UCLA’s Allison Taylor on what it was like to be part of the greatest US elite program of all time at WOGA. Uncle Tim’s six year-old-friend reviews Shawn Johnson on Dancing with The Stars and we tackle cyber bullying in gymnastics. Dvora Myers follows up on our discussion of the popularity of men’s gymnastics. We play, who would win this reality tv show, if every contestant was a gymnast.
You can listen to this 90min audiocast via that link. Or click through from there on the iTunes link and subscribe to get every episode. It’s free.
Allison Taylor did not compete much or often for the Bruins, but she was a leader, now broadcasting and blogging for UCLA.
When I think of Allison it always reminds me of this conditioning drill.
Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.
Watch more video of 2010 UCLA Bruins on gymnastike.org
related – GBR’s Danusia Francis is now at UCLA
5 comments ↓
Rick – some years ago you posted this clip of the conditioning drill. I brought my laptop into the gym and had my level 9 & 10 squads give it a shot. Some got close, but even ‘close’ was still pretty far off the mark compared to Allison’s horizontal stretch.
We found the only kid who could do it was an 8 year old who had started gym just two weeks prior. One of those delightful freaks born with muscles on muscles, and exceptional control over how she used them!
Something makes me think it’s not primarily about muscles. Especially when you see a group of elite athletes and only one can do it. Something else has to be going on there.
Taylor was only on UCLA to boost their GPA. She was a horrible gymnast and stole a scholarship from someone that actually could have earned their spot. I guess stole is the wrong word because she did her job , get good grades. Coach Val is the one that gave her a spot for a reason having nothing to do with gymnastics.
And here I thought gymnasts were notorious for getting good grades. I’m sure Coach Val would’ve loved to have a good gymnast who could also boost UCLA’s GPA. If that option wasn’t available I don’t see why she should just let the GPA lag and possibly have the team penalized by the NCAA.
UCLA probably has trouble getting smart gymnasts because smart people with don’t want to live in shitty LA with all that smog.
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