Friday, March 4, 2011

2011 American Cup

Hi everyone. I am STILL limited to my phone! Therefore I am slowly going insane. Feel free to comment on American Cup goings-on at this post. All I have out of podium training so far (see The Gym Examiner and comments in previous thread) is that Lauren was doing Yurchenko fulls, struggled a bit on bars, and is looking to upgrade to a whip-double arabian for floor before the year is out. Good luck Loz! *continues to mash keys* If you're in Prahran tomorrow, make yourself known! Edit: I am here at the HPC, check out ozgymblog at Twitter for updates and pics live from the scene! Vids will follow ... eventually! The Couch Gymnast is also here, happy-snapping away! Edit 2: Apologies for lack of coverage. Long, sleep-inducing days will do that to you! Lauren had a rough competition and managed a commendable 6th overall.

139 comments:

  1. VHPC fb some really good photos

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  2. What a great thing for all the girls to go to as a group, well done HPC

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  3. That would have been a really good night with all the Fox people involved

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  4. Who else is calling Wieber or Raisman for the win?

    I want Lauren or Aliya M To take out the title, for sure... But somehow I don't see it happening...

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  5. Weiber or aliya for my money.

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  6. stoked! cant wait to hear what you and the couch gymnast have to say

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  7. I just got back. Best thing was Alex Eade's unspotted double layouts and pike full ins on the strip.

    Britt looks pretty good, tumbling double arabian, 1.5_front full, double tuck and double pike. It wa sso nice to see her back.

    No Svetlana, and GRB mostly out of action but did do a full routine on bars. Seemed to be sticking to soft surfaces.

    Ashleigh was very solid on beam and did a new routine on floor, although maybe she wont use it at Cottbus as she also ran through her old routine. I loved her new routine and I think Mez got some video of the choreography. Alex Eade was also working on the start of a new routine.

    I got a few decent pics from my seat but I didn't move around because I was enjoying gossiping with Mez. Brigid from Couch Gymnast was also there taking snaps so we should have plenty of the lovely gym we saw to show. Honestly, their girls are just beautifully trained and have such divine presentation.

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  8. Nade, thank you so much for that report! I've been refreshing every 15 mins in the hope of hearing something. Appreciate it!

    :)

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  9. Alex has some awesome skills in the works, did I mention the tuck front half? I did capture one of her unspotted DLOs on camera but sort of missed the landing due to girls on floor standing in the way.

    Britt showed few full routines (I got her floor and partial beam) but had good goes at her double arabian and her vaults.

    Ash is fighting fit, she makes beam look easy! Has all her skills back. Did her bars DLO into the pit. Showed off her old AND new floor routines - the new one is very elegant and striking. I missed filming the very start of it! Alex is doing away with her country twang music and getting something that is undoubtedly Rodrigo y Gabriela (read: Spanish guitar duo) and she looked like she was having lots of fun working the sassy new choreo.

    GRB and Laura Hingston are absolute stunners, I couldn't stop watching Laura's onodi training, and GRB training ballet skills like a pro. she showed a nice geinger and straddle jaeger while Laura had trouble with her bars releases.

    Unfortunately my camera battery died rigjt near the end of the session so I missed Britt's full beam and some other stuff. Eb Boucher and Maddie Leydin made strong impressions, and the little IDPs were adorable to watch. They take their training VERY seriously!

    Funny moment of the day- Ash helped draw the raffle... and her mum won it!

    Check @ozgymblog at twitter for updates and live pics from this morning. Please stay tuned for videos, my laptop is still dead.

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  10. Hey Mez- going to post some pics really soon. They aren't great-unfortunately- I had a bad photo day- but you get the idea. Gosh there is a LOT of Talent at VWHPC!!

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  11. The pictures from the VWHPC look great! I love the leotards, they look really nice on all the girls

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  12. VWHPC do a really good job of putting on days for the public to come and view, thanks VWHPC. I really enjoyed watching such a professionally run program. My daughter also enjoyed watching all the great talented gymnasts.

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  13. I went along to the HPC yesterday,
    what a great morning what a fantastic
    day, and a wonderful fund-raiser for a very worthy cause.

    I congratulate the HPC program, for opening the doors to the public and sharing some very exciting GYMNASTCS. I was so impressed with the standard of the Seniors and Juniors and how they are looking, a credit to the coaching team.

    Ash is looking great.
    Fantastic to see Britt back.
    Tierra looked fantastic on the vault, she is a powerhouse.
    Laura looked simply stunning on the
    beam.
    Georgia has such beautiful lines on bars.
    Alex did some fantastic tumbling.
    Ebony Maddie and Grace also looking good.
    The little ones just so cute.
    Thanks for sharing your special day with us. GOOD LUCK to the girls who are off to compete

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  14. Unfortunately Lauren did not do very well at the American Cup. Yurchenko full on vault, bad fall and sluggish on bars, and not sharp on beam or floor either.

