Posted by: rollypolly18 on: July 2, 2010
So after a long break, it seems I have worked my way back to the blogging world. The last qualifier of the year has me on the edge of my seat wishing I could be there to watch. Alas, this is not possible, but I will be searching for updates throughout the weekend. This post is simply to wish the competitors this weekend “Good luck!” I sincerely hope that they could all fulfill their hopes and dreams, but most of all, I hope that they all stay healthy throughout the weekend. More later? I hope so!
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: September 16, 2009
Truth: I love Samantha Pezsek’s gymnastics. No doubt about that.
I am extremely sad to see her pulling out of worlds, but I understand completely that she needs to heal. I fully support her decision, especially seeing she becomes a Bruin very soon! I am proud of her for making this difficult decision. While I am disappointed that we won’t be seeing her on the world stage again in the near future, I do hope she continues with elite gymnastics, although this would be a tough decision. I feel that she didn’t get the Olympics she deserved, with being injured so shortly before. She really needs to go out on a high note. Her gymnastics is probably one of my favorites in a long time, and her personality is just as good! Heal fast, Sam! (But not too fast; I don’t want you to rush it!)
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: August 30, 2009
Well, with worlds quickly approaching, I was sad to hear that Chelsea Davis is still struggling with stress fractures in her back. She was a wonderful gymnast, and I hope she can continue to pursue her dreams without injuring herself further. However, I am extremely happy to hear that she has started to consider NCAA!
gymnastike.org is simply amazing at giving coverage of elite gyms across the country.
The TOPs national qualifiers have been announced and I am really hoping for one gym (I won’t say which) to have 4 national team members this year!
Kayla Williams is great in interviews. I even laugh!
I am still excited to hear about Alicia coming back to the sport. Her and Sam together brings a lot of personality to the floor.
And, last but not least, I really want to hear Nastia’s new floor music!
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: August 19, 2009
I would just like to say that it really infuriates me that people go and post negative comments about young girls and their hopes and dreams. There is no reason to bash their aspirations. We all had high hopes at some point. The amount of gossip on video comments that is all speculation and rumor is ridiculous. Why do people care who does what? It should just make you happy to see these young ladies work hard and compete in order to accomplish their goals in life. Where they train and their age is of no concern to viewers. What matters it that these are real people with real feelings. They have worked hard to reach where they are. Posting negatively about them achieves nothing. Please stop. I am glad this has not been an issue on this blog.
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: August 14, 2009
Ok…so to start off: the juniors
If it wasn’t obvious already, Kyla Ross is definitely the one to beat. I think it’s weird that she was never really considered even after classics.
Yurchenko fulls (FTYs) just don’t make the cut.
Don’t fall.
Sabrina was good, but I thought she would place better. I thought she would be one to fight for the stuck landings.
And now…drumroll please…for the Seniors.
I’m not sure Rebecca Bross is fully healed…& she definitely needed more training time on vault. She really scared me with her beam dismount & her last pass on floor. Still, her difficulty is impressive, and she did stay in the lead WITH a fall.
Ivana still needs to work with Valeri more on that tkatchev. Or just change it. Either way. Her beam was much more solid than at classics. Her vault and floor impress me. I just love her lines!
Bridget. Shaky on beam. To be expected after she fell so early, but I was hoping she would recover a little bit better. Her vault was AWESOME! Bars was scary on the piked ray, but she has great height. I know that she has been busy competing around the world…but would it kill her to get a new floor routine? Just sayin.
Sam. I love her. She is AMAZING. Her vault was a little off compared to classics, but not bad. Her beam was (in my opinion) the best in the competition. & her floor rocks.
Nastia. I have high expectations. Enough said.
Chellsie. What happened? She seems a little off, although it was a great routine. Oh, and why does she have .5 off on her routine?
Kayla Williams was great. I love the fact that all of the commentators were speechless during her entire floor routine. Made my day. I hate them. & her beam was right on too!
Kytra needs to upgrade her bars. Come on, your from Hill’s!
Brooke Parker did pretty well minus the fall on beam. She really impressed me & I hope she gets a spot on the team.
Up next: Best & worst leos of the competition!
Juniors:
Best: WOGA, Dynamic, AOGC, Capital, Naperville
Worst: GAGE, Texas Dreams, Brestyan’s (boring), Stars (boring), World Class (her boobs were barely covered!)
I am not a fan of mesh on the arms. The seams are ridiculous.
Seniors:
Best: WOGA, CGA, Naperville, Sharp’s, Capital NTC
Worst: M&M, BIG, GAGE
Best hair:
Juniors: Pua Hall, Kyla Ross, Mack Brannan, Kennedy Baker
I don’t expect much. Just a little somethin extra like a cute bow or maybe a braid. Not overboard with juniors.
With seniors, I get bored easily. They all seem to wear a poof with a straight ponytail. Therefore I will do best and worst with seniors.
Best: Ivana, Sam, Bridget, Nastia? (her poof was a little over-the-top this time, but I liked the braid)
Worst: Jana, Rebecca (couldn’t you put some defrizzer in or straighten it or something? you look like you’re at another practice), Chellsie (plastered to your head doesn’t do anything for you)
Oh! and for 1 more best hair: Alicia Sacramone!
& 1 more worst: Armine Fong.
& NOW……….FINALLY. I will rant about the commentators.
Why is stupid John back? He was not well received at classics. If I hear the word tumultuous one more time I might puke.
Stupid Tim. Shut up. Your voice is gay, and you act like everyone is beneath you.
Stupid Elfi. Nobody cares what you think. & stop praising gymnasts that don’t deserve it.
