Happy Little Campers

Junior camp has come to a close. Come to think of it... so has Senior camp.

Front Row: (Left to Right) Angela Donald, Alexandra Eade, Naomi Lee, Zoe Lorenzin, Amelia McGrath, Mary-anne Monckton.
2nd Row: Ebonie Boucher, Isobel Looker, Jamison Ruscoe, Simone Williams, Natalia Joura, Grace Claringbold
3rd Row: Rachel Collister, Georgia Wheeler, Laura Hingston, Britt Greeley, Svetlana Sanders, Clare O'Donnell, Nikola Chung.
4th Row: Ashley Cooney, Tierra Exum, Emma Collister, Sophie Budack, Georgia-Rose Brown, Alexandra Byers-Armstrong, Georgia Simpson

Note - Britt was there to trial for the Pre-Olympic Youth Cup.

Note also - BOTH Collister sisters were present.

Note in addition - Isn't Stacey soooo adorable and smiley in her national tracksuit?

Hope you all have a safe and happy (sombre?) Anzac Day, marking the occasion in your own special ways. Olivia has a bit to say about Australian and American cultures here.

Another Aussie for NCAA!

NEWS FLASH!

Victorian/AIS elite Melanie Jones has been recruited to compete at Oregon State University where, as we all know, fellow Aussie Olivia Vivian is making a name for herself. Melanie will most likely join the Beavers roster after Worlds this year and work towards the 2010 collegiate season.



Very best of luck, Mel! Hope to eventually see you in the orange and black!


Thanks Richard for keeping me posted.

Queensland in, Utah Out.

Looks like Chloe Sims is not headed for collegiate gymnastics after all. From the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Utes have just two freshmen coming in next season, Meg Whitney and Katelyn Mohr. The third member of their signing class, Australian Chloe Sims, passed the SAT and had solid grades but didn't have all the necessary core classes to get through the NCAA Clearinghouse and won't join the Utes.

(Thanks to Swoop for the heads-up)

In addition to learning that piece of news, I was contacted by a Queensland source yesterday who told me Chloe was spotted at a Level 1 coaching course in Brisbane over the weekend and is looking like taking up a coaching position in Toowoomba, where I'm told she has recently moved (from Brisbane). She was there representing a particular club and did some skills for demonstration. She remarked that she had been out of training for some time and 'out of practise' but still performed diligently for the gathered coaches-in-training.

Best of luck to her, good to see she's still sticking close to gymnastics.

Stayin' Plucky

Good on Olivia V for keeping a positive mindset despite all her setbacks.

FYI Oregon State finished fifth yesterday in a tense second preliminary session of the National Championships, just keeping them out of the Super Six (see: team final).

Beaver Gets a Fever

Bad news.

Olivia Vivian is out of the NCAA National Championships after being diagnosed with mononucleosis (or 'mono'). A nasty little virus, it is characterised by symptoms described here. She has not even been able to travel with her Oregon State team to Nebraska to cheer them on at the competition. She'll be out of action for several weeks.

This is quite sad news as we know how much Olivia was looking forward to representing her team and having fun with her OSU friends.

We wish her a speedy recovery and hope the team does their best in her absence.

Would you like to send a 'get well' message to our feverish freshman? Contact ozgymblog@gmail.com and I'll forward your good wishes on to Liv.

Camp News is Good News!

Training camp has apparently resulted in several missing digits.

In attendance:
Lauren, Dasha, Emily for WA
Shona, Georgia, Britt, Emma, Chloe Turko for Victoria
Mel J for AIS/Victoria
and Amber for Queensland

Visiting:
Victoria Williams, Crystal Yeo, Natasha Hamman (Hammond?), Larissa Miller, Fiona Coley, Karina Brooks.

I found this bit rather alarming:

"There will be no plans for any Seniors to attend international events prior to Nationals".

Ash Brennan still pondering retirement but nothing permanent has been decided. No retirements spoken for from anyone else. Fiona Coley back in the mix after planning a comeback. Glad I got to catch her in action at VWHPC.

Britt and Emily, along with 16 juniors, will attend a trial for an upcoming "Pre-Olympic" youth competition in Germany. Amber was slated to attend this trial but is recovering from a hamstring injury,

TEAM (B)AMBI SENDS GET WELL SOON WISHES!!!

Attention Advertisers

This is just a short message to all advertisers, marketers, PR people, store owners and sales plebs who keep contacting me at the Blog's email address.

The rest of you can just sit for a moment and hum The Girl from Ipanema to yourselves. I'm talking to the suited and booted types.


Dear aforementioned sellers,

Please do not contact me asking if I can link to your sports magazine/fitness centre/social networking site/exercise product. Please do not contact me asking if I can place advertisements for your business or product on the Blog page. I have a strict policy of not willingly placing advertising on the site (whatever Blogger sticks on here is out of my control) because I hate seeing it myself and wouldn't inflict it on others who come here. I am sure they get enough of it on the other sites they visit. Banner ads, pop-ups, fake links, flashing little graphics, I will not have a bar of it. Furthermore I see no need to advertise your product if it has little or nothing to do with gymnastics at all, let alone the Australian national gymsport program.

And please do not think I will accept your offer of payment. I have reason to believe Blogger, who allow me to host this site, do not allow blogs to run for cash profit in the first place. Using Blogger is free, anyway, so I don't really require something to help with upkeep. Regardless, I wouldn't accept cash payment if it meant my readers had to put up with annoying advertisements or unecessary links. My "Useful Links" section is there for a reason, and the links there are not only useful but relevant, and don't require any financial transaction from the casual reader.

Really, just save your precious typing time and PLEASE DON'T ASK ME.

Dear Gymnastics Australia (again)

I know you guys work hard.

I know you're a respected organisation.

I know you're made of more than just athletes.

This shorty ain't got no beef with that (y'all).

But let's be honest here.


WHY DO YOU CONSISTENTLY MAKE A SONG AND DANCE ABOUT KEEPING US IN-THE-KNOW WITH WHAT THE VARIOUS JUDGES AND OTHER TECHNICAL MEMBERS ARE DOING AT THEIR TRAINING SESSIONS AND COURSES AND CONFERENCES? IS THIS WHAT YOU THINK COUNTS FOR KEEPING ENTHUSIASTS IN THE KNOW? I THOUGHT THAT WAS WHAT YOUR "TECHNICAL MEMBERS" ZONE, THAT WHOLE SEPERATE SECTION ON YOUR WEBSITE UNDER A SIMILARLY-NAMED TAB (WITH AN INTRANET FUNCTION NO LESS), WAS FOR.

WHAT ARE THE ATHLETES DOING?
The gymnasts?
The ones who worked their butts off at training camp?
The ones at the bottom of this picture?:

THE "GYMNASTICS" IN "GYMNASTICS AUSTRALIA"?

Can we pleeeeeeeeease get an update from training camp? Just a teeny weeny one? Even from the work experience kid who hardly gets to see the training hall because he's too busy making coffee and mental notes of everybody's names? Or even the cleaner???


In my email inbox...