UCLA personalized leotards

UCLA gymnastics donned personalized leotards for the 2019-20 edition of “Operation Peacock” at Saturday’s Meet the Bruins intrasquad …

Click PLAY or see them on YouTube.

Chris Waller is now the head coach. BJ Das the new choreographer.

Das, a professional dancer, competed at Washington before a career-ending injury prompted her to pursue dance. Since graduating from Washington in 2006 and moving to L.A., she has performed with artists such as Beyoncé, Pink and Usher, and choreographed for commercials and TV shows such as “GLOW” and “The Masked Singer.”

Last year, she choreographed floor routines for Utah …

LA Times

Oklahoma #1 NCAA preseason poll

1 Oklahoma
2 LSU
3 Florida
4 UCLA
5 Utah
6 Michigan
7 Denver
8 Georgia
9 California
10 Alabama

There's only ☝️.

The #Sooners were tabbed as the top team in the WCGA Preseason Coaches Poll!

📝➡️ https://t.co/tjgIgWCTuX pic.twitter.com/bHy27l0rW3

— Oklahoma Women's Gym (@OU_WGymnastics) December 11, 2019

See the top 36.

Oklahoma Tops Preseason Poll With 36 First Place Votes https://t.co/2Re024pXHw #NCAAgym pic.twitter.com/xHZDjbsC0J

— College Gym News (@collegegymnews_) December 11, 2019

2020 Men’s NCAA preseason poll

Stanford
Oklahoma
Michigan
Illinois
Nebraska
Minnesota
Penn State
Iowa
Ohio State
Navy

STANFORD SNAGS TOP SPOT IN CGA PRESEASON COACHES POLL

Iowa’s JD Reeve is a candidate for the USA Gymnastics Men’s VP position.

MOST 10s in NCAA history

Seniors Kyla Ross and Maggie Nichols currently sit in sixth and seventh place respectively, with Ross nine 10.0s away from tying the record. She recorded fourteen 10.0s during the 2019 season. …

BBS

1 Jenny Hansen (Kentucky) 28
2 Jamie Dantzscher (UCLA) 27
3 Hope Spivey (Georgia) 24
4 Kim Arnold (Georgia) 21
5 Karin Lichey (Georgia) 20
6 Kyla Ross (UCLA) 19
7 Maggie Nichols (Oklahoma) 17

Right. judging has NOT been consistent over the decades. We are living in one of the highest scoring eras.

increasing the # of American College gymnasts

For many years the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) has been promoting the expansion of collegiate and adult gymnastics opportunities in the United States.

Our membership has grown to over 1750 members from more than 100 clubs.

Beyond the NCAA, there is a growing divide between the increasing demand for collegiate gymnastics, dwindling funding for gymnastics scholarships, and rising tuition. In 2017, we launched a scholarship program to help bridge this gap and every year we have been able to award $1500 scholarships to two male and two female athletes each year. …

read more …

The NAIGC is trying to raise $10,000 towards 4 new scholarships.

NCAA Signing Classes ranked

College Gym News ranking for the 2021 season. (The season after next.)

For example, Morgan Hurd (projected to join Florida for the 2022 season) and Luisa Blanco (joining Alabama in January 2020) are not included.

No. 1 UCLA
No. 2 LSU
No. 3 Oregon State
No. 4 Denver
No. 5 California
No. 6 Utah
No. 7 Florida
No. 8 Michigan
No. 9 Oklahoma
No. 10 Auburn

An Initial Ranking of the NCAA Gym Signing Classes https://t.co/Gg9Zx34ans #NCAAgym

How would you rank the signing classes as they stand now? pic.twitter.com/3rKYYEWwHZ

— College Gym News (@collegegymnews_) November 23, 2019

Mark Williams interview

Dave Tilley posted a good interview with the legendary Oklahoma coach following Worlds.

2019 World Championships, and how he felt Team USA did
The new leadership at USA Gymnastics, and his interactions with Li Li Leung
Mark’s thoughts on the year coming leading up to the 2020 Olympics
What he thinks coaches and gymnasts need to be successful during meet season
How he thinks about recruiting and running practices
His best advice for young coaches and gymnasts just getting started

I came away happy to hear the Worlds coaches are being consulted on the next USAG hire for the Men’s program. Mark is optimistic about Li Li, so far.

Mark felt the U.S. Worlds team did a great job overall. The only unhappy surprise was their poor performance in the qualifying round.

I was amused to hear that Mark’s toughest coaching challenge all-time was … preschoolers. 😀

Click through for links to the podcast.

Rest in Peace Melanie Coleman

Terrible news.

Melanie Coleman died after being injured on a Bars dismount in training.

“We are heartbroken and stunned by Melanie’s passing,” head coach Mary Fredericks said. “She was an incredibly hard worker and a sweet-spirited young woman. …”

Melanie’s family has set up a GoFundMe.com page, as well as a page that coordinates meal donations to the family at MealTrain.com.