    She really seemed unprepared among a group of very fit athletes doing full difficulty, so maybe it wasn't the best choice to go and hurt her reputation while she is not fit.

    I don't really see the point of wasting a month of training time to go to world cups when you aren't in a position to really compete with the world's best. You come off looking like you don't belong with the sport's elite. It's not like she needs international experience after all.

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  15. her bars were seriously LABOURED! I didn't really see any improvement on that event to be honest, if anything, they looked worse. They need to fix the jaeger and restructure the whole routine because it's just not working.

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  16. Did people not read the article where she said she had spent the past few months focusing on uni?

    While she performed poorly I have no doubt she'll be looking great when the important comps come around.

    Cat A World Cups offer a lto of prize money. I believe the winner gets $16,000. That was probably the motivation to go.

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  17. Does anyone know how the AUS vs GBR comp went?

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  18. Well she may not have had the best comp of her life, but well done to Lauren for having a go! I'm sure it would've been really tempting to turn down the invitation - it's a big ask to fly 30 hours across the other side of the world and compete so early in the year, particularly when she needs to peak much later in the year. Well done Lauren!

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  19. some pics of Georgia Rose from VWHPC Open Day:

    http://img143.imageshack.us/g/gymhgfh1200filterjhghed.jpg/

    more to come

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  20. and some misc pics:

    http://img19.imageshack.us/g/40888639.jpg/

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  21. AUS team got 2nd at GBR VS AUS!

    Georgia Wheeler (MLC) place 3rd all round behind 2 GBR girls.
    She hit all 4 apparatus.

    Girls all hit bars and there was one fall on beam.

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  22. Thanks, last Anon! Any info is good.

    Do you know if we'll see any video out of the event?

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  23. Yay! Go George!!

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  24. Yep, Jenni Pinches won, Danusia second, Wheelie third.

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  25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Bo_nND0DM

    Lauren's floor from American Cup.

    Is it just me or does she look thinner than last year (not that she's ever been big, she just seems thinner)???

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  26. I think she looks softer now after the break. She's noticeably puffier in the face. Still, as was said before, I have no doubt that she will be back to full fitness when she needs to be. It's nice when these kinds of things are relaxed and the girls get a break and aren't persecuted for gaining a pound or two over Christmas.

    I mean, in 2010 she went from this while dealing with he injuries:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_mQf_m2u6Y

    to being ripped at worlds and CWG. She clearly knows when to push her body and when to give it a rest.

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  27. I thought her face looked a wee bit puffy and tired and maybe she had a teeny bit of weight. The weight isn't surprising at this point in the season. She'll be buff before long again! But more, I just thought she looked tired. She usually has such a beautifully clear, open, fresh faced look and she just looked weary to me- poor thing. She did well, considering.

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  28. does anyone know how to fix the problem of the URLs being cut off by the page formatting? I can't see the Georgia Brown gallery because I can't select the whole link?

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  29. if you click on the title of the blog post back on the main page, it takes you to a different version of the comments page where the links aren't cut off.

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  30. hi,

    I always put my pics on Flickr too so if you have problems you can view them there.

    flickr.com/photos/39264633@N03/

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  31. Reports are up on GA website for the Aus v GB meet

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  32. I heard elsewhere that Amelia has replaced her handstand pirouette mount with a wolf spin. I seriously hope that's not the case as that handstand pirouette made the entire routine.

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  33. It sounds as though Amelia is now doing Terin Humphrey's old mount.

    Also Georgia W appears to have ditched the piked double arabian in favour of a DLO dismount on UB.

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  34. Agreed Amelia's mount was beautiful but it also used up a lot of time. I seem to recall she was way overtime at Pac Rims last year. I know it's only 0.1 deduction but at that level...

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  35. Lauren's leaving a legacy of wolf spins! Several girls at the HPC were having a crack at them on the weekend.

    Sorry I haven't been able to update much, guys, or post videos - laptop is still dead! Need to buy parts from the Samsung store (grrrrrr...) Until then I am stuck on my phone.

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  36. Millie is looking to be serious competition for Brennan's likely BB/FX spot at worlds. A 2.5 wolf is an E. If she does that and eventually includes the other acro upgrades she was training since last year (Onodi and Rulfova) or any 2 extra D acro elements she should be able to get her beam up around 6.5 - even 6.6 if she kept the switch leap+gainer layout but there'd be no point in risking the deductions for .1, switch leap + wolf is more logical. Amazing!

    Do we know how her foor is looking these days? She obviousy needs some E elements in there but it's well on its way.

