Saturday, July 11, 2009

2009 Nationals: WAG Senior (Preview 2)

P-Liddy speaks about the settling of the Beijing dust and her expectations for the new dawn.

Or something.

Read it here.

(Probably not the nicest accompanying photo in the world...)

Meanwhile, according to thewest.com.au, Lauren Mitchell says:

“I just going to go in and perform my routines and get more experience because that’s my no.1 aim, to get more experience... these are relatively new routines that I’m going to be performing, so just getting experience [will be the focus].

“I’ve added more difficulty to my beam routine and my floor routine. My vault’s the same and I’ve changed a couple of skills in my bar routine as well.”



Also, if you're a fan, you can follow the daily progress - with photos, no less! - of The Indefatigable Good Ship Sparkle Sunshine.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not often that I disagree with you Mez but "The Indefatigable Good Ship Sparkle Sunshine" I think not.
Whilst Tayla Dinuccio and Rachel Figgis were seen clapping and encouraging every gymnast, thier team mate Jaimie Sanders was providing a display of some fairly disgraceful behaviour which undermined any good work done by the rst of the team on day one.

Jaimie behaved like a petulent and spoiled child whilch was noticed by coaches, judges and parents in the stands from all states.
Whilst she didn't have the best day on an individual basis, day one is a team event and she did not show any team spirit. She was sulky and self centred throughout and was apparently not at all impressed with her team medal as she wasn't leading after the first day.
Sadly, I think her negativity counteracts any positivity displayed by the other three Waverly girls on the level 9 team.

Such as shame that such a talented athlete is allowed to behave poorly. Perhaps her coaches could ensure that this does not continue??

Mez said...

I believe the response here is "Ohhhh Snap!"

Anonymous said...

Ah, excitement! Finally tonight we can see the changes and upgrades the girls have made.

It's good news to hear Lauren's made her floor more difficult as well. I hope she brought back her lovely, if not consistent, Dos Santos. It was one of the nicest being performed, when she didn't over rotate it. Shame she's still vaulting a 1.5Y. If she wants to be a serious AAer she'll need to upgrade it especially since 1.5Y have been downgraded to a 5.3 D value. She's done two F level tumbles on floor plus some serious standling leg power skills on beam, is a DTY so out of the question?

Persoanlly I hope that Victoria repeats as National champions. With Dasha and Olivia not on the team it's going to be a big ask for W.A to win this year. As for the AA I'm just happy that Lauren will finally have an AA medal, but I think it's Sho Mo's moment for AA glory.

Mez said...

Well, she can do a double twist on floor, and in the past has done a triple twist (whip to triple?).

So... I'm no newkyuhlar scientist or gym coach but I'm sure she has the pulling power to go for a double. TRY for one, at least.

PS- Anonymous 1, I did have a slightly sour encounter at Vics with the Waverley 9s but this was only because all the athletes were herded out of arena during their warm-up back to the accreditation desk on the upper floor and all had to queue up and file through again because none of them had been checked in before starting warm up so, understandably, they were a little eye-rolly and groany.

I don't like seeing that these athletes display bad attitudes on the comp floor, that will simply not do!

Anonymous said...

She was doing the whip triple in late 06 early 07. I think she dropped it because she was short of the three twists a few times.

Next came the DLO in mid 2007, which she often piked down in the second salto. She dropped it after the DTB cup when the judges considered it to be a double pike. As she dismounted with a double pike she only got credited for one and she lost 0.5 of her difficulty score and essentially only had 3 tumbles.

Early 2008 saw the piked double arabian or Dos Santos. First time she performed it she nailed it. Since then she has a 50/50 hit rate with it. The problem being she over rotated it and would go OOB, which I suppose is better than under rotating it and landing backwards.

The DTB cup in 2008 saw her open with a piked full-in. It was lovely in the air with legs locked together. Unfortuantely she bounced OOB. She went OOB on it again at Massilia Cup in late 08.

So that's 4 completely different tumbles in a 2 year frame, which is pretty amazing. I personally hope she brings the whip back and connects it to her tucked arabian which has always been rock solid.

Anonymous said...

Waverly obviously need to step up their act in gymnast behaviour

Anonymous said...

W.A cant win they have 2.25 gymnasts competing (unless intl 10 counts?) Ashley Cooney is only doing bars.

Anonymous said...

Let's be clear, not ALL Waverly gymnasts behave badly, just a group of levels kids.
I have never seen any of John's kids behave in this way.
Rather than a club issue, perhaps all the poorly behaved gymnasts have the same coach?

Mez said...

Hm... according to the club's website, coach Simone Greig acknowledged that during the team final round Jamie wasn't looking too happy (quote: "Jamie right down on her floor, so not a happy camper at all......") and we know gymnasts aren't barrels of glee when they make a mistake. So it was probably just been a one-off for this one athlete and not a need for the whole program to "step up" in discipline.

I personally hope it isn't a regular occurrence with this gymnast, or the gymnasts in that group, as that would disappoint me and many people watching. That's what I meant at the end of my first post. It probably didn't help that I brought up my first-hand anecdote but it was just an encounter I'd had with them (plus several dozen other gymnasts at the time who were all in the same situation and feeling equally bemused). I would hope the athletes have a good enough rapport with their coach/es that they can air concerns about how they are feeling and can prepare adequately for their next routine or competition round without thoughts of their mistakes totally throwing them off.

If it's unsportsmanlike behaviour that is being noticed by judges AND spectators and the coach has picked up this, I assume they are savvy enough to deal with the gymnast there and then, and not make the bad behaviour permanently reflect on the team in the eyes of said judges/spectators.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:31
Lauren does have a national AA medal, she came second behind Dasha in 2007.
I also think that Shona will be hard to beat.

Anonymous said...

NSW just won the team IDP 6 Gold from QLD (silver) and WA (bronze)

Anonymous said...

I noticed some behaviour last year by the same gymnasts, so I wonder if it is a one off.

Of course a gymnast is disappointed if they make a mistake but it shows great character if a gymnast makes a mistake and is able to rise above it and rather than sulk about it. Not only does it look bad on the floor, it brings the team mood down.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the above comment I not too sure it was a one off

Anonymous said...

I have seen this gymnast act like this before it is not a one off thing.