Secondly:
and...
Keep an eye out for the Age this Sunday. Greg Baum (who attended the launch of the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships) has written an article on Lauren. It is rumoured to be part of the Sunday magazine that accompanies the Sunday Age.
Thirdly, what are your thoughts on the team line-up prospects for 2010? Australia has a triple treat of big gymnastics events to take part in - Pacific Rim Championships, Commonwealth Games and Worlds - and a cluster of potential new stars to step into the spotlight.
Do you think Lauren Mitchell could/would/should make all three teams?
Who will make the best of a week between competitions, a mere week between plane trips from Delhi to Rotterdam?
What did Rushmoor reveal?
Whose skills could hold up against those of top-class international competitors?
Which juniors are looking good for big-time debuts and national TV exposure?
How will the seniors bounce back from injury woes?
Where does the line between "A-team" and "B-team" fall for you?
Predict your potential line-ups, show us some score breakdowns, let us know what you know!
But, as always, please be civil.
43 comments:
I think for Comm games and Worlds it is still so early to seriously make predictions - it will all depend on who is still competing and if there are any retirements. I have these listed as current seniors and those becoming senior:
Amber Fulljames
Ashleigh Brennan (still don't know if retired)
Britt Greeley
Daria Joura
Emma Dennis
Fiona Coley
Georgia Bonora
Karina Brooks
Larissa Miller
Lauren Mitchell
Shona Morgan
Alex Byers Armstrong
Emily Little
Georgia Simpson
Georgia Wheeler
Maryanne Monckton
Sophie Budack
Zoe Lorenzin
Does anyone know the extent of Shona's injury now that everyone is home. Isn't Maryanne also still injured. I saw Georgia's prelim from Worlds - does anyone know if something was wrong cause it looked like it.
it will be interesting to see how these girls all progress over the next year.
For Pac Rim Juniors - there will be so many Juniors next year i wouldn't even know where to start for the Junior list.
Well... who would you LIKE to see on the teams? Which gymnasts do you think will make a good impression based on what you know, or like, about their gymnastics?
Shona's injury was not serious, only 4-6 week recovery time with no ligament damage so if she wants to continue next year she will be fine.
Yeah for Shona!
Get well soon.
First of all, Comm Games is HORRIBLE timing in relation to Worlds next year. Two full team comps in a week? I don't see how the girls and boys will physically be able to cope with this, especially the AAers like Lauren, who could be looking at four competition days at CWG and FIVE at Worlds. And that's not counting podium training!
The specialists should find themselves in less of a dilemma, I believe.
This is going to be a really hard decision for the athletes, coaches and selectors. Medals are perhaps a bit more likely at CWG...and that might bring more funding. However, if we fail the initial qualification period for a team at the Olympics, the extra funding won't do any good!
Adding to the difficulties, CWG is one of the two competitions that the casual fan is likely to actually see on television -- can we really expect to increase the fan base and support for our gymnasts by fobbing off CWG with a "B" team?
Yikes.
Okay, possible AA'ers (based on my very limited knowledge of the current state of skills and fitness):
Lauren Mitchell (duh)
Shona Morgan
Georgia Bonora
Emma Dennis
Emma Collister (???)
Britt Greely (???)
Specialists:
Larrissa Miller
maybe Naomi Russell?
All our current juniors still seem to have a way to go, after all. Still, when I consider the improvement of Larrissa Miller in such a short period of time, I have more hope!
I like:
Monckton
Simpson
Armstrong
Brooks
Georgia has another bit of floating bone in her ankle which will need some surgical attention. Her fitness had not fully resumed from the earlier ankle surgery, so Worlds was not her best comp.
Thanks for the update on Georgia - i thought she looked a little out of sorts - hope it all comes together.
Emma Collister is not eligible for Comm Games or Worlds
The Collitsers should be eligible for Comm Games because the age is different- isn't it turning 14 in the year of competition so that the same girls can compete in the Olympics in 2012 (a la Ash Brennan). The Collisters are 15 next year
Sorry to follow on with that, due to the difference in age requirement the Comm Games and Worlds' teams could differ. 1996 Birthdays can be included in CWG and only 1994 and prior to worlds right?