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  37. Hope no one has issues with their knees, wolf spin is bad for any one with knee issues! I liked it when Lauren was the only one doing it, it's not as special when every one wants to have a go.

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  38. It will be interesting to see how the girls go in the next comp with a wider feild of competition. It looks like this comp was fairly low key. It would be good to be able to compare the scores to truly understand how they went.I'm glad to see GW did OK, with the experience she had last year, so she should.

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  39. GW's score was apparently 52. something. So, not really that great overall, but it is early in the season. I guess all I'm saying is that it doesn't sound like she has upgraded much or remarkably improved because it is not a terribly high score for hitting everything - An average of about 13.0 on each event.

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  40. Good on GW for being selected for an Aus assignment - there are many who have not been selected. Like the other girls on this tour who are working on all their upgrades you will not see those upgrades until they are ready - more likely around the times of States and Nationals

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  41. I can't believe how people go on about the gymnasts, these girls are doing their best, and so what if they have a bad day. They are getting experience and that is great. These girls put in hours a day and devote their life to the sport.Tthe least we can do is support them not bag them at every opportunity, how would you like it if everyday someone wrote a blog about you saying you should lift your game at work, look at how bad she dresses !!!!! Lets support all these girls. I'm sure every girl and the HPC had something that looked stunning not just a few, remember these young girls read this blog and I bet some feel lousy after reading it.
    I thought blogs are to support and encourage, but most of the time people on here just like to knock gymnasts down.... I think it is great that the girls are getting overseas experience and I hope many more will in the future. Go Girls I think you are all fabulous.

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  42. You are reading way too much into it and making a fuss about nothing. There was nothing untrue or unreasonable about what OP said. In reality it isn't a mindblowing score but that is to be expected as OP even mentioned.

    People are going to need to get used to people making appraisals of the performances of girls competing for olympic selection. This is not a levels meet. There is no need for snark but the OP was hardly rude or offensive.

    Frankly it is really annoying when people come on here, jump on any slightly negative comment and claim that we don't support the girls, becasue that's bullshit.

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  43. No need to wrap them in cotton wool!!! HP gymnasts are tough and resilient, they don't need guarding. Their coaches, Peggy and the judges get results by being tough. They would never have reached International status without criticism. It drives them.

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  44. I don't find any thing negative at all in the past comments. It was a relaxed comp, the girls did'nt do all skills as Peggy pointed out in her review, skills were removed.
    It will be a better judge of how they are going in the next round at Gymnix as they will be competing against more than just a few GBR girls.Hopefully scores will be available, that will be the telling of where they are at.This is all experience for them as some have not competed for some time and for some it is their first year in Senior. Just as long as they are ready by the time Worlds comes around.They are not going to be perfect now, even Lauren needs time to adjust to the new year.Expect that people are going to be critical regardless. They are Elite Gymnasts, this is what they do.

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  45. "I thought blogs are to support and encourage..."

    What?

    Blogs are for EVREYTHING - every one, every topic, every opinion.

    It's not La La Land, 'blogs' are for real conversations and two-way communication. You might be better off sticking to 'fan sites' if you're so easily offended.

    I have loved reading this post - full of insight and great information. Thanks to all who have contributed whatever knowledge they have!

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  46. Where and when are Worlds this year?

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  47. worlds is from around 7-16 october in tokyo

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  48. Larissa and Ashleigh are preparing to compete in Cottbus. Warmup and competition has started. Good luck girls!

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  49. Ugh. The quick hits has decided to not mention Larrissa's UB score. We'll have to wait until the entire UB qualies is over.

    Larrissa is doing UB and FX and Ashley is doing BB and FX.

    Quick hits are here BTW

    http://tdm2011.liveticker.dtb-online.de/ticker.php#latest

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  50. I don't think Larrissa has done what she is capable of: we know Kim Bui is ranked 4th with 14.225 and Larrissa isn't one of those above her...

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  51. Miller didn't make the final which you needed 13.775 for, still don't know her score...sigh

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  52. Larrissa didn't make UB finals.
    8th was a 13.775

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  53. Miller scored 11.725 with a d-score of 5.7 - what a disaster!

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  54. Miller is a funny one because she seems inconsistent and out of shape for like 90% of the year and fails at every minor meet but then she always hits at worlds when she's been properly trained to peak. Girl is 6/6 at worlds so far.

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  55. Brennan fell or did poorly on beam for a score in the 12s. Miller fell or did poorly on floor for a score in the 11s. Brennan made floor with 13.4.

    I have to say I'm a little disappointed with this performance. Given the girls' experience, and the fact they basically had to not fall and they would have made all finals, it is disappointing that they fell on three out of four pieces and relinquished that opportunity. I expected better of them because they have done a wonderful job for the team on the world stage.

