Right then. Secretarial minutes it is.
I have A LOT of notes to get through so please bear with me. I did capture some routines on my camera phone but YouTube will take an eternity. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Apologies: My humblest apologies for any gymnasts I identify incorrectly. Hopefully I didn't confuse my Georgias and my Graces. I am still getting 'up to speed' with the names and faces of our streams, and it was hard to keep my eyes on everyone today. I pretty much had to go by people's cheers of encouragement to know who I was looking at! I also apologise for any incorrectly analysed routines. Those twists are tricky to count sometimes when everyone's doing different variations! And when you're there for six hours, your brain starts to run some things together.
Thanks: Epic thanks to the VWHPC and participating clubs today for an exciting day of women's gymnastics. The women of the HPC parents group not only maintained entrance fees but oversaw the warm-up times and even proffered refreshments. It was the loveliest white tea and the scrummiest muffin I've had in a long time and I thank you for that. You know who you are.
Present:
VWHPC Junior International, International Development Program Levels 10, 6 and 8
MLC Senior International, Junior International, IDP Levels 10, 6 and 8
Waverley Gymnastics IDP Level 6
Grips Gymnastics Senior International and IDP 10
Jets Gymnastics IDP Levels 8 and 8
Absent: Britt Greeley and Zoe Lorenzin (Senior Int'l and Junior Int'l respectively) did not compete today. Britt was in casual trackies and filmed routines throughout the day. I was in her sight line so I'm most likely featuring in just about every routine they watch back. Hello to any HPC girls who can spot me in their routines. Yes, I was sitting in the corner scribbling like mad.
Zoe was overseeing music for floor and had a personal commitment that saw her leave halfway through but return near the end to help the Level 6 and 8 girls prepare for bars. No Waverley senior gymnasts competed.
Business Arising: Did not get a look at Britt's foot to see if it was injured, as speculated at previous trial.
Notes from Warm Ups (Both sessions):
Leotards - VWHPC in white leotard with pink and blue flourish. MLC in green and black. Grips in purple. Jets in black with red and yellow crossed flames, 'interesting' black velour trackie with sparkly "Jets" written on back. I shall make no more comment on this.
Zoe Lorenzin deserves dual Australia-Munchkinland citizenship. She was seen carrying a 'fit'-ball that seemed a mere inch below her head height.
Gymnasts doing side leaps right near the judging tables came close to knocking laptops off said tables.
HPC and MLC coaches spotted vault together.
GymSock Watch: MLC, no socks. HPC, no socks. Waverley, no socks. Jets? Socks!
Grace Claringbold sported a compression bandage on her leg.
Isis Lowrey of Jets Gymnastics = long lost triplet of Monette Russo/Mattie Larson???
*****************************************
Session 1 - Seniors, Juniors and IDP 10's.
Teams were divided across two squads and alternated apparatus.
Rotation 1:
FX: Amie Martin, Grips. had the Moulin Rouge end credits music. Opened with a single layout; punch front layout to 1.5 twist. Low on leaps. Whip to back handspring layout full twist, a little messy. Finished with a double twist, just behind the music.
UB: Tierra Exum, HPC. Nice stalders and I'm pretty sure that's a fancypants new Deltchev she threw in!
FX: Amelia McGrath, MLC. *Great* double tuck to open, nice and high with a steady landing. Equally nice double twist. Solid double pike to finish, to cries of "GO MILLY!"
UB: Alex Byers-Armstrong, MLC. Lots of giants, not as good as I'm sure she can do them. Dismounts with a double tuck.
UB: Annaliese Varga, Grips. Over-rotated on a kip to handstand. Fumbled on giant half-turn. Dismounted with an inward-facing layout.
FX: Ebonie Boucher, HPC. Tango/accordian music. Stumbled on front 2.5 twist. Great front 1.5 twist to punch front. Back full twist. Single layout to finish.
FX: Grace Claringbold, HPC. Layout to open. Front layout to punch tuck. Has long legs and nice lines, leaps look great. Routine is to a hip-hop violin piece. Unsteady on two kinds of pirouette -knee up and leg at horizontal. Front full to finish, probably watered down to not hurt (bandaged) leg?
FX: Alex Eade, HPC. She's teeeensy tiny! Over-rotated double pike to open. Country bluegrass music, ergo quite a few cutesy boot-scootin' sticky-outy bum moves.
FX: Laura Hingston, HPC. Striking violin music. Front layout full to punch tuck. Gorgeous pirouette in Y-position. Slipped onto backside in last tumble but worked it into her ending pose. Claps for thinking on her...er... feet!
Rotation 2:
BB: Tierra Exum, HPC. Straddle press to handstand mount. Change leg split leap to back whip. BHS, back tuck. Looks nervous! Front aerial, form break, side somi. Two split jumps, Aerial cartwheel, pirouette. Roundoff layout dismount.
