The 10 prettiest moments of 2012 Jr. US Classics

10. Amelia Hundley on floor. It's a full twisting split leap and it's sky high. I love it! 

9. Ashley Foss on floor. It's not the highest ring leap, but I think it's pretty beautiful

8. Nica Hults effortlessly pulls a sheep jump out of nowhere after a switch leap-back tuck combo.

7. New comer Lauren Hernandez with an almost Dougie-like Tkachev. She missed the catch, but was beautiful in the air. 

6. Katelyn Ohashi's ring leap on beam. If it weren't for her toes, she'd be even higher up on the list.

5. Polina Shchennikova's sheep jump. It's prettier in motion than it is as a still. 

 4. Bailie Key's Layed out Gienger that easily rivals Nastia's. LOVE. I hope she can keep it once she grows.

   

3. Shannon McNatt's stag ring jump on beam. I don't feel like we see this jump a lot. More people should do it. 

2. Megan Skagg's ring leap on floor. It's only #2 because it's on floor and not beam. 

1. Bailie Key's ring leap on beam. If this isn't gorgeous, I don't know what is. 

My random thoughts after seeing Classics Training Coverage

I'm bored to death with this Shaposh half combo.

I thought that Kim Zmeskal rechoreographed new routines for her girls every year. WHY DOES BAILIE KEY STILL HAVE THAT MUSIC?!?!?!

Polina Shchennikova will make the national team this year if she doesn't headcase.

McKenzie Wofford is fierce as hell. Everyone better respect her for that.

I want Nastia Liukin to do well. Her beam is pretty but I'm VERY disappointed that she won't be competing bars.

Kyla Ross could earn her spot with her bars. I'm impressed with this tumbling pass, but honeychild has GOT to get some less horrible music.

I would guess that the Gedderts are just planning for consistency at this point. I therefore, am not overly impressed with World Champion Wieber.

When I heard that Anna Li was getting a new floor routine that she wanted to be college like, I didn't expect it to be this artistic. YAY. Her bars are of course, phenomenal as always. I love the new skill.

Elizabeth Price reminds me of Olivia Courtney in '08. Hopefully Marta will send her to a meet post Olympics. Could she win Classics in 2013? Possibly. She impresses me more and more each time I see her. Apparently she's got an Amanar that I have yet to find video of.


Abby Milliet's leotard makes me want to cry.

Chellsie Memmel is a beast. LOVE.

Aly Raisman's Amanar still scares the hell out of me.

Can we please find a new birth certificate for Katelyn Ohashi?

Ariana Guerra is blossoming since her move to Texas Dreams.

Amelia Hundley's going to be 5'6 by the time she turns 16.

I absolutely refuse to call this the "Secret Classic". That's creepy as hell.

All photos property of USAG

Terrible Tuesday - The Horrific Plague in Elite Gymnastics

Initially, I didn't want to have a reoccurring negative feature, but come on, I had a find a reason to use this Marta picture over and over again.

Anyway, I wanted to address a terrible disease that is affecting some of the world's best gymnasts. It makes their difficult tumbling irrelevant in my eyes and automatically portrays them in a negative light. It's a disease that just a little bit of childhood prevention could change, yet, the disease continues to attack gymnasts young and old.

That disease is the "I Can't Land Turns Syndrome". 

Coming from a dance background, I just don't get it! I haven't been in a studio for several years now, and I can still turn a decent double pirouette. In the code, your pirouettes don't even have to be in passé (with the non-working foot at the knee). Chelsea Davis's turns are lower, and she executes them beautifully! Why is it then, that these fantastic gymnasts can throw Amanars, Double Arabians and other skills that defy what the human body should do, but continue to fall out of their turns?

Some culprits include:

Elsa Garcia (at :33)

Amelia Hundley (at 1:08) 

Sam Peszek (at 1:23)

And there are many others as well! 

What makes me sad is that ALL of these gymnasts are insanely talented! They're all just so good and they're losing tenths on something that, in my opinion, is 100 times easier than their tumbling passes.

I'm not saying every gymnast needs to be a prima ballerina, but it seems that if you can train a gymnast to do a gymnast to do 2 flips and 2 twists at the end of a tumbling pass, or to leap, lose sight of the beam and still land perfectly, you should be able to teach your gymnast how to execute a double turn well and land it cleanly.