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  56. Apparently Brennans beam was a good one, no falls, all connections paid but her ring leap was not which brings her start score down quite significantly. Good luck to her in floor finals!

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  57. Any info on how Gymnix is going?

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  58. What do people think about Miller's ability to upgrade and improve in the leadup to OG? I dunno, I'm starting to doubt whether she will be able to step up and really get a specialist routine for bars.

    Just looking at her results, it seems she has regressed rather than improved since her great performance at 09 worlds. Like this weekend, I would get it if she had fallen off attempting a 6.5 routine or whatever but to come off doing the same routine you've been doing for three years isn't a good sign.

    I really want her to be able to do awesome and prove her worth because we totally need a great bar worker and she has beautiful form - but can she have a good injury free run and keep her new skills? At worlds last year Lauren beat her on bars which is saying somethnig, and not a good something.

    I heard the Adler was dropped, but then again I also heard rumours of a bar routine over 6.5 for her but that seems so far away looking at these results. Does anyone know if she is planning any upgrades that will boost her d-score?

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  59. Sounds like it was 1. Belgium 2. Canada 3. Japan

    so no medals for the girls.

    I think it is clear this weekend that we need to stop playing it safe and step up the difficulty.

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  60. I just hope they competed routines with proper dismounts and not layouts. I was quite dumbfounded last week that they went all the way to GBR for a dual meet and 50% of the team sacrificed .5 CR on beam for not attempting a dismount. I really don't get the point of competing if you're that unprepared.

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  61. It will be interesting to see how the girls go at gymnix with about 64 girls competing. I don't feel they did that great in GBR considering they really had no competition. Time will tell. Hope they can do better and include higher skills that were left out in GBR.Dissapointed with Miller and
    Brennan considering their experience. Who else would be working on high bar scores? Every one keeps saying we need more vaulters, I think we will ahve over kill in that area now and will again struggle with floor and bars.

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  62. The team for Wild Rose will leave in about a week and a half.Hope these girls are better prepared.
    Hope to see some good upgrades from Little. 2 1/2 twist on vault maybe?

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  63. Nikki Chung had a 5.5 routine on UB last year which is the same as Lauren's. She has good lines and looks to be able to upgrade.

    A poster here recently said that Natalia Joura was working on a Khorkina transition. That's an E. If she's also working on a Shaposhnikova she could potentially have a good start value if she does those transitions in combination. The Russian's have been using those sorts of combos to up their D scores lately.

    Mary-Anne stated she had a 6.0 UB routine before she was injured in an article on the Couch Gymnast's blog. I believe that's with her piked Shushunova being rated a G. If she could do both the piked and straddle versions in the same routine she'ld be at about a 6.3/6.4.

    Lauren has said she's upgrading bars too. I guess she'll be bringing back her inbar stalders. Based on what she's performed in the past she could replace her toe on half + jaeger with an IBS half + jaeger for an increase of 0.2 and she could bring back her IBS for another D skill bringing her up to a 5.8 D score.

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  64. here we go again - as soon as competitions start - the bagging starts usually by people that have no understanding how elite training works and have no idea where these girls might be in their training cycle - it happens in the lead up to all major competitions people complain about how bad the aus girls

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  65. I was fine with the results of the GBR meet. It was a young team with many new seniors or girls who were injured throughout their first senior year. They may not all have their full routines ready but this meet was more about gaining experience i.e getting used to new equipment, different timezone, jet lag etc. Nobody was expecting amazing things this early in the season.


    What doesn't make sense is the Cottbus meet. Both Ash and Larrissa have experience. From the results it seems that they're still in heavy training and are not ready to be competing. Which begs the question of why they went. It's not for experience. Why interrupt training to go to the other side of the world for a meet when you're not prepared and seem underdone with little chance of medalling? Isn't it a better option to stay home and train?

    I had a similar view on Lauren's American Cup performance until I was informed on how much the prizemoney was, even for 6th place.

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  66. What was the prize money for 6th?

    Even though Natalia and Mary Anne seem to have big skills in their bars ,they seem to be very inconsistant. Both have been injured,granted,but both seem to have still been able to spend a lot of time perfecting bars with the nature of their injuries.Nikki also can be very inconsistant and she has had little injury issues.
    people say not to be critical this early in the year but the Americans, Russians etc. seem to be at a good standard all year round.

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  67. I don't think the girls are being bagged for being "bad".I think people are just saying they seem to be unprepared compared to other Nations at this point in time.

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  68. Ok so it seems G Wheeler came 7th - cant see her score but 6th got 52.92 - so again, not a bad performance for her but no real signs of upgrades or improvements relative to last year. About same as last week.