VT: Amelia McGrath, MLC. I have this on video, stay tuned.
BB: Alex Byers-Armstrong, MLC. I have this on video, stay tuned.
VT: Grace Claringbold, HPC. Handspring, back pike. Lots of steps backwards, runs into supporting mats against wall!
BB: Annaliese Varga, Grips. *Gorgeous* planche mount (think Olivia Jobsis at the Commonwealth Games!) but fell shortly after commencing the routine proper. BHS, back layout stepout (fall). Change leg split leap, wolf jump. Big wobble. Over-rotates on front aerial. Nice side somi. Aerial cartwheel (fall). Front full twist dismount.
VT: Laura Hingston, HPC. Same vault as Grace, with a few steps back.
Rotation 3:
UB: Clare O'Donnell, MLC. Hit feet twice on low bar in giants (I could hear it from halfway across the gym). Neat otherwise.
FX: Annaliese Varga, Grips. Uses Lisa Skinner's "Arabian Princess" music. Fell on opening twisting tumble. I think it was a 2.5 twist? Stumbled on last twisting tumble as well.
UB: Grace Claringbold, HPC. Didn't do any low bar skills but had a very nice tkatchev and single layout dismount.
FX: Georgia Wheeler, MLC. Big double tuck to open. Double pike to landing mat. Split jump full. *Great* pirouette with leg at horizontal. Whip, whip, BHS layout half. Back roll to handstand, double turn in handstand position. Punch front layout to front full twist.
UB: Alex Eade, HPC. Giant full turn, giant half turn to reverse grip (bars were far away so it was hard to see everything going on), single layout dismount.
UB: Amie Martin, Grips. Nice and neat work. Pak salto from high bar to low, missed a cast to handstand on the low bar. Dead hang to high bar. Fell on giant. Legs bent in giant (think she's 'too tall' for the bars distance...), layout dismount.
Rotation 4:
They start playing the Spice Girls album and I realise it's been a good twelve years or so since it was released... many of the people sitting in the audience - and competing today - were just, or not even, born then!
*ahem*
Alex Eade warms up a lovely, Dykes-esque front walkover onto a box.
Watching MLC girls warm up beam. One girl (who I will identify later) stands in a ready-for-dismount position for nearly a full 30 seconds.
VT: Georgia Wheeler, MLC. Very nice handspring front pike vault. It transpires that the judges had trouble scoring all aspects of the vault because they were seated nearer to floor, and beam girls were warming up right in front of them! Coaches are nicely reprimanded for this.
BB: Ebonie Boucher, HPC. Lovely BHS to layout stepout series! Could give our elites some pointers. Dainty leaps. Fell on side aerial. Roundoff to layout dismount.
VT: Unidentifiable MLC (Georgia Wheeler?). Back handspring vault.
BB: Grace Claringbold, HPC. Straddle press to handstand, step down. Nicely controlled. Needed mat on beam for BHS-stepout series (fall). Fell on front aerial. Korbut, nice. Full pirouette. Split jump, sissone. Wobbled on aerial cartwheel. Roundoff to layout dismount.
BB: Alex Eade, HPC. Front walkover mount, more unsteady than when done on floor. Split leap, back tuck. Stuck BHS, back whip! Big applause, smashing stuff. Big wobble on front aerial. Korbut. Pirouette. Back handspring, flic, layout.
BB: Laura Hingston, HPC. Straddle press through to pike sit, a la Emma Dennis. Change leg split leap, sissone. Back tuck. Front aerial, pause, Korbut. Needs mat for BHS-stepout series, NASTY FALL! Misses back foot and skims leg on beam as she goes down. Gets back on but falls on aerial cartwheel, is clearly rattled. Pirouette with a wobble. BHS, flic, back tuck.
BB: Simone Williams, HPC. Straddle press to handstand down to side splits. Change leg split leap. BHS-layout stepout with a huge wobble, arms flapping comically, audience does an urging "wooah, wooah!" murmur wanting her to stay on. She does, with an apparent sigh of relief. Audience laughs gently. Wobble on side aerial. Korbut. Side leap. Pirouette with a wobble. BHS, flic, back tuck dismount.
BB: Amelia McGrath, MLC. I taped this one. Has great acro work until a fall. MASSIVE pause before her dismount (so it was her during warm up)! It's a sight to behold.
BB: Clare O'Donnell, MLC. Straddle press to handstand, down to a stag handstand (think Jana Bieger but a tad nicer). Great BHS back tuck, audience and coach love this. Side leap. Korbut a little off centre. Roundoff back tuck to finish.