I miss Al. At least his slight lack of knowledge allowed for him to treat viewers as if they were his equal.
Actually, nobody cares what any of you stupid commentators think, so could you just leave yourself and your opinions and experiences out of competitions from now on and just throw in a little-known fact about gymnastics for all of those one-time-a-year followers?
& don’t even get me started on Andrea Joyce. She pisses me off more and more every time she interviews someone. Why don’t we torment Mattie and Sam about the fact that they don’t get to compete? & could she rip the microphone away from any more of the gymnasts? Hello! They are answering YOUR question!
Ugh. Okay I’m done.
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: August 7, 2009
Okay, so as everyone knows by now: A-SAC IS COMING BACK TO COMPETE! I am so freaking excited it’s ridiculous! She has always been one that love, and I can’t believe I’m going to get to see her on the floor again! (Well, maybe not the floor, but the vault and beam at least!) I know that she has been hampered with injuries, and if she doesn’t go for 2012, I would understand, although she could in my opinion. She would almost definitely make the team. At least we’ll get to hopefully see her at worlds in 2010!
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: August 2, 2009
Can anyone else believe that in just two more weeks we will know the results of Nationals? I am so freaking excited about this! Looking at the talent that is going to be on that mat, I think the U.S. has a good shot at worlds. I would put Sam Pezsek into finals for beam and floor or vault. I think Kayla Williams would get into Floor and Vault finals. Nastia would advance on bars and beam, and Ivana possibly on floor and bars. That would be who I would pick for the U.S, although Bridget Sloan could contend with Ivana, and Kayla’s lack of international experience is definitely a drawback. I would also like to see Chellsie Memmel back in international competition, so we will just have to see.
As you can tell, just because some of these gymnasts aren’t my favorites doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching them; I still think they deserve what they have earned. It’s just that other’s seem to appeal to me more.
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: August 1, 2009
Samantha Pezsek. I am totally behind this girl 100%. I felt sooo bad for her with the unfortunate timing of her injury in Beijing, but if that is why she is back, then go Sam! I was so excited to see “the new Sam” at classics. She looks a lot less bulky, and it’s as if she matured as an athlete and a woman. She had a completely new look. Her vault was SO much better, even though it was never bad to start with. Plus, her beam was AMAZING despite the fall, which I am glad didn’t dampen her spirits. This girl is the all-around gymnast. She has the strength, agility, and grace. She is super powerful, her splits are splits, and she has poise in her dance. I am sad that she will not be competing bars anytime soon, but I hope she doesn’t put any extra stress on her labrum through her training on other events.
She also seems to have a personality. She doesn’t use scripted responses to questions in interviews. Her and Alicia have that in common. It is nice to know that they are honest, and great that they have a sense of humor.
Samantha Pezsek is a favorite.
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: July 28, 2009
The results are in, and it looks like…every aspiring gymnast should move to Texas. Seriously! Top scores from WGA and Texas Dreams! Little Bailie Key could have qualified to Championships if she wasn’t 10 YEARS OLD! So could Ashton Kim, Emily Oglesby and Hayley Bolanos!
I would love to see some video of the challenge, but that is impossible at the moment, so I will have to settle with the AMAZING videos of the JUNIORS! These young girls are the best I’ve seen in a long time.
I can’t wait to see the younger ones in TOPs in the years to come. I also think that some of the top scorers from JO Nationals should have gone for elite, even if they tried and failed before. Junior A and B. Anyway, I have camp for the next week, so my computer access might be limited…
Side Note: “Make It or Break It” continues to make me mad, with all of the unrealistic portrayals of elite gymnastics, or any gymnastics for that matter…I can’t even blog about it I’m so mad.
Posted by: rollypolly18 on: July 27, 2009
First, this is NOT the CoverGirl Classic. Really? I’m sorry, I can’t call it that. Anyways, I think this was a great chance to see all of the new talent coming up for 2012, although, the commentators failed to mention that there are OTHER gymnasts out in the country that could definitely have a shot at 2012. But we’ll talk about stupid John and Tasha later.
I was really glad to see Ivana back and looking to be in pretty good shape. She has grown and I think that has helped her, and she looked a lot stronger. WOGA seemed like a good switch for her. She was even smiling after a shaky beam routine! I still think she should learn a new release instead of her tkatchev, or maybe just work on the height of that with Valeri, but she can still make it consistently, so I’m not sure it matters.
Sabrina Vega looked great! I was happy to see her fitting in well with the seniors, as well as Bridgey. Amanda Jetter was a little off, but I’m sure she’ll be fine by nationals.
Nastia: Well, she obviously needs to shorten her beam routine, and I personally didn’t think she was very natural at interviewing, but maybe it looked force because it was mostly with her teammates.
Congratulations to Olivia Courtney, although even she wasn’t perfect.
Sam Peszek looked a lot better than I thought she would, considering her injuries. I thought she was great!
Sad that Rebecca Bross was injured, and I hope to see her back at the top of her game at Championships.
Kayla Williams rocked the house on floor and vault, although she must have struggled a lot on bars…
I was disappointed that Jordyn Wieber was still injured…
I would really have loved to see some of the junior competition…some of the scores were VERY impressive.
I STILL cannot find the Challenge scores anywhere, and it is getting frustrating.
Anyways, back to John and Tasha: they sucked. Honestly, no one cares about your careers! You are here to give an insider’s perspective, but you don’t have to mention your own opinion or accomplishments while you are commenting! And seriously?!? They spent half of Ivana’s floor routine talking about the step out of girls’ landings. Ugh. I eventually muted.
I am SUPER psyched for Championships!!!