    I am little surprised that nobody else managed a score in that vicinity. I guess Mary-Anne and Zoe are far underdone, and Millie has the sore foot, but I thought Nikki might get up there because she got around there at national clubs.

    Overall I am not worried, after all, I remember how unfit everyone looked at nationals last year and by worlds all were scoring way higher - it's just that it would be nice to see them put out a really strong comp performance instead of going half-cooked.

    I hope the girls at least made some EF on their strong pieces.

    The results file is up on the site but the link is corrupted so you cant access it. Hopefully they correct the error soon.

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  69. Anon at 3:18 is right. If Mary-Anne could get to her target level, which according to the CG article was a DTY, 6.0 on both UB and BB, then all out problems would be solved. The question is whether she can in the time she has and avoiding injury.

    Also, I'm not sure if she plans to do the straddled shush - I know she would be crazy not to, but if she was going to why wasn't it in the routine last year? I have been really confused about that becasue it seems the most logical, easy thing to do for an extra skill of g value. To not add it would be shooting yourself in the foot. Yet there seems to be no hint that they intend to put it in. If anyone could justify this I'd be interested to hear it as I'm sure there is some reasoning behind it.

    As for Emily, I'd be really surprised if she had an amanar. If someone had such a massive skill I'm sure it would be making the rumour rounds by now, and nobody has ever mentioned anything of the sort.

    I do hope she has upgrades on the other three though, because she was on the up by the end of last year, and she is guaranteed a worlds spot with her vault and competitive strength.

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  70. The results are up.

    Wheeler: 52.05
    Four scores in a similar range of high 12s low 13s, none really stand out as
    great for a team situation though.

    Chung: two good scores of 13.5 on vault and 13.650 beam, plus a 13.150 on bars with a DV OF 4.7, almost a point lower than usual. Bad floor in the 11s dragged her right down. Still, good potential.

    Amelia did only 3 events and was clearly not at her best given her injury - e-scores in the 5s, 6s and 7s. On beam her d-score was only 4.4. She scored under 10 on bars.

    Mary-Anne scored a 9.375 on bars. Ouch. On floor and beam, d-scores in high 4s, e-scores in high 7s. So obviously not in top form, but on the way.

    Emma Nedov scored 5.7/14.150 on beam so yay for her.

    Zoe 51.250 - e-scores in high 7s, low 8s, but low d-scores like 4.1 on bars held her back. On the way though.

    Overall it seems the only one in decent shape was Nikki, and even she wasn't at her best on bars. Still, she contniues to really impress me. If she gets a DTY and presuming her backs will be back to normal, she's in for worlds. I don't think she's screwed up in ages at a comp.

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  71. According to Couch Gymnast Mary-anne Monckton qualified for floor finals!

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  72. How many girls qualify for each apparatus finals? Is it the top 7?

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  73. Nikki should be in finals for beam and floor, and Emma for beam too....

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  74. Wheeler should make bars, she was 6th there. Zoe was only a tenth behind MAM on floor so maybe she has a shot too there. They both finished well out of the top 8 so I don't even get how Mary-Anne is in the final unless it has something to do with juniors pulling into their own final above.

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  75. Maybe it's two per country?

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  76. if thats right it should be

    VT
    Nikki
    Zoe

    UB
    Nikki
    Georgia

    BB
    Nikki
    Emma

    FX
    Mary-Anne
    Zoe

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  77. I think its the top 12 in the finals.

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  78. yes it is 12 per event I'm told. So Zoe won't make floor but she will make bars, and Georgia will make beam along with Emma and Nikki.

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  79. I think the girls did ok seeings they obviously don't have their full difficulty. Once they have their full d scores it will look much more promising

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  80. MAM scraped in on floor at 12.She only had D score of 4.9 on bars. Seems low considering the past comments on her bars. Zoe was only 4.1 and Nikki 4.7?

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  81. I have got the full results up on the couch gymnasts now if you want to check them out.

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  82. i don't think we will have anyone in vault finals as we don't have two vaults... we need to fix this!!

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  83. What happened to Amelia's foot?

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  84. well despite finishing 15th, apparently Zoe is in floor finals. I'm really happy as she is delightful on that event

    According to VWHPC facebook:

    Zoe has qualified for vault and floor finals. Mez has qualified for floor finals. Great work girls!!

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  85. Millie landed short in training doing her beam dismount while in England. They were hoping it would be better.

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  86. Accordning to the start lists for Gymnix. Zoe, Nikki and Georgia have made Bars. Emma, Georgia and Nikki have made Beam and Georgia, Zoe and Maryann have made Floor.

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  87. on the discussion about upgrades, I really hope Lauren manages more than a 5.8. That is not going to make any difference at all. Hopefully she has been training new skills.

    Also, they need to face up to the fact that the jaeger is going to keep negating it's own value unless they actually fix it. It is really ugly and poorly done yet they never seem to do anything to fix it.

