USA's big names come out to play this weekend.

Martha Karolyi is very protective of her team USA gymnasts. They generally only appear on the international scene for Worlds and a few other select competitions. For the american girls the bulk of their years competition takes place on home soil, starting this weekend with the Covergirl Classic, the largest qualification/warm-up event for Nationals.

Last year the covergirl classic marked a return to competition for 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone, who translated success at home to a world vault title and banished a few consistency demons along the way. This year it is the turn of Beijing AA silver medallist and beam champion Shawn Johnson to make her anticipated return to competion for the first time in 3 years.

There has been an ongoing saga with the Beijing girls hinting at returns to the competition floor, Spurred on by Sacramone's success in 2010, Johnson will also be joined by Chellsie Memmel, who has been undecided whether or not to leave gymnastics behind in recent years. The only 2008 team member who still keeps the world waiting on her decision to return is leading lady Nastia Liukin. There have been plenty of hints and maybes coming from the Liukin camp, but no solid evidence of a return yet.

However - heres a 'short' list of some of the familiar faces kicking off their season at Covergirl this Saturday.

American Cup champ Jordyn Wieber (pictured - above)
McKayla Maroney - a new senior with a BIG Amanar.
(pictured - right)
2010 US junior champ Kyla Ross
Strong bar-working sisters Brigitte & McKenzie Caquatto,
UCLA grad and NCAA champ Anna Li
Comeback kids Shawn Johnson & Chellsie Memmel
Brestyan's Alicia Sacramone & Ali Raisman
Artistic new senior Sabrina Vega
Cincinnati's Amanda Jetter
Johnson's training mate Garielle Douglas
Reigning US champ Rebecca Bross

With Russia's biggest names still on the mend from injury, the never-ending depth of the Team USA may be a big asset in their quest to win back the world team title this October