day 1 – VAULT LIKE A CHAMP, TUMBLE LIKE A CHAMP
day 2 – COMPETE LIKE A CHAMP, PLANNING
hire Alicia Sacramone for a workshop
Category: camps
China first to arrive in Doha
Last year they trained in a facility near Edmonton, Canada before continuing to Montreal.
This time they’ll do a pre-competition camp in Qatar.
Focused and Inspired by Lisa Mitzel
If you liked her first book — “Focused and On Fire” — as I did, you’ll want to check out #2 “Focused and Inspired“.
Keeping Our Athletes Safe in a Win-at-All-Costs World
The book identifies verbal and emotional abuse and shares methods to prevent it in sport.
It’s still a “positive coaching” approach helping coaches optimize the experience for their athletes.
You can order it from her publisher. $16.95 or less.
A Sport Psychologist, Lisa will be working TOPS Camps for USAG.
Lisa Mitzel to TOPS Camp
Lisa Mitzel won 4 consecutive NCAA Championships with University of Utah. And went on to coach at Stanford.
Today she’s a psychologist and author of:
“Focused and On Fire: The Athlete’s Guide to Mental Training & Kicking Butt”
“Focused and Inspired: Keeping Our Athletes Safe in a Win-at-All-Costs Word”
strategy for USA qualifications to Tokyo 2020
Jade Carey opted not to try for selection to Worlds Doha. That’s the official story.
Jade’s the 2017 World vault & floor exercise silver medalist. And would have had an excellent chance to medal again in Doha.
Spencer discusses strategies for how USA should qualify the maximum (6) competitors for the Tokyo Olympics:
THE JADE CAREY PROBLEM
U.S. Men’s Worlds trials – day 1
1. Sam Mikulak 87.750
2. Yul Moldauer 86.100
3. Alec Yoder 83.500
4. Akash Modi 82.050
5. Colin Van Wicklen 80.750
…
Scores were a tad generous. Especially for Sam.
They’ll be selecting the team around Sam and Yul, I’m thinking.
H Bar is the weak apparatus this time around. (Jon Horton says he won’t make a comeback for it. 😀)
Click PLAY or watch some highlights on Twitter.
Fans can watch the final day of competition on Saturday, which begins at 3:30 p.m. MT, in person or via a live webstream on the USA Gymnastics YouTube Channel.
GymCastic interviews MLT
My takeaways in advance of responses:
GymCastic founder Jessica O’Beirne is the conscience of the gymternet. I look to her first on all these issues.
Jessica, Mary Lee Tracy and Miss Val are all outspoken, brave individuals. I appreciate all three and often link to things they post.
I love the title – Truth & Reconciliation. Recall when Mandela brought that concept to South Africa? I was skeptical. But it did work.
Obviously MLT is not 100% evil. Miss Val is not 100% good. Both survived the dark ages of USA Gymnastics (Bella, Nunno era) and both improved over the years since. The last time I saw a scale in a Gym was 2002. I refused to use it. We’d figured out it was a bad idea in the early 1980s.
Gymnastics coaches today are more ethical than ever. The few BAD ones under greater scrutiny from parents and colleagues. More and more are being caught and put on the list.
MLT did try to apologize. Multiple times. It wasn’t as heartfelt as I would have liked. Though she might have done a good job in the USAG position, that opportunity is gone. She isn’t the right person for the job.
NCAA (despite the many injuries) is the best training environment in the world. Medical staff makes final decisions on return to play. Coaches do not have much power on those calls. All other programs should look to American College Gymnastics when trying to improve their training programs.
Hopefully we’ll all learn from the embarrassing incident where USAG hired MLT … then fired her days later. That’s a #FAIL. Exactly how NOT to run a NSGB.
It was revealing to hear how uneducated both Miss Val and MLT felt when they started. As always the best plan to improve coaching is …
Educate, Educate, Educate, Legislate.
related – INSIDE PERSPECTIVE: ALYSSA BECKERMAN | IN SEARCH OF SOLUTIONS FOR THE NEXT ERA OF USA GYMNASTICS
Alyssa was a 2000 Olympic alternate who was coached by both MLT and Miss Val.
“I never stopped talking about these things,” she says, “It’s just that people are listening now. I’ve been talking about all of these things for years.”
Team France training with Simone
Camp lineup in a semi-circle
Many noticed a small but perhaps symbolic difference in the line-up formation at Camp with Tom Forster in charge.
Mary Lee Tracy may decline new job
Mary Lee Tracy replies to Aly Raisman, says she might resign US Gymnastics post
Tracy says “cyber bullying” is hurting her family
Reaction from almost everyone online has been negative. MLT is considered more of a Nassar / Ranch / system defender than was Tom Forster, though he was even more an insider.