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  88. off topic but...
    Castle Hill have some new updates on their site with pics of Rebecca, Celeste and Tori Manning training their new IDP10 floor routines, as well as a little rundown of Celeste's time at the January national squad camp.

    http://www.chrslgymnastics.com.au/wag/news/

    Their girls have such wonderful presentation, I hope they might consider making a guest appearance at Vics ...

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  89. Videos from gymnix! I thought the girls looked great!

    http://www.youtube.com/user/danafan1#p/u/3/5FQbpReuJuY

    so far only floor:

    Amelia
    Zoe
    Mary-anne

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  90. Thanks for the gymnix link. nice tumbling from Zoe - look forward to seeing her with full difficulty - i want to see her bars as she had a high execution score.

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  91. Results up on TCG. bronze on beam for Nikki. Congratulations!

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  92. Results on website http://www.internationalgymnix.ca/results/

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  93. Holy crap guys, did anyone else notice that Nikki had a 5.8 routine on beam? What an improvement!

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  94. Millie - great floor, but out of bounds from 1 1/2 to flip full. Still returning from achilles tweak.

    Nedov beam - fall flip 2 foot lay (unfortunate cos rock solid training) broke connection front aer flip lay.

    zoe - solid floor just landing deductions, very clean bars but no o'shoot so down on CR's & DV.

    Mez - solid floor, landing deductions, and still low on DV due to her coming back from injury. credit to her awesomeness that she made the final, will be contender in no time.

    Nikki - ROCK SOLID on beam hence the 3rd place, and this is without D dismount as well. Super clean bars but went for new full out dismount and put hands down. Definitely an Aussie team contender.

    Wheeler - good beam with a couple of wobbles. solid bars but pike down and .5 step on new dismount (great in warm up) cost her gold. Bad groin strain hampered this comp after 53.85 showing 2nd day of GBR comp.

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  95. Has any one had problems with the you tube link? I can't get it.

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  96. What is Nikki's beam dismount

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  97. At Massilia it was quite a dodgy double twist:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhV7SWWxYqk

    I hope she's working a double tuck because twisting is going nowhere for her except as a deduction magnet.

    So if she upgrades from that to a D dismount she should be at 6.1, which is pretty good. Although maybe the Gymnix judges were generous and credited her leaps/sheep jump which is rather questionable. Hopefully they have improved since November.

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  98. Nikki's beam is up -- nice job! Probably didn't get all difficulty paid, and only a C dismount, so VERY promising for future comps!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4znSssgvd4o&feature=feedu

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  99. Zoe's bars -- only touched one bar, but great height in Tkatchev and good double lay dismount.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/danafan1#p/a/u/0/Ido-bW6tN8A

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  100. Georgia's beam -- confident and poweful. Back tuck looked to be above head height! Nice combo dismount. Loved her mount, shades of Brooke Walker. A bit awkward into the wolf turn.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/danafan1#p/u/6/-5nEcTM38J8

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  101. Emma's beam -- this is potentially a really, really great routine. Even beam finals potential with some polishing. Two acro series of three, including the FF, FF to 2, 2foot layout (fall).

    http://www.youtube.com/user/danafan1#p/u/9/j10uTjEMs9E

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  102. i heard nedov strained her hip flexor the day before

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  103. eh, I think Nikki was a bit scrappy. Her sheep jump in particular. I don't think her e-score would be that high in big comps, and I also think her sheep and switch ring wont get paid.

    Does anyone know roughly what UB start value Zoe is aiming for by worlds? She seems to be a natural on bars and will have high execution scores, but does she have any more difficulty to add in? Difficulty is really holding her back there, and it is a shame because she is lovely.

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  104. Wheeler's beam was not confident! Lets be realistic. It is just not her thing, she looks considerably awkward up there. There is no finesse or flow at all.

    But no worries since the other 3 pieces are where she is likely to make a contribution anyway.

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  105. If you add back Zoe's high-low/low-high plus the difficulty, i think she has another release in the works and i had heard that she was adding a twist to that dismount that would bring her d score up but not sure what to.
    I am not sure if i would call Nikki's beam Rock Solid just yet there was a lot of scrappy execution that really needs to be tightened and cleaned up - even on bars she needs to watch her form as she is not hitting vertical. http://www.youtube.com/user/danafan1#p/u/8/deQWvBKFGTo

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  106. Zoe needs some D close bar circles like toe 1/1 or stalder 1/1 as well as another release if her score is going to go up. She is counting a lot of Cs atm. Hopefully they are working inside stalders because for someone compact and strong like her it would suit and would dramatically increase her d-score. A DLO full is worth E so that would be only 0.1 extra.