The real standout performers of this session were Amelia McGrath (despite that last remark), Georgia Wheeler and Alex Eade.
I should point out I originally had credited Georgia McIntosh's performances for much of this competition but the lovely Georgia Wheeler informed me that THAT Georgia didn't compete today. My bad, GW! I fixed it now!
***********************************************
Session 2 - IDP 6 and 8. These girls performed compulsory routines so there was not much variation, save for the way in which each girl made choreography and skills their own.
FX: Emma Curry, MLC IDP 6. Lots of crowd support for this girl. Roundoff to back layout. Front aerial to side aerial - note: some girls did an extra front aerial after the first one, some did a side. Front layout to tuck punch somi.
FX: Samantha Bognar, HPC IDP 8. Great punch layout 1.5 twist through to punch front. Team-mates on the sidelines imitating the choreo. I think I captured this one on video, stay tuned.
UB: Sarah Taig, Waverley IDP 6. Has a long body, nice execution in handstands, sticks the layout dismount.
UB: Isis Lowrey, Jets IDP 8. Neat, fluid work through giants, long body like Tierra Exum or Mattie Larson.
Rotation 2:
BB: Brigette Snell, Waverley IDP 6. Straddle press into handstand, into front walkover. Split jump. Carwheel, back tuck dismount.
VT: Celine Chang, MLC IDP 6. More crowd support for this girl - including posters. One step on landing of back handspring; does the same vault again but sticks it perfectly!
BB: Waverley girl slips very badly on sissone, scrapes the beam with leg.
VT: Several HPC IDP 8 girls did handpsring vaults with not a lot of push off the table, resulting in them landing dangerously close to the table. Two nearly hit their heads!
Rotation 3:
UB: Emily Haskayne, HPC IDP 6. Over-rotated slightly on handstand; otherwise nice giant halfs but flexed feet in layout dismount.
FX: Brigette Snell, Waverley IDP 6. Very powerful in tumbling, almost couldn't control landings (though I think all girls are meant to land their layouts with a jump to show they can do something out of it???), gets great height on jumps and is one of a few to actually finish with the music.
FX: Emily Dean, Jets IDP 6. Nice controlled layout to open. Under-rotates front aerial in to side aerial. Stuck front layout to tuck punch! Nice split roll-through on floor. Finishes just behind the music.
Rotation 4:
BB: Celine Chang, MLC IDP 6. Straddle press to handstand, walkover. Doesn't reach full split in leap. Had to attempt tic-toc twice (I do love that skill. I could watch it all day!) Beautiful scale into handstand swingdown. Sticks cartwheel to back tuck dismount.
VT: Brianne Allen, Jets IDP 6. Front handspring vault, lands very close to table like she didn't even push off it.
BB: Emma Curry, MLC IDP 6. Press to handstand, full circle in handstand through to v-sit. Both her knee and her ankle are taped up. Nice leap into back tuck. Wobble, form break between two back handsprings. Nicely controlled full pirouette. Back walkover, stops in handstand to swing down. Cartwheel to back layout, chest quite low on landing.
The IDP 6 music is a Tchaikovsky medly (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies etc) which drives you a bit mad but allows them to show off some ballet skills so I guess that makes up for it.
I don't know what else I can add, really. Videos should be up tomorrow, I didn't get as many as I'd have liked to. I accidentally wiped Tierra's bars routine where she unveiled the new release. I'm kicking myself. Otherwise, pretty much happy with what I got.
I just wish sometimes I had six pairs of eyes and as many hands to help with documenting the whole thing!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
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28 comments:
I thought zoe lorenzin was still a junior this year??? :S confuzzled
Yes Zoe is a Junior
Laura finishes her floor like that always, it just probably looked like that because she just kept going. normally she would land it and then go down onto the floor for her end pose.
I realise that. What I'm saying is, she didn't sacrifice missing the end of the music by getting up after the slip then going back down to the floor, a move which would surely see her end late.
She'd slipped from her bum to her back; she just stayed on her back and from there moved into the position she needed to be in, and finished on time with the music.
PS- Have edited the post to reflect that yes, Zoe IS still a junior.
How great it is to hear Georgia Mcintosh is doing well after leaving the Victorian HPP Diving Squad to persue her passion of Gymnastics
Diving Australia's loss
Gymnastics Australia's Gain
Little Alex Eade
What a future little star she is going to be
ONLY 11 YEARS OLD !!
Georgia Mc! I used to train with Georgia Mc. How great it is to hear she is doing so well! Well done George! Well done MLC for giving her the opportunity to return to elite gymnastics!
Georgia McIntosh actually trialled at national 8 this weekend.
Georgia wasn't anywhere to be seen at the trial
Gee Mez,
I looked around for you but didn't see anyone taking notes and presumed you'd left after the first session. It's not like it was crowded there! We were among the ones with the posters.
