The Roe-d to JO Nationals - Regionals

Well, we're reaching the end of the roe-d pretty soon! A few weeks ago, Haylee competed at the regional championships, and won the gold on beam and the silver all around!

"Regionals went pretty good. There was a small mistake at the beginning but I picked it up and hit my last 3 events. I was especially proud of myself because after having a mistake I pretended it didn't happen and hit my last 3 events just about as good as I can. We started out on floor and I competed my full in for the second time this season. I almost fell on it and landed very low and took 2 steps forward. I probably had around 4 or 5 tenths of deductions. I hit the rest of my routine and finished with a 9.0. Not an ideal score but could have been worse, so I am pleased with that. We went to vault and I had a great warmup and landed in a low squat on the first one but landed very well on the second one with a small step. I had a 9.5. Next we went to bars and I hit one of the best bar routines this season. I hit my handstands and stuck the dismount. I got a 9.575. On beam, I had a good warmup in the back gym. I had one mistake but it wasn't bad. We went to do my 30 second touch and fell on my series which isn't normal for me. I got back up and repeated to stick and stuck the rest of my warmup. I hit my routine and stuck everything except the dismount. My coaches and I were happy that after starting out with a mistake on floor that I was able to hit my last 3 events like nothing ever happened. I finished 1st on beam, 3rd on bars, 5th on vault, and 2nd all around. I MADE IT TO NATIONALS!! :)"


Way to go Haylee! You made it! :D Congrats, and we can't wait to hear how it goes! 

The Roe-d to JO Nationals : Texas States

As you may have seen on Twitter, Haylee Roe of Metroplex has earned the Jr. D State Championship, meaning that she performed the best out of all girls in her age division!


Here's her performance:

Likely, Haylee competed so well at this meet because she felt so relaxed. "We didn't really put any emphasis on winning this meet so that wasn't really what we were focused on," Haylee said. "We were focused on going in there and doing the routines we do in the gym to the best of our ability. It turned out great for me!"


"I couldn't a favorite moment of this meet because honestly, I loved it all!"


Next stop: Regionals!

The Roe-d to JO Nationals - Pre-Season Training & 1st Meet

Haylee's been training quite a bit since we last saw her, here are her routines (minus full bars) from January training and mock meets! 

This weekend Haylee had her first meet of the season: The Tiger Classic. 

She started off on bars, and after struggling on her dismount in training the week before, Haylee hit it and placed 2nd with a 9.3. 

On beam, she hit the routine with the exception of a wobble on her switch leap Geiner and placed 1st with a 9.575! 

After moving to floor, Haylee had trouble getting her full around in her third pass, but landed decently for 9.4 landing her in 4th place.

And finally, Haylee did "one of the biggest full [twisting yurchenkos]" she's ever done and placed 4th with a 9.6. 

Overall, Haylee's all around score was a 37.825 and earned her the All Around Gold Medal! 

While Haylee will not have a meet this weekend, she'll compete in the Alamo Classic the last weekend of January! Good Luck Haylee! 

The Roe-d to JO Nationals - Meet Haylee Roe

(Pickel Family)

Typically we as fans see gymnasts during the biggest moments of their lives. Sure, you may have seen Grace Williams win the 2011 Nastia Liukin Cup, but you probably didn't see the invitational that qualified her there, or any of the invitationals before. I wanted to get a more balanced perspective of a JO Season from a girl who isn't a big name, or even a recognizable name to the average gymnastics fan.

That's why we'll be following Level 10 Gymnast and JO National Team Member Haylee Roe through her 2nd Level 10 Season on her quest to "win state and make it to nationals".

In my opinion, 15 year old Haylee is quite capable of the feat, as she won All Around, Vault, Beam and Floor at 2011 Texas State as well as the All Around title at the the Region 3 Championships. She missed the JO National Title by a mere .05. Can she take the title this year? We'll follow her from the first mock meet, all the way to JO Nationals.

In the mean time, let's get to know Haylee.

(Prop of Rachel Spicer)

Haylee is coached by the notorious duo Marnie Futch & Gina Quinlan who worked at Texas Dreams for years before being transplanted (with all but 3 members of their team) to Metroplex. Haylee trains with a group of 23 other optional gymnasts for about 30 hours a week.