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  107. Wheeler's bars have some GREAT building blocks for a really high difficulty routine. I'm guessing we may eventually see a transition out of the Tkatchev, it's beautifully caught for working out of. New dismount was a bit flat, but probably a good move in terms of consistency and stickability. That being said, I loved the arabian double pike, it was just that little more unique.

    Great comp for Wheeler! Hope to see her at Tokyo!

    http://www.youtube.com/user/danafan1#p/u/6/kb6SEPyh1Z4

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  108. Seriously? A great comp for Wheeler. Scores fairly average. Great comp because she did not totally stuff up?

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  109. Wheeler did ok, but just ok. She didn't fall, but her routines weren't hit either. Also, they were more or less the same as her routines from October.I would certainly expect her to hit them by now. I just think she needs upgrades.

    Her and Nikki have basically the same strengths. If you were choosing now, would you go for Nikki with a 5.8 beam, 5.5 bars and FTY, or Wheeler with a 5.3 beam, 5.4 bars and FTY? Probably you'd go with Chung, and the point is that if you don't upgrade you get left behind. It is doubly bad if you are someone like WHeeler who has problems hitting routines, because if you flub it then the score is crazy low.

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  110. It needs to be serious upgrades. Other countries are not afraid of really going for it, but I think we are.

    This is not 'yay I got my overshoot-stalder shoot 0.1 connection'

    My Wheelervision 2012 is

    toe full + shap + free hip full + tkatchev + overshoot + stalder shoot ....toe tkatchev ....DLO 1/1

    That's worth 6.5

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  111. Australia is being left behind. We work too much on the idea of hold back until its perfect and as a result our start values are too low. We have the odd gymnast who comes out with a geat SV, but on the whole, we are lagging behind. How many Jnrs or new Snrs are confident and regularly landing full twisting yurchenkos, it is almost a basic vault now, just one example of many.

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  112. I wonder if Worlds will go ahead in Tokyo with everything that is happening in Japan at the moment.
    Yes, it is a few months away, but this is going to take years to get over.Not to mention the health issues. It would be a scary place to be in at the moment. I hope every one digs deep to help these poor people.

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  113. I think the comps have been a great experience for the girls.But after watching the videos I feel they have a long way to go to reach a Worlds standard. Why was Zoe allowed to compete at an International comp only on high bar? Also think that the standard on beam was not that great.Some good skills yes, by some, but I feel we really need to work hard on execution. BORING!No one with a bit of elegance at all! I think Nikki needs to work on those handstands and feet.I can't see a huge improvement with Georgia,she is a strong girl, but very BORING.

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  114. If so boring, then where are your gymnasts that have the spectacular d scores and exciting routines? it is easy to sit there behind your computer and tear down the efforts, you are a coward. put up or shut up.

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  115. Give her a break guys, she's not the first gymnast ever to not have the greatest artistic abilities. I think it has been well established that dance and presentation are not her strengths but I'm sure she is working hard to improve them.

    Besides, it's not her best event anyway. It's like saying you hate Cheng Fei because of her ugly swing on bars, when that's really not what you should be focusing on anyway.

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  116. seems like worlds will go ahead as planned:
    http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/ scroll down a few stories and it's there!

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  117. Dear Anon3.10pm. I'm not a coward hiding behind a computer. My comments are just observation from the vidoes.I don't have any gymnasts up my sleeve with amazing D scores.Sadly I don't think at this point in time Australia does. Hopefully in a few months time our girls returning from injury will have. still does not excuse the lack of execution from some of our more experienced gymnasts who have had the opportunity in the past months to work on improving this problem. I don't see any improvement at all.Ash and Larissa have shown that with poor performances for girls with their experience.Australia still lacks a lot of depth compared to other nations and I'm not just talking about the big nations.We are getting there! But I disagree with sending away girls who are not at an International Standard.Stay at home until they can put a good solid routine together,much better for their confidence.

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  118. does anyone know if there's any other vic seniors this year not from hpc, waverley or mlc?

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  119. Vic Seniors for this year should be: Amie Martin,Grips. Maddi Green, Jets. Amelia McGrath, Clare O'Donnell, Georgia Wheeler - all from MLC, Ashleigh Brennan,Britt Greeley, Georgia Rose Brown, Laura Hingston, Maryanne Monckton, Svetlana Sanders, Tierra Exum, Zoe Lorenzin - all from VWHPC. Angela Donald, Emma Collister,Georgia Bonora - all from WGC. Not sure if i left anyone off or if there are any changes.

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  120. disagree anon 1:43am

    Gymnast need more international experience, even at the lower levels.