Maybe Mez's notes confused Georgia Mcintosh with Georgia Wheeler ???
So many Georgias out there!
I guess we will see when the results come out
Where were the Collister twins and Angela from Waverley? Int 10/Junior
No show at Trial 1 or 2
Are they injured?
Alexandra Byers Armstrong did the back vault (layout i think), whereas Georgia did a front vault.
@ Anon: I have to admit, I was muddled because nobody was wearing competition numbers and there wasn't an announcer. There was a program listing all the competitors (incl. Britt and Zoe, who didn't perform) but you didn't know who was absent; only at one point did I hear one coach remark to a judge that so-and-so wasn't there today with her team. The gymnasts were introduced after march-on as teams, not as individuals. As I say, I listened for the cheers when I didn't know someone by face. There were two Graces, two Georgias, an Emily and an Emma, a Brianna and a Bree (I think). At one point a mum near me blushed because she thought the "Go Em!" cheers were for her Emily, but they were actually for the Emma because Emily wasn't up yet! All very confusing ESPECIALLY if you're far from the appratus. Which I was. Floor, no problem. Bars, vault and beam were trickier to see.
@ GymMum: I was sitting behind an MLC group with posters, wasn't sure if you were among them! Down near the Aussie flag end of the gym. Felt foolish at the thought of going along asking each Mum her name, so I just sat quietly in the back row of chairs, taking notes and videos and watching the energetic MLC kids sitting in front of me (I think they were trying to take a squizz at my notes, haha). I did try and catch the eyes of a few mums (not in a nudge-nudge-wink-wink way!) but nobody seemed to acknowledge me.
pretty sure that the unidentifiable MLC vaulter was Alex Byers Armstrong doing a yurchenko layout
Mez
I thought I recognised you sitting at the back with the notebook and camera and my daughter, who loves the blog kept asking me to come say hello, but I felt like a bit of a goose in case I was wrong.
I heard that angela donald has hurt a hamstring, and that Emma Collister can go back to Int 10 as she doesn't have all the requirements for Junior under the new code. Don't know why neither she or Rachel were there though.
Hey there, thanks for the Trial 2 update! Much appreciated!
Just quickly...i think the new Jets leos and tracksuits are awesome - a bit of bling really lifts the outfits and the girls wear them really well!
PS: Jets gymnasts always wear red socks in warm up...it's part of their uniform and hey...at least it stands out! :o)
Thanks for all your effort Mez. I had to work so I couldn't go, but this is just like being there!
Looking at GV's rotation schedule i can see where the confusion for Georgia Mc came from as she is listed for both National 8 and senior Int. I don't know about national trials but the gymnasts have never worn numbers at International trials in Vic. Clubs host the trials on behalf of GV and don't often receive updated rotation schedules until the day. Britt has already qualified so was probably rested for one reason or another. I have no idea why the Waverley girls were not there. i always thougt you had to attend one trial to make team?!?! does anyone know?
The only Georgia competing was Georgia Wheeler from MLC and i always get her and Alex B-Armstrong confused.
Did anyone else notice how ridiculously high the DV standards are to qualify for nationals at IDP 6 and 8?
From the first Victorian trial for example, none of the 8 trialling IDP 6s qualified and only 1 of the IDP 8s did. Crazy! You are not going to improve standards by shutting out all prospective gymnasts from nationals.
Just wait for the videos, people. I'll have done some serious misidentification there, I'll bet!
I am still kicking myself for deleting the video of Tierra's bars.
Several nearby gym mums remarked about the difficult qualifying standards for IDP 6. Peggy's really making it harder at these lower levels (their words, not mine). One MLC coach told a judge one of her girls was going to have to go back and add some bar skills (what could she possibly add to a compulsory routine that was already done well!?) before being a serious contender. So yeah, you guys are not alone!
Anon at 3:56, you shouldn't have felt like a goose. I was introduced to a HPC gymnast on my way out, apparently she'd asked about me and I was more bashful than anything because I never thought I was anything special to the littlies!
From anon 3:56.
I'll look out for you at Vics and come say hello. My daughter is on the Blog everyday, at least once.
When are the other States having their trials?
I used to train with georgia mc too!
I would love to hear more about her and what she's competing atm
NSW are finished, their States were this weekend. WA Trial 1 was yesterday, QLD trial 1 is next weekend, SA Trial 1 is over and their states are next weekend.
We were the MLC group with the posters in session 2. I too didn't want to walk around asking everyone if they were you! Maybe catch you at the Vic Championships!
Do seniors who competed at national championships as seniors the previous year not have to go to trials?
QLD state titles are 26th June -> 1st July. I will be in attendance
Nichole
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