Haylee was successful at the sport from the moment that she stepped into the gym. She attended her first Open Gym at age 8, and just after her 9th birthday she won the Level 4 district championship. At 11 she won the Level 7 Texas State Titles on vault, beam and floor and by age 13 she took the Level 9 Westerns floor title and all around silver medal.

Chris Burdette of her former gym Texas Dreams described her as "a fantastically talented gymnast with a determined work ethic."

Haylee's ultimate goal is to earn a college scholarship to top ranked school, and while she's got a few in mind, she'd like to keep her options open.

Check back each Tuesday to see updates on Haylee's training or reflections and results from her latest competitions.

Physical Struggles keep Moore out of Elite Competition

Earlier this year, rumors widely circulated about 2008 Junior National Team Member Kamerin Moore returning to Elite competition after spending this season as a Level 10. Other blogs have even reported that she confirmed her comeback on several social networking sites.

Unfortunately, it looks like circumstances have changed.

I spoke with coach John Geddert who said the following:
"Kami is focusing on gaining a scholarship. She would love to do elite gymnastics, but it's just not in the cards. Her mind is willing, but we can't get the body to cooperate."

(Property of Geddert's Twistars)

Kamerin has experienced numerous physical challenges in the past including a torn labrum, a hip socket issue, and a foot surgery late this spring.

I wish Kamerin the best in her future endeavors, wherever gymnastics may take her. Best of Luck in 2012!

Pan American Games - Sandra Collantes' Injury

(Photo property of Grace Chiu, USA Gymnastics)

EDIT: The lovely person in the comments below shared this video of Sandra's injury. Her injury was on her double pike dismount on which she hit her neck on the bar. It IS a little disturbing, so if you're the queasy type I don't recommend that you watch it. Anonymous in the comments makes a good point saying that the entire routine looked out of her ability.

I'm currently about halfway through my blog about the All Around Final, but I wanted to go ahead an touch on a potentially very serious injury that occurred today. Sandra Collantes, a competitor from Peru fell on bars and according to the associated press suffered injuries to her legs, neck and back. (There are pictures of her on the link that are a little bit disturbing, so just prepare yourself.)

I'd like to start off by saying that my heart goes out Collantes, her family and her coaches. It isn't my intent to play the blame game, I just want to start a conversation.

In prelims Collantes scored a 48.625, which leaves her over 5 points short of what is needed for a senior to qualify to USA's Visa National Championships. In the USA, Collantes would have never qualified as an Elite.

But you can't compare the two! Things are different in Peru. It's like comparing apples to oranges, right?

Wrong. Sandra Collantes competed at this year's JO National Championships for Excalibur, the gym which produced Gabrielle Douglas, Marcia Newby, Randy Stageberg and many others. Although she's competed internationally for Peru since at least 2009, she's also been competing for the Virginia gym and she even won the Senior B division of Region 7.

When looking through her scores, both Elite and JO, one thing is fairly consistent throughout: her bars scores. From her 10.25 in Pan Ams Prelims to a 6.6 at an invitational this spring, Sandra has consistently had low scores on bars. She has had a few 9.1s & 9.2s, but these are outnumbered by the lower scores.

While I'm not, nor have ever been a gymnastics coach (I did sub for Cartwheeling Cubs classes when I worked at the Y, haha,) I have to wonder: if you have a gymnast who is struggling at the JO level on bars, why would you encourage her to compete bars at an even higher level? Plenty of Gymnasts don't compete all four events and Sandra could have just as easily competed 3 events and spared herself possibly career ending injuries. She also could have stayed a Level 10, and potentially received a college scholarship.

There's not very much information on Collantes out there, so I'm not completely sure if she was born in the US and competes for Peru in a similar way that Gebeshian or Church did or if she moved from Peru to train with the coaches at Excalibur. Regardless, I think that USA has a good system to qualify for elite. In addition to reaching an optional score, girls are forced to get a minimum of an 8.75 average on compulsory routines. That way they make sure that you can hold a cast handstand before encouraging you to do a tkatchev.

I admittedly have not seen a video of the injury, and do not even know what skill it was on. Perhaps it was a freak accident and had nothing to do with coaching or skill choices. In any case, I wish Sandra a speedy recovery and a quick return to the sport.