Who then is also eligible for CWG in addition to the list in the first comment?
Yes, even though a lot of girls are turning senior hardly any of them have world level programs yet ,a problem in the system that needs to be rectified in future because it makes them pretty much unusable for another 1-2 years, which is a huge waste.
They recently raised the minimum CWG age to 16, so it will be all seniors.
If it came down to it, you could probably send a decent 'B' CWG team, possibly even one that could win depending on what England and Canada do.
A lot depends on what Dasha/Shona/Georgia end up doing, quitting or continuing.
You would send your experienced girls to worlds.
(As unlikely as it is to turn out like this, this is one hell of a strong team at full strength - 4 DTYs! )
Dasha vt, ub, fx
Lauren vt, bb, fx
Shona vt,ub,bb
Georgia bb
Larrissa ub
Emma Dennis/Britt, Quals leadoff athlete/poss fx.
Then you send your less experienced to CWG:
Amber
Emma Dennis/Britt
+ 3 1994 girls, although I hope to see Karina come back strong, it seemed she had the potential and natural rhythm to be great on bars.
"Yes, even though a lot of girls are turning senior hardly any of them have world level programs yet"
How would we know this given that alot of these girls have not competed this year - unless you are at their training you would not know.
Well name a 1994 junior gymnast who has a yurchenko 1.5 or higher, 5.4+ on UB/BB, 5.2 or higher on floor, and has consistently performed it in competition.
You don't go from performing layout yurchenkos to Y1.5 and DTYs in a year, and even our better 1994 girls are still doing layout yurchenkos and layout beam dismounts, not to mention the consistency problems.
It takes time to develop skills from training to doing them well in competition, and it is delusional to think any of these 1994 girls will step out on the floor next year and will be able to contend with the current seniors, which is what you should be aiming for as soon as you become a senior, and NOT 3 years afterwards.
Emily Little is pretty close to that
i reckon we should focus on worlds. besides mitchell none of our gymnasts are competitive, and we would be aiming for a top 10 placing at commonwealth games- i think we are overall on par with india.
Anon 6.52 - Which 94 girls are you talking about - i can think of some that we have not seen compete this year such as Maryanne Monkton and Zoe Lorenzen who we do not know what they are capable of - I know Zoe was training Y1.5 before her injury. if you haven't seen these girls (or others) how can you judge. it was not too long ago before Beijing when people were complaining about the level of Aus gymnasts and being all dull and gloom. What you see today in compeition has no relevance to what these girls are capable of in 6 months. It's all about understanding the process of their training
If Australia wants to see medals at both comps then there is probably going to have to be a need for some gymnasts to be on both teams. Lauren has never been to Comm Games so she'ld probably like to go, she'ld also like to repeat medal at worlds tooso there lies the problem.
Comm games used to be a great debut comp for the talented juniors who were still too young to be on the senior national teams, Allana Slater and Trudy McIntosh in 98, Sarah Lauren in 02 and Ash Brennan in 06, or brand new seniors to get some big time experiences, Hollie and Chloe in 2006.
This new age rule will limit the choices. Australia will want to field a storng team at Comm Games to defend gold for the 4th time, which means sending some girls with Worlds/Olympics experience. Guess we won't really know until next year who is showing good form.
I don't think Australia has to worry too much about slipping out of Olympic eligibility anytime soon. With the 6-3-3 format as long as you have 1 great AAer your basically guaranteed a top 12 finish.
As for Pac Rim Lauren looks to be the poster girl for the comp so I can't see her not going. Gymnastics Australia will want some medals, especially since it's in Oz. There's going to be national media coverage so this is a big deal and they'll want to show that gymnastics ia a sport that is on the rise in Australia.
I'ld love to see Zoe Lorezin compete BB somewhere, something tells me she could be a star on beam. Emma Collister looks good for a junior spot at Pac Rim. WAIS and Moreton Bay also have some good upcoming talent so it's up for grabs and the Pac Rim trail will be a good indicator of who is making strides forward in terms of D and E scores. I would'nt mind seeing more of Larrissa Miller either. If Beth Tweddle isn't at Comms she could totally be on the dias with a gold around her neck.
Wow, is PacRim really going to be on our free to air tv? Or just pay tv?
