re: LSU Gymnastics Recruiting Thread (2024 and 2025 Recruiting Classes)

It is likely that all four conference hosts will be seeded this year. I do not mind too much going against Michigan and UCLA - neither team has really hit their stride this year and Michigan is putting 5 up on some events after a recent injury to one of their all arounders.

[quote]Kindler has a very meticulous training regiment and process, very intensive and detailed.

I agree and have been harping on this on the forum for years. Jay's training process is a "cake walk" compared to OK. I don't know what can be done to get him to revisit his training regimen. He is adamant about the process that he deems as the way to train. He will most likely have success every year throughout the season but winning a Natty will take a combination of talent, SMART training, well constructed routines and mentally tough athletes.

I recognize LSU could win a natty with this team. Gym teams are very competitive this year which will take mistakes to separate the parity. I just hope we can stay focused and compete with determination. This should be the year for LSU with the depth and talent on this team but "fixes" are still a must to "get there".

Exactly!! Great points and you can’t coddle people. The greats of any sports, Bulls, Lakers, SC women’s basketball, Kim Mullkey, Tom Brady, LeBron James, OU gymnastics to name a few. You have to have a formula that works. You have to have a village surrounding you. Understand sports is a process and in order to get the results all facets of the process has to be in order. Now Jay has strengths but as human we also have weaknesses. We can harp every year the talent the talent but if you can’t produce it on paper it eventually goes on deaf ears and fans along with everyone criticizing start to wonder what’s really the issue. Gotta look in the mirror and make the necessary corrections to evolve in whatever capacity that is.

I played sports for years. I could definitely tell when I was just better than an opponent talent wise or how the culture and staff contributed to that success. With gymnastics it’s no defense. It’s only on u as the gymnast and staff. So obviously you have to compare all the different aspects of the program. I was happy DD got a great assistant to elevate the program. Once he became a head coach at Georgia, for whatever reason it was a regression in that program. Idk all the details but he was gone from there. Now Georgia current coach is horrible but still there and has been there for far to long .When Jay arrived you could definitely tell the progression of the program. He did implement a lot of changes. I just felt he brought the recruitment and the social aspect to LSU that DD was missing. We had a string of regular season championships, 3 sec titles and 3 runner ups. Yes OU was the only team that really beat us during those runs. So to be the second best program for those amount of years was a great accomplishment. Well then the experience of DD, Bob and ACK moved on. I used to question decision making of skills and him keeping certain 5th years in the lineups they shouldn’t have been in. Loyalty is one thing but compare to last year with the injuries to key gymnast we saw the resilience of the athletes . We may have never seen Elena, Tori or Alexis in lineups . Those ladies were just as important as Haleigh and Aleah. Beam and to an extent bars has kept us behind Florida,Utah and OU since 2019. So to answer your question @LSUgymfan420, they have an entire new coaching staff together and should have a system of checks and balances so to speak. It’s no excuse for certain things like injuries, sickness etc because every team deals with that. If a gymnast is struggling mentally what do you do? They have a lot of talent meaning the skills and athleticism, but the mentality is lacking when it comes to performing under pressure and competing to win on the road against a really good team or at a championship meet. I remember the year Sarah Edwards got hurt at Florida(2020) and I saw the same thing with KJ when she was on floor at Missouri this year say directly to Jay I’m sorry. Why are you sorry for getting hurt or messing up. One thing to be disappointed it’s another thing to say sorry. Please go watch these on YouTube. Like I don’t think I could perform well if I get hurt and feel like I need to apologize for an injury. You can be prepared In practice but if it doesn’t translate on the floor in the moment yes part of it is the gymnast, but majority of it in the college setting is on the coaches. That’s why they make the big bucks. Gnat is the beam coach, if she’s constructing a routine and either the skills constantly gets deducted or the gymnast can’t perform under pressure, a change should be made(whatever that is). Although it’s a complete staff with each coach having an event, it’s on the head coach, Jay to help make the necessary corrections

Well to try and answer a part of your question, if they’re only practicing things they already know, what’s difficult about mastering it and landing well and competing under pressure? We have been saying for years to construct better routines on beam change leap combos and change dismounts on bars. Those are the critical points in coaching . To some degree it’s also on the skill set of the gymnast. It’s not black and white but it is. As for vault, if there practicing on soft surfaces to preserve their bodies that can be part of the problem. As for bars u mentioned on an earlier post if their training regimen is not conducive for strength and conditioning enough, once you get through a routine then the dismount is at the end maybe they are to gas up to stick the landing. He used to say well we don’t see mistakes in practice. Well key word is practice. The drills could be everyone has to hit 3 beam sets in a row. That’s putting pressure on them to hit. But that is nowhere near the same level of pressure to hit in a meet. It goes back to calmness, trusting your training perfecting your skills that you have been doing since level 6. I just have a feeling if you were to bring KJ and her staff to LSU it would be a totally different team. OU wasn’t always at the top when she went there, but over time she learned how to be great and maximized her gymnast and basically will be one of the greatest coaches and programs in history.

will Friday be streamed or broadcast anywhere?

Jillian looked great on vault in her instagram story today. Any chance we’ll see her in the post season? It was hard to tell if the landing was on competition surface.

if Cal & Stanford were wearing LSU & Georgia leos, reddit would be having a level 10 meltdown lmao. They are in complete denial thinking scoring issues only exist in the SEC.

Cal is in for the rude awakening they are convinced is coming LSU's way once nationals start.

Cal is not capable of coming close to Oklahoma. We aren't that much closer, either, if I'm being real, BUT if our girls hit on all 4 apps we can go toe-to-toe with Oklahoma. Cal on their best day can't. We don't even know what this LSU's best day looks like they haven't had THAT meet yet. LSU are the only team that can challenge the Oklahoma machine this year, and it is still a long shot.

Sierra, Olivia and Jay Press conference 3/11/23

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