Andy Thornton did an analysis of Kyla Ross vis-a-vis past U.S. Jr. National Champions. He compared Kyla against Carly Patterson, Shawn Johnson, Kim Zmeskal and all the rest.
A couple of interesting points jumped out at me:
… for American female gymnasts, the average time lapse between winning a first junior national title and reaching peak competitive form is about 2.3 years. So we can expect Rebecca Bross to be in peak form this year, Jordyn Wieber to reach her peak in 2010, and Kyla Ross to reach her peak in 2011. …
Critically important:
… The average peak age … has been 15.7. Hmmm…. that’s younger than the required age of 16 to compete at world or Olympic competition. Great! The gymnasts can go to their first world championships or Olympic Games while they’re on the way down from their peak. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? …
I know many elite coaches who project their gymnasts to peak at age-16.
Andy also posted all 4 of Kyla’s routines if you want to see how she compares as a Jr. against the past greats.
Click PLAY or watch her Vault on YouTube.
There’s much, much more if you click through to American Gymnast – When does history say Kyla Ross will peak?
Support that site by purchasing products there if you want to help Andrew continue this kind of excellent blogging.
7 comments ↓
Actually the requirement is that they are 16 by Dec. 31st of that year and therefore if they’re born late in the year they should be peaking right at the time of the Olympics. This only works every four years but no matter what not everyone can go when they’re ‘peaking’
what is your definition of PEAKING in gymnastics???
I was a bit confused by Progras at Worlds b/c she was 15, and then heard the above age rule. Is this age rule new? B/c, I know when Martha and other commentators mention Nastia and 2004, they said she would have been on the team if she was age eligible (but she would have been 16 by Dec 31). Is this current age rule new, ie post 2004?
opps, never mind my question. I mixed up the year Nastia was born
Skyrider – yes, you’re exactly right about turning 16 by December 31st, but remember that since the Olympics always take place in the summer or fall, there will still be plenty of gymnasts who are post-16 rather than pre-16, and in fact in many cases will be forced to wait until they are 17, 18, or 19. It doesn’t make any sense. My main point is the principle rather than exact ages down to the month – we are eliminating so many of the best gymnasts in the world from world competition at not only the best time of their careers, but also the HEALTHIEST time.
Until the olympics take place every year witch I doubt will happen, you have to deal with the fact that you might have to wait to meet the requirments to go to the senior level one. But now that they’ve introduced the Youth Olympics they are more likely to get a chance when they’re peaking
i do not agree that nastia had two peaks. i think it might just appear that way because of her ankle injury. but if you think about it, she was better at 2006 nationals than 2005 worlds with upgraded routines. in 2007 she was still coming back from her injury. i think without her injury she would have continued to improve over every year (or maybe 2006/2007 would have been when she peaked). regardless, to me she really only had one peak.
Leave a Comment