Upgrades and 'Tricks' I'd Like to See for '08 and Beyond...
aka Mez goes off into a heady, slightly ranty gymnastics-centred wish list
* Dasha Joura to get an Amanar vault (Yurchenko with two-and-a-half twist). She's got quite a lot of power doing the Y-double already and I think she'd definitely be a stronger chance for an all-around medal with a harder vault. Jade Barbosa is just one of the medal favourites performing the vault (she's doing the Cheng vault as well!), there has also been talk of world champ Shawn Johnson upgrading to it as well.
* Lauren Mitchell to put a half/full twist into her somersaults on beam or even attempt an arabian. Straight front tucks just don't really cut it, I'd love to see her up her difficulty (code permitting). She's mentioned in interviews that she will be adding skills to upgrade her routine in time for Beijing, maybe a skill like this will be in her repertoire. If Natasha Kelley can do it, Little Loz can do it!
* Someone like Mel Jones or Shona Morgan to get a Yurchenko double. I don't know if Kerby Purcell is old enough, but if she's not, we can't afford to have just one on the whole team!
* A Markelov/Khorkina on bars! Gosh I love those when they're done well. Someone with nice execution and good swings should have a crack at it, someone like Melody Hernandez (hopefully those retirement rumours were untrue), Hollie Dykes (ditto) or a dark horse like Fiona Coley (she of the exciting stalder -> immediate Pac salto).
* Something more than tucked double front/back dismounts off bars. I don't care who would do it, let's just mix things up a bit!
* Double layouts on floor. Last I heard Chloe Sims did one at QLD state champs/trials or something along those lines last year (one of the small comps in Chandler?) but apparently wasn't too successful on it. We saw footage of Hollie training one last year, and she did one in '05, but it never manifested itself in later routines so heaven knows what happened. I'd love to see a power package like Mel Jones go for one.
* No more running punch front fulls on floor as tumbling runs!
* Back layouts on beam to TWO feet. Nationals this year was somewhat disheartening, with the majority of girls doing back handspring -> layout stepout. Either just a single one, or doing two (and a little messily, I might scathingly add). I miss Trudy Mc's explosive acro sequences.
* Shona and Georgia B to distinguish themselves from one another. They have very similar skills on beam and floor, and for the past two years have been viewed as somewhat interchangeable in lineups. One was reserve at Worlds in '06, the other in '07. Of the dynamic Waveley duo, Shona could be the breakout gymnast on vault, where Georgia could pull out something suprising on beam. She does do a fantastic Rulfova...
*If Chloe has so much power in her running double front (to the point where she's run out of bounds or rolled forward, as we've witnessed on several occasions) they should consider having her follow it up with a punch front, like Daria Bijak used to. Unfortunately she often has the same problem on beam with her double front dismount. She should perhaps do a series before it *sudden insane realisation* could she try a Patterson (flip->flip->double arabian)!? ...nah, now I think I'm going too far :p
4 comments:
Kerby is old enough for Beijing. I'd love to see her come up and be a real contender for the team. She had lovely beam work at last year's Nationals too so a DTY from her could put her right in the mix.
If we're talking our hope skills for the girls, these are the ones I'd love to see:
Dasha - I'm with you on the Amanar. The massive improvement in block, height & length (not to mention landing!) in Dasha's baitova from American Cup 07 to Worlds was almost unfathomable. I'd also like to see her add something special on floor in her tumbling - wasn't she working on a triple twist - maybe she could manage a whip triple? Oh, and on beam I dream to see a full-in dismount. Did anyone see her double tuck at the Beijing test event? It was HUGE.
Lauren - Little Loz's routines are packed except for vault. She'll really need to upgrade to a 1.5 twist if she wants to stay competitive for an all-around spot in Beijing. As you mentioned, an arabian or barani would be pretty fierce too! :)
Chloe - She has the skills. Would like to see her ditch the tsuk entries and go back to the handspring entries. I have no doubt given the way she could probably manage a handspring layout half and I reckon she'd have much less of a deduction for form and landing. Oh, and a deltchev - she does have a huge swing.
I expect either one or both of Shona & Georgia to have Baitova's by Nationals. They did great 1.5s earlier this year and it's the edge they need to make the Olympic team. Another darkhorse for a Baitova is Ashleigh Brennan. She had an AMAZING 1.5s at CWealths trials and injury has really hampered her. Obviously Kerby is another Baitova option now - hoping we'll see some video of her competing at WOGA.
Just some thoughts....
Oh and if Hollie does come back/is still training, my dreams for her are for her to compete a Dunn mount onto beam and add the rulfova finally.
I love the new blog! BTW, Shawn already has the Amanar...she had it ready for U.S. Nationals and Worlds this year, but she didn't perform it because the powers that be decided that she didn't need it (plus, it might not have been quite as consistent as her double).
Wasn't Patterson's dismount a roundoff flic double arabian?
Thanks for the read!
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