But gosh, didn't she look fab!
Good on you, Lauren! Hope you enjoyed the night. May it be one of many many cool award nods you get on the road to London. You have done tremendous things for the sport in the last two years.
Read a sweet new article on Lauren's gymnastics journey here.
12 comments:
Bummer - i voted every single day bar 2 when i couldn't get onto a computer
omg same!! i really thought she was going to win but it's a shame she didn't. Oh well, she'll always be sports performer of the year in my head :)
Nice article on Lauren! But, sorry I just don't buy all that stuff about her not being that talented.....yeah, sure compared to Dasha's natural talent she wouldn't have been as 'good.' But....I mean, you have to have a reasonable amount of talent to get selected for most levels programs these days let along in an elite program. Even in that add that promoted the commonwealth games one minute Lauren says 'According to my coaches I'm not really that co-ordinated....' and then later she goes on to say 'I've been given a talent so I should use it.' Or words to that effect. Maybe though, she is talented and has worked really hard in the strength area of gymnastics, but she is not as co-ordinated. I'm rambling now, sorry!
yeah that's true. I'm sure that she is not as naturally co-ordinated as others which means it takes her longer to learn a skill, but she must have some talent in gymnastics for her to get to an elite level.
It's all in comparison. Compared to the average person of course she appears super coordinated. Any elite gymnast would. The point she's trying to make is that for a gymnast she's not that coordinated. Dasha always had great aerial awareness, you rarely saw her go out of bounds on floor or stumble out of landings and she could stick her vault and bars dismounts regularly too. For Lauren that doesn't come naturally.
I think one of the things that has been holding back Australia in recent years is the lack of internal competition. You hear Lauren talking about how much having Dasha being better than her pushed her to improve. Peggy recently said that having Lauren in the gym has been a great influence on Emily. Couch gymnast had this quote
“She just hung around Lauren (Mitchell) and she doesn’t know any better. She just thinks that’s how you train, and that’s the advantage of having senior leaders, the juniors just go ‘Oh, that’s what you do’ and they don’t know any different.”
We saw similar results from Waverly too. With more girls staying on after the olympics than ever before it makes it harder to make a team. The girls will be pushing eachother to be better than before.
I feel that Lauren benefits more from core strength and leg power than coordination. If you get enough air on your skills it makes it easier to land them even if your not that coordinated.
Yes the seniors need to be good role models for the gymnasts coming up.... as they do look up to them, for guidance, support, training etiquette and encouragement. Unfortunately this does not happen in all gyms. I think it is something that needs to be improved on at many clubs.... buddy programs are a great idea, which i know some clubs have implemented. Unfortunately all girl environments are not always the best!!!! I hope my daughter remembers being little, and does the right thing when and if she stays to senior level.
Lauren was brilliant at the recent IDP camp held in Canberra. Having her training whilst the little gymnasts attended the camp was wonderful. She demonstrated a beautiful nature with her coaches, the little kids and looked very happy whilst she went about her day. It was a wonderful idea to have her talk at the camp and train alongside the future of our sport. It would be great for things like this to be done more often.
ANON6:40
I couldn't agree with you more.
I'mma just say
Lauren looked amazing and classy and elegant on the night. A saw a pic of... I think it was some netballers? They had shorty short revealing dresses on and it looked soooo tacky.
CLASSY YOUNG LADIES FOR THE WIN
Off the topic: But has anyone herd how Mary-anne Mockington is doing? Hows the injury and where does she plan on training next year? thanks in advance :)
She didn't compete at National Clubs but she was in the crowd. I think she is going on the upcoming camp - so things must be improving for her. Hopefully things will go well and we will see her on the competition floor soon.
2011 will be key to see if Mary-Anne and Zoe can be cultivated into strong AAers. I think they can on raw ability and if they have luck with injuries. Before their injuries both were sort of being primed for that kind of role given they are strong on all events, not to mention they have the star quality to be standouts.
Added onto Emily and Lauren that is a strong group of 4 core AAers much like it was in our Beijing team - if Gbo and Brennan move on then they plug those holes. It could be competitive for the 2 AA final spots come worlds.
I really cant wait to see how next year goes because there is so much choice. To think we could see the returns of Britt, Zoe and Mary-Anne, an improving Wheeler, plus Wurth/Joura/Chung/Brown/Donald/McGrath/Sanders - well, that is competitive!
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