to go on a European Tour with her high school choir.  She is actually a real person and attends school, which tends to be a requirement to get into the University of Michigan.  Her 9.925 on vault was sick.





Sarah Persinger is set to join the Gym Dogs next season.  She is thin and has slowed down a tad since her elite days.  Sarah will be usable, but there is definitely work to be done.  Her vault is a bit pikey, but fixable.  Her bars just have some handstands to work out and a better dismount is needed, but she could be more reliable than Shayla on that event.  Beam and Floor also need sorting out, but she'll be a solid contributor along with Chelsea Davis.  They should definitely replace Mauro and McComb and perhaps add a half tenth or so.






Rachel Spicer left Texas Dreams to follow their level 10 wonder coaches to Metroplex.  Her 1 1/2 Twisting Yurchenko on vault looks quite usable in college.  It will likely be her best event in the NCAA.  She will make a solid leadoff-type on the other events.  Rachel is solid and consistent.  If she can sort through the big change, she should have a more successful NCAA run than teammate Liz Green.





Videos of Stanford vs. Utah.   It is a little crazy that these two teams are ranked #2 and #4 right now.

Alyse Ishino currently only performs two passes on floor.   This is something that Gael Mackie should look into, as her last pass was a watered down with a whip+piked down back layout full.  Her second pass was a shittily-executed 1 1/2+front layout.  It is time to reduce the amount of gymnastics she actually does on that event.  Less Is More!