You’ve likely heard the buzz about Anna Li and Vanessa Zamarripa considering a return to Elite Gymnastics.
It’s a long shot, at best, for any College gymnast to qualify for the American National Team.
Vanessa should be training only for the NCAA, I feel. But a Senior like Anna is certainly free to do as she likes.
From the USA National Team point of view, why not look at College girls?
If I was Marta Karoli, I’d be phoning Brandi Personett right after her final competition this weekend.
If there’s one competitor the other girls at Championships would point to and say: “She’s a stud”, it’s Brandi.
Her last 1/1 twisting double layout on Floor in podium training today was as good as any I’ve ever seen, anywhere. Here’s some video of that skill captured by Anne of Gymnastike.
Here’s my thinking:
• Russia is the team to beat at Olympics 2012
• the USA has almost no chance to have a higher start score (Bars will be far lower)
• China and (likely) Russia will have higher execution scores
The best chance for the USA to win in 2012 is consistency. In a 3-up, 3-count Team Final, the States might make up the difference if their opposition falls twice, perhaps even only once.
And who’s more consistent than a College gymnast?
How many Beam routines has Anna Li done in series without a fall, for example?
Again, it’s a long shot. But worth a phone call. Bringing some very experienced College gymnasts to camp might help the up-and-coming younger kids.
Update: Here’s one vault from podium training. (I didn’t think Brandi did any great vaults this day. … Saving it for the competition, we assume.)
Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.
http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf
Brandi’s been training a double twisting Yurchenko. She’ll take your call, Marta.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 