I am excited that so many opportunities will be available for our girls come 2010. It's just such a terrific opportunity for them to show everyone what they're made of and to get some of the spotlight. Surely a lot of them will have been waiting and training eagerly for 2010.
I am looking forward to seeing how MaryAnne Monckton, Zoe Lorenzin, Larrissa Miller and Emily Little do, and curious about the fates of people like Fiona Coley, Naomi Russell and Britt Greeley. I think even just in the last month perceptions and opinions of these girls have changed a lot. Who knows what could happen with them next year.
I have a feeling we will see some of our Beijing members not return, although I of course want them all to stay on and make marvellous comebacks :)
I'm also super curious to see what happens with those unknown girls whoa re part of well known teams, like at WAIS etc, but who we've not seen a lot of for whatever reason, like Georgia Simpson and Sophie Budack and Karina Brooks. Karina Brooks especially I don't know much about.
I'd love a team of like...Lauren Mitchell, Larrissa Miller, MaryAnne Monckton, Naomi Russell, Emma Dennis and Shona Morgan. They're not all my faves, but they're not bad. I'm a sucker for comebacks (Shona and Naomi). And I don't include Dasha or Georgia cos I believe they're done for good. it'd be nice to see some underdogs like Amber Fulljames in the mix somewhere too. That's what I am looking forward to with 2010 - whoever you like, they all have a chance at making a great team and getting some exposure...and how can I be unhappy about that?
Brinds
This is OT but what happened at Northern Beaches? I was just on their site and it says their whole elite squad have suddenly retired i.e. Alyssah Kay, Monica Sloane, Judith-Anne Carroll, Aleksia Curcic. The rest of them have been demoted to levels. Did they get rid of their elite program or something? Such a waste, as Monica especially was looking good to do pretty well in future.
I don't know what happened but they still have 2 IDP 6's left so perhaps still doing elite?
for reasons unknown (i dont want to put unconfirmed gossip up here) they seem to have closed their program. they found spots for 2 girls at castle hill rsl but as for the rest of the girls - who knows.
There are many very talented gymnasts coming up. At the last Senior camp I noticed the new breed of juniors are really coming along well. The MLC girls were looking very strong as were the other Victorian girls. Zoe and Maryanne were still injured but have the potential to comeback and be very strong contenders next year. Georgia Simpson was on the comeback and Sophie Budack was standing to floor height DTY's. All in all from a coaches point of view, there are some very strong juniors coming up and Australia will not have to worry.
Northern Beaches has collapsed their elite program. One of their IDP 8's trialled at Castle Hill, but didn't stay.
That's such a shame about NBG. I am really surprised, given all the clinics and effort they seemed to be putting into elite last year. And it is very sad for all of the girls who put in years of work and now can't continue. Anyone know what happened to the elite coach, Xiao Qing Li? Maybe new QAS coach?
Seriously, how did that go down at the club?! Did they put on a farewell for the girls or anything?
'oh sorry, we've trained you for elite all these years but now we've changed our minds and you've gotta rethink your dreams of the Olympics. You're gonna have to go somewhere else or quit'.
This is horribly crushing for these athletes and their parents who have invested all their time and money only to be let down at` the other end.
Xiao Qing Li is a good coach and trained Liu Xuan so hopefully she will stay in Australia.
Combs la Ville - Britt 3rd AA behind French and Canadian club gymnasts. Australian team 1st with Collister, Little, Greeley on team. Emily's AA score was in the 51s, Britt's in the 52s. Sounds like not a great meet for them given you would really expect them to win both the AA and Team event with the standard of the competition.
Source: gymnet.org - there are also a couple of pics but the site is in French.
I know that definitely for Pacific Rim that they have to select 3 juniors and 3 seniors.
Xiao qing had a baby in June and has not returned to coaching yet.
It was a management decision to close the program at NBG causing devastation to all girls involved.
That really sucks for the athletes.I hope they did everything they could to find a new home for their elite girls, because otherwise that is really dodgy practice. Sure, it was probably a money decision, but for it to end so abruptly and with so little consideration for the commitment put in by the girls is shameful. Is is also just severing off a whole part of your club community. It would have been better if they had let the current girls in IDP8 and IDP10 ride out their careers while not taking on any new girls.
