Halloween is Here

In order to celebrate the day where we encourage children to take sweets from strangers and our adult friends to dress up in lingerie and fake animal ears for the sake of Facebook photos, I give you this riff on Dwight Normile's hilarious (and by 'hilarious' I mean 'about as funny as a joke told by your elderly father') new column on Halloween costume suggestions for gymnasts.


Lauren Mitchell: The Little Engine that Could. She just keeps trying and trying and trying and does her best to smile in all circumstances.


Dasha Joura: Lemon Skittle. A bright, sweet, colourfully-packaged treat that brings euphoric feelings to people in small or large doses.


Amber Fulljames: Gun silencer. She's a dark horse, a sleek performer, somewhat reserved off the podium... and could probably get away with murder if she tried.


Melanie Jones: Energiser battery. With all that power and amplitude, she just keeps going and going and going (sometimes outside the floor lines...)


Olivia Vivian: Bubble Wrap. Fun to have around and always protective of her teammates.


P-Liddy: Rainbow Slinky. She's a colourful character that can confuse and amaze you at the same time; she knows her purpose, she can be fun for the team to have around, but some people feel like accompanying her on a 'trip' down some stairs on odd occasions...


I'm off to my own Halloween celebrations now. I was going to go dressed as a Xavier College Year 12 boy (yes, fellow Victorians, they ARE pretty scary figures) but changed my mind when I got pressed for time and finances.

LOLs For a Lull

You asked for it...















Sorry for some of them being massively massive and getting cut off!

Now You Can Sleep at Night

Knowing that yours truly is actually doing bugger all at her desk, thanks to this here gadget.

Take From This What You Will

The following information was relayed in a recent Anonymous comment (sometimes I wish the blog didn't have this function... sometimes I am thankful and think the blog is a better space for it), don't know precisely who to credit it to so I don't know how legitimate it is. Seems pretty detailed to me but I am happy to accept any clarifications. The views and information expressed within the post do not reflect those upheld by myself or the blog. I thank the source but hope the information is in fact correct and substantiated.

Ashleigh & Lauren going to DTB & Marseille. Lauren to do AA and Ash to do beam and floor. Sore shoulder, so giving it a rest. Britt & Emily to Marseille. Tain was to go, but foot is not 100% yet. Georgia, Shona, Emma declined Marseille, resting and learning new skills. Georgia still has sore ankle, Emma still has sore foot--so both not full training. Shona healthy, looks good. Amber declined Marseille, new skills. Melanie Jones just had shoulder surgery, repaired a slap lesion, should be 12 week recovery. Dasha's ankle still healing. All gymnasts are at camp, all look good physically. Karina Brooks and Chantelle Turnbull are also at this camp, look like they have learned some new skills. GA has issued invitations for an international team to attend nationals in Perth, however no response as of yet. Victor Lutienko has accepted the head coach position at SA. No replacement at VIS, some reshuffling of groups has occured. National clubs is trial for Youth Olympic Festival, so should be well attended for juniors and below. Seniors are all recovering and Ashleigh and Lauren will be just arriving back in Australia after DTB & Marseille, so won't be at National Clubs. 24-2012 age gymnasts and 50-2016 age gymnasts will attend junior camps after the elite portion of National clubs at the AIS gym. National coaches will test skills and have national ranking in December for each age group according to IDEAL skills testing model.

Er... ok. I'll say "Information double plus good. Injury news ungood".

Also:

Svetlana [Sanders], Tiera [Exum] and Zoe [Lorenzin?] are also going to Marseilles so I doubt they will be at National Clubs as it as around the same time but are not going on National team but as VIS team.

Slap lesion!? I think I read about one of those in a book about sea monsters somewhere...

Oh, the huge manitee!

MAGlobetrotters

Aussie MAGs Matthew Curtis and Tom "What's that? ...Why yes, I am rather dishy" Pichler will be heading to the Ostrava World Cup in the Czech Republic from November 6-8.
See the rest of the competition roster here.

Good luck, gents.

Nonchalance: I has it.

More From Camp Orange

With colloquial little flourishes like "stuffed up big time" and "pissing down rain", I really think we've found a mini Sally McLellan in gymnastics' own Olivia Vivian. Here she is chatting to the OSU newspaper about her Beijing experiences. Let's hope she can pull through and give equally inspiring Sally-style performances for the team (after all, there seems to be quite a bit of pressure on her. One Inside Beavers video had two fellow team members observing that if she's been on an Olympic team then she must surely be 'legit').



ETA Wednesday: The OSU Roster and Bios page has been updated to included the new Freshmen (of which Liv is one). Thanks for the heads-up, Richard!

e-news... without Ryan Seacrest.

Ha.

I'm sorry, but HA.

The latest "e-news" from Gymnastics Australia's SMC (which can be found, in all its bright pink glory, here) features the following quote:

WAG E-News is brought to you by the National WAG Gymnastics Sports Management Committee and will provide you with the latest information on what’s happening around Australia and the rest of the World.

I like to think I'm a somewhat modest person, willing to give kudos where it is due.

But come on. I'm a university student, I worked a second job until March, I just completed a thesis, and yet I have done a better job keeping people updated as to what's going on with our team. Heck, I've done it more than once a week on some occasions. And I've never even set foot inside the AIS! I'm not even a committee, I'm just one short, pudgy person! "Latest" information? Your "latest" edition has no Beijing wrap-up or a preview of the upcoming National Clubs championships. Your first edition has been taken off the server. Nice job bringing Nationals back to Melbourne this year, but please don't treat the fans like we're not wanting information. Particularly in this post-Olympic, pre-World Cup period. Does "SMC" really stand for "Snail Mail Communiqué"? Lift your game, folks, we want frequent news updates. We don't want sporadic enthusiasm like some tipsy party-goer who has gobbled too many oysters to win a macho bet, gone and thrown up outside, sat on a bench for a moment to weep and watch his mates siphon vodka into a platter of kiwifruit stolen from the buffet, then come back onto the dance floor with renewed vigour like he had never left, high-fiving all and sundry with an enthusiastic "All riiiiiight! Let's do this!"

With all due respect, SMC friends, if you're going to give the impression that you're constantly "in the know" as the overseers of the national WAG program and all it encapsulates, at least do it right. Two months between drinks does not a news service make.

WAG E-News will be distributed electronically; however we’d like to know how often you’d like to receive it.

!?!?!?
AS OFTEN AS FREAKING NECESSARY, IF YOU IT'S NOT TOO TAXING FOR YOU!

Community Service Announcement

Hey everybody, just providing you with a short distraction from the gymmery.

On October 31 I will be donating blood. It's the first time I will have ever done it and, depending on how I go, it may not be the only time.

I'm a person who is deathly afraid of and anxious about getting injections, but when I was stopped by a Red Cross volunteer in the street the other day asking for my details, I figured I couldn't put it off any longer. I was nervous when they called last week and asked to confirm a date for my donation and I thought "well, if I put it off for too long, I probably won't even show up out of nervousness, so it's better to make it sooner rather than later". I've picked the 31st (inadvertantly keeping with the Halloween theme and the whole "ooooh something's gonna come and take your bloooood" thing).

I encourage anybody over the age of 16 who is of good health and who wants to do something to better the lives of others to consider donating blood. Several of my friends have done it and made it through fine, and my mother is a nurse who deals daily with people desperately needing blood transfusions and the like. I'm surprised I didn't have the cojones to do it sooner.

You can find out more from the Australian Red Cross Blood Service here.