Thanks so much to those who passed on positive feedback after my little video address. It means a lot, and you're the reason I keep doing this.
While things are a bit quiet on the national front, I thought I'd update you once more on how our Stateside competitors are going.
Melanie Jones and Olivia Vivian at Oregon State:
Mel is relishing competing all-around for the first time since starting at OSU. One of her most recent flooor routines scored a 9.950, with a 10 from one judge, earning her a Pac-12 conference Special Performance of the Week honour. Watch Mel's lovely routine in the video below.
Olivia is still going great guns on bars and entertaining the crowd on beam and on floor. She was very lucky and proud to have her parents travel to Corvallis for the first time last weekend, to see her compete at the annual Pink Out competition that raises funds for breast cancer. Oregon State tied for first with UCLA on the night. Watch Olivia talk about the experience below. She has also admitted that if she had to cook her teammates dinner... she'd give them Vegemite toast!
Shona Morgan at Stanford:
Shona is all class on beam, floor and bars. Unfortunately Oregon State topped Stanford at a meet over the Australia Day weekend, but Stanford were best in show at their most recent competition against Bridgeport and Brown Universities (home of Alicia Sacramone). Shona won beam with a 9.925, a personal best!
Monique Blount at George Washington:
Monique's team does not come with the high-profile winning streaks of the above schools, but their spirit is just as big. She continues to shine on beam and on floor although, as far as scarce coverage tells me, is yet to see a first-place finish on either. She is consistently singled out as a strong performer in competition reviews and I hope to see more of her smiling face on the medal podium!
18 comments:
Wow, Olivia has really changed a lot, a slight American accent happening? I thought she spoke lovely.
Has an Australian scored a 10 in NCAA?
I don't believe any Aussies have 'officially' scored a 10 in NCAA, but I vagugely recall Olivia also getting a 10.0 from one judge on a bars routine but settled with a 9.95...?
When you live in the USA you have to adopt a slight accent. Americans don't understand Aussies until they slow their speech down and over pronounce things. I lived int he States and had to be concious of speaking slowly when there! She sounded lovely! Lucky her to have had the opportunity... lucky all the girls!
I assume all the usuals will be at camp starting on the 26th. Does anyone know when the girls will leave for competitions?
A limited number of seniors have been invited to this camp. Brown, Brennan, Monckton, Mitchell, Little, Chung, Simpson, Miller. Not Bonora, Donald, Sims, Nedov. The three juniors for Pacific Rim Eade, Cassis, Leydin and Jones. Some other seniors not traveling Lorenzin, Wurth. Smaller camp than previous on in January. Has the cull begun?
so wait, the seniors going are the girls travelling plus Wurth and Lorenzin? Glad they are going, but why would they be if everyone else is travelling?
Maybe Donald and Bonora are racing the clock and are staying home for that reason.
Not surprised about Sims, she's in sort of a different position to others anyway. If she's to make it, her gymnastics at nationals will be the clincher, not camp now.
The camp in Canberra is a Pac-Rim camp (Junior/Senior blend) hence the fewer number of gymnasts attending.
The previous camp was an GA/AIS Olympic Squad training camp concluding with the PacRim selection competition.
We would be in error to assume that those not attending are not in the running for the London Olympic team.
It's HARD to live in a different country and not adopt some of the accent... I guess Olivia has Mel with her, but I always made a point every so often of catching up with a bunch of Aussies every few weeks just to get my accent back. It sucks to hear yourself speak and think "Oh my god, that's not normal!"
Never lived in the US, but when I traveled there last year, I did have a hard time making myself understood sometimes. Some comments that you think make complete sense just don't work the way they should!!
Vwhpc just posted that lorenzin is going
Why is VWHPC taking so many juniors? To an Olympic training camp
Because they've been invited!?!
International events training camp!
3 juniors and a reserve for pac rim and then some invited juniors. 2012 olympics will soon be here and the juniors of 2013 to 2016 should be ready for international assignments
Lauren Mitchell was in the West Australian newspaper today. According to the article she is not training bars at the moment due to a shoulder injury, but this has enabled her to concentrate on the other 3 apparatus.
All the seniors should have been invited to camp as they need to be prepared for 2012 - 2013 consignments.
I don't think it came down to who was invited. I think everyone is given the opportunity. It is just which clubs take it up. VWHPC had so many girls going so it wasn't a big deal to accept for the other juniors. It would have been harder to leave them home as they have no extra coaches.
wheeler is also attending the camp.
Post a Comment