My daughter is in levels and knowing the commitment that it takes even at that stage, I would be absolutely filthy with rage if she was an elite and the club tried to quietly demote her to levels or told her to go elsewhere after years of training and service. Not to mention the fact that these are girls of 11/12/13 who really do not deserve to be put in a position like this. It would be a difficult time for them given the relationships they would have formed with their team and their coaches.
I can't see what it would acheive for the girls to stay without their coach. Who would coach them? And what about the girls doing idp 6 - they would have put in a good 3 years to get there. They would be far better off finding another program to go to. At least they are in a state where that is possible. If WAIS decides not to continue with a gymnast there is no program in the state doing IDP beyond level 5 at the moment.
It is possible that the decision is in the best interests of the gymnasts. Not just any coach can coach at that level. If they don't have a coach for these girls they will be better off elsewhere. Maybe they will be able to go together to another gym? That should make the transition a little easier. Does anyone know how many elite programs there are running in NSW. Are they any closer to a state institute? Or definitely not going that way?
Go BRITT
I don't know a lot about the up and coming gymnasts, but this is how I would place each team.
Assuming the gymnasts are healthy
Lauren would compete in Comm prelims (probably three apparatus) she would potentially bow out of some finals and allow some of our other girls a spot in finals for experience.
Georgia/Shona/Dasha/Emma I would put in the same boat, compete a few apparatus at comm and save and AA performance for worlds (assuming one of the other gymnasts hasn't surpassed them by nationals)
Emma/Georgia/Shona all fill the same roll from limited knowledge. Which I think is why Emma gets shafted half the time. Georgia seems to have more spark imho.
They seem to be steady overall, no standout area, but very consistent. I would use these girls to lead off at worlds.
They probably deserve a better position, but with a potentially younger team they will need a confident leader. Please correct me if I am wrong on account of the Waverley gymnasts.
For AA at comm I would have Britt/Emily/Amber/Emma (because she will probably get shafted over worlds) for example. Basically someone who is perhaps a little bit behind in difficulty or consistency.
These gymnasts may compete a few events at worlds; if they perform poorly hopefully we will have a competitive alternate ready to go.
Larissa would compete bars at both, and perhaps another event if she is competitive by nationals.
Off to find some videos of the other gymnasts and educate myself!
Elite programs cost an absolute fortune. It is extremely possible that the club was facing a choice of either dropping their elite program, or closing down altogether from bankruptcy.
I just don't think Australian parents are prepared to pay as much for training as the USA (especially for a club that has YET to show proven successes).
Still, we have the institutes (for good or bad).
It's really sad that these girls have been left in the lurch, but really, they have still had the benefit of high level training to this point.
Perhaps in future, if the sport overall gets more funding, some can be directed to regional development programs such as Northern Beaches. After all, look at Waverly, MLC and MBC.
On Lauren's GA profile it has her goals as the 2010 Commonwealth Games, considering she has now won two world championship medals maybe she would like to try and do well at the one major competition she hasn't been to. Australia only has to finish top 24 at next years worlds to qualify a team for the 2011 worlds. Considering medals would be good for funding it would surprise me if a B team was sent to CWG.
Excellent point, Anon @ 11.12.
That's my montage!
And I thought Dasha had officially retired now? I can't remember if it was confirmed or not?
What has happend to Hiba Balout? Has she retired from gymnastics or has she had injuries?
And where is Emma Nedov from Epping, they said she would be trying out for to the Common Wealth Games? Some say she has had angle injuries.
Yeah its really bad what they've done to the elite girls at NBG. When exactly did it close down?
Update on
Alyssah Kay, Monica Sloane, Judith-Anne Carroll, Aleksia Curcic.
They did trial at Castle Hill adn some went on to Diving of all things because they needed something.
It is a complete tragedy because these girls have done their Int Lvl 10 and now have no support and no where to go and they are disillusioned.
It is so sad, the Govt should support these talented gymnasts and provide them the ability to reach their potential for 2012.
I ahve hear a lot of bad things about NBG esp confirmed events.
NSW Gymnastics have just abandoned these girls.
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