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  121. Anon 3:40.
    I agree, our gymnasts all need more international experience, I think our problem is we don't have enough competitions here for the girls.
    And yes we need to be teaching these gymnasts harder skills to increase their difficulty, and all gymnasts she be learning to vaults!!! I just don't understand the reasoning behind only teaching one. I think all juniors and seniors should be sent overseas each year just to get them out there and gain experience both with comps and travel. Europe and the US have so many comps for their girls not just 2-3 like here

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  122. if you think about it from a team and AA perspective there's really no need for a second vault, unless you were a strong vaulter in the first place time spent training a second vault for most girls would be better spent on other apparatus

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  123. Anon7:09

    Disagree, we should be competitive in all fields, our strong vaulters don't get second vaults till too late... if other country can manage them so can we.

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  124. Good luck Lauren in Paris!
    Good luck to girls heading for Canada next week. That should be an interesting comp. An unusual mix of girls.

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  125. Who is going to Canada? Which comp is on there?

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  126. What's so unusual about the mix of girls going to Canada? Who are they?

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  127. Wild Rose, Canada.24th - 27th?
    I think Emily,Britt, Georgia RB,
    Tierra, Katie ?
    Some well experienced girls, some returning from long injury, some with not much experience.

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  128. Some footage of Lauren's UB from Paris podium training is up.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxEAcD1MTM

    She's on at 2.16. It looks like she's trying for a toe on 1.5. She's doing it on the low bar but I imagine she intends for it to be before her jaeger.

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  129. Is Mez still doing the blog or have I missed somethnig? I read the post but it's been nearly a month and surely she could always go to an internet cafe?

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  130. Mez is a busy lady who works two jobs and is working to get her laptop fixed asap - I don't think anyone has really had a problem with chatting via these comments whilst her technology is out of action (as evidenced by the 100+ comments posted in this post alone). There is always GGMB and WWGym as well if you want to discuss stuff

    Brinds

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  131. mitchell just competed bars in Paris but fell

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  132. Lauren missed the floor final but it was because she tried the whip + double arabian and underrotated. Really cool upgrade as it adds 0.2 taking her d-score to 6.1. Now all we need is a 1/1 added to the layout after the 2.5 twist and she will be at 6.3.

    She also added an upgrade on bars, although not a very wise one. As expected, toe 1.5 + jaeger. It takes her score up to around 6.0, but that will not be enough, and it will be a deduction magnet. She really needs a big combo.

    On beam apparently she was landing double pikes on her head in training and barely made it around in comp. What is it going to take for them to replace that wretched thing? Must she break her neck before they realise that it's gotta go? It has been getting progressively worse over the last four years and is now full of deductions.

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  133. what are your qualifications to be making judgements like this? do you think her coaches are intentionally putting skills that lauren can't handle in her routines? if lauren could do more on bars, she would. she can't twist, her round off is crooked, that is her dismount by the process of elimination. back off, show some sort of support and encouragement, where are all the other aussie gymnasts who can do a better job? lauren can't carry the entire team. she is out there slogging it out with the best in the world, as you sit and pick her to bits. wow, are you talented!!!

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  134. http://www.youtube.com/user/liebetomth#p/u/7/iPFtg9Avc6g

    Lauren's bars.

    I have been watching her old, routines and I am really asking myself 'what happened!?'

    She used to have such efficient inside stalders and her jaeger was nice. Now her jaeger always has bent legs on recatch, and the inside stalders, which would make a huge diff in d-score, have gone.

    2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5IrmuyeZig

    Even if she kept the toe 1.5, if she could inside stalder 1/2 before the dismount and add another single inside stalder elsewhere she would go from 5.9 to 6.2.

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  135. lmao at 10.28. Get over it. She is a world champion who needs to up her game if she wants to keep up and there's no point beating around the bush. That's just my assessment of what could be done, I'm not holding a gun to her head and forcing her to take my advice.

    And, yes, her double pike is crappy, and it has been for a while now. So sue me. She is not going to score any higher and climb up the rankings if they just ignore all the issues and accept putting in mediocre elements because it is too much of a hassle to change.

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  136. mature response, from the "expert"

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  137. Anon at 8.28, Lauren is actually going for a 6.2 D score on floor now. Last year she was credited with a 5.9 in floor finals as her switch leap full was downgraded from a D to a C. She was attempting a 6.0 routine and with the additon of the whip now she's attempting a 6.2. They credited her switch full recently at American Cup but I think it's still borderline on receiving credit.

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  138. Lauren's beam

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF7AM7Dypho&feature=channel_video_title

    She scored a 14.433 which is a decent score considering she had two big deductions (0.5) and wasn't competing full start value.

    Lauren's floor

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk9r2LOYdNQ&feature=channel_video_title

    I think it's time for a new routine. 3 years is long enough.

    She may have fallen but I must say it's exciting to see upgrades so early in the season.

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